Jason Koster’s Giants in the Gulch is a photographic meditation on isolation, endurance, and the expression of time and terrain. This 2023 body of images from the east seven miles of Buckskin Gulch serves as phase one of an ongoing project to photograph the entire 16.5 mile Buckskin Gulch, the longest slot canyon in the world—offering an immersive exploration into one of the most remote and otherworldly landscapes in the American Southwest. 
For phase one, Koster first had to undertake a rigorous seven-mile approach down Paria Canyon—an act of physical and mental commitment that sets the tone for the series itself. With no camping allowed within the gulch Koster set up basecamp a couple hundred yards past the Buckskin Gulch/Paria Canyon confluence. Each day began with a short trek upstream in the cold stillness of morning into the mouth of the gulch and ended with a race against the vanishing light as the gulch becomes darker than the starry sky at night. The gulch presents not only a physical challenge but a psychological one, as it isolates the traveler from modern orientation tools: no cell service or even GPS access, and looming risk of flash floods and hidden quicksand. In this crucible of elemental forces, Koster builds images not just from pixel and light—but from courage and intention.
Koster continues his theme of landscape interaction as seen in his Land Speak of the John Muir Trail Series, but reorients his vision from horizontal to vertical —literally turning his panoramic format vertical to accommodate the imposing, soaring nature of a slot canyon. The resulting images, stitched together from multiple high-resolution frames, provide a near 180º field of view that reaches from the rocky ground in front of his tripod to the skyless crests of sometimes 400-foot sandstone walls. By deliberately whiting out clouds and sky, Koster removes any reference to time, offering viewers a dreamlike suspension in stone.
In this unforgiving space, Koster invites us to see mass and texture of the gulch as representation of enduring, gentle giants. Patterns clash or harmonize, interacting like souls in quiet conflict or quiet tolerance. Sharing the commonality of enduring the forces of their creators – flash floods and wind. The gulch is no longer just a place—it becomes a metaphor for the human experience with challenge, wonder and uncertainty, but ultimately rewarding for those who endure.
Through extraordinary technical craft and narrative sensitivity, Koster creates more than photographs. He creates passageways—silent, towering, timeless—into the hidden landscapes within.