The Spirit of Alaska Photography by Jimmy Tohill
Photographer and Poet - Jimmy Tohill
Jimmy Tohill was born the year Alaska became a state, in 1959, in Dallas, Texas. He started taking pictures of wildlife and the great outdoors when he was 10 and began writing poetry about his passions when he was 13. Tohill attended Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado where he studied natural history, biology, skiing and mountain climbing. After falling in love with nature and adventure photography Jimmy started his first professional photography business in Durango in 1981 where he shot white water rafting photos on the Animas River, ski area photos at Purgatory Ski Area, weddings, portraits and wildlife and landscape images.
In 1987 Tohill made a move north to Alaska to be a river guide and photographer at Denali National Park. He ended up guiding many places around Alaska and finally bought land in Healy just 10 miles north of Denali Park in 1994 and with his lovely girlfriend at the time, Vicki, began to build their scribe fit log home. They lived in a 12 x 16 cabin with no running water for 6 years while they hand built their home, out of pocket. They then lived with the comforts of running water in their cozy log cabin in Healy. Jimmy and Vicki where married on Bear Island in the middle of the glacial Nenana River which borders Denali National Park in 1996 with 80 people from 3 years old to 70 floated to the wedding site in rafts, kayaks and canoes.
Jimmy and Vicki established Old Sourdough Studio at the McKinley Chalet Resort in Denali in 1998 and owned and operated it until 2024. Old Sourdough Studio is a very unique state of the art truly Alaskan adventure themed photography studio, gallery and gift shop featuring local arts and crafts and is now located at The Denali Park Village just south of the entrance to Denali Park.
A sincere passion for life in Alaska continues to entice Tohill to get outside and experience the wonderful Spirit of Alaska and capture it with his camera, his pen and his heart in an effort to, not only enhance his own life, but attempt to share the magnificent splendors of the great outdoors with folks from all over the world. Jimmy still enjoys climbing mountains, back country skiing, running wild rivers, simple walks in the woods, and spending time with his family, friends and especially his wife, Vicki.
Tohill has 4 volumes of The Spirit of Alaska series ~ books of photography and poetry that capture the essence of the Last Frontier, a The Spirit of Alaska Yearly Calendar, 26 wildlife and scenic note cards and five posters (four Denali and one Iditarod) which are all available at Old Sourdough Studio in Denali, Alaska Geographic bookstore by the visitor center in Denali National Park and his books and calendars are available at the Fairbanks Alaska Geographic bookstore, the Santa Claus House in North Pole, Fred Meyer and Walmart stores in Alaska and at gift shops and bookstores throughout the state as well as through this website.
Galleries of Jimmy’s fine art scenic, wildlife and aurora prints on metal, canvas and archival paper can be found at The Denali Park Village in Denali, at the Alaska Geographic bookstores in Denali and Fairbanks, at Canyon Gifts in Denali and on this website.
Jimmy and Vicki moved to North Central New Mexico in late 2024 due to medical reasons, family and timing of several situations. They never thought they would leave Alaska but still go back to visit each year. They are not far from where Jimmy cut his teeth on Mountain Life in Southwest Colorado. Vicki is from Colorado and has family in Colorado and New Mexico. They truly miss Alaska Life but are really enjoying a similar lifestyle in a bit warmer climes where the sun works really well in the winter. They are at 7,200' elevation in the Southern San Juan Mountains so they still get to have fun in the snow in winter and Jimmy has found plenty of wildlife and natural beauty to enjoy and photograph.