Johnson County 4-H’er Turns into Buffalo’s Youngest Skilled Photographer – AgNews

At 16 years outdated, Johnson County 4-H member Marco Monterastelli is perhaps the youngest photographer in Wyoming with a press move. A rising sophomore in highschool, he already owns and operates his personal images enterprise, Marcello Monterastelli Photography. He’s additionally an everyday contributor to his hometown newspaper, the Buffalo Bulletin, and an award-winning contestant within the annual Wyoming State Fair photograph competitions.

On any given day, you would possibly discover Monterastelli behind the digital camera at an area rodeo, 4-H camp, highschool cross-country meet, or wedding ceremony. Recently, he even traveled to Los Angeles to function knowledgeable photographer for a nationwide flag soccer occasion.

Finding his spark

Monterastelli’s images journey started with Wyoming 4-H. He joined the Johnson County program at age 8, beginning out with livestock initiatives and cake adorning. But, from an early age, he was captivated by the pictures taken by older 4-H members. He remembers considering, “I want to take pictures like that.”

In fifth grade, Monterastelli took his first step towards that dream, borrowing a digital camera from a household buddy and embarking on his first 4-H images mission. As with many Wyoming 4-H’ers, caring mentors have been key to his success.

“4-H is all about a positive youth learning environment and giving kids resources to find their sparks—their interest areas, the things that make them go,” says Bryce McKenzie, Johnson County 4-H educator. “Marco genuinely desired to do photography and that made his learning path easier, his progression quicker. Kids learn better when they enjoy doing it.”

With McKenzie’s assist, Monterastelli linked with native photojournalist Jessi Dodge, who labored on the Buffalo Bulletin on the time. She rapidly proved to be a wonderful mentor, exemplifying 4-H’s mission to facilitate hands-on studying alternatives for youth.

Becoming knowledgeable

“It opened a lot of paths for me,” Monterastelli notes. “I see the world in a different way because I’m always looking for what would be a good picture. Like, how could I get a very unique picture rather than something just like everybody else would take. I think it’s helped shape me as person.”

Johnson County 4-H’ers don’t shrink back from Monterastelli’s digital camera, which implies he will get some nice motion pictures, even of children who would possibly often again away from a photographer. “Marco spent a lot of time behind the camera and we rely on him at [4-H] Mountain Camp,” says McKenzie. “At one point, the photography was a 4-H project, but now he’s giving back to us.”

As Monterastelli honed his expertise at 4-H occasions and sports activities video games, Johnson County residents started asking the place they may view—and buy—his pictures.

Eventually, Monterastelli determined it was time to launch a enterprise. He reached out to Dodge for recommendation, and she or he coached him by way of the preliminary web site setup. Today, Monterastelli runs the positioning himself, with minimal help from his dad and mom. (He does, nevertheless, enlist his mom’s assist for photograph shoots that require a fog machine.)

After a number of years and plenty of hours of apply, Monterastelli has gone from a quiet child with a borrowed digital camera to a younger skilled with a rising enterprise. In addition to capturing landscapes, livestock, and 4-H actions, he additionally takes dozens of senior pictures for Buffalo High School college students and is a fixture at native sporting occasions.

“I bring my camera everywhere,” Monterastelli says. “I enjoy editing pictures and seeing how they turn out. I also really like seeing the client’s reaction…It’s really rewarding to see work you’ve put in make someone happy.”

A detailed-knit neighborhood

From his dad and mom and 4-H mentors to Lanna Wing, the photographer who loaned him his first digital camera, Monterastelli has obtained numerous enthusiastic help from his household and neighborhood.

“I think that having all of these really good mentors throughout my journey has really helped,” he displays. “They’ve been really supportive and helped promote me, and then all of the kids…have been really kind and helped promote me, reposted my pictures. It really helps that we live in a small community.”

Besides, he provides, “I feel like just about everybody knows someone in the Monterastelli family.” Monterastelli’s siblings, dad and mom, and grandparents have all actively participated within the Johnson County 4-H program. In reality, his greatest promoting scheme is natural and unpaid—a product of his older brother’s enthusiastic and ongoing word-of-mouth marketing campaign.

Especially throughout the week of county honest, Monterastelli is continually on the transfer, quietly scooting up near get pictures of each occasion doable. In one case, his mom recollects, the choose welcomed her son proper into the present ring so he might get nearer to the motion virtually beside the pig’s snout.

“We have somebody here who is willing to be on the ground level with the pigs,” McKenzie says. “He’s in the [4-H] program and that makes it even better.”

Monterastelli nonetheless manages to indicate his personal pigs as effectively. After all, promoting market pigs is an effective approach to assist fund new digital camera gear. When he heads into the ring to indicate livestock, one other native photographer fills in to ensure Monterastelli isn’t ignored of the occasion pictures.

Of course, Monterastelli additionally enters the photograph contests in county and state gala’s. When pressed for particulars, he humbly admits that he’s received fairly a number of ribbons over time.

As knowledgeable along with his personal enterprise, Monterastelli now enters his pictures within the open class of the skilled class along with competing with different 4-H’ers. Often, meaning going up in opposition to photographers who’ve many years extra expertise than he does.

“I think sometimes people don’t take him as seriously because he is only 16,” says his mom, Amanda Monterastelli. “But we have always said that it doesn’t matter if you’re 16 or 50. If it’s a good picture, it’s a good picture.”

What’s subsequent?

After receiving a grand champion ribbon within the open class photograph competitors at Wyoming State Fair final yr, Monterastelli has been working exhausting to enhance his shot at first place within the 4-H competitors. While he nonetheless loves capturing athletes in motion, he’s been practising panorama images in preparation for the competition.

Recently, Monterastelli has additionally begun experimenting with videography. In spring 2025, he entered a video manufacturing competitors organized by Future Business Leaders of America.

The subject was how tourism impacts your city or state, he explains, so he labored with native enterprise homeowners to assemble a collection of clips showcasing downtown Buffalo. Once once more, Monterastelli’s exhausting work and expertise, paired with the help of his household and neighborhood, led to success. His video was chosen for entrance in a nationwide competitors.

Regardless of what Monterastelli’s future holds, McKenzie is assured he’ll excel in no matter he chooses to do subsequent. “Marco is a quiet talent that allows his actions to speak for him,” the 4-H educator remarks. “What he does, he does well. That goes for all aspects of life.”

This article was initially revealed within the 2025 problem of Roots & Ranges, an annual journal revealed by the UW College of Agriculture, Life Sciences and Natural Resources.