STORY BY KAREN BOSSICK

PHOTOS BY JOHN BOYDSTON

It may best sum up the year in Ketchum—a portrait of the giant crane looming over the Big Hole at Ketchum’s south end.

After years, the Big Hole is finally getting filled with construction beginning this past summer on a new hotel opposite the Kentwood Lodge and the Limelight Hotel. But the real work began this summer—just in time to play havoc with the detour created by Ketchum’s Main Street reconstruction.

John Boydston is patient enough to capture the aerial drama that can frequently be seen in places like Silver Creek. He’s often seen smaller birds dive bomb and harass bigger nest predators. In this case, the eagle is getting more confrontational in what is a daily battle for survival amidst the Wood River Valley’s beauty.

Sun Valley photographer John Boydston managed to turn the looming crane into a work of art, set as it was against a splash of the Milky Way.

Other photographs in Boydston’s portfolio, shown in today’s New Year’s Day edition, present other scenes of living in the Wood River Valley—from a show of bird force at Silver Creek to John’s depiction of a young pup doing what young pups are doing all over the valley right now—frolicking in the snow.

Boydston captured this particular shot at the Warm Springs Preserve in Ketchum, or what Boydston calls “Yellowsnow National Park.”

John Boydston captured this photograph of a late-night bus cruising down Elkhorn Road with the help of a longish exposure.

John Boydston shot this photo of The Hurdy Gurdy Girls on their home turf at Magic Reservoir. The trio—Annie Maude, Natalie Rose and Joy Lee-- will play Treefort in Boise in March and they plan to have a CD release party showcasing their old-school honkytonk full of kick and sass at The Liberty Theater this coming spring.

This happy dog is enjoying the freshly fallen snow at Ketchum’s Warm Springs Preserve, which is in the middle of a fundraising drive to restore the creek and its fish, add 15 acres of accessible pathways, revitalize the land with native plants and create a dog-friendly pond.