Embrace the Night
These are dark times up in the northern latitudes, still a solid two months from the nearest equinox. So when my friend Doug Loneman invited me to do a nighttime photo walk with him, I decided that was a nice way of making the best of the winter darkness. Plus, the historic Baxter Hotel in downtown Bozeman just lit up its sign for the first time in 40 years, so I needed to see that.
Photographing at night was a new exercise in seeing. Light is so different than during the day. Still very cool, though.
Then we decided to head out into the country a little. An airplane even had the good manners to fly through my frame during a 4-minute exposure.
Water Eastward
This is a foggy morning near Lame Deer, Mont., we came across traveling through southeastern Montana. I travel through Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota and several Mid-western states every time I head east to visit my family in Chicago. When we made the trip over Christmas, we made time to stop in Spearfish and check out it’s canyon, where we found this ice forming over Little Spearfish Creek.
We stayed in a Spearfish hotel that night, where Katie swam in a pool with a beautiful blue floor.
Exit Zero
I am thrilled to once again be in the pages of Montana Quarterly magazine, which was bought recently by my friend Scott McMillion.
Scott is one of the very best writers in the state and I’m lucky to be working with him. For his first issue as publisher, we traveled to Monida, on the Montana-Idaho border, population 8.
Monida hasn’t ever been a big metropolis.
Scott writes, “But in its earlier days, Monida showed some promise. Founded in 1898, its lawful commerce focused around the railroad. Passenger trains disgorgred tourists willing to brave a 65-mile bone rattle of a stagecoach ride to Yellowstone National Park. Freight trains loaded cattle and sheep from the vast Centennial Valley to the east, where dozens of people tried to scratch a living in that harsh and spectacular environment. Railroad maintenance workers also lived in town, helping to keep things afloat. There was a nice hotel with a bar and a dance floor, a couple stores, and a school that once educated as many as 25 children.”
These old buildings once were going businesses, catering to the needs of travelers. And travelers do still stop in Monida, looking in vain for a bathroom or a bite to eat. Rumor has it that the building on the right has been purchased and will one day house a convenience store serving fried chicken, but no one’s holding their breath.
“I’m the last one here,” 63-year-old Clay Roselle claims, while relaxing in his cabin between 2-week hunting trips. Roselle says he moved to Monida full-time in the 1970s, working in prospecting, trapping and lumber. In the 1980s, Roselle started the junk yard he runs today — Monida’s only open business — collecting scrap iron. “I’m eventually going to clean the place,” Roselle says. “Iron is going to be worth something if I live long enough.”
Roselle’s father arrived broke in Monida just before the start of World War I. “They had hardly nothing,” Roselle says. “Then they got into moonshine and prosperity soon followed.”
“After the war,” 73-year-old Jack Giles remembers, “all the assholes in the country came to Monida.” Giles says he was 9 in 1948 when men carrying briefcases full of $100 bills came to Monida and bought out the ranchers, including his father.
Melissa and Hannah Smith wave to a passing hunting rig outside their Monida home while Casey Smith chats with a friend. The Smiths are Monida’s newest residents, and daughter Hannah is the first baby to arrive in Monida in a very long time. Melissa says when they bought their home in November 2008, the previous occupant left just about everything behind. “There was a pot of oatmeal on the stove,” she says.
And that’s Monida. Exit 0 on Interstate 15, heading south to Idaho.
Happy Holidays
This is our 14-year-old daughter, Katie. We told her to put on her best teenager for our annual Christmas card and she nailed it.
Rena and I cooked up this idea to show how exasperating this time of year can be. So much seems to have to happen so fast. And we’re all expected to be so damn happy about it.
Christmas’ many dimensions — not all of them good — are confusing and exasperating. For me, it can ring with insincerity.
So I was refreshed to hear a sermon not long ago refuting the movement to stop saying “Happy Holidays,” and “put Christ back into Christmas.” The pastor pointed out that Christmas started long before Christ as a Pagan holiday celebrating the winter solstice. She said the spirit of Christmas is a spirit of rebirth, renewal, of turning toward brighter days ahead. It is this spirit of joy and good will that is important this time of year, not the semantics of a particular branch of a particular religion.
That rang true.
In our world, we have more in common than in conflict. The more people celebrating joy and love and compassion, the better. I don’t care what they call it.
Water and Time
I’m intrigued by water and time. There’s a connection between them I can’t quite articulate. Water marks time, it uses time, it masks time. But there’s more.
The cedar fence post in the bottom picture had been in place more than 70 years, the landowner told me. Somehow, the evidence of those years makes the post better in some way to me. I guess I’m awed by its endurance and I admire its patience.
Curiosity
Meet Allison, 8 months. Allison is the daughter of a pair of wonderful musicians we are fortunate to know.
I don’t photograph a lot of babies so when I do, I’m always struck by the intense curiosity they show. They’re like a sponge; constantly absorbing, processing, catagorizing new sights, sounds, emotions and experiences. I need to be more like that.
Young man
This is Miles. His dad has had cancer on and off for Miles’ entire life. Miles and his family are living life by living in the present, by enjoying every moment. I’m inspired by that. I hope they continue to do that for a very long time.
Running for Opera
Not too long ago, I was asked to photograph a local running race to benefit the Intermountain Opera Company on a cold fall morning. How could I pass up people in tutus, opera singers at water stations, and all of those viking hats?
Supporting Cancer Survival
I had the great pleasure to be working with some wonderful people on a project for Cancer Support Community Montana that was recently completed. Michelle Aranda was the Art Director and designer, Janette May did the copy writing and interviews and sound and God knows what else, and Carisa Fisher put together the following video. I am honored to have been a part of this project and to have met, photographed and gotten to know the generous, courageous and inspiring people who graciously shared their lives with us.
New Friends
Newspapers and news magazines like the ones I’ve worked for over the last couple of decades like to maintain an image of unbiased neutrality. So they prefer their employees keep their political opinions out of their jobs. And I think that’s a great idea. I like to trust my news sources to give me the unbiased truth, not to sell me on a particular agenda. And during my newspaper and magazine staff career, I know I made extra sure to be fair to the candidates I had no plans to vote for. I even grew to like them as people. In fact, on more than one occasion, I preferred the company of a candidate I did not support to the company of their opponent.
But impartiality ended for me when I began freelancing in May 2011. I resolved that one of the biggest benefits to being self-employed was that I was free to voice my opinion and actively support any candidate I believed in. So I volunteered to be the Montana Digital Coordinator for Obama For America in February 2012 and I loved every minute of it. I met some wonderful people, worked for a great boss (that’s Judith Heilman below at the top left) and was actively involved in a cause I passionately believed in. What more can you ask for from a job?
Thomas Lee True West 