Dat Way
Livingston, Montana
2016

Take a Look #1
Livingston, Montana
2016

Sometimes during art shows, although there may be a lot of looking going on, actual sales are few and far between. So I sometimes occupy myself by candidly photographing the lookers. I suppose I could be trying to give them the hard sell instead; but besides not being my style, it seems like a sure-fire way to chase people out of your booth.

Patriot’s Dream #47
Livingston, Montana
2016

I’m a little late posting this for Independence Day, but since I actually took the photo on July 2nd, I figure it pretty much averages out.

Lectio #66
Bozeman, Montana
2016

I’m in the middle of doing art shows this summer so don’t have as much free time as I’d like. As this shot suggests though, I still find time to relax, even if it’s a working relaxation. In this case I was sitting on the balcony catching up on LensWork’s latest issue while waiting for the neighborhood magpies to do something photo-worthy.

Ball of Fun
Bozeman, Montana
2016

I was photographing several ravens circling around in a fairly small volume of sky and decided to create a collage of multiple shots of the group to roughly illustrate the space they were occupying. I believe there were only three or four in the actual group of birds, so each appears several times.

Bear Gulch #5
Forest Grove, Montana
2016

Some of the homes of the many current residents of Bear Gulch.

Bear Gulch #4
Forest Grove, Montana
2016

The Vanishing Race (Bear Gulch #3)
Forest Grove, Montana
2016

Bear Gulch #2
Forest Grove, Montana
2016

One of the common motifs for pictographs at Bear Gulch is a warrior standing behind a shield with just their head visible and holding a weapon out to the side. This one was my favorite because, even though it was not intended to, it looks like a raven sitting on a branch or something similar. It’s also the one image I like in color (albeit a somewhat modified color). I kept the photo posted above in black and white to be consistent with the rest of the series, but here’s the color version:

Bear Gulch #2 (color version)
Forest Grove, Montana
2016

Bear Gulch #1
Forest Grove, Montana
2016

Recently I spent two days at a lesser known pictograph site in central Montana known as Bear Gulch. It is on private land but the owners do give tours, and for some, unstructured access to study and/or photograph the many pictographs there. Not only did they let me wander there at will, they were uncommonly welcoming and friendly. My thanks to Macie Ahlgren and family!