Put Upon
OTO Ranch, Montana
2015

On the upside, that big branch is probably helping keep the roof from blowing away in a high wind.

The Back Door
OTO Ranch, Montana
2015

The OTO Ranch was the first dude ranch in the state of Montana. The name comes from the owner’s involvement in Ordo Templi Orientalis,. or O.T.O a religious group out of, not surprisingly, California.

Exposed
Cedar Creek, Montana
2015

For a plant to take root and attempt to thrive in the middle of a road is a dicey proposition at best, but death by erosion is not high on the list of expected survival threats.

If you are a serious photographer, especially of an older vintage, then the Zone System and step wedges are familiar concepts to you. It turns out that having a light bar of eight separate bulbs above the sink in your bathroom and a well-placed door can provide a real-life, albeit slightly imperfect and incomplete, illustration of a step wedge.

Dualities #11
Idaho Falls, Idaho
Bozman, Montana
2006/2015

When I took the photo on the right of the weeping birch tree the other day, it immediately brought to mind the photo on the left of asphalt, tar, and snow that I took some nine years ago. I guess that says something about how I tend to look at the physical world; not so much in terms of actual content but instead as patterns of shape, lines, and textures.

Rock Garden
North Cottonwood Creek, Montana
2015

winter sunlight shines
among the scattered boulders
firmly rooted tree

Losing Ground
North Cottonwood Creek, Montana
2015

The creek has been steadily eating away at the footing for this tree. It’s beyond caring at this point though.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
McAllister, Montana
2015

This horse trailer seems to fit all the criteria of the well-known environmental slogan.

I’ve been lax in chasing the illusive one-man show in galleries/museums lately. Instead I’ve applied to a number of juried group exhibits in various venues, with good success.They all seem to be scheduled within the same several month time frame. So, simultaneously or nearly so, I have or will soon will have work in seven different shows.

If you live anywhere near these locations, you should try and stop by and view the exhibits. I know they are going to be interesting shows (and would be so even without my contribution). Here are the shows and locations:

• The Crow Show, San Diego Art Institute, San Diego, CA
• Arte de Avian 2015, Tubac Center of the Arts, Tubac, AZ
• At the Walker,  Walker Art Gallery, Garnett, KS
• Montana Triennial: 2015, Missoula Art Museum, Missoula, MT
• Art Auction 47, Yellowstone Art Museum, Billings, MT
• 2015 Gala and Auction, Holter Museum of Art, Helena, MT
• 18th Annual Art Auction, Paris Gibson Square Museum of Art, Great Falls, MT

Weather #3
Shields River Valley, Montana
2015

Even thought it’s not what the song is really about, this kind of scene always makes me think of Tom Petty’s Into the Great Wide Open.  It’s not all open in this shot though; if you look very closely you can see the Absaroka Mountains through the haze.