Handmade in Montana :: Part Two

Handmade in Montana has been a great project to work on so far.  It's taken me to fun places around the state and put me in contact with people who really love what they do.  Like Andy, who works as a brewer at The Great Northern Brewing Company in Whitefish.  He loves his job, makes great beer, and was fun to shoot.  Or Melanie, who owns Camas Creek Yarn Shop in Kalispell.  Inspired to open her own store and refinish and old building downtown that is now beyond beautiful, she has started her own line of collegiate knitting patterns.  It used to be that industry in Montana mostly consisted of timber, farming, and the railroad.  Today people are creating their own ways to stay in Montana and enjoying themselves while they do it.

Handmade in Montana :: Part One

The last couple weeks I've been working on a new project focusing on handmade craft -- in food -- in clothing -- in everything across Montana.  These images are the result of a recent trip to Missoula.  The first images are of Taylor - the owner of Noteworthy in downtown Missoula.  Noteworthy offers handmade letterpress invitations and stationary.  The second set of images are of the owners of Selvedge Studio on the Hip Strip in Missoula.  The mother-daughter team own and operate this fabric store that offers patterns, fabrics, and classes in making your own clothing to the Missoula community.  More posts on this project to come soon.

miami beach view

That many birds around me would really freak me out but this lady was pretty pumped. From a trip earlier this month to Miami.

:: san francisco window :: montana editorial photographer

Window view from San Francisco in January. I loved these colors. So calm and pretty.

Montana Editorial Photographer :: Mountain Views

Logan's Pass/ Hike to Hidden Lake

View of Whitefish and Flathead Valley

Spring is coming to Montana. It's a little early this year and I'm thrilled. I am even going to to be able to go out for a run outside this afternoon which just about puts me over the edge on the happiness scale. I'm in the process of organizing some archives and so this post is a result of my "Montana Archive." You really can't beat some of the views here. Seriously. The thesis of this post is pretty much Montana is Awesome. I think it's a hard point to argue with really.

Missoula

Missoula

Last two of Glacier National Park

published :: western art and architecture :: shawna moore

The latest issue of Western Art and Architecture features an article on Whitefish artist Shawna Moore. I have had the privilege of shooting Shawna and her artwork over the last couple of years. I was happy to see this profile on her make it into print. Check out the latest issue.

Published :: Montana Magazine :: North Fork Road

I spent time last Summer and part of this Winter working on a story for Montana Magazine about the North Fork Road. The current issue has this story in print and I think it is a really interesting issue that goes beyond just this road. I always have a great time shooting for this publication and am glad they keep sending me on interesting assignments. Thanks guys.

:: montana commerical editorial photographer:: napa valley beauty

In January I took a trip to California to primarily shoot this wonderful wedding. Afterwards a good friend and I drove out to Napa Valley. Saying we enjoyed ourselves is an understatement. Unseasonably warm weather plus the whole no snow thing made for a wonderful trip. One stop we made was at the Francis Ford Coppola Winery. It was beautiful and the mustard flowers were in bloom. A great start to a new year full of possibilities -- and now a good reminder of how close we are to Spring here in Montana.

Echo Lake Cafe - Extra Serving

Earlier this week I posted about a shoot I did for Montana Magazine about Echo Lake Cafe. Echo Lake Cafe sources local organic food and is a favorite among locals. These were some outtakes that didn't get used. Makes me want a cup of coffee right now.

Shooting food is something I've been doing more of over the last couple years and I really enjoy it. Here's to hoping there's more shoots like this one in the future.

Casket Maker for Montana Magazine

Its been almost a year since I drove backwood, dirt roads to Willy von Bracht's studio outside of Kalispell, Montana. Such a nice guy and what he creates makes for interesting converstion for sure: caskets. Willy has been been handcrafting caskets since 1972 and he is happy to take your order if you're so inclined. He's committed to crafting caskets at affordable prices for folks. If you've been thru the funeral process before you know how expensive caskets can be -- and Willy wants to provide an option outside of that. He also makes caskets that can be stored in your home as a functional bookshelf until you need it. Not something I would have thought of -- but I must say that's pretty smart.

Montana Magazine has sent me on some memorable assignments and Willy definitely falls into that category. This article ran last year in the June/July issue of the magazine. I'm just now catching up with categorizing some of my clips so look for more updates throughout the month.

Echo Lake Cafe for Montana Magazine

It's been a little while since I update here. More because I've been working lots and having to sit on the shoots than anything else. I shot this feature on Echo Lake Cafe here in the Flathead Valley back in January and you can find it in the current issue of Montana Magazine. I love doing shoots like this and while only a couple of images were used for the article I took oh-so-many more. I'll post more of the outtakes later this week but for now I just wanted to get on the blog updating train.