Education is absolutely necessary and never-ending in the photography business. Technology changes by the second and our industry is caught in this ever-changing treadmill and fact of our culture. In order to keep abreast of the changing trends I participate in seminars given by the state PPA (Professional Photographers Association) on a regular basis. Twice a year they host seminars in different spots across the state. In October a workshop was held in Missoula and I attended that. One of the presenters had equipment problems and his presentation was basically destroyed and those of us who attended were given a ‘free’ ticket to the next presentation in Livingston.
Livingston is 5.5 hours away from where I live. This presented me with a great opportunity to create images along the way by taking the ‘slow roads’ to my destination. I drove from Kalispell to Great Falls and detoured near Choteau to drive the gravel roads toward the front range of the Rocky Mountains and Blackleaf NWR. These mountains are impressive and I wish I could do their rugged beauty justice but always feel like I’ve fallen short of their true majesty.
Soon after creating these images the skies closed up and the beautiful diffuse lighting was gone. I drove to Great Falls and visited with family for a short while and then drove to Livingston through rain and snow. UGH.
The seminar was much better (and more complete) this time around and it was good to see other members of the MT PPA and to talk with them, and to meet new faces.
Watching the weather forecasts for the day I was to leave, a storm front was moving in and snow was predicted. I left early in the morning hoping to avoid driving back in the snow. While driving into Butte I noticed Our Lady of the Rockies beaming her light out into the dark winter morning.
Once Butte was behind I had to decide which route to take home. Slow roads are always more scenic, in my opinion; I decided to take the ‘cutoff’ from Avon Junction up through the Seeley-Swan corridor…another ‘slow road’. I’m glad I did.
It’s almost impossible to tell if this single swan was of the Tundra or Trumpter variety as I was quite a distance from it when creating this image. It was such an image of simplicity. White swan, deep blue water.
Salmon Lake in the Seeley-Swan corridor was surrounded by intense colors of autumn:
Even though I thoroughly enjoy traveling and capturing images of our great state of Montana, it’s good to get home. This was especially true this time as I arrived home just in time to see snow start to fly and caught this image from my front porch.
