Rainbow over the Mining City

There's beena lot of rain lately, and with that comes a lot of rainbows! In the first photo, the mine at left is the Kelly Mine. The mine at right is the Original Mine, where the main stage of the Folk Festival will be.

O'Rourke Safe

This intricate safe is upstairs in the O'Rourke Building. There are two O'Rourke buildings. This is the one that houses Curley's Shoes.

Peaking Window

Walkers Casino (next to Metals Bank) was missing a black panel and an old window was peaking out. It would look great if the business tore off the paneling and restored the building to its original state, and I know the owners mentioned it before.

Mine in Elkhorn, Montana

I was in Elkhorn on the 4th and stayed the night up at my family's cabin. There was a mining boom in the late 1800's and bits of the equipment remain in shambles.

35 Years ago....Handprints in the Driveway

I was shooting a home for Silver Bow Property Management and at the end of the shoot, I came upon this hand mural on the cement. As you can see, it was taken in July of 1974, almost to the date it was 35 years ago. There's Lance (assumed to be the father), Mom/Patty M, an 8-year-old (looks like it could be Jessi M, not sure), and some sort of a pet, I'll assume a dog, named Rodge.

It's strange to think that the dog passed away long ago, the child is now 43 (old enough to be my parent), and the parents may or may not be alive. And then to think I was photographing their empty home 35 years later. I almost felt intrusive. It brought a human element to a routing property shoot.

Click the image to see a larger version.

Mountain Con Mine Interior and Surroundings

I was invited to join the Historic Preservation Committee on a tour of the Mountain Con Mine and surrounding area. I wore flip flops, and didn't realize we would be hiking all around the area! It was worth it though.

I could have spent an entire day inside the hoist house. I could have spent hours inside the little control room as seen in the first photo. Hopefully I'll get a chance to go back.





This photo is of one of the elvators in the head frame.

Above:Mark Revis lead the tour, and brough us to an amazing lookout over the pit and Butte. He said it was "one of his favorite spots."

Below: The area between the Mt. Con and the Bell Diamond Mine used to be a neighborhood and be full of homes. This is the fireplace of a home which one stood...It's strange to imagine that a family may have been sitting around this fireplace in their cozy home.

Broken Glass

Blue Range

This is the Blue Range on Mercury Street. It used to be a brothel, and currently houses Blue Range Engineering. On the ground level the doors alternate with windows. A window to check out the girls, a door to use the "services." The brothels aren't the most attractive history about Butte, but they are a part of what Butte once was. They tell the story of Butte in its heyday.

Archive Windows

My friend Justina and I decided to go for walk. We walked to the new construction at the Butte Silver Bow County Archives, but the best photograph was of the windows of the old section. My friend Justina immediately said..."Do you want me to climb into one of the windows?" She has no fear and is willing to do crazy things I have to say no to! (She wanted to pretend to jump off the third floor of a four-story building...I had to say NO!)

The second photo is of Justina in one of the windows, and the third is massively Photoshoped to make it look as if she is an advertisement painted on the side of the building. I would like to do more of that kind of thing in senior portrait sessions.

Click Here to see more portrait photos of Justina

44 East Park HDR

This is an HDR (High Dynamic Range) photo of 44 East Park Street. It's owned by Silver Bow Property Management.

An HDR image is a bunch of different exposures of the same scene in order to capture the detail in the highlights and the shadows. This technique looks a bit "fake" in my opinion, so i tried my hardest to make it realistic by blowing out some of the highlights and darkening some of the shadows.

WAY too early in the morning dew...

I was matting prints for the Farmers Market tomorrow until 1 am, and figured, hey, I'll just stay up until sunrise and get some sunrise photos. The sun rises at like four...So I worked and worked and worked, made some mac-and-cheese, worked some more, and at four it wasn't starting to get light...Finally around 5 a.m. I looked outside and it was starting to get a bit lighter than pitch black. I grabbed Robert's dog Billy Bob and headed to the graveyard at the bottom of Montana Street....the one that isn't maintained. I know, creepy, it's still dark and I went to the graveyard. I'm working on an assignment for the cover photo of a book about the Graveyard's of Butte by Zena Beth.

Once we drove into the graveyard Billy Bob started whining. That did NOT make me feel easy about the situation! I'm not sure if I believe in ghosts, etc, but graveyards are creepy no matter what you believe. Anyway, the sunrise was tame. Plus sunrises aren't really my style. I got a lot of bad photos and a few less-than-great of the graves. But the trip wasn't totally worthless, it was actually great because I spotted a few great head stones and now have some ideas in my head. Unfortunately those ideas will require it to be dark, so it looks like I will be going back one of these nights. At least with sunrise I had the comfort that it would only get brighter out.

So here's a photo of the morning dew on the grass...I wish I had a macro lens.

Casey Building Stairway

These are the stairs to the apartments in the Casey Building. The door is on Granite Street, next to the old Frame Gallery.

Myra Building Detail

The Myra Building, aka Tony's Tin Shop, has intricate detail along the top of the building.

The first floor was built in 1915 by Antone Canonica, and the second floor was finished in 1920. He named the building after his wife. The second floor was a "furnished room" which was probably used for prostitution.

Galena Street Fountain

There's a fountain near the corner of Galena and Utah Streets. It's one of those things I've never noticed until a few months ago. I used a long shutter speed to make the water look soft.