Sunrise on the Rocky Mountain Front outside of Augusta, Montana I remember when I was about to graduate high school and all I wanted to do was leave my small town home to live in the big city. I hadn't yet experienced everything my home had to offer, or I didn't really care. Over the past couple years I have been lucky enough to see my home state through new eyes, and experience unbelievable raw moments that I was oblivious to before I picked up my first camera. It's hard not to be romantic when thinking about Montana. The air is clean, the water is clear, the stars are bright, the sky is big ..read more

Alpen Glow Ignites the Mountains of the ScapeGoat Wilderness, Montana I feel like lately I've been super lucky. I remember my teachers in business school telling me "It's all about who you know." Which I thought was a ridiculous thing to tell someone who is paying $6,000 a year to be in that persons' classroom. But lately knowing the right people has put me in the middle of some incredible places and moments so maybe it was true. It seems like people my age and people I personally know are starting to find where they fit in this world and are finding what they love to do. It's true for me wit ..read more

Journal Entry: Feb 10th- Alaska SO MUCH ANTICIPATION. The flights seemed to take forever today. I made it to Anchorage in a whiteout. 7+ hour drive to Fairbanks. Outside Denali, near Cantrell the wind had have been 50+ mph, so cold that I got frost burn from touching the car. I stood in the middle of the highway as snow gusted all around me. Very grey until the sun started coloring everything with pastels, Lavender, gold, lilac, powder blues. I love this place, feels so wild. Seeing the Alaska Range from above tomorrow, thanks to Caleb, super excited ..read more

Spontaneous weekend road trips. It seems that they have almost become a regular thing, which is fine by me. I'll be sitting around all week working my normal 9-5 job but the whole time I am thinking, "Where should I go this weekend?" This weekend I chose the coast! I packed up the dog and my gear, left Missoula at 5 am and hit I-90 to Seattle with the destination being Olympic National Park on the Washington Coast. This time my friend Willow wanted to join and model for me. I've been really wanting to do more portraits and I got plenty of practice. The coast and the rainforest, two of my favo ..read more

The calendar has changed from 2016 to 2017, so naturally I will write 2016 on any piece of paper for the next six months. A funny thing happens on New Years Day, everyone reflects on what happened, bad or good, in the previous year. In 2016 I started to figure out what I was doing with a camera in my hand. In 2016 I put 50,000 miles on my car traveling to places I had never been. I spent my birthday in Alaska, camped on a glacier in the heart of Denali, and saw the Northern Lights. I became obsessed with backpacking and packed over 100 miles of trails this year. I read 10 books, from reading 0 ..read more

It snowed earlier this month and I wrote in my journal. Not much, just wanted to show the photos. First Big Snow- Dec.5- Seely Swan, Montana "I have been in a train of truck traffic because of last nights storm. I have been watching taillights for the better part of 3 hours. Glad I detoured to Lindbergh Lake, streams aren't frozen and everything is blanketed in new snow. 6 inches deep, no wind, calm, quiet, relaxing. Back on the Road" #landscapephotography #travelphotography #landscapes #outdoorphotography #camping #photography #travel ..read more

The Holidays are here! How did I celebrate Thanksgiving and Black Friday? By taking a 10 hour drive to Moab, Utah, exploring the desert scenery of Arches National Park and Canyonlands National Park. My friend and fellow photographer Ross Perkins and I left Montana at 5 am to make it to Southern Utah in time for sunset. We arrived to Arches National Park just as the sun was setting, I wasn't very happy with how any of the sunset shots turned out, that's just how it goes sometimes. I knew I would redeem myself once the stars came out. Ross and I hiked to the famous Delicate Arch with headlamps o ..read more

Let me start this out by saying I LOVE THANKSGIVING. It is my favorite holiday by far, I love spending time with my family, I love the food, I love the drinks. What I have started to dislike about this holiday is that people are more excited about the following morning and waiting in line to trample each other for a crazy discount on some knick knack. Sure the prospect of saving a bunch of money on a material possession that you don't really NEED could be exciting, but isn't the whole point of the holidays really to make memories with people that you love? REI, a outdoor goods co-op and retail ..read more

Ross Perkins (@wanderlustnotless) taking in the sunset views of the Beartooth Pass The Beartooth Pass, 11,000 ft. elevation, the ceiling of Montana, and as a lifelong resident of Montana 2016 was the first time I had laid eyes on the glacier carved valleys and endless plateaus that stretched into the sky. A reoccurring theme in this blog will be the fact that before I picked up my camera I feel that I took my surroundings for granted. The Beartooth Pass is about 3 hours from where I grew up, yet I had never made the relatively short drive to take in the views. What spurred my last minute deci ..read more

Why didn't I do this earlier!? I realize that photos are only one part of the story of my life, there are moments behind the photo that should be told paint the complete picture of that little frozen piece of time and place and I have a ton of moments from this year that I should share, however fuzzy they may be now that months have passed since the events happening. From here on out I will share my weekend adventures, photos, backpacking trips, events, and journal entries. Look forward to stories from my trips to Alaska, Utah, Canada, Washington, Wyoming, Colorado, and 6 National Parks. Many ..read more