Bannack State Park

About a week ago I mustered up the nerve to go down to Bannack State Park. One, it's quite the drive, and while adventures are fun, striking out such a distance on one's own can be a bit daunting. More importantly though, this is a ghost town which is preserved by the state. The site is supposed to be haunted, so I would have been happy to have a little company. I had been talking to some friends and was under the impression that there were some park personnel around at least. Not so when I showed up. Deserted. Not a soul in sight. Just as spine tingling spooky as I thought it would be.

An entirely deserted ghost town is great for atmosphere, but not so great for steady photographs. I will admit to sticking close to the main street. You can walk around back and view even more buildings, but I didn't feel comfortable doing so. Also, I was confused as to whether the place was open or not. (It's technically not until Mid-May.) Some buildings were locked up tight and some had their doors wide open. That was not helping my nerves any either.  No, I did not fall for the invitation and walk into those empty buildings. A) Not sure I was supposed to. B) Didn't know who had left the door open.  Ghosts or humans?  Either way, I wasn't about to satisfy my curiosity.  I figured some things are better left alone.

I really liked the decorational piece above the door on this house.  I had trouble identfying the property using the guide book, though.  I think it is the site where the first governor's mansion was.  However, I don't believe this is that house.  The guide book states that the governor's mansion burned down and the governor and his wife spent the rest of their stay in Montana in a small sod roofed building.  That building is still present behind this one.

This is the masonic building / school house.  The plaque above the door states that the Masonic hall is on the 2nd floor and the school is on the first.

This is one of the more striking buildings in Bannack.  Before it became the Meade Hotel, it was the courthouse.  Apparently it is haunted, but I didn't spot anything.

You can find out more about Bannack State Park at the following links:

Welcome to Bannack State Park

Legends of America - Bannack




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Camera Obscura Experiment

Shortly before spring break the camera club introduced me to the work of Abelardo Morrell. I didn't have time to go check out the exhibit which is unfortunate, however, I did have time to research the web to find out who this photographer was. While I love the scope of the camera rooms, what really fired my imagination was the camera obscura tents.

Well, I'm not braving freezing cold weather, so that little experiment will have to wait for summer. Still, I was itching to see if I could accomplish the same thing. Could I turn a room in my house into a camera obscura. Could I project an image from the outside of the house onto a wall on the inside. Yup, I have obsessive compulsive disorder, but it usually manifests itself in harmless forms.

I spent the entire next day prepping and setting it all up. I have always been a bit frustrated with how dark our entrance hallway is, however, for once, it had the perfect amount of light. It also is one of the smaller windows in the house making prep and set up quite easy. The one drawback, is the stairs still let in some light. I solved this issue by closing our basement door and hanging a drape over a curtain rod to cut out some of the light coming from the upstairs. This wasn't perfect, in fact, I wasn't sure it had worked.

When I went back down, all I saw were a lot of cool shadows. Well, I guess that'll work. Pause for awhile allowing the eye to adjust and there it was on the back door. Exactly what I was aiming for. A projection of our tree in our front yard!

Camera Obscura Wiki

Camera Obscura Room tutorial

Beautiful Mammoth Hot Springs

I went digging through my archives and found these photos of Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone National Park. Definitely one of my favorite places to visit and photograph, this place never ceases to amaze me with its beauty.

Deer Calisthenics

This blog post is brought to you by our local wildlife. They are quite entertaining sometimes. As I was returning from my morning walk this past summer, I caught these guys nibbling on our neighbor's crab apple tree. Unfortunately I couldn't get as close as I'd like since that would scare them off.  The reason I hesitated to do so can be found in the last photo.  If you take a good look at it, you will see a deer in the left hand corner standing on its hind legs to reach the tasty treats. (Well, tasty and crab apples may not really go together, but the deer seem to love them.)  I have seen the deer perform this trick before, but I have never been fortunate enough to capture it with my camera.  While, I do wish I had been closer, I weighed my options and decided I'd rather have the distance shot than nothing at all.  After capturing the deer doing calisthenics to reach its meal, I decided to continue to head home.  To do so, I had to take a path that goes right by these particular trees.  Sure enough they made a run for it, and I was happy to know I'd made the correct decision. 

Denver Mash

I have discovered the coolest thing in my PaintFx app. They've added a feature where you can blend two photos together. Too cool, especially with my recent love of creating double exposures. Needless to say I spent the whole night messing around with this option. I had great fun mashing Denver and seeing what I could combine it with. If you look really close you can spot all kinds of cool things including the Jolly Green Giant.

Going Way Back

I'm trying to get back into the groove of things after having been gone awhile, so I decided to go way back. Back to where I started my blog archive anyway. These images were taken a couple of summers ago in Hyalite Canyon. I happened upon a meadow teeming with life.  These are just a few of the insects I saw that day. 

St. Ignatius Mission

With my husband being enrolled in the MBA program at the University of Montana, we have plenty of chances to go to Missoula. This is wonderful for me as there are plenty of sight seeing opportunities in the area. One of the places, I've been wanting to visit for a long time is the mission in St. Ignatius. I've heard it's quite beautiful. I have to admit that doesn't begin to describe the building. I was quite awe inspired by the paintings and decor of the church. I really feel it holds it's own against the cathedrals in Europe.

PS - I do apologize for the quality of the photos. When we pulled up to the church there was a gentleman in his car blaring rap music, so I totally forgot to bring my good camera in. I did at least remember to bring my iPhone. Believe me, there's no photos on this planet that would replace actually being in the church. I literally felt at peace the minute I walked into the place. Perhaps, I will make it back with the good camera during one of these trips. Enjoy!

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