Montana Guest Photographer, Oil Drilling, Looking Glass, What's Next?

Guest Photographer for the Montana Office of Tourism
Monday morning at about 9am I received a phone call notifying me that I had been selected as one of the two, 2010, 2011 "guest photographers" for the state of Montana's Office of Tourism.  Wow, imagine my surprise; I feel very honored to receive that kind of recognition and I'm exited about starting work on the project. The other guest photographer is arguably one of best anywhere; some of you may know him, it's Chuck Haney.  Over the next 12 months part of my time will be spent capturing images for the Montana Office of Tourism. 25 images will become part of the states collection and used for marketing the state to tourists across the U.S. and abroad.  I'm looking forward to making this project part of my regular photographic life.

Print Winner
Someone won the print, he guessed Hwy 49 just past East Glacier Park.  It was a shot of Froggy Flats, on Hwy 49 just past East Glacier Park on your way up the Two Medicine . . . Congratulations!  And thanks to all that sent it guesses.  I'll be doing another one very soon!

New Oil Well
This is a shot of a drill rig.  The well on the Blackfeet Reservation was drilled about a month ago between East Glacier and Browning, just south of Highway 2.  That is Rising Wolf in the background.  This tower is now gone but it's been replaced by a permanent flair stack.  The news recently reported as many as 70 wells are proposed for the Reservation, this is the second, or maybe third of the 70.

Billy Bowman
Can anyone guess where Billy's at in this image - I'll give you a hint, it's in Glacier National Park?

Trash on the Looking Glass Road
I was just thinking that maybe next year I should organize and sponsor a trash clean up of the Looking Glass road (Hwy 49 to Kiowa).  This year was as bad as I've ever seen it, it was absolutely disgusting!  This is NOT a staged shot, this is what I saw the day the road was "opened" for travel. This is unacceptable and I want to do something about it. . . I'd like to think I could stop the problem all together, but since I'm smarter than that, I think I'll just have to focus on a little education and clean up.  Hopefully that will also increase awareness and create some self policing.  Does anyone have any words of wisdom, or would you like to share with me some ideas about how we might be able to approach a clean up next spring?  The grass will soon be to tall to effectively gather the trash, so tell me what you think so I can get started on a clean up for next spring!

What's Next?
How many of you know what youre going photograph next? Do you just search around looking for images to show up, or do you plan your shoots? Everyone wants to be original right?  We all want to bring to life our own visions through our imagery correct. So if you plan, how do you plan what to shoot when you have not seen it yet?

Are you interested in what kinds of things I consider before I decide what to photograph?  I mean really, you can be in only one place at a time right?  If you're interested in more about how I plan please let me know.  If there are other things you'd like me to discuss or present, send me a message and I'll be sure to mention or discuss them  . . .

One last word.  There's been a delay in the opening of the new Glacier Impressions gallery.  The carpet we ordered cant be installed until June 9th so it seems that we will be opening sometime after that.  Later in July we will have our official "grand opening" so I'll be sure to let everyone know the date and time!

Tony