B/W Infrared On The Highline

One of my favorite road trips was in Montana on Route 2-  the Highline - that runs along the top of the state.  I find the landscape in the great plains to be exhilarating -- something about the minimal land and the huge skies makes me happy.  These photos were taken more than 10 years ago, while I was at the Rocky Mountain School of Photography in Missoula, Montana.  I shot them with black and white infrared film, one of my favorite films, which is no longer made, alas.

Can't really see it here, but there is a long freight train stopped at the silos.  Route 2 parallels train tracks for many hundred miles, and each town was founded by the railroad and named after European cities.  The largest town in this area is called Havre, and it is a cowboy town with lots of casinos and really bad food.

This is one of my favorite photos of all time.  Love the train line and the UFO cloud above.  This is a busy train track - I counted 11 freight trains going through in one hour, and each one had 50-70 cars.

I also took my medium format camera with me on this trip.  I was photographing the mountain, the sign, the sky, when a freight train zoomed into the photo, leaving behind the colorful striations on the left side of the photo.

All three of these photos are part of a RiverWinds Gallery show in Rhinebeck at the Wells Fargo Advisors office on the 2nd floor of Montgomery Row, right on route 9 in the middle of town.  The show, called The Skies Above, features painting and photographs, and can be viewed during business hours, M-F, at their offices.  For more information and to see more images from the show, check out www.riverwindsgallery.com.  The artists' reception will be held September 17, from 5-7.