Hey, Little Critter

My photo of a cowboy roping a calf that wandered into a reservoir appeared in the spring 2019 issue of Range Magazine, seen here. I wrote the text in the article, too, which you can read below.

One of the dangers when herding cattle at times is when one of the animals gets spooked and has a mind of its own. Especially when it is a calf. Such was the case on the Gordon Cattle Company Ranch when a small red Angus calf darted from the herd and headed straight for a nearby reservoir. Well out of reach of anyone on the ground, cowboy Larry Klingaman, of Chinook, Montana expertly and calmly guided his horse to the edge of the body of water, dipped the horse's head, and roped the calf, pulling him to safety.

Larry is a talented cowboy who performs similar tasks on a regular basis. He's good with his horse, good with cattle, good with neighbors, and good with his family, which includes a brood of kids. His skills were honed on the prairies of eastern Montana where he works hard as a cowboy to keep his family fed. And what's more, he does it with a broad smile every day regardless of what life throws at him. Rescue a calf from the reservoir? Sure. But to do so calmly and with the aplomb of a surgeon? That takes a special man.

Portrait of the West: Pete Berry

NOTE: This is a brief article (and photo) I had published in the winter 2018 issue of Range Magazine.

Cowboys can be ranchers, but not all ranchers are cowboys. Even the children of ranchers can be cowboys, too. But most cowboys are hired hands who travel the countryside working on many different ranches over their lifetime and helping ranchers work their cattle and tend to their horses. Pete Berry, of Havre, Montana is one of them…a cowboy for hire.

Though he first worked on his family ranch for decades near Reed Point, Montana and still has a small ranch all to himself west and north of the Milk River near the small town of Havre, Berry has spent the better part of the last 20 years working on other ranches soon after his father sold the family ranch in 1998.

“It’s what I had to do,” the 63-year-old Berry said. “Being a cowboy is a great way of life. I can’t imagine doing anything else.”

Berry first saddled up when he was just eight years old. “It was a little Welsh pony my father bought me.” Soon after the young Pete Berry graduated to quarter horses and began roping cattle from the saddle and training colts.

Though he worked on ranches all over Montana and South Dakota, Berry spent most of his time recently on ranches in north central Montana, where the land is large, the weather is extreme, and the people are sparse. I fell in love with the Bear Paw Mountains,” Berry said. “I don’t think there’s a better piece of cow country anywhere in the United States.”

25% off Adobe's photography plan

View fullsize

What a difference digital editing software can make. In fact, it is the single greatest thing you can buy to improve the quality of your photos. I recommend Adobe Photoshop CC or Adobe Photoshop Elements 2019.

The Black Friday specials are here and Adobe has extended an opportunity for me to offer my readers 25% off of its already low-priced photography plan. Normally it would cost $9.99 a month for Adobe Lightroom CC, Adobe Photoshop CC, and 1 TB of storage. Considering the dumbed-down version of Photoshop Elements 2019 costs $99.99, this is helluva deal. If you want to purchase the one thing that will have the greatest impact on the quality of your photos then run (don’t walk) to Adobe’s website to purchase this deal.

Montana's Golden Triangle

View fullsize

View fullsize

A map of the Golden Triangle region in Montana. The triangle denotes that area often referred to the Golden Triangle. The wheat growing are shaded in red, however, is more truthfully the Golden Triangle.

The Golden Triangle in Montana is often mentioned within rural and small town circles in central Montana, but for the most part, many people don’t know exactly where the Golden Triangle is, or its significance. This article is intends to shed some light and provide some information about the Golden Triangle in Montana and highlight photos of the Golden Triangle I have made over the years, too.

Located in north central Montana, the Golden Triangle is generally considered that region south of the Canadian border and north of Great Falls. If you were to draw a line from Great Falls and through Cut Bank to the Canadian border and from Great Falls through Havre to the Canadian border, that would be what most people in these parts consider the Golden Triangle. But that would be unfair those those area immediately adjacent to the Triangle (see right). And just such a definition also fails to explain the people, places, and things within this region that make it worthy of just such a name in the first place.

View fullsize

View fullsize

Back in September last year I contributed photos of the Golden Triangle to Montana Magazine for a piece about the Golden Triangle. I liked the article, which was written by someone else, but I didn’t like the title. It was called, “Wind, Snow, and Mountains: Montana’s Golden Triangle.” For starters, aside from affecting the weather, which contributes to the reason why the regions is well suited to growing wheat and other cereal crops, mountains are not located anywhere in the Golden Triangle. And more to the point, it missed the most crucial ingredient and the reason why the word “golden” is added to its name. Wheat.

Growers in the Golden Triangle of Montana produce more wheat than most other regions of the country. While other regions produce strictly winter wheat, for example, the Golden Triangle is known for its winter AND spring wheat. Wheat, barley, and pulse crops of the engine of the economy in the Golden Triangle, and without it, the Golden Triangle would not be what it is today.

There aren’t a lot of cattle operations in these parts. The soil is far to valuable for growing wheat, barley, and other crops. No, this is wheat and grain country. The word “golden” refers to the amber waves of grain that cascade over the plains in late summer just before harvest. Oceans of wheat move in unison with the wind as far as the eye can see. And then once harvest begins, the late afternoon sun is choked with the dust and chaff kicked up by harvesters and combines, which are busy cutting the crops in the field.

The communities in the Golden Triangle largely depend on the economy that wheat and other crops provide. Even the skyline of Great Falls, the largest city in the region and the Golden Triangle’s anchor, is dominated by grain elevators whose silos are filled with grain in the late summer and early autumn. Other communities, such as Havre, Shelby, Fort Benton, Cut Bank, Conrad, Big Sandy, Choteau, and Chester (just to name a few) exist in large part because of the money wheat and the Golden Triangle provides.

As one of many Montana photographers I enjoy photographing the more hidden haunts of Montana. While there are other Montana photographers working in the vicinity of the Golden Triangle to be sure, I think I am the only one who has dedicated much of his time photographing the rural lifestyle of the region and making photos of agriculture there. While many others photographers would feel more at home making photos of Glacier National Park, I am more at home on the dusty roads and fields of places like the Golden Triangle. I have made many photos of the Golden Triangle and will continue to make many more.

To check out my gallery of Golden Triangle photos be sure to click here: Photos of the Golden Triangle

Be sure to check out my photos of wheat and my photos of combines, too.

Chickpeas photo used on cover of annual Montana Department of Agriculture report

View fullsize

It’s not the most exciting photo and it’s not the most exciting publication, but my photo of chickpeas at harvest time in Montana was used on the cover of the 2018 Montana Department of Agriculture annual report. You can see that cover above. It is one more example of how my agriculture photos are being licensed an used for various projects. If you are interested in licensing any of my agriculture photography please be sure to let me know.