Springtime on Wildhorse Island Means Blanket of Flowers
©Bert Gildart: Here’s the cover image for the Northwest Outdoor Writer’s Association program directory, a conference which will be held this year in Polson, Montana.
Arrowleaf Balsam Root on Wildhorse Island
NOWA is an affiliate of the Outdoor Writer’s Association of America, and both organizations boast members who write and take pictures for some of the nation’s leading outdoor, conservation, and travel publications.
I took this image several years ago and it has been used for other publications — as well as for my book Montana Icons.
Our conference is a five day meeting and it starts next Thursday and runs through the weekend. Attendance is slated to include members from all over the Northwest.
ARROWLEAF WILL BE AT ITS PEAK
My image is particularly appropriate for this meeting. Out on Wildhorse Island, site of this image, Arrowleaf Balsam Root will be as its peak. Beautiful at all times of the year, Wildhorse is particularly spectacular in the spring when flowers run from hill to hill.
Wildhorse is a remote island in the Flathead Lake and hosts not only the beautiful displays of flowers shown here, but also healthy populations of bighorn sheep and deer. The island is most easily reached by private boat or by kayak. The image was made with a 4×5 view camera and a Schneider wide angle lens.
For depth of field I set the lens to f-64 and then tilted the front swing slightly down to increase depth of field. F-64 demands a very slow shutter speed, which was probably about one full second. That means everything had to be perfectly still, as it typically is in the early morning hours out on Wildhorse.
Parts of the Arrowleaf are edible and Native Americans once sought out the species. Wildhorse gets its name because of the wild horses natives once swam to the islands shore, thinking to safe guard their wild horses from enemies.
Note: I don’t use the 4×5 much anymore, but maintain that digital can not yet do what some of the large format film cameras do.
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AIRSTREAM TRAVELS TWO YEARS AGO
4th ed. Autographed by the Authors
Hiking Shenandoah National Park
Hiking Shenandoah National Park is the 4th edition of a favorite guide book, created by Bert & Janie, a professional husband-wife journalism team. Lots of updates including more waterfall trails, updated descriptions of confusing trail junctions, and new color photographs. New text describes more of the park’s compelling natural history. Often the descriptions are personal as the Gildarts have hiked virtually every single park trail, sometimes repeatedly.
Big Sky Country is beautiful
Montana Icons: 50 Classic Symbols of the Treasure State
Montana Icons is a book for lovers of the western vista. Features photographs of fifty famous landmarks from what many call the “Last Best Place.” The book will make you feel homesick for Montana even if you already live here. Bert Gildart’s varied careers in Montana (Bus driver on an Indian reservation, a teacher, backcountry ranger, as well as a newspaper reporter, and photographer) have given him a special view of Montana, which he shares in this book. Share the view; click here.
$16.95 + Autographed Copy
What makes Glacier, Glacier?
Glacier Icons: 50 Classic Views of the Crown of the Continent
Glacier Icons: What makes Glacier Park so special? In this book you can discover the story behind fifty of this park’s most amazing features. With this entertaining collection of photos, anecdotes and little known facts, Bert Gildart will be your backcountry guide. A former Glacier backcountry ranger turned writer/photographer, his hundreds of stories and images have appeared in literally dozens of periodicals including Time/Life, Smithsonian, and Field & Stream. Take a look at Glacier Icons
$16.95 + Autographed Copy
