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A Hutterite woman opens curtains in her home at the Springdale Hutterite Colony outside of White Sulphur Springs, Montana. Hutterites are a traditional Anabaptist religious society with origins in Germany. -
A dead mule deer doe lies by the side of Route 200 a few miles northeast of Lincoln, Montana. -
Alice H. stands in her living room in Great Falls, Montana, a week after she suffered a minor stroke. Though she quickly recovered almost fully, friends and family said she didn't seem to be quite herself until weeks later. -
A family eats lunch in a tent under the ferris wheel at the Montana State Fair in Great Falls, Montana. -
Worshippers are overcome by their religion during a christian tent revival in Great Falls, Montana. -
Tourists walk up to the melting ice of Grinnell Glacier in Glacier National Park, Montana, USA. Though the Park had more than 150 glaciers in 1850, the 26 remaining are expected to melt away by 2030. -
Skylar, 12, poses in a parking area at the Rocky Boy Powwow in Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation, Montana, USA. -
Barbara Jumper applies makeup for a court appearance on drug paraphernalia charges in Great Falls, Montana, USA. -
A veterinary assistant holds a prosthetic vaginal tube near a bait mare in preparation for collecting sperm from a stallion at Dr. Newman's Stables outside Great Falls, Montana, USA. -
House painters work on the exterior of a house in Great Falls, Montana, USA. -
A young boy rides bareback on a horse in the prairie outside the Rocky Boy Powwow in Rocky Boy Agency, Montana. -
Singers from Lame Deer, Montana, USA, compete in the song competition at the Rocky Boy Powwow in Rocky Boy Agency, Montana. -
Cowboys watch a bullride as a rodeo clown tries to get the attention of a bull at the annual Lincoln Rodeo in Lincoln, Montana. The Lincoln Rodeo is an open rodeo, which means competitors need not be a member of a professional rodeo association. -
A man gambles in an Eagles lodge early on a Sunday morning in Great Falls, Montana. Video machine gambling is legal throughout the state of Montana. -
Devotional pictures and calendars hang in the kitchen of a house in Great Falls, Montana, USA. -
An off-kilter mailbox stands by the highway in rural eastern Montana near Jordan, Montana. -
Harold (left) and Connie Brauer visit the gravesite of Connie's parents Nick and Helen Haburchak in Cut Bank, Montana. -
A couple of horses stand in a field surround by Russian Olive trees in the outskirts of Great Falls, Montana, USA. -
Christine Brauer drives a car in Great Falls, Montana. -
A hand-painted sign in Miles City, Montana, part of the Montana Meth Project education effort, warns against the dangers of meth amphetamine use. -
A man lights some fireworks late at night in Great Falls, Montana.
Not Cloudy All Day
Ranches are being consolidated, the population is aging, diesel costs as much as 4 dollars a gallon, nearly double the price just 5 years ago, and no one knows where the jobs will come from in the coming years. Traditions are changing as demographics shift. Hutterite colonies, with their communal Anabaptist way of life, dot the prairies of eastern Montana, but the religious in the cities are moving toward newer religions such as Pentecostalism, and methamphetamine has become a god all to its own. Glaciers are melting, the population is aging, and a beetle-borne disease threatens to wipe out the forests. Cowboys cling to the rambling way of life, jobs are drying up, and statewide gambling has taken a heavy toll on many. And yet, people remain optimistic that the clouds will blow over and that the future will be bright. New industries are popping up, exploiting the drastic underemployment, and tourism continues to pump money into the economy.
This is one of my most personal projects and serves as an attempt to understand the place I call home. My great grandparents emigrated from eastern Europe and carved out a way of life on the plains of central Montana. Now, a whole new generation is finding out what it takes to survive in the so-called Last Best Place.