1940 Packard Coupe: Classic Car of the Week

 1940 Packard Coupe

A tall grille, sweeping fenders, gleaming chrome, and wide whitewall tires—this 1940 Packard coupe gives the camera plenty to admire.

Most of my photography sales are images of classic cars, so I’m adding a car each week to my Pic of the Day posts. Landscapes will still have their place, but I want to give these automotive subjects a regular turn in the spotlight.

For the first feature, I’ve chosen this handsome Packard. I especially like the way the rounded fenders frame the front wheels and the long hood leads your eye toward the passenger compartment. The dark paint reflects the surroundings, while the chrome and whitewalls provide bright accents.

In this finished photograph, a shaded background keeps attention on the car’s shape and details. Even standing still, it has presence.

For those who enjoy classic automobiles—or have a Packard enthusiast in the family—this photograph is available as wall art in my Etsy shop.

View the photograph and available print options:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/1645848342

What classic car would you like to see in a future weekly feature?

Bryan D. Spellman, Ph.D.

Pic of the Day — Devils Tower: A Second Visit, a Different View

Devils Tower

The first time I visited Wyoming’s Devils Tower, the weather kept most of it to itself.

A blizzard had torn across northern Wyoming and western South Dakota, closing Mount Rushmore for the day. At Devils Tower, I could see the bottom of the formation, but its summit disappeared into mist and snow. I had arrived at the famous landmark, yet much of it remained hidden.

My return on May 23, 2025, offered a very different view. It was a glorious spring day to be driving cross-country with my camera close at hand. This time, the entire tower stood before me, its deeply furrowed rock rising above a green hillside and a belt of pines. Great white clouds filled the sky, with patches of blue opening between them.

I like the contrast between those two visits. My first glimpse left me imagining what the weather concealed. This visit let me appreciate the whole formation—and bring home a photograph of it.

Sometimes returning to a place gives you the view you hoped for the first time.

This photograph is available through my LightIntoArt Etsy shop on paper, canvas, metal, or acrylic:
https://lightintoart.etsy.com/listing/4311386222/devils-tower-wall-art-wyoming-landscape

Photography by Bryan D. Spellman, Ph.D.

Pic of the Day: Thr Milwaukee Road's Kyle Tunnel

 The Kyle Tunnel, Avery, Idaho

Kyle Tunnel, Idaho: Light at the Other End

A gravel road disappears into a dark opening in the rock. Around it, the forest is lush and green. Through the tunnel, a small patch of daylight offers a glimpse of what lies beyond.

I photographed Kyle Tunnel in Shoshone County, Idaho, on June 17, 2018. Part of the Milwaukee Road’s former route through the Bitterroot Mountains, it brings together two subjects that often draw my attention: the natural landscape and the traces people leave within it.

Here, the tunnel seems almost part of the mountain itself. There is no grand entrance announcing its presence—just an opening through the rugged rock, framed by trees, moss, and undergrowth. The road leads the eye into the darkness, while that distant opening gives it somewhere to go.

Railroad enthusiasts may recognize the Milwaukee Road connection immediately. Others may simply see an invitation to explore. I like that the photograph offers both: a piece of transportation history and the quiet appeal of an Idaho back road.

I recently revisited the original photograph and refreshed its presentation in my LightIntoArt shop. The listing now includes new room mockups, size comparisons, and a short video to help you picture it on your own wall.

Kyle Tunnel is available on premium photo paper, stretched canvas, acrylic, and aluminum metal, with larger three-panel options also offered.

View Kyle Tunnel in my LightIntoArt Etsy shop

Bryan D. Spellman, Ph.D.

Clark Fork River Below Cabinet Gorge Dam: Light and an Ice Age Story

 Clark Fork River Below Cabinet Gorge Dam: Light and an Ice Age Story

By Bryan D. Spellman, Ph.D.

Light breaking through clouds can change the whole character of a landscape. In today’s photograph, it spills across distant mountains while the Clark Fork River winds through the darker canyon below. Evergreen forests cover the slopes, exposed rock borders the water, and the river draws the eye into the scene.

This is the Clark Fork River below Cabinet Gorge Dam, near the Montana–Idaho state line. The photograph shows a landscape whose beauty comes with an extraordinary geological history.

Cabinet Gorge is considered a likely location of the glacier’s edge that blocked the Clark Fork River during the last Ice Age. Behind that barrier, water accumulated to form Glacial Lake Missoula, flooding valleys across western Montana. The glacier advanced and retreated, so its contact with the lake was not fixed in one place.

The ice dam failed repeatedly. Each failure released enormous quantities of water downstream into Idaho and Washington. Those floods stripped soil, scoured rock, and helped shape eastern Washington’s Channeled Scablands. They continued through the Columbia River Gorge toward the Pacific, profoundly altering the landscape along their route.

Looking at this river today, it takes some imagination to picture water moving through the region on that scale. The photograph offers a quieter view: forest, stone, flowing water, and sunlight finding its way through the clouds.

I’ve recently revisited this image and refreshed its LightIntoArt listing with new print previews, room mockups, and information about the landscape’s Ice Age connection.

The photograph is available as a physical fine art print on photo paper, stretched canvas, metal, or acrylic, with three-panel canvas options for larger walls. Visit the listing to explore the available sizes and materials:

https://lightintoart.etsy.com/listing/4371335516

For more about the region’s flood history:
https://iafi.org/must-see-floods-features-in-northern-idaho/

The Colorado River, seen from a helicopter above the Grand Canyon.

 

My mother saw the Grand Canyon while she and my father traveled from Boston to western Montana after World War II. It was a long-delayed honeymoon, and when she described the canyon afterward, she needed just one word: “Breathtaking.”

I understood what she meant when I first stood at the rim in 1973. The view seemed to go on forever, while the river that had shaped it was far below. I’ve returned to the canyon several times since, and that first feeling has never entirely left me.

On a more recent visit, my partner and I took a helicopter flight over the canyon. The aircraft had a glass front, so I could see ahead and down as we crossed the rim. From the air, the Colorado River became a winding line through broad layers of rock. It was a different way to grasp the scale of a place I thought I already knew.

Today’s photograph comes from that flight. I’m drawn to the river’s long curve and to the quieter colors of the rock around it. The canyon needs no added drama; its shapes tell the story.

I’ve recently revisited the photograph and prepared a new edition for my LightIntoArt shop. It is available as a photo paper print, canvas, three-panel canvas, metal, or acrylic, with the sizes shown in the listing.

See the Grand Canyon photograph on Etsy

Photograph and text by Bryan D. Spellman.

Pic of the Day: Point Arena Lighthouse, California

Point Arena Lighthouse

Mendocino County, California

Point Arena Lighthouse stands above a rugged stretch of the Mendocino coast. What draws me to this photograph is everything happening below the tower: the steep, weathered cliffs, the scattered rocks, and the Pacific breaking around them. The lighthouse gives the scene its anchor, but the coastline does much of the storytelling.

I made the original photograph years ago under a plain gray sky. When I returned to the image, I still liked the land and water, but the sky gave little back to them. I chose to add a sunset sky during editing. The lighthouse, cliffs, rocks, and ocean are from my photograph; the pink and blue sky is an artistic addition.

That choice changed the feeling of the picture. The warmer light draws your eye along the cliffs toward the lighthouse, while the cool water keeps the scene grounded. I wanted the finished work to convey the drama I see in this part of the California coast without suggesting that I photographed that sunset on that day.

I’ve recently prepared a new version of the image for my LightIntoArt shop, along with room views that show how it looks as a single print or a large three-panel canvas. You can see the available sizes and materials in the Point Arena Lighthouse listing.

— Bryan D. Spellman

Pic of the Day: Flathead Lake at Somers

Flathead Lake at Somers

A few kayakers cross Flathead Lake while a houseboat rests near the shoreline. Beyond them, wooded land and mountains meet the reflective water. It is a wide, quiet scene, but those small human details are what keep my eye moving through it.

I photographed this view at Somers, on the north end of the lake. As a Montana native, I have returned to Flathead Lake many times. In revisiting this photograph for a new print, I wanted the blues and grays to feel natural to the scene rather than brighter than I remembered them.

The kayakers give a sense of the lake’s scale. At first glance they are easy to miss; once found, they make the open water feel even larger. The houseboat offers another place to pause before the eye travels toward the distant mountains.

I have finished a new edit of this photograph and updated its wall art listing with fresh images showing the print options.  The photo is available as a paper print (in smaller sizes) or as a stretched canvas, brushed metal or acrylic print in sizes up to 40x90 inch triptychs.  Let me know what you think.  You can see it on LightIntoArt.

Bryan D. Spellman