Pic of the Day: Purple Iris

 Purple Iris in my Flower Garden

Purple Iris: Beauty in My Own Backyard
By Bryan D. Spellman, Ph.D.

Many of my photographs come from journeys across Montana and beyond. Today’s Pic of the Day comes from much closer to home: my own flower garden here in Plains, Montana.

This purple iris offers plenty to explore without leaving the yard. Its ruffled petals range from pale lavender to deep violet, with fine dark lines crossing creamy patches near the center. Against the black background, those details stand out, while a narrow green leaf provides a straight line beside the flower’s many curves.

As both a gardener and a photographer, I enjoy this opportunity to look closely at something I’ve grown. A flower that catches the eye in the garden reveals even more through the camera: delicate textures, overlapping shapes, and subtle variations in color.

Montana’s mountains and rivers will always draw my attention, but there is beauty worth photographing right outside my door, too.

View Purple Iris photographic wall art in my LightIntoArt Etsy shop.

Blodgett Canyon: A Landscape of Norman Maclean

 Blodgett Canyon: A Landscape of Norman Maclean

By Bryan D. Spellman, Ph.D.

Some photographs begin with a view. This one began with a story.

I photographed Blodgett Canyon in Montana’s Bitterroot Mountains while researching an article for Distinctly Montana magazine about the landscapes of Norman Maclean. Near Hamilton, this canyon connects the physical Montana I know through my camera with the Montana preserved in Maclean’s words.

Blodgett Canyon features in “USFS 1919: The Ranger, the Cook, and a Hole in the Sky.” In that story, the canyon is part of the passage between mountain work and life down in the Bitterroot Valley. Reading about a place gives us one way of seeing it; standing before it with a camera gives us another.

In this photograph, sunlight catches the rugged rock faces while clouds partly conceal the higher ridges. Dark evergreens and a brilliant golden tree bring autumn into the foreground. There is a great deal happening between earth and sky, even in a still photograph.

That meeting of landscape and literature drew me to this project. Maclean’s places are real places, and visiting them adds another dimension to the experience of reading his work.

Read my article, “The Landscapes of Norman Maclean: Forest, Mountains, Water”:
https://www.distinctlymontana.com/landscapes-norman-maclean-forest-mountains-water

This photograph is available as wall art from LightIntoArt:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/1664028635

Pic of the Day: Reflections in Lake McDonald

Reflections in Lake McDonald

Reflections in Lake McDonald

Glacier National Park, Montana, USA
By Bryan D. Spellman, Ph.D.

Some photographs invite you to look into the distance. This one also invites you to look down.

Across Lake McDonald, snow-covered mountains rise beneath a clear blue sky. Their reflections stretch across the calm water, joined by the trees along the shoreline at the right. Look closer, though, and another landscape appears: a mosaic of colorful stones beneath the surface.

That combination is what I particularly enjoy about this photograph. The distant peaks give the scene its grandeur, while the stones bring it within reach. You can let your eye travel toward the mountains, then return to the shallow water almost at your feet.

The reflections create a pleasing balance, but the photograph isn’t perfectly symmetrical. The wooded shoreline curves into the scene, and the submerged stones add color and texture below the reflected mountains. There is plenty to explore without disturbing the sense of stillness.

For Monday’s Pic of the Day, I’m sharing this quiet view of Glacier National Park. A little blue sky, a little mountain snow, and water clear enough to reveal what lies beneath—a welcome way to begin the week.

“Reflections in Lake McDonald” is available as photographic wall art through my Etsy shop, LightIntoArt, with paper, canvas, metal, and acrylic options.

View the photograph and available print options on Etsy.

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/