Montana Evening Sky

A brief post this time (thank you, PlaidCamper) following up on those Montana sunsets painted by Charles Russell I mentioned a couple of weeks back.

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One night, there was a storm – very dramatic!

Did I manage to capture a sunset like Charlie? Nope! Not even close, but I sure had fun trying…

We were staying at Little Bear cabin, an old ranger station situated high above Bozeman in the Gallatin Forest. A beautiful location with panoramic views in every direction. I’ll write more about the cabin another time. I know, you can’t wait…

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The views are lovely – you can see a few lights way down in the valley

In almost all the photographs I use in this blog, the only changes I make to the original is an occasional crop (if only you could see the leftovers…oh dear), but I have to be honest and say all the photos in this post have been tweaked and edited. I’ve no idea what I did, but it was entertaining changing the various settings to see what happened. All of which makes me even more appreciative of Charlie Russell’s skills as a painter.

Imagine being skilled enough to paint an evening sky
Imagine being skilled enough to paint an evening sky

As well as the artistic skills, my guess would be you’d have to have one eye open and on the lookout for larger wildlife. There are grizzlies in the area, and we always felt happy to be in the cabin rather than camping.

The big sky was so grand...too large to capture effectively!
The big sky was so grand…too large to capture effectively!

We had a wonderful time sky watching up on the mountain! Time to think, get a sense of perspective, and admire the grandeur of Montana from a mountain top. I’ll leave you with a couple more photos taken from up there:

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Thanks for reading! As ever, please feel free to share a story or a comment, and keep your guy ropes secure.

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plaidcamper

I am a would be outdoorsman - that is if I had more time, skills and knowledge. When I can, I love being outdoors, just camping, hiking, snowboarding, xc skiing, snowshoeing, paddling a canoe or trying something new. What I lack in ability, I make up for in enthusiasm and having a go. I'd never really survive for long out there in the wild, but I enjoy pretending I could if I had to...

24 thoughts on “Montana Evening Sky”

  4. Nice shots. Some folks say that Charlie Russell’s sunsets were fake. No way those colors could exist in the evening sky. They’re real though. Just like the words in Tyson’s song…’Charlie, you’re in charge of sunsets, no one can paint ’em, quite like you.”

    Try as I might, I never could get a photo that adequately captured a Big Sky sunset. Its a big horizon, you gotta see it to believe it.

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    1. Some people are missing out…
      Like you said, they’re real, and hard to capture – they belong to Charlie! I’m ok with that, happy to see them and sometimes try with a photo.
      Thanks for taking the time to read and comment, I appreciate it.
      Now I have that Tyson song in my head (that’s not so bad). Enjoy your day!

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  5. I don’t know what you did with those pics, but you’ve captured at least some of that Montana magic. Makes me wish that I was there for the trout, the sunsets and a Big Two-Hearted Ale!

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  6. What a blessing to witness such beautiful paintings in the sky!
    Thank you PlaidCamper for sharing these excellent photos.

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  7. Spectacular! I love the photos, especially the first one of the storm. I could stare into that evening sky for hours and hours.

    Sounds like you had a great visit. I’m glad you had a chance to relax and watch the clouds. Cloud–watching is a great way to find yourself and your place in this world!

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    1. Glad you enjoyed the photos! We pretty much stared at the sky, and put the world to rights – not that there’s anything much wrong up there…
      Hope your weekend is going well!

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  9. Mmmm, this was truly lovely, pc. Thanks so much for sharing a piece of the very big Montana sky. You did a great job of capturing the colors and silhouettes, the vistas. The clouds are delightful. 🙂

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