Contributors

Jim Wells has spent a lifetime capturing and preserving the many treasures of this state. A graduate of MSU, Jim lives in Great Falls with his beautiful wife. Together they have two gorgeous children.

Darrin Schreder is primarily a commercial and advertising photographer and has been featured in state and regional tourism campaigns, Road & Track magazine, Newsweek and too many advertisements to count. When not behind the camera, he is usually working on graphic design and marketing campaigns.

Jasmine Banks, a young entrepreneur with a borrowing art business J. Art Collection is an assortment of photography and hand crafted work specifically promoting success and positive energy.

Jacqui Smith of Simply Jacqui Photography loves to make art out of the simple details of life. She lives with her husband and four children in East Helena, MT.

Phil would like to live in a world where pizza has no calories, everyone loves Jesus and there’s a force field around his couch that repels dog hair. As a hair dresser, makeup artist, photographer and self proclaimed King of Blowouts, he’s been working in the beauty industry for almost 10 years. His work has been featured in publications across Montana, L.A., NY and Italy. When he’s not making women beautiful you can find him working at Victory Church or playing fetch with his first child, Graham, a 1 year old boxer.

Todd Klassey is a commercial photographer who covers the more rural parts of Montana. He specializes in agriculture, cowboy, and travel related photography. See more of his work at www.toddklassey.com

It’s all about food! Rhonda Atkins specializes in food and food product photography. Her work has been published locally, statewide and nationally. She nourishes her food soul by blogging, teaching cooking classes and promoting community gardening. She graduated from Rocky Mountain School of Photography.

A life-long interest in communications made Suzanne Waring first a college instructor and then a writer. She lives in Great Falls and writes about Montana people and their communities.

Shane Klippenes is a career Fire Captain/Paramedic with a love for backpacking and exploring the lesser known corners of Central Montana with his wife and three teenage daughters, who are constant reminder of what is truly important in life.

Polly Kolstad lives in Great Falls and on a wheat ranch in Liberty County. She writes travel, fitness, and human interest stories when not cooking or tending to her field of Chinese lanterns.

A love for words and pictures led Kay Bjork to a career as a feature writer and photographer for numerous newspapers and magazines. Her home and family on Swan Lake have been the subject of many of her stories and photographs about their outdoor adventures including skating, skiing and hiking.

Heather Bode lives in Helena with her husband and five children. She enjoys writing nonfiction for children and adults.

Born and raised in Montana, Colter Pedersen loves to enjoy the idea of the outdoors from the comfort of the indoors.

Claire Baiz is a writer who divides her time between Big Sky Country and the Big Apple. She’s been published in the USA Today, Untitled Magazine, Molotov Cocktail, and the Jewish Magazine. Contact Claire through her blog, http://baizblogger.hubpages.com.

Brian D’Ambrosio is the author of “Warrior in the Ring: The Life of Marvin Camel,” available Fall 2014 (Riverbend Publishing), and he is currently at work on biographies of Rastafarian boxing champion Livingstone Bramble and Italian-American racecar driver Ralph DePalma (1882-1956).