May Through A Fuji Viewfinder: Part 1

The Matchbook | 6.12.26

One of the longest running parades in the USA

In the immortal words of Justin Timberlake, “It’s gonna be MAY.” Or at least it was gonna be May, and it was May, and now it’s gone and it’s mid-June somehow and I know absolutely nothing of time.

Another month, another 31 days wandering with a little Fuji x100v attached to my hip. Another meander through my days clicking away at a bunch of very ordinary moments that I still find about 200 miles beyond extraordinary because, well, they are.

I love sharing these with you, just what I saw, what I did, what I loved. I love that you love them too, these little behind-the-scenes glimpses into my simple life in the mountains of Montana, or wherever I happened to roam that month.

If these little peeks into the (extra)ordinary mean something to you, and you want to make sure I can keep making making them, the very best way to do that is the simplest one: a paid subscription costs less than a genuinely good cup of coffee each month. It’s what makes all of this possible. No pressure, ever. But if you’ve been thinking about it, now’s as good a time as any.

Click to view on the website, which lets you view these bigger and scroll through the gallery.

We got home from Ireland right at the end of April, and it felt like the Emerald Isle here with all the moisture we’d been getting. Greens everywhere, fog, chilly mornings and evenings with heat in the middle. Back quickly to our nightly walks with Gilly, to sunsets and moonrises and the simplicity of our little mountain home.

The Vigilante Parade came next, and Addie and her friends did a float to commemorate the Archie Bray Clay Arts Guild, a local ceramics and art community. The Vigilante Parade is one of the longest running parades in the United States, this year marked its 102nd year, and every float is designed, built, and run by students from the local high schools. Kids get to miss 2 days of school to research and build out their floats, and it’s a rite of passage for every kid here in Helena. I did a float all 4 years of my high school many, many years ago.

We discovered that a massive forest thinning project had begun by the Forest Service while we were gone, in an attempt to reduce fire risk as well as make the overall health of the forest better. The mountain behind our house now gets far more light, and looks a lot healthier, but it was a bit sad and strange to see the big piles of trees they had to cut stacked all over the woods. Gilly, for scale.

The walks we share are one of our most favorite things in our days, and very, very little can stop us from going on them each evening. I love seeing the different light, I love taking a million photos of Sarah IN that light, and it’s always rad to look back over a month and see 1) how many times we did them, and b) how stylish somehow she always is on them. Gilly loves them too, and the three of us absolutely adore all the wildlife we see every single time out. They know us as intimately as we know them, and I wonder what they think of us when they see us each evening.

Sarah then hand-painted some cards for our recent bespoke destination elopement clients friends that we were so lucky to meet, travel with, and work with photographing (and officiating!) their weddings all over the world. We sent a print of our favorite image from their day, just as a little thank you for trusting us, for becoming new family. What a gift, this job we do. Speaking of, you can hire us too, you know?

Part 1 of our month wrapped up in fantastic fashion, with the arrowleaf balsamroot flowers exploding into existence like they do every year. They are everywhere and it always astounds me how quickly they sprout up from nothing at all to be these stunning, mountain-blanketing forces of nature that just glow. I love when they come back, and I love when they dry and the whole mountain is alive with the sound of their leaves rustling against one another.

Traveled to Bozeman to the final track meet of Henry’s freshman year at the University of Montana. He did amazing, ran the 1500 in a stupid fast time as always. It was rad seeing him race one final time, and then I taught little Remy (Henry’s little half-sister on his Dad’s side) the ancient art of finding beautiful rocks in the little dividers you find in parking lots. We found some beauties, and she had a blast collecting them, and it reminded me that there’s a hell of a lot of beauty in all the places people don’t ever bother to look for it.

We also saw a CyberTruck that was in front of us a lot of the drive through Bozeman, Montana, which just made a lot of sense, and we giggled and took a photograph of it. They just are so damn funny. Oddly, a day later once back in Helena, we saw it again parked at the grocery store and realized it either followed us, or the person driving it was not, in fact, from Bozeman at all. Perplexing, but still, we giggled again.

May storms rolling in ended the first third of our month, and set the stage for the rest of it to come.

Come back next week and you’ll get to see even more.

Finally: HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY LITTLE SISTER McGRAW! We cannot wait to celebrate with you tonight in Spokane! WAHOO!!

I Love you all.

Be good.