Solstice Sunset.jpg  
 
 
 

1953 Pontiac Sedan Delivery

Look for the Adventures of "Scarface"

Willow Creek Montana 59760

Contact Us

About us & our Montana Framed Photos
We're Karen & Jim
Together we have a love of photography combined with a great respect for Montana’s riches & her history.  My family began their tenure here in 1850. My Great Grandfather, Bert Hofer opened his 1st Hardware Store in Choteau, which he ran for 4 years, then transferred to Pony in 1897 & finally to Harrison in 1915. Jim’s Dad, Charley, was a photographer which gave him exposure & experience from a very early age. It’s wonderful to fulfill our passions at this point in life. We want share the magic of Montana, with our photos, matted & framed in simple old wood. I’ve been blessed with the legacy of my family’s history from copies of letters & many photographs of my ancestors. I have a desire to help others share this gift of their past as well as Montana’s present treasures. Our photos reflect our appreciation of Montana’s heritage. Montana and the west hold beauty that touches us to our most basic being. Sunsets and the splendor of nature, young animals playing in the sun, the delicate petals of wildflowers, the pastels of a fleeting rainbow, the rugged Rockies and the solitude of the desert, are captured in glimpses with the click of a shutter. This is our backyard, it’s a matter of appreciating the gifts that surround us every day. We love to take pictures of the splendor that is Montana. This is our home. We love it, and hope that in some small way we can share the beauty with others. Small towns,  ghost towns, National Parks, rivers,  mountains, wildlife,  and old stuff are things we like best. Every road trip is a pleasurable excursion into the past, present and beauty of our backyard, of the wonder that surrounds us.

Windows to Montana

All of our windows are one of a kind, we provide the provenance for each window frame and the old wood we use in our frames. Every picture tells a story.

We do Windows
We do windows, pictures of Montana that tell a story. Our old windows and rustic MSU bleacher wood frames compliment the splendor of Montana in a special way. Our work is a reflection of the past with pride in the present. We use quality materials in all our products with a feel for the history, the story, providing the provenance of the origin of our old windows and the rustic old wood we use in our  frames. We  provide quality in content & construction. We believe integrity is still a virtue and like to honor our ancestors with love and respect. Old School values still exist in small town Montana. We pay tribute to our pioneers whose stories live within reach of our own memories & imaginations. We’re always in the process of creating new original Windows & framing our favorite original Montana scenic & wildlife photographs.  These images tell our stories, our history. Of days gone by, of moments in another place in time. Our world is changing at an incredible pace, this is our way of keeping things in perspective. We have developed quite an extensive photo collection of Montana’s natural gifts & have wrapped them in her history. We hope you appreciate this opportunity to leave  a legacy. This is our Montana, where strangers are just friends we haven’t met yet! This is a representation of some of our current work. We’re always in the process of creating new original Windows & framing our favorite original Montana scenic & wildlife photographs.
Our Window Story
We began using old windows for picture frames when my parents moved out of state, my Mother missed Pony and Montana dreadfully. So as we looked at an old window, we thought she wouldn't’ be so homesick if she could look out her window and see her beloved Hollowtop Mountain. We sent her a picture of this picture WOW! If I give you a window, would you make me one? Of course we couldn't’ make it too easy... so we hung the window in the guest room so she could admire it when she came to visit. Again she asked if we could make one for her. Well, why would we want to do that? When we made this one for you! That sure made an impression! Whether old memories or a new view, our windows bring us perspectives that live a lifetime.

MSU Brick Breeden Bleacher wood Frames   

Bleacher Wood Frames
The wood for these frames began as indoor bleachers in the Brick  Breeden Field house at MSU Bozeman. Built in 1957 it was the largest free standing dome in the world. In the 1980s the bleachers were replaced and donated to the outdoor rodeo grounds in Three Forks. In 2006 they finally were salvaged and now they continue to live in history as frames for our original Montana Photographs. Joined together with wooden dowels and iron bolts, the holes and scratches remain. We reinforce our corners with rustic tin from a schoolhouse in Clarkston, old leather from Harrison, copper and other unique touches. Imagine the lives and rear ends that have passed over these weathered timbers, the tales they could tell. Many of us have watched our kids grow sitting on this old fir ~ basketball, rodeos, concerts, graduations and a circus or two. When this wood is gone there will be no more. Own a bit of Gallatin Valley History.
"...Rollies Follie"
The successful athletic programs of the 1950s were supplemented and strengthened by new facilities, among them “Rollies’s Folly,” or “Rollies’s Roundhouse,” the remarkable domed sports arena on the south side of campus now familiarly known as the Brick Breeden Field house. Renne’s Field house, designed by Bozeman’s Oswald E. Berg Jr. and Fred J. Willson was one of the architectural wonders of the world the largest wooden arched roof structure in existence, and the second-largest building of its type in America. Anyone contemplating the construction of the 300 foot circular indoor stadium, ninety feet in height, cannot help but marvel at Renne’s foresight, while at the same time perhaps chuckling at the guile with which the man pushed through a project many thought extravagant in cost and ridiculous in size. Here was a huge domed 8,400 seat facility, built for a cow college of less than 3,000 enrollment in a rural town of perhaps 12,000 to 13,000 residents...”

Some of our Favorite Places

  
Featuring
 

 
©2008Jim and Karen Photos All Rights Reserved