I’m pj finn from Missoula, Montana and this is photomontana.net, my photography blog.
photo by mj -- 2010
I’m originally from Minnesota, and moved to western Montana in 1983 to roam the wilderness and make my mark as a photographer. The mark was small. I found out over the years that I wasn’t really wired for professional photography, and have since re-claimed my amateur status, and wear it with great relief. Recently I moved again, and landed in LA where I expect to be for a couple of years.
I’m getting notoriously cranky and contrary with age. I don’t shoot professionally, I don’t accept assignments, and I don’t shoot for pay. I shoot what I want and make no apologies.
When I first seriously picked up a camera in the mid 1970′s, I went through the inevitable phase that I imagine most photographers go through. Everything in front of you is fair game for the camera. The ‘Wow! Click…’ phase. Most of that is useless for anything but memory triggers. They can still be fun to look at, but they don’t amount to much else. As I went along I found my vision becoming more selective, and now I am working on building a body of photographs that show the changes my vision has gone through over the years and will continue to go through. Changes in direction can be good.
I am digitizing the few photos from the past that I think are worthy and using them here on my sites, but essentially I am starting over, and doing it digitally and on the internet rather than on film and in the darkroom. In short, if I want to build up a body of work, I need to get out and do it, and that’s exactly what I intend to do with the second half of my life.
Stop on by now and then to see what I’m up to, and feel free to tell me what you think.
pj
