My Page: Greta Rybus

New West Photo Essay

Early this morning, trucks hauling ConocoPhillips’ huge refinery equipment passed through Missoula, the most urban part of their journey from Lewiston, Idaho, to Billings, Montana.

According to Montana Department of Transportation regulations, the big-rig machinery was cleared to move at midnight, but didn’t begin the drive until just before 1 a.m.
As soon as the rigs planned movement was confirmed, opponents were ready in what organizer Zack Porter called “impromptu” but “well-planned” demonstrations. Around 5:30 p.m., around 60 protesters, most carrying signs regarding big oil, walked south on Higgins Street, chanting variations of, “Hey, hey! Ho, ho! These mega-loads have got to go!”

New West Photo Essay

Halloween, although over for this year, deserves documenting. It’s the one holiday where it seems entire communities are plunged into a subculture society. It is as if each person gets to choose a new role to play, a new person or thing to be. We get to ask: “For tonight, how do I want to interact with the world? Make it laugh? Turn it on? Impress it? Make it think?” Our costume choices reflects a part of us. It’s art: a holiday where everyone becomes an actor. Pumpkin carving? Sculpture at its finest. Trick-or-treating? Performance art on the grandest of scales. Halloween is made up of self expression.

At my grandmother’s house in Ennis, Mont., old black-and-white photographs of how the town used to look hang on the walls. Wide, dusty streets bordered small buildings under the towering peaks that form the Madison River Valley. This Fourth of July, I visited family in Ennis, Mont., now known as a haven for fly fishermen and those who still like the rugged life.

When I visit Ennis, as I have done since I was a little girl, I know I am visiting old Montana history. The buildings don’t look as old as those in Virginia City in the next valley, but I know I am visiting an old past – my family’s own rich history.

Click on the photo above to view the gallery of Fourth of July photographs taken by NewWest.Net photography intern Greta Rybus or click more to read on.

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During the weekend of June 19-21, Kalispell played first-time host to Montana’s annual Pride celebration, an event honoring and celebrating gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered and questioning individuals as well as their friends, families and supporters.

The colorful Pride parade marched through the heart of downtown Kalispell, ending in a diversity rally at Kalispell’s Depot Park. Parade participants marched primarily to the cheers of supporters lining the sidewalks, although at least a dozen protestors waved placards quoting Biblical verses as well. Organizations participating in the event ranged from Montana Pride Network to the Humane Society of Northwest Montana.

NewWest.Net photo intern intern Greta Rybuscaptured the colors and characters of the parade—from the Giant Ass Drum Band to the Umbrellas of Tolerance— in this photo essay. [more]