In remote Montana, a photographer captures a fading way of life

There is a version of the West perfect for Instagram. And then there is the version where GoreTex and fleece don’t exactly qualify as sturdy outdoor gear.
“Those things will be shredded apart when you accidentally back into a barbed wire fence,” says the photographer Lauren Grabelle.
That’s what Grabelle learned when she moved to a ranch near Bigfork, Montana.
The outdoor skills Grabelle had accumulated sailing on the East Coast and hiking trails and camping in the Rockies didn’t apply. Out on the ranch, she needed a different skill set.
“When I told people I was on a ranch, they’d misinterpret that I was on some fancy ranch somewhere, and not doing the work,” she says. “But this is a working ranch and it is very hard work. I have kneeled in 12-inch deep mud in 40 degree weather helping castrate a calf.”
When Lauren moved to the ranch in 2020, it was the beginning of the pandemic. She worried the isolation would be difficult, but instead she leaned into the wild, strange place.
She saw grizzlies 40 feet from her porch. Almost every night, she could hear the cry of coyotes.
She set about documenting life on the ranch and titled the photos she took “The Last Man,” a nod to the idea that this gritty way of life may not be around much longer.
“To me, photography is like a portal for other people to see through my eyes — it’s my way of expressing myself, since I’m not very good with words,” she told the magazine LensCulture. “I also want to share this unique place with people, particularly in these politically divisive times. It’s about sharing another perspective in a polarized time where things are, ironically, not so black and white.” — Jesse Hyde
This story appears in the October 2024 issue of Deseret Magazine. Learn more about how to subscribe.