Butte, Montana Photo Gallery

American Photography

Butte is a fun name for a town. It’s fun to say. Where you going? Butte! Back in 2012 or 2013 I wound up in Butte while shooting for Barbershops of America, but didn’t get to spend much time there. Found a hell of a shop for the book with an all time character of a barber - “The Butcher” - Joe Bugni. Legend. If you want some free entertainment, go hang out with Joe for an hour at the Amherst St. Barbershop. Anyway, after leaving Joe’s it was late and I planned on getting a hotel. Went into the lobby of one of the few that are downtown and asked first to use the bathroom. The place was dead quiet without a sign of another person besides the girl behind the desk. She directed me downstairs, which I quickly saw was almost pitch black except for the almost extinct exit sign at the far end of the very long hallway. After searching for 30 seconds or so a very dim flickering bulb came on that barely illuminated the lifeless bathroom and a very strange feeling came over me. Not sure if it was a combination of the darkness and the unexplainable noises coming from the building, but I was scared out of my mind. That’s never once happened to me and I’ve been in some of the strangest places you could image. The feeling was so strong that I exited the bathroom and sprinted down the hallway for the exit and straight back to my car. Still to this day there is no explanation.

That inability to describe the situation is how I feel about Butte in general after this most recent trip. To be sure, I’m quite taken with the town in a very positive way. But I just can’t figure out a way to explain it with words. This also happened to me with the entire state of Texas until I read “Travels with Charley”, where Steinbeck hit the nail directly on the head. Butte is a unique place to say the least. It’s gotten a certain vibe. A tangible feeling about it that you won’t experience in other places. The history of the town is quite long, which is something you can look up on the internet, but that won’t do anything to replace the feeling of being there. We spent a couple hours roaming around, during which I cracked off some frames that I’m happy with. But in order to do the town justice, I’d like to spend a month there. Maybe I should? Butte is as American a town as you’ll ever find, and I’ll no doubt be adding a few of these to my ongoing “America” series.

Side note: if you find yourself in the area and like beer, stop into the Butte Brewery. Their german style Hefeweizen is one of the best I’ve had in the States.