SusanHatch Photography

SusanHatch Photography Montana Native. “There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle.

The other is as though everything is a miracle.”
― Albert Einstein

“The river moves, the wind moves, but the cabin stays — a quiet witness to everything that has already gone. Some place...
03/19/2026

“The river moves, the wind moves, but the cabin stays — a quiet witness to everything that has already gone. Some places stay behind to remember us. This cabin waits by the river like a ghost that never learned to leave, its windows full of snow‑light and old stories that refuse to thaw.

Old Darby Road, Darby Montana

I haven't been about taking photos lately, a piece of my heart was lost.But Spring arrives tomorrow, and the world keeps...
03/19/2026

I haven't been about taking photos lately, a piece of my heart was lost.
But Spring arrives tomorrow, and the world keeps turning.
I will get back at it, seeing and capturing beauty, traveling, and doing what I love.
Time waits for no one.

Victor, Montana

"What I’d discovered was that sadness is like an abandoned car left out in a field for good—it changes a little over the years, but doesn’t ever disappear. You may forget about it for a while, but it’s still there, rusting away, until you notice it again."
---David Heska Wanbli Weiden (Winter Counts)

Lee Metcalf Wildlife Refuge Stevensville Montana
03/10/2026

Lee Metcalf Wildlife Refuge
Stevensville Montana

“How can I be substantial if I do not cast a shadow? I must have a dark side also If I am to be whole.”― C.G. Jung, Mode...
02/28/2026

“How can I be substantial if I do not cast a shadow? I must have a dark side also If I am to be whole.”
― C.G. Jung, Modern Man in Search of a Soul

“When we feel lost in time, with only shadows of the past living in our mind, when the moment, which was, no longer is, and when only silence remains, loads of questions arise. We can cry a river, or we may wonder: “What went wrong?”
― Erik Pevernagie

I found myself driving through dark towns, the kind where even the neon signs look tired. The quiet pressed in, and my thoughts wandered to places I wish they wouldn’t. There’s a certain kind of despair that only shows up on nights like this—when the world feels hollow, and you’re left alone with everything you’ve been trying not to feel.
I've taken celestial photos before, landscapes, but not moody, noir types. Last night I tried a few new settings to capture a mood.

Night Work
Darby and Hamilton, Montana

We forget, again and again, what actually matters.We treat life like a project to optimize—every moment judged by what i...
02/24/2026

We forget, again and again, what actually matters.

We treat life like a project to optimize—every moment judged by what it can *do* for us, how it might improve us, extend us, protect us. But a good life has never been about efficiency. It’s about presence. It’s about how we live, not just what we accomplish.

We talk about health as if it’s the highest good. But a perfectly healthy life without love, purpose, or wonder is hollow. Anyone who has ever been sick knows this truth: it is better to be unwell and loved than well and utterly alone.

Not everything that enriches us adds years to our life. Some things simply add *life* to our years. A sunrise. A conversation. A dog leaning against your leg. A moment of beauty that doesn’t “improve” you in any measurable way.

Life isn’t a training ground for some future version of yourself. The game has already started, and the clock is running.

We’re taught to see the world as something to control—levers to pull, buttons to push, outcomes to engineer. But that mindset turns everything into a transaction, a means to an end.

There is another way.

To appreciate things simply because they are good in themselves—because they are here, now, fleeting—is freedom. Living fully isn’t about extracting value from life. It’s about receiving it.

The good life isn’t waiting somewhere down the road. It’s in the small, unrepeatable moments we’re living today.

Don’t miss them.

A short drive from home, up the west fork of the Bitterroot today.One of my favorite places.Painted Rocks Reservoir was ...
02/16/2026

A short drive from home, up the west fork of the Bitterroot today.
One of my favorite places.
Painted Rocks Reservoir was built in 1939 when the West Fork of the Bitterroot River was dammed to provide irrigation water to farmers late in the summer growing season.

The Painted Rocks Dam is an earthen dam that is 800 feet long and 143 feet tall. No commercial services are available. There’s no marina, rentals, restaurants, gas stations, or cell service. The reservoir holds a maximum of 45,100 acre-feet of water, with normal levels at 31,706 acre-feet.

The reservoir covers 655 acres, or 1.02 square miles.

Blodgett CanyonStarting from a group of peaks over 8,500 feet along the Idaho/Montana border, the canyon drops steeply t...
02/16/2026

Blodgett Canyon

Starting from a group of peaks over 8,500 feet along the Idaho/Montana border, the canyon drops steeply to Blodgett Lake at 6,800 feet. After running northeast for about a mile, it turns due east and descends for a total of about 12 miles to Hamilton. The vertical canyon walls in the lower section rise more than 2,000 feet above Blodgett Creek. Printz Ridge and Mill Point make up the northern wall, while Canyon Peak and Romney Ridge contribute to the southern wall. The upper (western) section of the canyon is part of the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness Area.

Tammany Castle, bottom photo.

“Don’t you know what that is? It’s spring fever. That is what the name of it is. And when you’ve got it, you want—oh, yo...
02/05/2026

“Don’t you know what that is? It’s spring fever. That is what the name of it is. And when you’ve got it, you want—oh, you don’t quite know what it is you DO want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so!”
― Mark Twain, Tom Sawyer

Lee Metcalf Refuge
February Sunset
Stevensville Montana

“If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would ...
02/05/2026

“If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome."
― Anne Bradstreet

The Boys of Eastside
Stevensville, Montana

“Once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, an...
02/05/2026

“Once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return.”
― Leonardo da Vinci

LonghornsIndian Prairie Loop, Victor Montana “Among other things, I’m afraid of cows.” “Because of their size?” Helen as...
02/05/2026

Longhorns
Indian Prairie Loop, Victor Montana

“Among other things, I’m afraid of cows.” “Because of their size?” Helen asked sympathetically. “No, it’s the way they stare. As if they’re plotting something.”
― Lisa Kleypas

“There's a sunrise and a sunset every single day, and they're absolutely free. Don't miss so many of them.”― Jo Walton M...
02/05/2026

“There's a sunrise and a sunset every single day, and they're absolutely free. Don't miss so many of them.”
― Jo Walton

My beautiful Montana
Western sunset over the Three Sisters, Darby/Hamilton/Lost Horse

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