12/12/2024
Late last week I put the finishing touches on the 2025 Montana Outdoors Photo Issue. It's a bittersweet occasion, as this was my twenty-third, and final photo issue. I can't reveal the cover yet, but copies of the magazine will arrive some time during the last two weeks of December. I will design and assemble one more issue for Montana Outdoors, and then pass the torch to the next graphic designer.
I'm posting this for some closure, but also in gratitude as I reflect on all the photographers whom I've had the privilege of working with over the past 23 years. Roughly 1,000 photographers of all stripes—professional, amateur, youth, and photojournalists—have contributed their images to Montana Outdoors since I started back in 2002. Some of them have had just a single image published in the magazine, others I've only known through email or a phone call, and some have even become friends. All of these photographers have put their trust in me as I've pored through nearly 200,000 images. It started with slides and transparencies on a light table, and later transitioned to all-digital photo files on my trusty Mac. Truly, it's been an honor to carefully handle the best work of so many photographers, and to apply a layer of creativity in how their images are presented in the pages of the magazine. I've done my best to appreciate and recognize the talent, skill, and artistic eye of those who chase the light.
—Luke Duran, art director
