I’m in the process of printing my 2025 calendar. That gives me the chance to reminisce.

In 1984 my parents decided to move our family from a little town in eastern Idaho named Basalt. It’s a little community just outside of Firth, not too far from Blackfoot which is close to Pocatello. About 500 souls live in Basalt. I’ve been there many times since leaving and it hasn’t changed much. Maybe someday the mighty hand of progress will make it all the way to Basalt.

When we moved to Boise from Basalt, there were 7 kids in the family. My sister Ross-Ann was the oldest at 12. I was 11. The youngest was Josh. He was 3. The move required a U-haul and a station wagon. My parents said there wasn’t enough room in the station wagon for me. I realize now that they wanted a peaceful ride across the state. I loved to tease my siblings. I rode with my Grandpa, Harold Ball. He drove the U-haul. He was from a different generation.

He was born in 1915 he was already 69 years old in 1984. He wasn’t happy spending his Saturday driving our U-haul the 260 miles to Boise and back on the same day. He was quiet. It was just he and I. I remember needing to go to the bathroom for a couple hours during this quiet, slow drive. He drove 55 MPH the entire way. Cars and trucks passed us the entire time.

Other than the slow pace he drove, I remember one thing: driving over Malad Gorge. Malad Gorge is a massive canyon that just appears from the desert. There’s no warning. You’re just on top of it and it’s over in a second. I was amazed by it. Even at 11 years old I knew that it was something I wanted to see more.

The Malad Gorge is a natural canyon formed by the Malad river. The Malad river crashes its way south from the hills above it until it joins the Snake river 2.5 miles downstream from this point. You can see the Malad Gorge off Interstate 84 at the Tuttle exit. It’s about 90 miles east of Boise and 40 miles west of Twin Falls, Idaho. It makes for a fun and exciting day trip from Boise.

About 10 years after our move to Boise I was attending Utah State University. I was studying fine art photography. I stopped many times on my drive back home from Logan, Utah and photographed the gorge.

That was 30 years ago but I still remember taking this photo. In order to take this photo, I clambered down the back side of the bridge and set up my camera on a rock ledge. I’d never do that now but at 21 years old it wasn’t a problem.

I made another visit in 1996 with my new bride, Sam. We were headed down to Utah to visit with family. Sam and I drove with two of her six sisters. I captured this photo of them talking on the edge of the cliff.

I visited the Gorge many times over the years. I returned in 1998 with my 4×5 view camera again to take this photo. I was visiting home from photography school and I told my dad I wanted to go to the gorge. He drove me there and was standing right next to me when I did this photo. On that trip he told me that even though all of his kids were growing up he still loved them as much as he did when they were babies. It stuck with me.

As I developed the concept for My Private Idaho I made a list of places that were meaningful to me. The idea behind the portfolio is that there are places that are meaningful to everyone. Even if you travel to Paris there are little parts that become yours. Your private place. And everyone connects with different places for different reasons.

My Private Idaho is about the places that are meaningful to me around my home. I’ve had a relationship with Malad Gorge for 4 decades. I’ve been there with many of the most important people in my life.

I finally went back to shoot the Gorge in the spring. It was a very cold, windy day and the bridge was swaying in the wind. I had to time the long exposures between gusts. I visited the Gorge at sunset and again the next morning at sunrise. The sunset photo was the most compelling. The fading light was just finishing it’s work on the east wall of the canyon.

A couple other images from the shoot.

View this image and the others from my Private Idaho Portfolio.