PLAINS — Whether it is the Flathead River at sunset, a rainbow over Plains, or the sky above Arlee, Lisa Sickles shares it all.
She has been capturing simple, but endearing snapshots of life in Western Montana, sending pictures to the KPAX viewer images email nearly every day.
Because she shares so much of her work with us, we want to share her story with you.
“Well, I'm not a photographer. I just do it for fun,” Sickles said. “You just see something, and then you just take a picture of it. It's just so beautiful around here.”
With her pictures popping up in our inbox, the KPAX team got curious, as reporters often do, about the person on the other side of the lens. She takes pictures of pretty much everything, from her home in Plains and beyond.
“Well, my grandkids, of course, but my dogs. Just the flowers and the scenery,” she said. “Our picture window out here has the Thompson Falls Valley and it changes every night, so it's like a big living window picture that we get sunsets and sunrises in.”
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Sickles and her husband set out on all sorts of little adventures, especially after a long day of work.
“I just go for a walk or go for a little drive or, on weekends, we'll go for a drive and see where we end up,” she said. “Sometimes we’ll end up in Thompson Falls, sometimes we end up in the Bitterroot. Wherever.”
Then, she gets inspired. She captures moments from her life and adventures on her phone, because it is always with her.
“It's always spur of the moment,” she said. “When I see something that I really like, I'll just take a picture of it. I don't really go out to take a picture of things.”
Using this method, she has snapped some amazing, spontaneous shots of Western Montana’s beautiful mountains, rivers and wildlife.
“On the river, down here over by Paradise, is my favorite spot over there,” Sickles said. “Because, if you sit on the river, the water is so green on the Flathead River and there's sheep over there that come down sometimes and the ducks and the geese.”
Sickles loves to share those moments with family, friends and more.
“It makes me happy, so especially if I'm having a bad day, I'll go take pictures and I just feel good and I get to send them to people. Especially my mom, because she's stuck in her house a little more than she used to be and it makes her happy,” she said. “I send them to my kids and drive them crazy, but it makes a lot of people happy. Hopefully, they like them as much as I do.”
If you have a photo you would like to share, email it to photo@kpax.com.
