It takes time and an open mind to truly understand a new place; the people have their own culture and communication, and the land speaks in its own language.
For Pieter ten Hoopen, a Swedish photographer whose work has appeared around the world, Montana gripped his imagination before he had even set foot here. Despite never having been, ten Hoopen wanted to know this place.
“When I was young, 13 years old, my mother gave a book to me – John Steinbeck’s ‘Travels with Charlie,’” he said in a recent interview with the Beacon from Stockholm, Sweden.
Ten Hoopen said he was taken with Steinbeck’s personal and beautiful descriptions of the United States, and was curious about how the author mentions traveling through Montana, and professes his love.
“He wrote, ‘I’m in love with Montana. For other states I have admiration, respect, recognition, even some affection. But with Montana it is love,’” ten Hoopen said.
With this quote as his compass, ten Hoopen is nearing the end of a decade-long journey, during which he documented the lives of three Hungry Horse residents and photographed the moods and seasons of the area.
His documentary and book, “Hungry Horse,” are in post-production and should be finished by the end of January.
Ten Hoopen decided he would get to know the United States in 2003 – the world was watching while voters were deciding about re-electing President George W. Bush after the attacks on 9/11, he said – and Montana, specifically.
As a photographer and a journalist, he wanted to get to know this country in a new way after the towers fell, he said.
But trying to tell Montana’s story is a daunting task, which ten Hoopen discovered soon after landing here.
“I was driving around through the state of Montana for the first week and I basically went nuts because it’s impossible to tell a story about the whole state,” he said.
He decided that he would stay for a week in the next town he drove through, and that happened to be Hungry Horse.
Since then, he’s been there 15 or 16 times, staying in the same cabin while going about his work. In his documentary, ten Hoopen follows Charlie Krasselt, Brad Lee Bruursema and Katie Kosnoff through their struggles, triumphs and everyday lives.
“It’s a beautiful story, and it’s a beautiful way how they pronounce their love for Montana,” he said.
Despite being taken immediately by Montana’s beauty, ten Hoopen discovered troubling aspects in Hungry Horse, particularly the alcohol and drugs.
People were going through tough times, he said, and had he not decided to invest 10 years into the project, that might have been the impression he’d kept with him.
Instead, he’s grown to know his subjects, befriend them and learn about their lives, and realized that like with nearly every piece of life, there are multiple dimensions to consider, even in the most mundane.
“I’m very happy that I stayed working on it for more than 10 years; it would have been a very one-dimensional vision,” ten Hoopen said. “It took me 10 years to understand the region.”
To help pay for post-production work on “Hungry Horse,” which is produced through New York-based Media Storm, ten Hoopen began a Kickstarter campaign for crowd-sourced money. The goal was to raise $10,000 by Oct. 16, and he hit that mark within 10 days of starting.
The documentary and book should be available by the end of January, and ten Hoopen wants to make it back to Hungry Horse for a screening, where he can share his work with the people and place that made it possible.
Ten Hoopen may have been a stranger in a strange land at the beginning of this journey here – he heard plenty of people remark about his European style – but after a decade, he feels now that he is among friends.
Taking the time to get to know Hungry Horse was important, he said, and sharing his experience is as well.
“I think there’s a need for these stories, daily life stories,” ten Hoopen said. “We need those stories.”
For more information on the Kickstarter project and a trailer for the documentary, visit www.kickstarter.com/projects/mediastorm/hungry-horse-by-pieter-ten-hoopen. For more information on Pieter ten Hoopen, visit www.pietertenhoopen.com.