Elderly of Gallatin Valley

Abstract

My project is to photograph and collect stories from elderly residents of Gallatin Valley rest homes. I plan to go into the homes, offer to take a portrait that I will provide a copy of for them, and then sit down and ask questions about their childhood memories, early adult life and families that will spur them to share stories that make up who that person is. I am also, interested in what they can add to the knowledge of the history of the place they are from. I would especially like to focus a good many of the stories on people from our local area of Montana. If they are not from here originally, I want to get the story of how they came to live in Gallatin Valley. I will then take the stories and portraits and make them into a displayable print form, as well as a book that I will either hand-make or have made by a publishing company. I want the information and photos in the book to be accessible to the subjects, as well as their families, in addition to the general public that will find the stories entertaining and informative. My goal is to include a minimum of 10 subjects in the final project, but hopefully will have time to add several more. The project is a research into the recent past that is oftentimes overlooked until it is too late to get first hand accounts. I want to share with people the stories of everyday, ordinary people that have lived very long rich lives. This project is also my senior seminar project for this fall term in the school of Film and Photography.