As the final image of the travel photo-essay, this photograph of Velma George Thompson’s grave represents the nature of life and death in a rugged Montana mining town. The stone marker is eloquent in its own right – featuring a small lamb, its head buried in a clump of melting snow. The words on the tombstone drive home the message here – Velma lived in Bannack for exactly two years, three months, and twenty days. The 14mm wideangle focal length of my lens allowed me to close in on those words, yet it also lets me include the desolate scale of the surrounding cemetery amidst the snow covered Montana hills. The overhead clouds, however, are slowly breaking up, showing a touch of blue sky at the corner. This small touch of prime color joins with the vividly red and yellow plastic flowers on the tombstone to bring the past back to the present day.