Brian Christianson has been a photographer in Missoula for a decade and a professional photographer for about three years with an eye for landscape photography.
“It is a way to engage acutely with an individual moment because you have to be engaged with the light, with the form, to understand the interplay, to watch the interplay of light and form. You have to be tuned in. You can’t be tuned out,” Christianson said.
People love his work, but it was an almost ethereal view of Saturday’s semifinal game from up on Mount Sentinel that spread through Griz Nation. It’s a photo he’d been thinking about for a week.
"I really was thinking a lot about how the light of the stadium - because it was going to be an afternoon to dusk game - could potentially yield a nice balance between the lights of the stadium and a sunset,” Christianson said.
But then came the fog from an inversion and that was a factor.
"I call it Brawl in the Sky and I understand the moniker 'brawl' is generally reserved for the Cats versus Griz, but it just felt like a battle between the clouds and the inversion."
“By the time it was dusk, and the light was starting to balance and the light of the stadium was sort of coming through, the clouds cleared a little bit above the stadium because it was too dense for most of that experience,” Christianson said. “It cleared for a little bit, just enough to let the details of the stadium - you can see Montana and Grizzlies, you can see the players on the field and the lights coming through paring with what was one of the most spectacular sunsets I've seen in a while."
“It just happened to be a very special day for the Grizzlies and the energy around that area obviously was immense and even the energy of the stadium — 600, 700 feet above the floor was felt deeply," Christianson said. “I was listening to the game on my headphones and my phone died. It was kind of chilly and my phone died, so I thought, 'I’ll just listen to the roars of the crowd.' So I didn’t even know who won until the fireworks went off."
Once the photo was posted on social media, Christianson's website blew up with people wanting a print. Within 24 hours, it was the most popular photo in his career so far.
“And then I got overwhelmed with it,” Christianson laughed. “I had to shut down my website, or at least that product for 24 hours, to catch up and try to get my feet underneath myself to figure out how to meet all this demand."
With the help of friends and family, he is all caught up and taking orders again. He understands the photo is special.
"That was a fight, that was a total fight, and being up on the M on Mount Sentinel really made you feel like this game was in the sky,” he said.
You can see more of his work at https://www.brianchristiansonphotography.com/ and can also find his work at the Artists’ Shop in downtown Missoula and at local art fairs.
