Kristi Hager has worked as a professional large-format photographer for twelve years, documenting Montana bridges, and well over 60 other historic properties to HAER standards.  Many of her photographs are included in the book, Conveniences Sorely Needed: Montana's Historic Highway Bridges 1860-1956, by Jon Axline, historian at the Montana Department of Transportation in collaboration with the Montana Historical Society.

Artist's Statement about the Work:

A bridge is often a beloved local landmark, a thing of beauty, source of pride, a fishing access.   River crossings are rich in memories.  Bridges wear out and have to be replaced. When photographs are all that is left, people are sad.  They need to know where, how and who keeps the photographs.

Since these bridges will be gone someday, I feel a responsibility to make each view count.  As I work my way around a bridge, I consider what historians will want to know about how this bridge was constructed.   I consider the folks who drive across the bridge regularly, how they see it from a distance, what they see from the bridge deck, how they will want to remember it.  I consider the people who never will see this bridge in person. Within the HAER requirements, I feel a responsibility to make the bridge look as beautiful as it is with nothing extra.    

When I curse the wind, gumbo, barbed wire, 30 pounds of equipment, wet shoes, cold hands, hot sun, whatever unforeseen adversities, I think of Evelyn Cameron and stop whining.  I am very fortunate to be able to do this work.