Timeless Rhythms

Shoshone Falls, on the Snake River, near Twin Falls, Idaho in autumn light. This is one of the largest natural waterfalls in the U.S., at 212 feet tall and 900' wide, higher than Niagra Falls.

To me this place personifies my Idaho heritage (I was born and raised in Boise) as it's only 37 miles from Gooding, Idaho, where my grandfather, Roy Ferdinand Hill and Grandmother, Flossie Gertrude Hill settled in 1909 after marrying in Boise 2 years earlier.

My Grandpa Roy, started the first and only commercial photography studio in Gooding, in a tent (1909) which he later moved to a 2 story brick building that was also their home. The Hill's studio trademark, "H" was a familiar symbol for class pictures for Gooding schools, the College and many other schools in the Magic Valley, until he died unexpectedly in 1938.

My father E.C. "AL" Hill and Uncle Robert Hill grew up in Gooding, swimming and diving in the Malad River, often unclad, waving at passing trains from the cliffs at the "boys private" swimming hole there.

Like the waterfalls, their childhood was filled with endless drama - just like my grandfathers photography studio in an Army tent must have been, with freezing cold winter temps or scorching heat summers, as he wrestled with old style photo methods, chemistry and luck to be an artist with the camera.