Brandt starts as Havre Daily News photographer

Floyd Brandt traveled more than 2,000 miles in a week from Soldotna, Alaska, to Havre to be a photojournalist for the Havre Daily News.

There were some moments, he said, when the going got tough.

“Going through the mountains of British Columbia is always pretty challenging,” Brandt said.

As if traveling from Alaska through Canada during winter’s height isn’t tough enough, Brandt’s Chevrolet Blazer developed some troubles during the trip. He said his SUV’s intermittent starting troubles proved more of a burden than all the iced roads he covered from Alaska to Montana.

But now, Brandt, who earned a bachelor’s degree in convergent journalism from Metropolitan State University of Denver in 2013, is here and ready to work.

Brandt said he’d been shooting photos for most of his life, since he was 9. His first picture was of “a guy on a motorcycle.”

“It was on a camera that I had to roll the film,” he said.

Havre, Brandt said, reminds him of his hometown of Fort Morgan, Colorado.

“Lots of old, old gray buildings and houses. The people are really, truly, overwhelming great,” he said.

What he hopes to gain during his time at the Havre Daily, Brandt said, is experience, credibility and the opportunity to meet people.

“I’m a people person,” he said.

As for now, Brandt said, he’s still working out the nervous kinks, settling in.