A Loss...

How sad. Last night i went on a hike up provo canyon with Annette and from our vantage point we could see the Bridalveil Falls Building that i hiked up to on a previous entry. I told her how much fun it was and what i hike it takes to get there and that i couldnt wait to go back up soon. The night went on and we eventually got hungry and as i was cooking dinner i got a call from by buddy kevin: "yea so, um, i was drivin down provo canyon and my sister said 'look, theres a fire' and sure as shit, the Bridalveil building was on fire". it sounded to surreal as we had just seen that building earlier that night so after we ate we went up the canyon to see for our selves and thats when it set it hard. that building is gone. it was such a mesmerizing sight. i have never been so bummed out and so drawn in before. as a purely visual experience it was amazing, as there was very little burning around the building other than chunks that had fallen off. but its still so strange to think that its gone. so i guess the next hike up will be to visit the remains... 

all is flux; nothing stays still.

~Heraclitus

On the streets of SLC

So, for my final project for my photography class we had to present 4-6 8x10's that had some type of theme. So i decided to challenge myself with a scary project. Portraits of random strangers. I am a pretty timid person by nature but i really wanted to over come that (i still have work to do) and i thought this would be a great way to start. So me and Tonja, a friend from work who recently purchased a Nikon D80, set out for Salt Lake. We were both a little nervous and walked around for quite a bit before asking our first stranger if we could take their picture. He said no. Damn it. Oh well, he was nice about it and had a reason: he was a security guard and told us that he couldn't be photographed in his work uniform for "security reasons". Any who, so we walked around the rest of the night asking most of the people we thought were interesting including the smiling homeless man named Bob whos pic you cant miss. I was more picky that Tonja of who we took pictures of, partly cus i was nervous and partly cus i had some specific qualities in mind. But it turned out to be a great experience that i want to do again very soon but with my digital (i was shooting film for my class) and we got some great images!

Flaming Gorge

So, went to Flaming Gorge this weekend. Isaac, John, Heath, Doc and I started the trip around 7:30 friday night after loading Johns Suburben with all our shit. What should have been a 3-3 1/2 hour trip turned into a long and tedious 5 1/2 hour gotthereat1inthefuckingmorning joyride. Ride out there aside it was a great time. We hung out and drank and ate till 3:30 in the morning. Me and Ike strapped a couple of hammocks to the Suberben and a near by tree, John slept inside the Suberben and Doc and Heath took the tent with the queen sized inflatable mattress. Woke up the next day at 7:30. Yup, 4 hours of sleep. Tho thats better than John, my alarm on my phone decided to wake him up at 6:44. Well, we cleaned up camp, and headed to the lake. I gota say, we had a blast! The water was pretty clear and if you stayed above 20 ft was actually pretty comfortable. And the sky was amazing! There were these whispy clouds all day. We took 3 or so hours in the first spot and about 2 on our second dive and i think we ended up with about 23+ fish that we decided to keep and 2 carp that were around 20 pounds each. Why did we get the carp you ask? Cus we needed pictures to prove we could get fish that big with a stick! Thats why! Any way, we made good time coming back and we all agree we need to find a place that is closer so we can go more often.

Newborn Photos

Lori, a lady i work with, just became a grandma (again) and i had the opportunity to to photograph her son, daughter in-law and the new baby and it was so fun! He is so damn cute and even tho he was kinda fussy at times we got some great shots. It was my first time shooting a newborn so the poses were a little rough but the experience was invaluable! This was something that i could actually stand to do on a semi regular basis and enjoy...

Saturday Hike

Went on a hike today with Isaac and he took me up to a place by Squaw Peak that he found while riding his bike. There are all of these trees that have been burned and are just crisspy black. So cool. It was a perfect weather for a hike and i would like to think i got some cool pictures out of the deal and its always fun to hang out with Isaac.

Boneyard Daddies

Another great Boneyard Daddies show. Im just sa damn proud of my little bro!

 

 

Desolation Canyon River Trip '08

Two days back, nearly 500 pictures and a sun burned shoulder and im already missing it... This year was so great! It was a small group this year, just Dad, Kim, their friends John and Nikki, Taylor, Brady, Kevin, and me. We

 couldnt have asked for more

 perfect weather. It was nothing but sun but it wasnt scorching

 hot. The river was running high and fast, the highest we have ever seen in fact. It has been high in previous years, something like 1500-1700 whatevertheymesureitins but this year it was around 2100-2300 depending on the day. We ended up staying at a lot of familiar places and seeing familiar sights. This year at cold creak we did the two mile hike to some petroglyphs i have never been two before. It was a lot of fun but it was pretty detrimental to Kevin and Taylor as we had dawned our short shorts for the hike and they failed to get enough sunscreen on t

hem... Oops... This was the most open trip i have ever been on with my dad. Nothing was held

 back. Their boat drank, me and keven drank. Dirty jokes came out, the fuck word was used in execs by EVERYONE. It was just... true. Taylor and I saw a side of our dad that we knew existed

 but he was always carful to 

keep from us in a "my kids dont need to be exposed to me talking

 and drinking like this yet" sorta way. I guess it seemed like a right of passage in a way. We are both growing up and coming into our own and i think he knows that we love our dad no matter what and in no way do we look down on him for swearing or drinking or anything else. All in all it was just a good all around bonding trip. My little brother is growing up so damn fast and i am so glad he still makes time to come on the river! It just wouldnt have been the same without him there. I absolutely loved the late night pow wows with Kevin, Brady, Tay, and me... I liked it even more when Kevin and Brady whent on a "nature hike" and me and Tay got some alone time. It really makes me want to go on some type of trip with just him... I cant wait till next year.

Photo Shoot

So its been too long since my last shoot with Wendy. She always has great ideas and really makes shooting even more fun! Today she brought her roommate Courtney who was awesome to work with. She was really good at directing Wendy's poses and knew what she was doing while in front of the camera. All in all id say this shoot went quite well. I still have lots of work to do on just about every aspect of my portraits but im learning as i go and so far its been a great process. So here are a few of my favorites from the shoot.

THE party

So last friday we finally had our cave party. It was a blast. The setup was fucking epic! Well i guess you can judge for yourself via the pic. We had food, a 500 gallon hot tub/pool, 2 hookahs, and we kept the back part of the cave dark so we could cut open glow sticks and spray them around. The turnout could have been a bit better but we were still happy to have the 30 or so people that showed up. I think it was defiantly worth the effort and i hope it happens again soon.

Yup...

So it turns out im not so good at turning corners on motorcycles. My very first ride. on a borrowed 2007 honda shadow. I got road rash on my knee, elbow, and shoulder. the wound on my foot needed 6 stitches. 2 on the inside and 4 more to close it up... I want a bike. but i want to learn to turn first...

Getting in front of a camera lens is a different experience for everyone. From a simple snapshot to a large production fashion portrait, and from person to person. I have never been a huge fan of being photographed (except for when i was very young) but i figure if i want to take photos of people i should know what its like. I know a self portrait taken by myself isnt exactly the same as having someone else take it but i would like to think that i will scrutinize a self portrait more than a photo i took of someone else. and to be abel to take one and post it... For me thats a bit scary, putting myself out there like that. So here it is.

Bridalveil

   
So this is a bit late but better than never. so last weekend Isaac, Adam, Matt, and i hiked up to the top of Bridalveil falls and spent the night in the restaurant/building up there. The hike was intense but it was worth every bit of it. It got a bit sketchy at times and there were some pretty vertical parts that all we had to hang on to were some old ropes that had been left behind for just such a use. Isaac brought a bunch of glow sticks, some parachute men and fireworks to play with. we kept warm with a fire that ended up burning for over 12 hours. Needless to say it was a blast. I didn't get as many photos as i would have liked but we were in a hurry to try and catch the sunset on the way up, which took several hours. On the way down however, it only took about an hour, and that was to stop and take a couple of pictures. Any way, it was a blast and i hope to do it again soon with more of an emphasis on taking photos.