Summer Photos

Some more photos for your viewing pleasure. This Summer has been a great opportunity to get out and try and work on some of the photo projects I've had planned.  Lots of photos have been taken, but here are the ones that I've felt were worth showing. Have fun.

This is a photo of local Wunderkind Collin Joyce. He's on the U.S. Cycling Team and has spent a few years racing in Europe. As you can see by the photo, he's fast. I was lucky enough to catch him during one of the local Time Trial events held here in Pocatello. I've been standing on the sidelines for as many races a possible this summer with the hopes of developing a hand in sports photography.

 Many of you have already seen the photo I took last winter of this tree, but I've been trying to come back and get some leafier photos of this guy. I was kind of in a hurry when I took this (I literally pulled over and hopped a fence), so I don't feel quite yet like I've done the tree any justice, but hopefully over time I'll be able to shoot here some more and really get to know all the angles.

 This is my Granny-In-Law Judy Black. If you ask her how she is, she generally says "mean and ornery", but I managed to snap this one when she wasn't looking.

 After manning the camera for a good two hours this is the only shot I managed to get on the 4th that looked decent. The fireworks were delayed due to a very unfortunate accident, and when the did go off  they weren't anywhere near the planned shot. I guess that's the gamble you take when you only have a general assumption as to where the fireworks will be when you're planning the composition of a shot.I tried cropping for just the temple and the firework, but when viewed at 100% the shot looked like rubbish.  That just means next year I'll have to do better.

 Snapped this one whilst out on a walk with the camera, and by walk I mean a 6 mile loop through the West Fork area.

And finally, a long-exposure shot of a well lit building. I've a feeling that if I ever had a type of photography that I leaned towards this would certainly be it. The temple sure does look good though.

Death of a Mustache

Due to those chili, windy winters that some all-knowing Diety chose to curse Idaho with it has kind of become a little tradition of mine to grow a beard during the darker months. I do this mainly because it keeps me from looking like a sunburnt racoon during ski season, and it keeps my face toasty warm on my walks to and from class. With the increase of blue skies and the slow migration in apparel from boots and ski jackets to sneakers and  t-shirts the time has come to rid myself of my hairy chin. But, thanks to a very patient and forgiving wife, I got to say goodbye to my facial hair in stages, the last of which was a very slick handlebar mustache. I was given one-week to shave it off, or else she was going to pluck it out with tweezers in my sleep. And so, until next spring, goodbye my mustachio.

New Year, New Shots

Well it's been over a month since my photography class ended. I was a little nervous that without an assignment to force me to go out and take pictures that my attempts at photography would slowly dwindle into a faddish attempt to be artistic. But, as luck would have it, I've been able to find some time to go out and shoot.  Photoshop seems to have become my after midnight vice when Ali is long asleep and I'm far from it. I've been trying to come up with one 'finished' photo a week, and even though that hasn't always been the case I've managed to scrape together 4 photos that I take particular joy in looking at. I hope you do too.

I actually shot this photo over the Christmas Break when I was in Boise with Ali's family. Ali's little sister Kelsey had just announced that she was moving out for a new town and a new college in Montana, and Ali an I had thought it'd be nice to get a picture of something from Boise as a nice reminder of home. So even though I wasn't sure what my final picture was going to be I packed up my camera gear and snuck out of the house at around 6 am to try and catch the sunrise over Boise. Unfortunately it was completely fogged over, but after getting permission to shoot from a Hotel Balcony (improper use of a tripod and remote trigger) I was able to put together this nice little panorama of the capitol building. In retrospect I really wish I'd put the dome closer to the upper third of the photo and balanced it with more sky, but whatever, Kelsey liked it and I don't think it's half-bad.

 This shot was a lucky find. My church hours shifted from 12pm to 9am with the New Year and Ali and I found ourselves with an excess of time on our Sunday afternoons. We figured a nice drive through the country side would be nice, but after 20 miles that ever so helpful gas-light popped on and we found ourselves counting miles to see if we would make it home. We rounded a corner and I saw this neat little bug barely peaking out from the snow. I gave Ali my "may I?" look and she consented on the promise that I couldn't run the car for fear of wasting gas, and that I couldn't let the car get cold while I was taking photos. So with a quick kiss I was out the door and high-stepping it through 18in of snow trying to get just the right shot. There were a fair amount of good ones, but this one seemed to come together the best. Also, we made it home without running out of gas :D

This shot actually came about due to a recent shoulder injury that placed my ski season on hold for a bit (a separated shoulder makes for a rough ride). It's really amazing how your perspective changes with injuries, and instead of seeing nothing but wonderful skiing snow I started realizing that by the time my shoulder was fully healed bike season would be near. It got me thinking, and this shot was my attempt to try and compose and express the rush of premature excitement I get whenever I realize that Spring is on the way. It was a fun little photo shoot to do, and I was able to get it all cleaned up before Ali came home and had to ask why I had a tripod in the kitchen, and why was I washing a bike chain in the sink. Sidenote: If you look at my right arm you'll see how I'm holding it up against my body for support. I had to take off my sling for the shot and it wasn't exactly comfortable.

 This guy I just finished this morning, and I'm exceptionally proud of it. This tree is in a field just south of Idaho Falls, and every time Ali and I make a trip to IF to visit the temple or family I've always had my camera bag secretly stashed in the trunk. I've been really wishing to photograph this tree for ages. Well last weekend when we came up for a mission farewell and to say goodbye to Kelsey as she left for Montana Ali gave me the green light to sneak away about an hour before sunset. It was freezing and I had to hike through 6 inches of snow for about 200 yards to get in position, but it was totally worth it. I'd hoped I'd be able to add some form of human element (a silhouette of someone standing next to the tree would be amazing), but I was too cold by the time I got out there and was getting colder fast. Maybe next time. Landscape photography has always captivated me, and its been fun to watch my style get more and more developed. It's not as perfect as one of Ron Southworth's landscape shots (a photographer who I'm certainly jealous of), but I feel like I'm getting somewhere as a photographer and its fun. Hope you enjoyed them.