It’s not often I get the chance to get out camping two weekends in a row, and even less likely I will get time to hang out with my camera late at night. This last weekend though I was able to spend three nights out with my family at Palisades Campground, just south of Manti, Utah. The very first night I was so enamored by the amazing, clear view of the sky that I spent hours out with my camera capturing various views.

We had a couple of neighbors that also joined us at the same campground. One family brought their nearly two year old granddaughter with them. We arrived late, so it was already dark, and when she stepped out of the car, she looked up and simply exclaimed, “Wowwww!” My feelings exactly.

Last week was a lot of fun with photographer friends, but the location we were at didn’t provide the wide, unobstructed view like Palisades had to offer. I shot every angle, with plenty of “throwaways” in the bunch, but several I was happy with. Here are a few of the keepers.

This is the view looking over the reservoir with Manti City providing the “rim light” glow behind the mountains.

I was fond of this shot how the Milky Way appears like fire coming off of the silhouetted tree.

On another evening, this was slightly earlier catching Twilight looking over the water. The reservoir levels were much lower than we have experienced in years previous because we were later in the season. The reservoir provides irrigation water for the nearby farms.

Finally one last view of the sky. This was actually one of the first I took that evening we arrived. You can barely see it, but about a third of the way down and in the middle, there is a shooting star. Yes Suzanne, I finally got a shooting star

This last weekend I had the opportunity to enjoy camping with some photographer friends with the idea of relaxing, socializing, sharing, and generally looking to improve ourselves. It was a great weekend for me and I was happy to get to know some friends better all while doing some introspection. I look forward to developing my skills further and following through on some personal goals made.

Both nights I stayed up with a few night owls and made some night images. I confess that most of what I made looked pretty good on camera, but I found some serious faults when I got back and looked at the large on the computer. Good learning experiences even though there wasn’t a lot I’ll be showing online. I did take a lot of detail photos throughout the day, but I’ll decide later if those will appear in another post.

Half of the fun was the making of the photos, and some of the craziness that surrounded it. That’s one of those placement things though; you had to be there. Here are a few images made pointing the camera up at the sky.

I loved how we could see some of the Milky Way in this setting. We had to make the photos during the window of time after dark but before the moon started to come out creating too much ambient light. The moon was awesome, it just got in the way of a pure night sky!

This next photo was made as I was toying with different settings trying to get more of the Milky Way to show up. It all backfired because the stars were moving too fast (yes, I know we were actually moving) so in a short 3 minutes the stars instead looked like a huge meteor shower!

Don’t you love those orange trees? That’s entirely lit by the firelight. Amazing what a 3 minute exposure will pick up!

This next shot shows what happened just a few minutes later when the moon came out over the mountains. This is only a 30 second exposure, but look at all that light on the trees.

Finally, turning the camera toward the rising moon, I positioned the tripod so the moon was hidden behind a tree because it was so, so bright. Hiding the moon allowed me to capture the glow along with some stars in a way I was pretty happy with the results.

The weekend was exactly what I needed on many levels. Thanks to Everyone involved in making it awesome, both in planning and simply being there.

Oh, and yes Suzanne, you are a superstar! My photos didn’t get a shooting star, her’s did. I’m a loser

I had the wonderful opportunity to be the photographer for Nicole & Brodie’s wedding process, from engagement & bridals to the wedding and reception. I am not a frequent wedding photographer, so I feel like I need to work extra hard to rise to the occasion each time. I feel blessed for being a part of their experience and share in their joy. This post is long overdue, but I thought I’d share a few highlights from the various shoots. I am going to break from my normally concise post format and put quite a few photos on this post. As a result you will need to click through to the post page to see them all.

I hope you enjoy getting a peek into their happiness from these few photos. You can see their full event page with many more photos.

Continue to the full post to see the rest of the photos

 

Serenity: repose – a disposition free from stress or emotion

This was the scene I enjoyed every night on my recent family vacation to San Clemente, CA. Pure relaxation.

This last weekend I had the opportunity to return as a photographer for the “Big Blue Bash,” an annual event held by the Salt Lake Chapter of the Cougar Club. My good friend Kelly Branan invited me along last year to co-shoot, and we repeated shooting this event together. It’s always a pleasure hanging out with Kelly, and the BBB is a fun event at which to capture photos.

The event typically features a couple of current players, a recognizable past player and some coaching staff that each share their thoughts on the upcoming season. This year didn’t disappoint featuring Head Coach Bronco Mendenhall, Tom Holmoe, Chad Lewis, JJ Diluigi and Brian Logan. MC’d by Greg Rubel and Blaine Fowler. This is a great event for Cougar fans north of Utah Valley put together by Chapter President Brad Jensen.

Everyone was talking about the possible conference changes, quarterback possibilities, etc. The short answer is that no answers were given Lots of fun talk though.

I look forward to this event now and appreciate being called on to help document the fun evening. Here are a few highlights out of the over 400 images I shot that night, of which just over 300 were delivered. This night was yet another situation where I was very happy to have the ability to shoot at 3200 ISO to deal with the very low light conditions typical to this kind of event.

And of course I have to post one “shooting-the-shooter” of Kelly at work

Having just completed a 12 hour drive and arriving on the beach with camera in hand, I was like a kid unleashed on a candy store with too many choices. I took a lot of “snapshots” but it was fun getting out and shooting for fun, which I haven’t really done in awhile. I grew up around water and coastal options, so living inland leaves me wanting to get out and enjoy a beach periodically, so the family vacations that include a beach tend to be my favorite!

After taking a few snaps of the sunset on the beach we were headed to the car and I decided I need to run over to the palm trees and capture this vantage point. Something just cool about silhouettes, even if it isn’t a perfect picture.

All of these photos were taken handheld as I bounced around the beach trying to also watch kids and with a very patient wife that knew I was just itching to get out with my camera

 

This last week I had a wonderfully relaxing time on vacation with my wife’s family, including all their wonderful little kids. We had a beautiful house on a bluff overlooking San Clemente beach. We were fortunate to be all in one house as though the location made a wonderful place to visit, the real point was to be together as family.

As is typical now on every family outing, we plan some portrait photo time where I set up my gear and take some family photos. I have a large number of photos yet to process, and it is going to take me some time to work through them as I have a full schedule over the next few weeks of projects and outings. I wanted to share a couple of our wonderful family.

 

I’ll have more to share later, but I wanted to get a few of these up and shared with family & friends

Technical info: Canon 5D Mark II. First and last photo 70-200L 2.8 lit with a 60″ diffuser camera right,  580EXii shot through 45″ Westcott convertible umbrella camera left. Middle photo 24-105L lit with 2 580EXiis shot full power into reflected 45″ Westcott umbrellas for full on the shadows.

A new project has been organized giving Utah Photographers an opportunity to showcase their work at the GAllivan Center on September 10, 2010. Some fine individuals I happen to have the pleasure of knowing are participating on the board which assures me this event is going to be top notch!

From the site:

In conjunction with the Gallivan Center’s Broadway & Opera Under the Stars, we seek photographs to continue the artistic and interpretive theme of the event on a visual level — poetic and visceral photos that make you feel first and think second.

From your submissions we will select 25 photographs and mount a print exhibition in conjunction with the Gallivan Center’s Opera Under the Stars on September 10. This show is coming up quick, so our submission deadline is 11:59pm, Friday, August 20.

The Salt City 50 are promoters of great photography and the creative endeavor. We strive to connect with the best artists, the known and the unknown, and provide a venue where a wide audience can celebrate their work.

See more details at: http://www.saltcity50.com/

A couple of days ago I wanted to create a new profile photo for my Facebook, plus I just purchased a new tripod that I was taking for a spin. The lights were set up in the basement for food photos I have been taking for Heather, so I rearranged things, put up the black muslin and used the wireless trigger to snap off some self-portraits.

I really didn’t give a lot of thought to how I looked in front of the camera, just made sure I was in frame, adjusted some lighting and snapped off some shots.

In the photos I took, I was partial to the the ones looking away from the camera. This feeling of introspection that I think this protrays seems fitting as I have felt a lot like this lately.

There’s no restraining my lab when he gets near water. He has to get in there.