Alan J Photo

As Promised...

2010-06-22T12:10:00.003-06:00

"Where have i been?" you ask. Where have i NOT been. Wait for it... Yep, here's my oft-repeated quote: "i know it's been a while since my last post, BUT..." Seriously, i have been everywhere but home, it seems, these past few weeks. Here's a brief recap...

May 14-16 - Work (keep in mind, this means leaving the house at 5:40am and getting home, after working out, at 9:40pm

May 17 - depart for Portland for a wedding shoot

May 17-21 - in Portland for wedding

May 21 - Go straight from airport to work

May 21-24 - Work

May 24 - Go straight from work to airport

May 25-June 4 - Alaska to visit Jen and kids (and Denali!)

June 4 - Go straight from airport to work (again)

June 4-5 - Work

June 6 - Jen & kids return home, unpack from Alaska, pack for next trip

June 7 - depart for Big Bear Lake reunion with my dad and sisters

June 7-14 - Big Bear Lake reunion in California

June 15-17 - Work

June 18-20 - Visit Mom & Sam (& Max) up in Idaho Falls

June 21 - Afternoon at Dad's in Eagle Mountain for Father's Day/Bday dinner

June 22 - Jen & kids accompany Mom to visit sister in Vegas

June 22-24 - Work Phew! Tired yet? I sure am! But hopefully my blog absence is a little more justified now (although no more cared about). But lest another month go by without a post, i thought i would deliver on my promise to show the difference between a polarized and a non-polarized image. And of course i wanted to make an excuse for my lack of posts (again). But i'm home now (for a little bit) and once i finish the wedding pictures i'm currently working on for Scott and Christi (yes, i am working on them) i'll try and get some more blog posts up.

This first picture was taken WITHOUT a polarizer on the lens. Well, actually, the polarizer WAS on the lens, but it was rotated to eliminate it's effect. Notice how there's very little color saturation and notice how strong the reflection is in the pond. When the polarizer is rotated like this, it allows and possibly slightly increases reflections.

And here's the picture with the polarizer ON and rotated to eliminate/reduce the reflections. Seriously, that's all that was done, i didn't go in on the computer afterwards and increase the color saturation. The only difference between these two pictures is one had the polarizing filter rotated to permit/increase reflections, and the other rotated to eliminate/decrease reflections. And since the polarizer reduces the amount of light passing through, the polarized image is also one or two-thirds stops brighter. I know, boring, but now you know (and still don't care). Hopefully i'll have more for you later!

Fun (Wet) Times in (Very Wet) (and Cold) Vancouver

2010-05-30T21:37:00.002-06:00

While i was naturally very excited to go to Vancouver to shoot Scott & Christi's bridals and wedding i was also very excited to see my aunt and uncle (and my cousin & her baby), and to go HIKE to some beautiful waterfalls in the Columbia River Gorge!
i managed to talk my aunt into hiking out to Ramona Falls out by Mt. Hood. I was very encouraged (and a little surprised) to see blue skies (between all the clouds, naturally) when i landed in Vancouver. We stopped by the house, dropped off my bags, and then headed out towards the trailhead which was about an hour away.
Our enthusiasm begin to shrink just a little as we got closer to the mountain and the skies got darker and darker. By the time we were half way the rain was coming down pretty hard. We stopped at a ranger station to get a Forest Service permit and maybe some maps and also some advice that it was too "dangerous" to hike out there in these conditions.
Fortunately my aunt wasn't deterred and neither was i! Even the continuing rain and occasional lightning couldn't turn us around. And fortunately, i had brought my raincoat. Because it was still coming down when we started hiking. But it was still a really pretty trail and hiking in the rain seemed almost like a right of passage for hiking in the pacific northwest.
About half way (or so) to the falls the rain stopped and patches of blue started to peek through the clouds. We even caught a couple of (partial) glimpses of Mt. Hood! Unfortunately, by the time we got to the falls it was already getting a little late and we were losing daylight rather quickly, especially with all the clouds.
So i took as many pictures as i could, but it was cold, getting darker, and the mist from the falls kept blowing all over my lens. I guess i'll just have to go back again when i have more time to take more pictures (and when it's not so cold!). But it was definitely VERY beautiful!

We hiked out to Ramona Falls on Monday and on Tuesday i shot Scott & Christi's bridals. Wednesday morning i drove out to the Japanese Gardens in Portland. And guess what... it was raining. Again. i even bought a rain cover for my camera, but it was always raining so hard i didn't want to get it out and put it on my camera. I know, makes a lot of sense. I had an umbrella, but let me tell you, setting up your camera and tripod to take a photo while simultaneously trying to hold an umbrella over yourself and your gear is a PAIN!

And yes, it REALLY was that green! And that's probably the nice thing about the rain and the clouds. It really just made everything feel lush and fresh.

But don't be disappointed if you don't get the same results. I did use one special tool, a polarizing filter. What does a polarizing filter do? Simple, the same thing your polarized sunglasses do - remove reflections. Without a polarizing filter, a lot of what you see as green would be white instead from the light reflecting off all the wet leaves. If i'm not too lazy i'll try to find one of the ones i took without the filter to show you the difference. But you know me, i'm pretty lazy.

Yes, i know these are all the same waterfall. But it was really pretty, so too bad. If you don't like it just close your eyes and scroll down a couple of lines.

One difference between your polarized sunglasses and a polarized filter is that you have to turn the filter to get the results you want. Screw the filter onto your lens and then twist the filter until the reflections are diminished. Also, usually a polarizing filter works best when it's used perpendicular to the light source (sun). But here, when everything was wet and the light was filtering through the clouds, it seemed to work well in any direction. In just about all the pictures here i was using a polarizing filter.

One other thing about polarizing filters is that they reduce the light coming through so a tripod comes in handy for the subsequent slower shutter speeds.

I absolutely LOVED this little section! I love Zen gardens, and i thought this was SO cool! i definitely want one, but i'd want some bonsai trees, or trees in addition to the rocks in the garden. And this was definitely more gravel than sand, probably easier to maintain.

It's so simple yet just striking and beautiful in an odd sort of way. I don't know, maybe just the simplicity of it brings this peaceful feeling. And while i like playing with the little desktop ones, the act of raking and all that is soothing and calming. But the bigger, lifesize one has a much more profound effect.

I love this tree! i want to get my little bonsai tree to look like a miniature version of this. So much thought and effort goes into shaping and trimming these trees. Of course i'm clueless on trimming mine. Every time i try to trim it i just make it worse i think.

After the Japanese Gardens i went over to the rehearsal for the upcoming wedding. It was good to meet the very competent wedding planner and get a feel for where i'd be shooting the next day. After the rehearsal i had planned to get another hike in, but Scott and Christi's incredibly nice families invited me out to the luncheon with them. Of course it was raining when i arrived and i had to find a parking spot on the street and because of the rain i didn't really pay that much attention to where i parked. i figured i'd just be walking right back from the ballroom. But instead we walked over to the restaurant which kind of disoriented me. So i had to go refresh the meter half way through lunch. i walked out the back of the hotel thinking i'd be on the right street, but i couldn't see the car. So i ran up one block and turned left, ran down that block, still didn't see it (i'm running because the meter has expired by now and it's pouring rain), so i turned left again and ran down that block, turned left again (now i'm back on the street where i started just a block down) and sure enough the car was there, i just went the wrong direction when i came out of the hotel. But at least now i was all wet! Doh!
So after lunch i headed out too see if i could still fit a couple of hikes in. I had grand plans and i wanted to see how much i could still get accomplished. So i headed about 40 miles down the Gorge to Cascade Locks and the Bridge of the Gods. As you're going from the freeway to the bridge there's a little trailhead for the PCT. For those in the know, that's the Pacific Crest Trail. Anyway, of course it was STILL raining, but i had my rain coat and figured i'd be fine. This is only one shot i took going down the PCT. SOOOOO pretty and green! I would've taken more pictures, but it kept pouring rain. There were a couple breaks, but otherwise it POURED!!! But it was still really pretty. I wish i'd had time to put my polarizer on or set up my tripod, but it was just too wet.

Oh, right, i forgot to mention where i was going. I headed down the PCT for Dry Creek Falls. Obviously, there was nothing "dry" about this hike or the waterfall. Soooooo pretty! Now keep in mind that i had just purchased some rain covers for my camera, but did i think to bring them again? Nope. That would be too smart. And of course it started pouring again when i got there. And this time i didn't have an umbrella! Doh!

But i had brought my lightweight camping towel to dry myself off in case i got wet. So i just put that over the camera and lens while i set up my shot, then i'd move the towel real quick, take the picture, wipe the lens off, and then put the towel back. Yeah it worked real great, seeing as how part of the towel ended up in a bunch of my pictures. Doh again! But at least the camera stayed (mostly) dry.

A sane person would probably just take a couple of pictures and then bust out of there as quickly as possible, but i couldn't. It was just too pretty! i even switched out lenses in the rain so i could shoot some photos with my wide angle lens.

And of course even after i finished taking pictures of the falls i had to walk back down stream to get more pictures of the pretty creek. Yes, it was still raining.

Think it was worth it? You can see the falls there off to the right. Everything is just so crazy lush and green!

i want to live out here and just go find the source of a creek and then just walk down it and take tons and tons of pictures. Each section is different and absolutely beautiful. So many little falls, i could've spent SO much longer here! But i did still want to try and get another couple of hikes in so off i went back to the car.
By the time i got back to the car i was DRENCHED. Apparently my rain coat is only so waterproof. My coat was drenched, my shirt was drenched, my shoes were drenched, my pants were drenched, EVERYTHING was soaking wet. Well, except my backpack, i wisely brought my waterproof one and that ended up being a VERY good idea. It was also a good idea to at least bring a dry shirt too. i brought dry socks too, but since i wanted to hike more i figured i might as well leave the wet ones on (they were smartwool, of course, so they were still keeping my feet warm... kinda).

The daylight was fading fast, it was still raining, and now i was wet and cold, but i wasn't giving up on my crazy plans. So i figured i'd head out across the Bridge of the Gods back into Washington, down the highway to Carson and up the Wind River Rd. (or something) to Panther Creek Falls. It was probably at least 30-45 minutes away, but a really short hike. i followed the directions in Curious Gorge (a great hiking guide to the Gorge) and found the unmarked trailhead. I hiked down the trail a few hundred yards and found this - two falls combining into one spectacular display!

There's a viewing platform from the top of the falls, but the guidebook also said you could scramble down to the base of the falls. Of course, my raincoat was soaked, but at least it had stopped raining for a little bit. So downclimbed a little (wet) mossy wall, and then hiked down to the base of the falls (nearly sliding onto my butt in the mud on more than one occasion).

It was super pretty and green and mossy from the bottom, but the mist kept getting all over my lens again, and it was making me VERY cold. There still more falls below this one, but i couldn't figure out how to get there and i was too cold anyway.

But naturally by the time i got back up to the top of the falls i just had to take more pictures of the pretty creek leading down to the falls. If they seem a little dark it was because i was frustrated from earlier pictures where the waterfall was just a solid white line, i didn't want to lose the detail in the water.

I absolutely love this one! The falls with all the old growth trees along the banks in the background. i wish i could've gotten a better angle with more of the falls, but i wasn't willing to get any more wet and it had started raining again.

So i snapped a few more pictures and headed back for the car. i would've loved to head out to Falls Creek Falls, but it was still another 30-45 minutes away, plus at least that much hiking. And i just didn't think there'd be enough light by the time i got out there to take any pictures. Plus it was cold and rainy and i couldn't put my rainjacket back on because it was still drenched. i thought maybe i could hit Beacon Rock on the way back instead, a short little mile long out-n-back, but then i picked up a severe wind advisory on my phone's weather alert. And of course it had started raining again. Oh well, i still had a BLAST!

The next day, before the wedding, i had really wanted to head up Oneonta Gorge. But i knew i'd have to swim a little ways up it and when i woke up guess what it was doing outside. Yep, raining. And the rain i could handle, but it was also barely 40 degrees. Being that wet, swimming up a rather cold creek, and all that on day where i'd be lucky if it broke 50 degrees. Even i'm not THAT crazy. Oh well, one more reason to come back out there again!
Now don't get me wrong, in spite of all the rain, and somewhat colder weather, i still had a great time. And i would still love to live out there. I think it just comes down to being better prepared. Getting a better rain coat, wearing my waterproof shoes and gore tex pants, bring some waterproof gloves, actually using the raincover for my camera. It might rain a lot, but if that's the price you pay for all the green, then i guess i'll take... at least for a little while. Plus i don't think it'd be so bad if it was a little warmer.
Oh, and a little teaser for future posts, i still have MORE waterfall pictures from my last trip i've yet to post. I just haven't been able to decide which ones i liked best yet.

Scott and Christi: Vancouver Bridals

2010-05-27T21:19:00.001-06:00

Whoa! Can you believe it?! A post that's actually fairly recent! What's the deal with that?! Well actually, the post was recent when i wrote it, but still, all things considered, it's still pretty recent. I had the good fortune to photograph Scott & Christi for their engagements the last time i was in Vancouver for Kayla's wedding. Doh. i was going to link to those blog posts, but it appears i never posted them. Oopsie. Well, they're on my website until i get them posted here. Anyway, Scott & Christi asked me to come back to Vancouver and shoot their bridals and wedding and i was more than happy to oblige.

I flew out to Vancouver Monday after having worked the whole weekend - i was excited to get some hiking in between taking their pictures, but more on that later.

We were supposed to shoot their bridals Tuesday morning, but a number of elements combined to keep that from happening. When Scott went to pick up his tux Monday night his was the only one that wasn't ready. So we pushed the bridals back until Tuesday later in the afternoon. Which i suppose was good since it rained and stormed and hailed all morning.

Unfortunately, when Scott and Christi arrived to pick me up it was STILL raining. Doh. But while discussing our plight someone noticed a little blue peeking through the clouds off in the distance. So off we went hoping for the best.

Christi had sent me some pictures of the area she wanted to do her bridals in, but it's hard to get a feel for an area in a few snapshots. And while the rain had indeed stopped by the time we got there, the wind was still blowing rather furiously. So here i am, wind is blowing, could start raining again any moment, and i've never been here before. You can imagine what i was thinking.

And believe it or not, doing this kind of work, wedding-related photography, is EXTREMELY stressful. The fear of making bad photographs, of the bride and groom not loving the photos is ALWAYS present. I'm always paranoid that my clients won't be happy with my work. So i was obviously very nervous right about now.

Fortunately, the wind eventually died down a little and we found this cool little stone stairway behind the fence leading down to the river. i think it ended up being one of those locations you would never think would be good for bridals, but ended up actually being really nice. I ended up being pretty pleased with the results and i think Scott and Christi liked them too!

And yes, i know that being a part-time wedding photographer isn't stressful like being a doctor, or fireman, or soldier. But the consequences of making photographs the bride and groom, alright fine, just the bride, don't like are very real and long lasting. Don't believe me? Just ask Jen about our wedding photos. (Yeah, you'll regret it).

Oh, and normally i would be more than happy to tell you where i took these photos in the unlikely (impossible) event that someone from Vancouver is looking at these photos and wondering where they were taken, but i have no idea. All i know is that we drove west on highway 14 (i think) until it ended or something around I-5 and that we were right next to this Mexican restaurant with a funny name (two guys' names).

But see, i can shoot photographs in Washington somewhere other than at waterfalls or in the Columbia River Gorge. As unwilling as i may have been to do so initially.

Oh, and just in case you think i'm done being nervous, i'm not. I still have to go through all the wedding photos which were all taken indoors under very low light. See, that's the other things about being a wedding photographer - you never get to shoot in good light. Alright fine, sometimes you do. But those times when there are no second chances, you never get to choose the light then. It's either in the middle of the day outside in harsh light, or in a dimly lit ballroom, church or other reception center. All i know is that my noise reducing software is going to get a workout while i'm working on the wedding photos.

By the way, don't you hate it when you use a term that you don't know your audience understands? On the one hand, you don't want to imply someone doesn't understand a particular term or something because then they'll think that you think they're stupid or something. But on the other hand, you don't want to assume that everyone knows what you're talking about because then they'll just think you're arrogant or something.

Anyway, what i was getting at is just in case you don't know what "noise" refers to. If you haven't already gotten bored and stopped reading a long time ago and don't need to know what noise you can just stop reading now. (But my feelings will still be hurt).

"Noise" refers to any sound or sounds that are made that are frequently loud, unexpected, unpleasant, or unintelligible. Just kidding.

In photographic terms, "noise" refers to any part of the end image that is not true to the original scene but is caused instead by the communication medium. Film and digital sensors have adjustable sensitivities to light. The more sensitive the "film" is to light, the less light is required to expose the image. The benefit is that with more sensitive sensors you can shoot in lower light. The drawback is that as you increase the sensitivity you also increase the likelihood the digital sensors will misfire and create noise.

This noise is manifested in final images as a grainy appearance, or multi-colored pixels in areas of the photograph. This noise also results in a loss of detail in the photo. So if you don't want noise in your photographs then you should always shoot in the lowest ISO setting your camera supports (the ISO setting refers to the film or sensors sensitivity to light).

For instance, i always try to shoot at 80 or 100 ISO. But unfortunately, sometimes you can't when there's simply not enough light. And then you have to deal with noise and the subsequent loss of detail. So the fast and easy "rule" that i try to follow is to use the lowest ISO setting i can while not shooting slower than 1/15th of a second on a compact camera with image stabilization.

If you're not shooting with a stabilized lens, you might be able to get away with 1/30th of a second, but you're better off with 1/50th or faster. The more you zoom in, the faster (shutter speed) you'll also have to shoot.

If you're shooting with a focal length you know, or a lens with a set focal length, then the general rule is to shoot no slower than 1 over the focal length - and that's assuming you have no image stabilization. So if i'm shooting with an 85mm lens, that means that at ISO 100 i shouldn't shoot any slower than 1/85th of a second.

If you DO have image stabilization then you can turn the dial that controls your shutter speed about 2-3 clicks slower than that. But that's a GENERAL rule. If you're really shaky, or really steady, then you can adjust that rule to meet your personal needs.

Also keep in mind that with some removable lenses, the length of the lens never changes. So with my 70-200mm lens which is always the same length, even if i'm shooting at 70mm, to safely get a sharp image, i shouldn't shoot any slower than 1/200th of a second. Fortunately, my 70-200mm lens has image stabilization, so i can go slower than that.

So now you know what to do. Look at your camera's settings and try not to shoot slower than you can safely hold the camera without introducing any blur to the image. If you're shooting a scene on a point and shoot zoomed all the way OUT and you know you know you can safely shoot at 1/10th or 1/15th of a second and the camera is telling you that at ISO 100 your image will be significantly underexposed, then either make sure your aperture is open as far as you can make it (the lower numbers) or increase the ISO sensitivity until you have enough light. So if my image is too dark at ISO 100 and 1/15th of a second, then i will slowly increase my ISO sensitivity until the image is not too dark. And i guess i'll deal with the noise later - it's better than no picture at all, right?
Oh, and two last points. Still want to shoot at a low ISO but there's not enough light to safely handhold your camera then the easy solution is to put your camera on a tripod (or even a monopod). But in certain situations, like weddings, slowing your shutter speed and putting your camera on a tripod doesn't mean your subjects will hold still for that long. Personally, i don't think many adults can hold still longer than 1/15th of a second or so. And definitely not kids. And lastly, if you're shooting with a DSLR, don't forget most have a crop factor of 1.6x (for Canons, i think it's 1.5x for Nikons). So if you think you're shooting at 100mm on a Canon, you're actually shooting at 160mm. So shooting at 1/100th of a second may not be fast enough, you may need to go to 1/160th of a second or faster. (And you thought this post couldn't get any more boring).
Anyway, hope the "photo lesson" wasn't too boring and that you enjoyed some of the photos!

Temple Trip

2010-05-24T22:29:00.002-06:00

Dacia decided she wanted to go hike to a waterfall a little while back. Never being one to turn down a hike i was more than happy to go along. First, however, Dacia wanted to swing by Temple Square to get a particular picture of the temple. So i went a picked up Topher and Grace (because they and Alysia wanted to go hiking too) and met Dacia (and later Alysia) at Temple Square.

The flowers were all VERY nice!

No, not nice like that, although i'm sure that, if they could, they (the flowers) would only have had the nicest things to say.

Now, you all know that i've never been one to prefer posting less pictures than more. And normally i would LOVE to post ALL of these photos of Ellie, but hey, i didn't want to make my own kids jealous. So i opted for a little collage instead. But it should still be very obvious that Ellie is SUPER cute! i just loved all her little expressions.

And here are some more flower pictures from Temple Square...

Little Grace-asaurus wore her self out, but she was super cute too!

I think this is the closest i got to the picture that Dacia was looking for with the temple framed behind the tree blossoms. Unfortunately, i think the recent rains and storms may have made most of the tree blossoms fall off - doh. But it was still pretty anyway.

Well, we took so long taking pictures at the temple that no one was up for hiking anymore afterwards. Well, that and apparently they were all going down to Capital Reef for the weekend - yes, without me! But i guess i had to work anyways... I was going to the Real soccer game later that night and still had some time to kill so i decided to go "hiking" by myself.

Yeah, it wasn't really a "hike". This is Hidden Falls in Big Cottonwood Canyon. The trailhead is located at the upper parking lot at the 'S' Curve in Big Cottonwood. And it's maybe a 100 yard walk, if that. The only "obstacle" is crossing the stream to get better views.

With it being partly cloudy it was the perfect light for longer waterfall shots. It actually is really pretty back there. You can actually walk all the way up to the base of the falls but your feet will get wet, so plan on that.

This is how i crossed the stream, on the fallen log. It doesn't look that bad, but once you're up there and carrying all of your camera gear, it's a little tricky! Go figure on the way back i realized i could walk across the smaller log below the bigger log just as easily - MORE easily. Maybe next time, but it's much more exciting to go across the BIG log!

Hooray for Snowshoes!

2010-05-21T23:19:00.018-06:00

Ummm... In case you're wondering, no, i am not posting these in any particular order. See, here's the deal. I'd really like to post some of the pictures i took from my last trip to Moab, or Death Valley or any number of trips i've taken. But the problem is that i take WA-HA-HA-HAY too many pictures. i can't decide which ones to post. And by now, geesh, i probably can't remember where i was when i took a particular picture anyway. So i suppose the order i'm posting these in is by which ones are easiest to post.
So i finally broke down (half way through the winter) and bought a pair of nice snowshoes. Why, you ask? Duh, so i could go hiking in the winter! No, not so i could die in an avalanche. Anyway, i was very excited to try my new snowshoes out on my first winter hike. So you can imagine my disappointment when i got to the trail and saw this...

Yep, that's mud. Look, there's even a mud PUDDLE right there. And no, this is not the beginning of the trail. It's probably about half way (see, i already don't remember).

By the time i got near the top it looked like this. Yeah, that's a blizzard! Crazy! But go figure, i STILL didn't need the snowshoes. Oh, by the way, don't you love how sometimes my text for the picture is above and sometimes below the picture? Ummm, so now i don't know if i should caption the next picture right here, or below the picture...

Fine, i'll go below. That funny looking guy is me. Yeah, this time i didn't have my ultrapod, and besides, i was at the top, there was nowhere to put it (that means i had to do one of those goofy "hold the camera at arm's length" things - i hate those). And besides, from the picture, can you tell if anything is missing? Go on, look hard... No, the answer is not good lucks, that's too obvious. The answer is my coat. Yeah, i forgot my coat. i drove all the way up Millcreek Canyon, got all my stuff out, and realized i forgot my coat at home. i had my fleece liner, and of course the snowshoes, but no coat. Fortunately, when i started the hike, it wasn't very cold so i figured it wouldn't be a big deal. Obviously by the time i got to the top i didn't want to spend any longer up there in the blizzard than necessary.
Oh, and look, i forgot to tell you where i even went hiking. I thought i'd start easy be attempting the relatively easy (and avalanche free) 5 mile hike up to Grandeur Peak. There's supposed to be a great view, but i obviously wouldn't know anything about that (it was a blizzard, remember? Even i remember that.). Guess i'll have to go back. But it was still really fun to get out and go hiking in the winter.
Aw man, see, now i have to go back to the top or you won't know what this next pictures is of. So i think this was my next attempt to use my snowshoes. This is Big Cottonwood Canyon on the trail up to Lake Blanche - which i had never done. The idea was to hike to Lake Blanche and then potentially on up to Sundial Peak. Unfortunately, in spite of my best efforts to obtain a hiking partner (using craigslist of course) i ended up going alone (i did find someone, but he had to bail last minute). Alright, i'm going to stick to the top now (for my captions).
So on my way up the trail (which, of course, is hard packed snow so i don't need the snowshoes - AGAIN!) i met a guy coming down who said to watch out for the moose and her calf a ways up the trail. I was like, "Great, a momma moose and her baby, she's going to be all paranoid and stuff." So i get up to where i can see the moose (worrying every step that she's moved and on the trail ready to charge me) and decided i better go off trail to give her PLENTY of room (the trees they're in are, like, five feet from the trail). So i veer off the trail and immediately start wishing i was wearing the snowshoes. The trail was packed, everything else was NOT. I'm sinking up to my knees, my waist, past my waist in snow. Great, well i'm definitely not a sitting duck now if she decides to charge me. But it was still cool to see some wildlife.

Geesh, i just noticed that it's really hard to tell what animal (if any) that is behind all the trees. Sorry, i was being a little paranoid. While going way out and around the moose, go figure, two more guys come along, stick to the trail, get up close and get some undoubtedly MUCH better pictures and just keep going. Meanwhile i'm still stuck up to my neck in snow. Doh.
Anyway... This is one of the first views you get of the top of Sundial Peak. It may also be where i either put my snowshoes on, or took off my coat.

This is a much closer and better view of Sundial Peak. It's supposedly one of the most picturesque peaks of the Wasatch Front. Up ahead is a little lake. It's hard to tell because it's obviously frozen and covered in snow.

Once i got to where the lake was i saw a trail branching off to the right and figured it might be the route around the lake and then on up the mountain. Eventually i got to around this point and discovered it was just an alternate route back down. But i didn't want to go down yet.

See that little clump of trees i circled? That's where i hit the lake and then headed off to the right. Where the tracks started heading back this way is where i realized that trail was just going back down. Looking back up the mountain i could see at least one person had gone up in this general direction before me (backcountry skiers - you could see their tracks carving sweet lines down the surrounding mountains). So off i went, and no, i did not fall down that cliff-looking section. Then i hiked all the way up to where i am taking the picture from, those are my fresh tracks in that powder. Now THAT was what i got the snowshoes for! But man, it was exhausting work! I still sank a good 6-12 inches in the snow with every step. I know, probably too fat for my snowshoes - doh! Anyway, i got up to this point and realized a couple things. If i kept heading up the mountain i'd probably be late for my racquetball appointment with Bill later that evening, and the surrounding terrain was much steeper (which means increased avalanche danger) than i originally thought and i probably shouldn't head up by myself.

This is just a close-up so you can see my tracks and also the little clump of trees by the lake.

Coming down was WAY faster than going up, i figured out that you could kind of just take these big running steps directly down the hillside! SO FUN! Granted you have to make sure you get your strides just right or you wipe out. Uh, not that i would know that or anything though...
So right here i've just gotten back across the lake. i actually just walked across it. Those are my tracks going across what i can only imagine has to be the lake. That did make me a little nervous. Not knowing where the lake actually was, how deep it was, how thick the ice was. But i made it across. Woo hoo!

And here i met some other hikers (who did NOT have snowshoes and wished they did) and i took some pictures for them and they took some for me. I know, sorry, like you wanted to see that.

I even talked them into taking some pictures of me running real quick. But the picture doesn't do it justice.

Well, that was definitely a fun hike and i will most certainly be headed back up there. i'd love to still get to the top of Sundial and the lake location with Sundial in the back is sure to make some beautiful pictures.
Alright, you can wake up now, i'm done.

Christmas 09

2010-05-19T22:51:00.001-06:00

As far as Christmas pictures go i know these aren't the stereotypical ones. No tree, or presents, or gift wrap. Just some pictures i took around Christmas before Jen and the kids left for Alaska.

This was probably Aaron's favorite present. He rode it around the hosue non-stop before they left.

Uh, no, that's not my smoke detector with the battery compartment obviously open and empty. Doh! At least Aaron is cute, right?

And here are some pictures of Ellie being all cute and drooly.

Mystery Canyon

2010-05-16T20:10:00.001-06:00

While in St. George for my family's annual (pre-)Thanksgiving celebration my brother-in-law and i decided to get an adventurous hike in. Jared and i have typically done the Subway in Zion about every year. At least i've tried to do it every year, it's a fun hike. Anyway, this year i wanted to try something different. The Subway is fun and all, but on the adventure scale, while adventurous, it's not that it was getting old, but i wanted to try something new, something bigger, more exciting.
So here we are starting up Mystery Canyon. Since it was fall and there would be at least some swimming and quite a bit of waist deep wading once we rejoined the Narrows, we rented dry suits (they're in our backpacks - but i'm wearing my fancy shoes!).

Hey look, it's me! i don't look as cool as Jared with the rope draped over him like that. I put my rope in my backpack.

The hike starts at Weeping Rock and heads up as if heading for Observation Point. I've done THAT hike before, and it's a GRIND! A lot of elevation gain, but great views! Along the way, you come across what i believe to be Echo Canyon. A narrow slot canyon. The trail we took went off to the left up on the ledge by the tree you can see up there.

This is the view looking back into the canyon on the way up. The reddish high point you can see off to the right is Angel's Landing. The saddle down below is where we just hiked up from. Well actually, we hiked up from the canyon floor! Somewhere on the cliff face there to the left is Hidden Canyon - that's one hike i'd still like to do.

Here we are at the top looking down into Mystery Canyon. We gained all that elevation and now we had to lose it all again! We actually had to wander around a little bit looking for the trail down. I ended up trying to match the view with the picture in my guidebook, but it worked!

This is the trail down into the canyon - VERY steep. And yes, that's SNOW! Crazy! It was steep and slippery! i know i ended up sliding down instead walking down at least one time.

This was just a cool boulder i saw along the way. I like the spiderweb pattern. i thought Anya would like it too.

Here we are at the start of the REAL narrows. It was VERY impressive AND exciting from here on out.

Here's Jared setting up for one of our first bigger rappels. We had to bring two 50 meter ropes for this hike, which was a bit of a drag considering there were only two rappels that were even close to that long. Every other time we were having to uncoil and recoil one of the 50 meter ropes. Eventually the rappels got so close together that one of us would rappel down and while the other was rappelling down we'd start walking over to the next rappel with the end of the rope. What a blast! it was seriously SO fun!

This is looking back at what we just rappelled down. We came down from on top of the little rock jammed in up at the top.

Here's Jared demonstrating optimum rappelling form.

Here's me demonstrating optimum goofy rappelling form. It comes so easy...

Some more narrows. It's actually ALL narrows. This is just another picture of some more narrows. Some of the rappels were actually a little tricky because you'd rappel down to a landing of sorts and then continue rappelling but in a slightly different direction (but still down obviously).

After a bunch of rappels and narrows it opens up a little bit to an area that looks like it would be a big (well, not THAT big) lake. What must have been a landslide deposited a big pile of sand a rock in the canyon creating a dam. Fortunately, there was no water. I'm not sure if there usually is or not, we couldn't really tell.

That's my shadow down there to the left! It was so pretty here! The canyon wall was being lit up brilliantly - which unfortunately also meant we were running out of daylight - doh!

This is looking down the final stretch of Mystery Canyon. The blueish appearing wall off in the distance is where Mystery Canyon joins the Narrows.

Another rappel. There we SO many rappels, but i don't think it ever got old - it was just non-stop fun and excitement.

Here we are in our official Star Trek uniforms for the Enterprise section of the canyon. It's kind of tradition to wear the uniforms out of respect for the old crew of the Enterprise. Just kidding! Those are actually the dry suits with the coveralls over them (the coveralls keep you from tearing the dry suits). Don't we look spiffy?!

And yes, it was getting dark. Go figure. We donned the dry suits because this rappel deposited you directly in an ice cold pool that was too deep to stand up in. It was so fun! You actually had to use a handline to go out along the cliff a ways before you could rappel down. And then you just rappel down into the pool, unhook from the rope and swim to the edge. It's not actually all that big, but it was still cold - we were definitely glad we had rented the drysuits.

After that last rappel it was just too dark to get any more pictures. There was one more rappel after this one where we rappelled down Mystery Springs into the Narrows section of Zion Canyon. In the light it would have been a lot more fun and we probably would've had an audience. You can actually see Mystery Springs cascading into the narrows in my previous St. George post here. This was seriously the funnest hike! Definitely my new favorite - or at least a tie with the Grand Teton. What a blast. i can't wait to do it again. I'm going to start doing this one every year now instead of the Subway. Who's ready to go?

GeorgeGiving 2009

2010-05-13T22:40:00.028-06:00

Last Thanksgiving (don't you love my catch-up posts?) my family headed to St. George to celebrate. As in past years, we headed down a week early to accommodate various work schedules (okay fine, mine) and to make it easier for everyone to celebrate with their in-laws later. Most of us stayed in our condo in St. George and had a great time! Here's a sampling of some of the photos... One of the days we headed out to Snow Canyon to take some family photos. Of course being Johnsons, we left too late and were losing light FAST. And me being me, i forgot my tripod - that was also a pain. Doh! This is a silhouette picture i took of everyone, next time we'll have people take off their coats.

Here's Emily's cute family. Keep in mind i actually uploaded these pictures well over a month ago, possibly two months ago. So if some pictures are missing, it's not because i don't like you, just because, well, i don't actually remember. But i think i did Alysia's family in an older post. Why aren't any of my family here? Because i looked goofy (well, goofier than usual) - and since it's my blog, i don't have to show them to you. Neener neener!

Here's Caden - Emily wanted him to do something cute. i can't remember if he ever did it or not, but he's still cute.

Alright, here's my concession, a family picture with me in it (like you care). Now look at everyone in the picture, can you tell why i don't like it? Who looks the fattest in the picture? Yeah, me. What's up with that?

Dacia and Joe and super cutie-pie Ellie!

My dad, Karen and Rachel. I love Rachel's little "i'll humor you only so long" smile.

While we were down there everyone (except for me, i was on kid-duty) registered for a race. I think it must have been a 5k. The kids also ran in a MUCH shorter race (like around the block or something). Here's Aaron - i'm not sure if he's actually running, but he's cute!

Here's Anya, now SHE's running! And she's super cute too!

Look at all these cute kids! Ellie's just as cute today as she was then!

Now THAT's running! Look at him go!

The start. Look at that enthusiasm! i find the high percentage of tongues sticking out to be amusing. Maybe i'll have to try that to go faster too...

When all the adults wanted to play games this is who we let watch the kids. What would we do without TV and DVDs?

Here's a sampling of some of the SUPER yummy foods that were prepared. Besides being able to be with my family and play games and stuff, the food my family makes is my favorite part of Thanksgiving.

Aaron obviously enjoys the food too!

Not so environmentally responsible, but VERY easy clean-up.

One of my sisters, i think it was Dacia, thought the kids would have fun making these yummy pretzels. And boy did they! I think the most oft-repeated phrase to the kids was to wash their hands after every time they'd put their fingers in or near their mouths to eat some of the M&Ms. But they really had a lot of fun, and they tasted really good too (the pretzels, not the kids)!

One afternoon a few of use decided to take some of the kids out hiking in Zion National Park. A hike i fondly remember doing with my grandfather was out to the Emerald Pools, so that's where we headed with the kids. And wouldn't you know, they ALL made it! And i think they had a good time too!

This is all the kids (except Ellie) at the Upper Emerald Pool.

Anya and Jaxon found some cool little tunnels and rock formations on the way up.

Oopsie, this picture is supposed to be first. This is all the kids (including Ellie) at the start of the hike. You might even be able to see Dacia back there too.

A rousing game of Scotland Yard!

And here's another craft/treat the kids made with Emily - turkey cookies. i think maybe they used their hands as the turkey outlines. The kids loved it.

As always, the trip was a blast and i know i had a lot of fun and think everyone else did too. Thanksgiving is probably my favorite holiday. Family, fun, games, hiking, and great food - what more could you ask for? Until next year! (For the next Thanksgiving post, not my next blog post, although you never know...)

Stephen and Laurel

2010-05-10T01:06:00.004-06:00

This is Stephen and Laurel. They got married a while ago too. But don't worry, they've had their pictures for a LONG time.
I did their bridals out around SaltAir.

I did Laurel's bridals at the State Capitol Building. Ah great, i can't remember if it's Capitol or Capital... i remember that one is always and only a building, and the other is everything else. Hmmm... Aha! Looked it up, capitOL is always the physical building. So we took pictures in Utah's capital in the state capitol building. Look, i even remembered it correctly the first time!

Anyway, i had never done pictures before at the capitol. Turns out you have to fill out a little form and get it approved beforehand, but it was very simple and only $10. Which when compared to the crazy fees at Red Butte and Thanksgiving Point is VERY reasonable. We ended up having the place to ourselves and the light was perfect. i thought it was a great place for bridals and I'm excited to work there again.

Stephen and Laurel had their wedding ceremony at Solitude Ski Resort at Kimi's (a mountainside bistro). It was a really cool location and another fun first!

St. George - Fall 2009

2010-05-07T22:32:00.017-06:00

Yes, i'm still the same person who only blogs every four months. Sorry to be introducing such confusion. Anyway, last fall i took a quick trip down to St. George and Zion to get some nice fall pictures. Thought i'd finally share some of them...
Camping is nice and all but why have a condo if you're not going to use it. Staying in the condo i was also close to Snow Canyon State Park. I'd heard about some lava tubes in the park so i set out to find some of them, and this is what i found. This is the opening of the cave.

Here's the view out of the cave. It didn't go back very far.

This is why you take your trusty ultrapod! Although i must admit it looks much easier than it is. Set up the camera, run over to where you think it's aimed while trying not to trip or look winded, smile, go back and see if you made it in time, were standing in the right place, were not standing too close or too far, and were not making a stupid face (obviously i have to skip that last one). And then i always have to repeat all those steps at least a few times.

There are supposed to be a few lava tubes, i think i've found them on Google Earth, hopefully next time i can try and explore those as well. I've also heard there are supposed to be bats in some of them, but i didn't see any.

Here i am starting up the Narrows from Temple of Sinawava in Zion National Park. This time there were lots of people to help to take a picture (although i naturally had my REAL tripod this time). The water gets quite chilly in the fall and since you're walking in it almost non-stop and there's very little sun at the bottom of the narrow canyon i rented some dry pants. The dry pants actually do a very good job keeping you dry but only from the waist down, so it's important to keep your balance (usually with a hiking staff) so you don't trip and fall in. Oh, and you also wear fleece long johns underneath, because the pants keep you dry, but it's still freezing cold. But it was a blast! I highly recommend it.

The waterfall to the right is actually where Mystery Canyon hooks up with the Narrows. Later, over Thanksgiving, Jared and i actually rapelled down that waterfall from Mystery Canyon back into the Narrows to finish up our hike - but more on that later (hopefully).

This is about as far as i made it, just past the confluence of Orderville Canyon. It wasn't dark yet, but hiking in the water is slow and as it was i ended up getting back to the car in the dark. Oh, and this was a fun run too! Fortunately it was a wide angle lens so i could stand just about anywhere and be in the picture.

The last (and only) time i hiked the complete Narrows was as a Boy Scout. i've hiked up a little ways before and actually i've hiked down from the confluence with Orderville Canyon, but i'd never taken a nice camera and tripod into the Narrows, so i was excited to try and get some nice pictures. i'll let you be the judge of that though...

Unfortunately these pictures do not do justice to the sheer grandeur of the canyon. The canyon walls dwarf everything in them and the way the light bounces around in the canyon and lights everything up - a picture just can't do it justice. (Sorry, you'll just have to go yourself to epxerience the full beauty).

Shoot, i don't remember which peak this is, but i'm pretty sure it's in the Court of the Patriarchs. I know the next two pictures look the same, but they're not. Although they're probably similiar enough that i only needed to include one, but you know how i am.

This is the Towers of the Virgin. You can get this view at sunrise behind the Park Headquarters and museum. i think i actually camped in the park to get here by sunrise - much easier than the long drive from St. George!

And this is the Watchman. it guards the park's west entrance. This view is at sunset from the bridge just before the Canyon Junction. It's a pretty popular place at sunset, especially in the Fall. That's the Virgin River down below. And yes, i know, these next two pictures look the same too, but they're not. But it's been so long since i uploaded these pictures i don't remember why i chose so many similar photos.

I hope you enjoyed my trip report and the pictures. i absolutely love coming here and can't wait to go back. Let me know if you want to come with!

Kristin and RJ

2010-05-06T22:20:00.005-06:00

Why is it that 11 out of 10 of my blog posts start with something alluding to the fact that it's been forEVER since i last posted? I mean, besides the obvious answer that it really has been forever? Oh, and my statistics are NOT faulty - that just means that future blogs that may be written but not posted also start that way. He he, who am i kidding, "future blogs" that have been written and not posted - yeah right!

Anyway, this is Kristin and RJ. They got married at the beginning of the year. And don't worry, i didn't just finish these pictures. it's just taken me a while to get them posted on my blog - they've been on my website for QUITE a while.

By the way, the pictures for these next few posts have actually been online for quite a while, i just haven't had the time to "write" the actual blogs and hook them up to the blog. And yes, i do actually call this "writing" a blog, no matter how lame what i write is. Some excuse, eh?

Cross your fingers, i've got a few more sets of pictures to post, let's see if i can find/make some time to get them posted over the next couple of days!

Bribery

2009-12-08T22:20:00.006-07:00

Ah, my sister knows me well... So i took these pictures back in November, the week before Thanksgiving while my family celebrated Thanksgiving down in St. George. We all went out to Snow Canyon for some family pictures and i took some group photos and then some individual family photos. Anyway, i've received some "requests" (more like complaints) about getting the photos sooner rather than later. I, personally, do not know what they're talking about. It's like i have some bad reputation or something! Now, for any prospective clients looking at this (yeah, THAT'S likely!), i'll have you know that my reputation for not posting pictures very quickly is only limited to non-paying clients. That's why i never have time to post my own pics, because i'm busy with paid clients. Anyway, my wise sister, Alysia, realized that i could possibly use some... motivation. So she offered to treat me and the fam out to Red Robin if i would work on her pictures first. That and then showing up unannounced (which was really fun) got her her pictures first. So here some of them are... You may notice in one of the pictures they look way more mature than one would normally give them credit for, that's because it's not them. It's Topher's parents. I did that pic for Alysia too. It's not that she's necessarily all that persuasive, i just really like Red Robin. So to any other family members reading this... now you know my weakness. And to any other clients, of course i would never push your photos back for Red Robin...

Still the same slacker...

2009-09-05T10:42:00.006-06:00

Here are the pics i'm thinking about turning in for the fair - go figure, they're due in the next hour or so. Waited until the last minute - again.

Gwyneth

2009-09-02T12:29:00.006-06:00

I know, i know: you thought blogger had deactivated this blog due to a lack of activity. And yes, i also know that lately, every blogpost of mine has started like that. Sorry.
This is my beautiful little niece Gwyneth. By the way, if i spelled her name wrong it's Jen's fault.

Of course, these pictures were taken back in April (he he, sorry), so she's not really this little anymore - but she's still just as cute!

Marti, Gwyneth's mom, my (step) sister, had her birthday party yesterday and i wanted to blow up one of these shots for her gift. Unfortunately, a variety of computer/software problems (and, i'm sure, procrastination) prevented me from getting this accomplished in time.

So instead, i'm posting them here so Marti and Andrew can tell me which one/s they like best so i can get them printed.

In other news, if you haven't noticed by my lack of posts, it's been a busy summer. Trips, weddings, and life in general have done a pretty good job of keeping my busy. So it's not that i don't have any pictures to share, on the contrary, i have LOTS and LOTS of pictures to share, just very little time to actually choose my favorites and post them here.

However, i do think i'm (finally) starting to get caught up. Phew! So check back soon and i'll (hopefully) have some more pictures for your viewing pleasure! And don't forget, you can also always check my (lame) website for updates, i actually post pictures there very regularly.

More Birthdays...

2009-04-03T17:10:00.011-06:00

Last weekend we got to celebrate Drew's birthday with his family and friends. I'm pretty sure they only meant to invite Jen and the kids, so to make up for being a birthday party crasher (hello, they had root beer floats, of course i was going to crash the party) i decided to snap some photos during the party. Plus i really wanted to test out my new lens: a Canon L series lens (i get the goosebumps just writing that): the Canon EF 70-200mm f/4.0 L IS USM. Uh, i'd appreciate if you did NOT do a price search on that particular lens though - i don't really want to get mugged for my lens. And yes, i did have to raise my prices to make up for that particular lens. But it's WORTH it! Well, at least i think so. (But i bet my clients will appreciate it too).
Here's the birthday boy himself, Drew, the captain of our airplane-themed party. Jen and I have known his parents since we were both beginning our families back in Taylorsville. His parents, i might add, did a GREAT job setting up the party, activities and refreshments (remember, root beer floats). And all the kids really seemed to have a great time.

This is Ana, Drew's little sister and i think is the cutest little girl! And she cracks me up too.

I don't actually remember who this is, but i thought he was pretty cute too.

Hey, i know him! He's cute too, the cutEST as a matter-of-fact! Although i'm not too sure about his pose or airplane throwing technique. And what the?! What is that circle sticker he's wearing? Everyone is wearing one. I wonder if that's how they got the party favors, no wonder i didn't get one. Dang sticker!

Here's the birthday boy again. And see, he's got one of those stickers too!

I know her too. Although according to Jen you wouldn't know it. Apparently she was displeased at the low volume of Anya pictures in my previous blogs. So look, here she is, i DO know her and i DO like her! And i'd like to add HER airplane throwing technique is VERY good.

And here's a cute dog who followed me around the party eating all the food i kept dropping on the floor. It beats sweeping.

Las Vegas: Joe & Grace's Birthday Party

2009-03-31T18:12:00.001-06:00

We left Vegas just in time on Monday to get to my dad's place in time for Joe and Grace's combined birthday party. One of them was turning 1 and the other, i don't know. But i am fairly certain it was Grace who turned 1, but you can never be sure. And actually we weren't really "on time," everyone else was just late so it seemed like we were on time. But i'm glad we made it.
Grace was being hilarious, she was making the funniest faces. Of course, as soon as i got the camera out she stopped making those faces or at least she waited until after the shutter had closed to make the silly face, but she was cute anyway. I think this first one is the cutest one.

This is probably as close as i got to capturing the funny face in its latter stages.

I'm sure Joe will be flattered that this is the best picture i got of him. But i say, hey, it's his own fault.

And here's Grace enjoying one of her new birthday presents.

Happy Belated Birthday Joe and Grace!

Las Vegas: Macro Fun

2009-03-30T18:36:00.001-06:00

I mentioned i got a new lens before leaving for Vegas, it's a Canon 100mm f/2.8 macro and is generally regarded as the best Canon lens under $600. It's a prime lens (that means it uses "sneaker zoom" - which means your sneakers do the zooming). But prime lenses also produce much sharper images. Anyway, i'm not much of a macro shooter, i prefer lanscapes and portraits - but once you get a macro lens you'll find yourself wanting to take a picture of everything (especially small things) simply because you can! It's fun. Anyway, i do hope to incorporate it into my portrait shooting but until then i'll have a little fun too. Maybe i'll make it a regular feature, "guess what i took a picture of"? The last two are obvious, but can you guess the first two? They're the same thing, but from different perspectives, the photos were taken in Vegas in Emily's backyard...
At f/2.8 it's not super fast, but as you can see, the depth of field (the part of the picture that's in focus) is razor thin sometimes. In this particular image, the sharp part of image is only about a quarter of an inch wide! Obviously you have to be careful or you'll only get a very small part of your image in focus.

In this image you can see how the depth of field brings only certain parts of the flower into sharp focus, but i still think it looks cool. To decrease your depth of field use a larger aperture (the smaller f-stop numbers), to increase the depth of field (you want everything in focus), use smaller apertures (the bigger f-stop numbers). Keep in mind that using a smaller aperture lets less light in and requires more time and thus usually a tripod.

Las Vegas: Sunday Dinner

2009-03-29T18:03:00.004-06:00

One of my favorite parts of going to Vegas is having a delicious meal organized by Emily. Don't get me wrong, Jen is a great cook too. But whenever we all get together Emily will typically prepare at least one big meal and it never disappoints. Sunday night was no different.
Before church we started by washing and baking potatoes (this is where i got to help, apparently nobody thinks i can mess this part up - how little do they know...). I also then helped scoop the baked insides of the potatoes out so Emily could mix them up for twice baked potatoes... mmmm... just thinking about them makes me hungry again. I LOVE twice baked potatoes!

Of course we have to throw something healthy in there for appearances... (They were actually pretty good too!

Maybe these were jalepeno poppers or something, i don't remember. But they were go-od! They weren't spicey at all either, which is good because generally i prefer gringo salsa (ketchup).

Don't they look so super delicious?

And of course Jared, the master griller, grilled up some delicious chicken for dinner. It was perfect! I like to think it's because he has a cool little remote temperate gizmo, that's what i need, then i can be an awesome griller too (in my dreams, i know).

You gotta have A1, i mean, c'mon, that's just obvious...

Notice the A1 is before the utensils. if it came to choosing between A1 and utensils, well, that's not even a difficult choice - of course the A1.

And here's the master chef herself. If she looks a little mad it's because she probably is - she knows i'm going to eat all the non-edge brownies the next day (not that day, because i was too full by the time it came to brownie-time).

These brownies were SO good! I need to get the recipe or something. Although apparently you're not supposed to eat all the non-edge brownies whilst leaving the edges - who knew?

And after dinner we got to play Settlers of Catan with the Cities and Nights and Seafarers expansions. It was pretty fun (even if i didn't win). Jared was the champion for the evening. And it doesn't seem like that game took forever - although i think we still played until close to midnight.

Las Vegas: Random Portraits

2009-03-28T20:00:00.002-06:00

Before leaving for Vegas i got a new camera and of course had to bring it with to try it out on unsuspecting family members (or are they suspecting by now? They probably should be). Anyway, here are some random portraits from Vegas, enjoy.
Yeah, i know, this isn't really a portrait. But i didn't know where else to put it. Emily decided it would be fun to go out to Red Rock and hike to what a week or so previously had been a really cool waterfall. Go figure by the time we got there the waterfall was more a watertrickle. No, not because it took us so long to hike there, just because it's Vegas and the temperatures had already been in the 80ies for long enough to dry it out. But it was a fun hike anyway.

Ah, my son. How i love that he won't hold still or make a real, non-squinting smile when i try to take a picture... Yeah, i'm just kidding. i don't love that all. i frequently ask myself, "self, why couldn't i have kids who actually like to be photographed enough to hold still for longer than two seconds and make a non-silly face?" Probably has something to do with the faces i made as a youth in similar pictures. Don't ask my mom. But he's cute anyway.

Here's Caden, he's super cute too. And look, that's a good smile with no squinty eyes. Caden was super cute the whole time we were down there. Always ready to cuddle or play, or just have fun. i miss him already.

i don't remember why he was crying, but i wanted to catch the little tear running down his cheek. (No, he was not crying because of me. Well actually, i don't remember, maybe he was).

These are some birthday portraits i took of Gavin. What a handsome little boy! And can you believe he actually held still for a few pictures?

Hey look, it's Jaxon! i thought these pictures were kind of funny. In the last one i can't tell if he looks mad. He wasn't, but the squintly little eye and squished cheek...

I know i should know her from somewhere... She's cute too.

Las Vegas: Gavin's Birthday

2009-03-27T16:29:00.011-06:00

Last weekend i met Jen and the kids down in Vegas at Emily's place. (i know, isn't crazy, only a few days ago and i'm already posting some pictures)! Anyway, we were lucky enough to be there for Gavin's birthday and got to celebrate with him and the family. Gavin really wanted a light saber birthday cake, impossible right?

Not with Emily it wasn't impossible. The chef worked late into the night crafting this super tastey light saber birthday cake. And i think the birthday boy (and everyone else) was pretty impressed.

Here's the birthday boy with his cake and presents. He was pretty excited (and surprisingly well-behaved).

It was a really fun birthday party and i'm glad we got to be there to celebrate with Gavin and the family. Thanks for inviting us Gavin!

Dallin & Ashley Wedding, Part II

2009-02-20T22:26:00.004-07:00

Here are the rest of the pictures from Dallin and Ashley's wedding. Enjoy.

Dallin & Ashley Wedding, Part I

2009-02-20T19:38:00.020-07:00

I know, it's a miracle, right? Another post, and it's only been one month! I like to think of it as a little President's Day miracle. I hope you enjoy it, and guess what - I'll even post again tomorrow. I know, I'm a slacker - especially since I shot this wedding about a month ago. Doh!

This is Dallin and Ashley. Dallin is the son of one of my co-workers and the brother of Kelli (see more here and here), whose wedding i shot back in 2007 - one of my first gigs.

This was actually a pretty short notice shoot too. i came back from seven weeks of business travel, had Christmas and the New Year and then this wedding. No engagements, no bridals, just show up on the wedding day and meet the bride and groom for the first time. Well, actually I already knew Dallin from the last wedding. No, not his, his sister's.

This was also the first shoot where i also used my Canon G9 with my Canon EOS 30d. That way i could shoot wide with the G9 and up close with the 30D. It worked out pretty well and made me realize i really should be shooting with two cameras in general. So go figure, now i ~~want~~ need another camera. Yeah, i know, i'll let you know when that happens.

Fortunately, it didn't matter that i had only met the two of them that day. They were both really easy-going and a pleasure to work with.

So why'd it take so long to get the pictures posted? Besides the obvious fact that i'm an occasional slacker? As soon as i got back from my DC business trip it was time to start wrapping up all my assignments and projects for the class i was participating in. So that kind of took the priority for a while. Fortunately everyone was really understanding.

This shoot was actually fairly stressful for me. Since i hadn't formally met the bride and groom yet, i was a little nervous about the dynamic we would have. And usually, by wedding day (the most important shoot), you've had at least two previous shoots (engagements and bridals) to get used to each other.

And while wedding day is always stressful, by that time, i typically have two succesfull shoots under my belt. These previous shoots have built up my confidence and kind of provide a mental safety net; i can think to myself that worst case scenario, if for some reason the wedding shots don't turn out, at least i've got the engagements and bridals.

Instead, i came in not only not having the two previous shoots, but also not being able to control the location or lighting. Sure, i brought my studio lights, but it's not the same as natural light. Don't get me wrong, i like my studio lights and wish i could use them more, but i like having a good number of natural light shots as well. And quite frankly, shooting in an LDS cultural hall (gymnasium) kind of limits the poses and backgrounds you'll be able to use.

But even with all my anxiety, i think everything turned out really well. Or at least i hope so. And as nervous as weddings make me (i love bridals and enjoy engagements), after everything turns out, i'm glad i have the opportunity to do them.
It may actually be time to start advertising. So far my photo business has been by referral only. But i think as i do more, i'll gradually get more comfortable and less anxious/nervous. And of course i'll get better. i think that as a photographer, i've grown quite a bit since my first shoot. And i enjoy being able to see those results.

Let me know what you think of the pictures. Hopefully with my class finished i'll be able to slowly start catching up on some of my other posts. Check back tomorrow for the rest of this wedding.

Thanks for looking.

Thank You Cards

2009-01-18T12:43:00.010-07:00

After completing my 30-day job detail and 5-day job shadow in my headquarters office i wanted to send thank you cards to the various people i worked with while there. The pictures show the front picture, the inside picture, and the picture on the back of the card.
This first card shows various images of Havasu Falls in Havasu Canyon.

I really wanted to make the thank you cards a little more personal and decided to try and use my own pictures for the cards. After browsing around for a bit, i think it was Jen who finally told me i could do the cards online with Costco.
This card shows Falls Creek Falls from Swan Valley, Idaho on the front. On the inside and back are some photos from American Fork Canyon it Utah.

So i spent a few days going through pictures, editing them, and gettig them ready for the cards. You have to get them in sets of 10, so i didn't use all the pictures i wanted to, but because you can put pictures on the front, inside and back, it still ended up working out pretty well. Or at least i thought so.
This card shows a picture of the Subway on the front, and then some photos from Zion National Park on the inside and back.

Some of these pictures had actually never been edited. The pictures from Bryce Canyon, for instance, were my first photo trip with my new camera. That had to have been at least two years ago, and i just barely got around to going through them. Yep, i'm a slacker.
The front photo is Navajo Falls, on the inside are Havasu Falls, Beaver Falls, and Havasu Falls again. All from Havasu Canyon in Arizona.

I actually have quite a few more pictures that are ready to be made into cards, and of course i have quite a few more that i haven't gotten around to looking at yet that could also probably be made into cards (the grand canyon, etc.).
This is Mesa Arch from Canyonlands National Park's Island in the Sky District outside of Moab, Utah. On the inside are some more pictures from Canyonlands National Park of Green River Overlook and Mesa Arch. On the back is Dead Horse Point State Park, also outside of Moab, Utah.

Anyway, if anyone would like some 5x7 folded greeting cards please let me know. They come with envelopes and you can have your return address printed on the envelopes if you want. You can also opt for different text on the back (can't get rid of Costco logo though), no text on back, and no pictures on back or inside. A set of 7 different cards mailed to you is $15. A set of 10 of the same card mailed to you is also $15. I think if you want more than one set it'll probably be a little more shipping.
These pictures are all of Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah.

Other than wedding photos, these are the first photos i've ever attempted to sell, so my pricing is very preliminary. If you are interested, not that anyone will be, i'd get them now before i realize that i'm not charging enough to cover my costs.
These pictures are of Upper and Lower Antelope Canyons outside of Page, Arizona.

Hair Cuts

2009-01-17T22:04:00.010-07:00

Does anyone even still check this blog? No? Can't say that i blame you. Anyway, i thought i'd post some pics i took of my hot wife after her recent hair cut.

I don't know what it is, if it's a guy-thing in general, or just a me-thing. But i am not in favor of haircuts.

It's not that i'm opposed to short hair, i guess i'm just opposed to change. Fortunately, for me i guess, Jen didn't get her hair cut near as short as i thought she would. And of course she's still super hot!

Yes, i know, i'm lucky.

I should probably point out that Jen does not think her hair is as red as it may look in these pictures. Of course i have no idea.

i also know i'm very behind on pictures, and i apologize. (Please note i did NOT say i'm a very big behind, although that could be true too...). I do still hope to get the pictures up from this past summer, etc... one day.

Of course Aaron wanted to get it on the photo action as well.

It's Only Fair

2008-09-05T21:39:00.016-06:00

Thank you all so very, very much for your plentiful and extremely helpful feedback! You all are, quite simply, the best!
I ended up tallying the results of everyone's feedback, combined those results with my personal preferences and then stared at the photos right up until the very last minute - seriously, it was the last minute. The first printer i called said they couldn't have prints ready in time, the second said i absolutely needed to have the pictures in to them by close of business that Thursday. Of course, to complicate matters, i also had to work Thursday night. With five minutes left before i had to leave for work, i still hadn't decided; so i sent five or six of my favorites to the studio to be printed. i hoped that, when enlarged, i would possibly find some imperfection, etc. that would help me narrow down the three finalsists.
Yeah, it didn't help, they still looked good, even enlarged. i still couldn't choose. To maximize opportunities for recognition (ie. prizes), i opted to submit only one picture per lot (you can't win more than one prize per lot). This forced me to choose between some of my favorite pictures.
In the final tally, Mesa Arch ended up being the "audience" favorite with Havasu Falls close behind.
Mesa Arch

Havasu Falls

And while i really like the picture of Mesa Arch, i seemed to remember having seen at least one or two in last year's fair, thus i wasn't sure what kind of originality points it would score with the judges. So i went with the photo of Havasu Falls which really is one of my most favorite pictures.
I also really like the panoramic image of Navajo Falls, and submitted it as well.

And finally, since my only real "professional" photography experience comes from the wedding field, i felt it somewhat necessary to choose a wedding-related photograph, and the close-up of Kira in front of Multonmah Falls is one of my favorites. (I also really liked the vertical panaroma of Kira and the Falls, but felt the people on the bridge were too distracting).

Anyway, i hate to say it, but it looks like most of you were right; my favorite picture of Havasu Falls didn't win anything and there were no other pictures of Mesa Arch, so the Mesa Arch picture may have done better.

And the kind of disappointing thing was that the picture that won was from Antelope Canyon, and i kinda think my old Antelope Canyon pics were slightly better.

Since no one from the "audience" had really chosen this bridal picture of Kira as one of their favorites, i was somewhat surprised to see this...

That's fourth place, which isn't too shabby!
And we were very surprised to see this in the panoramic section...

That's first place, can you believe it?! There were definitely some great pictures over in the panoramic section, so i was both pleased and surprised my photo did so well.
Anyway, thank you all again for you help. While i may not have chosen the same photo you did, i definitely considered and appreciated everyone's feedback. Maybe next year i can get the pictures submitted before the last second.

Fair Time? Already?!

2008-08-27T23:50:00.009-06:00

So i've been dragging my feet choosing pictures for this year's Utah State Fair photography Exhibit thinking i still had plenty of time to decide. I'm really just not that good at picking favorite pictures, which is why i typically post way to many pictures here, i just can't narrow them down - i like them all. Anyway, the pictures are due by the end of the weekend, i probably need to turn them in to get printed on Thursday or Friday to submit on Saturday.
i'll try to break up the pictures by the lot i would submit them in. I'd prefer to only submit one picture per lot, and i can only submit three pictures.
Let me know which ones you like best in the comments.
Lot #12: Panorama

Lot #14: Portraiture: Children

Lot #15: Portraiture: Groups

Lot #16: Scenic (including hand of man)

Lot #17: Scenic (excluding hand of man)

Lot #19: Still Life

Lot #21: Wedding

Keep the following in mind when comparing photos:

Impact (appeal, emotion, statement, composition, rarity)
Quality (exposure, sharpness, etc.)
Appeal (universal appeal)
Purpose & Meaning
Craftmanship (composition, depth, contrast, saturation, balance, difficulty, etc.)

Thanks for your help!

Summer Mountain Biking

2008-08-17T00:17:00.047-06:00

Shortly before leaving for Williamsburg (i know, that was over two weeks ago), i decided i wanted to get a last mountain bike ride in before leaving. But by the time i got whatever done i needed to get done that day (actually, i probably didn't get anything done; it's more likely i just messed around all morning) it was already late into the afternoon and sweltering hot in the Salt Lake Valley. Something was going on that evening, and if i wanted to go riding i needed to go now, but where?

Enter Solitude Mountain Resort in Big Cottonwood Canyon. Although you have to drive up the canyon a ways, the cooler temperatures are definitely worth the extra 15 minutes you have to drive. And not only was i rewarded with much more pleasant temperatures, but a blanket of wildflowers as well!

While the resort does offer lift-served hiking and biking, i didn't see enough trails to justify the cost of the lift pass. Besides, i got more exercise biking up anyway. But it was a great ride that i'll definitely revisit to escape hot afternoons in the valley. Plus, they had frisbee golf up there too! I need to go check that out as well.

Overall, a great 6 mile bike ride!

Fast forward to this past weekend (i know, i know, you still want me to rewind to the Grand Canyon and even Williamsburg, and i will, but these are short easy posts)... On Friday Jared, my bro-in-law, Bill, my biking buddy, and i went out to Deer Valley in Park City. Deer Valley is one of Utah's premier ski resorts in the winter, and it definitely lives up to its rep in the summer as well. Bill and i typically try to get out here at least once every summer for our birthday presents to eachother. But i definitely need to get out there again before the end of the summer, what a blast!
Here i am cruising down from the top of the Sterling Express Lift to the trail hub in the Meadow. If you watch closely you might see me catch a little air. Well, actually you won't, Jared was standing in the wrong place, but i did get some air i tell ya!

Here's Bill rocketing through some Aspens on Deer Camp.

Here's Jared on Deer Camp. Although this was Jared's first lift-served downhilling experience he wasn't near as entertaining as Topher, another bro-in-law, last year. Granted, Topher may have been so "entertaining" last year that he opted out this year. BTW, if you don't know, the real entertainment from these rides comes from spectacular wipe-outs. But you can see all the Aspens, they get pretty close to the trail and Jared did show me one wound that came from getting a little too close to one of those trees. And don't get me wrong, he was still real entertaining, he was the only one gutsy enough to try a lot of the freestyle features. more on that later.

Here i am cutting a turn one of my favorite trails, Deer Crest. Man that trail is FUN!

Although Bill and I have been moutain biking for MUCH longer than Jared (over 15 years vs. maybe 5 for Jared), Jared, as usuall, put us to shame. I'm ashamed to admit in all my years of riding at Deer Valley i've never bothered trying any of their freestyle features. i just figured they'd be too hard-core or something. But Jared got us all excited to try a few of them out, and they were actually pretty fun!
Here's Jared's first attempt on the Teeter-Totter.

Although he does end up making it on his first attempt, as you can see, it almost got REALLY entertaining at the end - almost.
Here's Jared's second attempt (his third attempt was basically the same as the second)...

Jared's fourth and fifth attempts were succesful (although he almost got bounced off on the fourth), but i think you get the point. And besides, don't you want to see me try? No? Well too bad, it's my blog.

I think i would've made the first attempt if my bike hadn't decided all by itself to shift gears at the last second - go figure i had perfectly tuned it the night before, but nooo, get it on the trail and it all goes to pot!
Here's my second attempt:

Right after the Teeter-Totter was a little raised platform with a narrow entrance. I, uh, have really fat tires, and couldn't get up the narrow entrance, but i told Jared i'd tape him doing it. Of course, he hadn't actually seen it yet...

Naturally, he made his second attempt, although he did almost endo coming off the drop at the end (he hadn't seen that either...).

And here's Jared catching some air off another freestyle feature on on Homeward Bound. Bill got some air here too, but my camera didn't quite catch him in the air, doh!

But here i am getting some air off the jump too...

I know it doesn't look very big, but it was really HUGE! ... or something.

Overall, we biked over 26 miles - granted, most of it was downhill (and by most, i mean 99%). But what a blast! And downhill or not, by the end of the day, we were all beat! We were at Deer valley from about 11am when we got on the first left until about 6:30pm when we got back to the car (after two flats, three if you count the one Bill had when we first got there), but go figure our actual riding time was under three hours. Don't ask me how that works out.

Amanda Bridals

2008-08-13T23:14:00.007-06:00

A couple of weeks ago i got out and shot Amanda's Bridal photos.

We started fairly early at the International Peace Gardens in Salt Lake City.

It was actually the first time i had been there while the flowers were actually in bloom, last time i went everything was dead - i guess it was winter.

Please check out the complete photo shoot here: http://alanjphoto.com/danielamandab/dandab.html. No, i'm serious - please check it out. I really need some honest feedback on these photos.

One of my top priorities has always been to make sure the bride is happy with her pictures, and i got the impression she may not have been too happy with her bridals. i wanted to get some input from everyone else on whether as a bride-to-be you'd be happy with these bridals if you had paid $400 for the complete package (engagements, bridals, wedding and reception). Please feel free to be honest.

I think there may have been a couple of other factors that influenced the pictures that day... That morning i know she forgot her flowers and earrings, but those are things i don't have any control over. Later that evening i got the impression she may not have been feeling well and asked if she wanted to reschedule, but she wanted to continue. Again, out of my control - and i almost feel i can't be responsible for those factors. What do you think?

Overall i thought the pictures turned out great, but then i looked back through them again and now i don't know. i'm too biased either way - either too critical or not critical enough.

After the International Peace Gardens we took a break and agreed to meet later on and drive down to American Fork Canyon for the final shoot. Amanda had actually debated between AF Canyon and the Great Salt Lake for sunset. Unfortunately, at the time of the discussion the skies were clear and i indicated that the sunset would probably not be that spectacular - yeah, i was wrong.

We ended up wrapping up right before it started pouring rain. And on the drive back to SLC the sunset was just awesome! Doh!

I really love these falls (you may have seen them before here and here), but it's kinda funny because while we were shooting, someone had setup their campsite right here - tents and everything. It was actually kind of a pain keeping all their stuff out of the photos all of the time.

Anyway, please let me know what you think. i had indicated that if she wanted another shoot that she'd have to give these pictures back and not use them. Obviously though, if i get enough negative feedback i'll just do another shoot. I naturally want all of my clients to be happy, but at the same time i don't want to be taken advantage of. While it may sound bad, there's a reason some of my packages are $400, $500 and more and there's a reason that they're NOT $3,000 (i wish).

Havasu Day 3: Edits

2008-08-01T09:52:00.013-06:00

Man, i'm a slacker. I'm not even close to a vacation post per day! I tell ya! I guess just work and other stuff (like broken down cars) have kept me fairly busy lately. But here are the Day 3 edits i promised from Mooney and Beaver Falls. I also finally got some of the GPS issues worked out and should be able to post better maps here soon too. ("Soon" of course is relative, but i don't think anyone really cares about the maps anyway).
These first few pics are Mooney Falls. I used one of my favorite softening techniques on this edit, but i'm not sure how well it worked. (Don't forget that you can click on the picture to make it bigger). i used it on a bunch of these pictures to add to the dreamy feeling of watefalls, but i'm wondering if the soft feel detracts from the canyon's walls too much. Let me know what you think.

I was hoping to have some time to catch up next week while i'm out of town on business. I'm going to Williamsburg, Virginia for a week for my first of three (seperate) weeks of the New Leader Program course. I'm excited and nervous about the course. Technically, this should be a great opportuntiy to learn some valuable skills and will really benefit my resume and future job opportunities. But i'm also nervous that i'll be the youngest person in the class and that the local parts of the course (it's actually 6 months long) that i have to complete at my job will detract from its effectiveness. We'll see.

But the point was that i was hoping i'd have time to catch up some of these vacation posts while i'm away. Then i realized how much cool stuff there's going to be to do in the area and how little time i'll have!

Check it out: Colonial Williamsburg is a whole one mile away from my hotel! I think the potential for great shots (like from Rachel's recent trip to San Francisco) will be great. But you know, i'll be the photographer. That and by the time i get out of class everything will already be closed.

I'm really bummed about how little time i'll actually have out there. But there was only one flight out from SLC to Newport News on Sunday that would actually get me there in time for the orientation. So i get there too late to do anything on Sunday. And our hotels are only booked through Friday, and my flight out departs (again the only one) right after the last class. Doh!
I know these next two are the same, but i softened one and sharpened the other, what do you think, which do you like better?

As if having Colonial Williamsburg right down the street wasn't enough, there's also Busch Gardens Europe (i love roller coasters), the Jamestown Settlement, as well as the Yorkktown Historic Battlefield. Maybe they'll let class out really early a couple of days. Somehow i doubt they'd appreciate sick days, kinda ruins the whole point of the trip too.

And as if not having enough time weren't enough, of course there's this too. Let me tell you, i sure have missed humidity, er, no wait, no i haven't. But who knows, maybe it'll just be cloudy (and really hot and humid) and i'll be able to get better pics. (Cause that's the kind of luck i usually get, you know).
This is your first view of Mooney Falls hiking back up from Beaver.

I've had a few comments on people wanting (or not wanting) to come down here and all i have to say is i can't wait to do it again. Make sure you call me, 'cause i wanna go too!

And if you don't think you (or your kids) can do it, well, you're crazy. Number one, there's packhorses (definitely what i'll be doing for my gear next time) and number two, there's a helicopter! Oh, and you could ride the horse down too (not just your bags). And if my pictures haven't convinced you that the $160 round trip helicopter ride would be more than worth it, well, then i'm a worse photographer than even i thought.

The place is definitely magical and hopefully i can get at least a couple more posts out over the next few days as well as some material for some future Williamsburg posts (and by "future" i of course mean a couple of months).

Mueller Park

2008-07-29T11:17:00.011-06:00

We interrupt this vacation report... Wait a minute, who am i kidding? No one has made it through an entire post yet. Apparently, my goal of one trip post per day has already fallen by the wayside. Doh! I was just too busy. And and now i'm a little behind, no wait; i've fallen behind. There, that's better.

Anyway, the other day i finally convinced Joe, my brother-in-law, to take the dirt bikes up Mueller Park. Mueller Park has long been one of my favorite mountain bike rides, and i had seen dirt bikes on the trail a number of times (there are also some signs indiciating dirt bikes are permitted). Anyway, there's a couple of trails that head off from the meadow at the top that i had always wanted to explore. i hoped they would either connect with the City Creek trails or traverse the ridges north or south. But the trails would usually get too rocky to be enjoyable on a mountain bike. On dirt bikes i figured we could actually explore for a while.

Unfortunately, either the trails were really, really old or were just game trails. (Joe is actually standing on the trail, and where i'm standing, taking the picture, is also on the trail).
The one that went up eventually became too overgrown to even find on foot.
And the one that went down looked like it would probably connect in City Creek, but was so overgrown and steep that it wouldn't be enjoyable on a bike. Oh well, now i know.

Since the last time i rode up there (probably four weeks ago), the flowers have really popped up all over the place. Really, really pretty. And going back down the backside was actually much more enjoyable on a dirt bike.

And we only got a couple of crusties from anti-motorcycle trail users. Oi! Don't get me started on anti-trail or anti-trail users. No seriously, you don't want me to get started - you know i'm long winded.

I highly recommend this trail to mtn. bikers, hikers, and yes, even motorcycles. However, i must insert that i also highly recommend that bikes and even more so motorcycles, exercise extreme caution when riding this trail. It's not that it's difficult, it's just a very, very popular trail and thus very busy.

My personal recommedation is that motorcycles only ride in off-peak times or just take the backside trail. I only attempt to ride it on my bike when i figure i'll be one of the first or last ones on the trail, or in the middle of the week between breakfast and lunch or right after lunch. Just because you're allowed doesn't mean (ignorant) people won't complain and try to have you banned from the trail - jerks.

These are actually all pictures from the backside of Mueller Park (except the couple up top while we were exploring). We tried to get off of the front side as quickly as possible to annoy as few people as possible. But don't get me wrong, the vast majority of the trail users we encountered were extremely polite and pleasant.

It absolutely amazed my how green this trail still was! Oh, and some kind soul or souls cleaned all the obstacles off of the trail, so it's all ride-able, well, at least for someone like me. It may have already been ride-able to everyone else before.

This is actually a little closer to the bottom. The picture does not do justice to all the wildflowers that were out. So pretty!
I wonder if planting some of these in my garden would be a mistake...

Oh, and Dacia and Joe have been asking me for a while for a picture (hopefully) like this, is this kind of like what you were looking for?

Havasu Day 3: Mooney Falls & Beyond

2008-07-26T22:53:00.014-06:00

After a very comfortable night’s sleep in a very comfy bed and an air-conditioned room we all woke up – rather late, I might add. I always have these lofty intentions of getting up early and taking advantage of that good morning light – I mean, I figure you don’t get to come to places like this every day, so I should be able to wake up a couple of hours early, just for these few days, right? Wrong. Lazy bum!
Sheila was lobbying everyone to hike down to the Colorado River, which was well over 15 miles round trip. I don’t think anyone was really up for that (except Sheila) after hiking over 12 miles the day before.
We eventually decided that Jen, Pat, and Kayla would relax in some of the lower pools above Havasu Falls with the kids while Sheila, Britny, Adam and I all went down to Mooney and then Beaver falls. I think Mooney Falls was only one mile past Havasu Falls which should have made it about 3 miles total from the lodge and then Beaver was 2 miles past Mooney (10 or 11 miles round trip from the village).
Shortly after passing Havasu Falls we came to the campground (where unfortunately, I did not take any pictures). Technically, the campground is much closer to all the falls, seems very big, was mostly shaded and had lots of sites right next to the creek. There’s even porto-potties and a tapped spring (no need to filter).
Naturally, the lodge was much nicer – I mean, hey, shower and AC, you can’t beat that. But you definitely pay much, much more for the lodge. I may consider camping next time, especially if I don’t let my aunt pick the time for the trip and we go when it’s a little cooler (but not too cool to still swim, oh, and not during monsoon season either).

Shortly after hiking through the campground we came to Mooney Falls (named for an old prospector who fell to his death there). Mooney Falls pours 200 feet over a cliff that blocks the canyon with the falls falling (duh, what else would they do, but what else could I say) down to the pools below.
If you look closely (click on the picture to enlarge it), you can see Adam and me standing just to the right of the falls.

Along the edge of the cliff are a few signs that caution you to not walk close to the edge. Looking at the cliff from this perspective it’s obvious why; the travertine deposited from the wider falls of long ago are actually overhanging. I thought we were walking far enough away from the edge, but if you look closely at this picture you can see that it probably wasn’t far enough after all. (btw, thanks to Sheila who obviously took some of the pictures with me in them).

We eventually made our way around to the side of the cliff and started looking for the way down. A sign indicated that we should “descend at our own risk” and so I went and looked for the trail that would take us down the cliff, only to find it dead-ended.

That was because the sign was actually above the trail!

A series of tunnels,…

…chains,…

…and ladders would take us down and through the cliff to the bottom. Glad I didn’t take the kids. But it was fun! I seriously can’t wait to do it again!

We made it to the bottom (which was very crowded, next time I’ll pick a time when kids and scouts are in school), briefly admired the falls (it was bad light, remember?) and headed on down towards Beaver Falls.
If you look closely you can see Sheila leading the line of waders and Britny and Adams bring up the rear. They’re actually following a travertine terrace, otherwise they’d all be up to at least their wastes. And the water wasn’t actually that color, it’s just the bad light. As always, the water was crystal-clear with a blue-green tint.

Britny and Adam made Sheila promise to keep the camera in the camera bag until we got to the falls so we could actually get there in time to still get back in time (she obviously manages to sneak it out a few times anyway). But the hike down was absolutely beautiful! We all voted to change the location of the Garden of Eden to this portion of the Canyon. It was just so green!

The creek itself is just beautiful and it can’t seem to go more than 10 yards without being interrupted by little travertine terraces and falls.

After multiple stream crossings, wading through waist- (probably everyone else’s knees) deep water, …

… and a couple of minor obstacles …

… we finally came to what we later found out were only the upper falls of Beaver Falls.

Man but that was the longest two miles ever! But what a fun little hike! And although I had heard only so-so reviews of Beaver Falls, they were well worth the hike.

Of course I spent so much time taking pictures of the falls when we finally got there that I really didn’t have any time to enjoy swimming around in the pools before we had to rush back again.

I wish we had had time to keep hiking down, but Shiela needed to get back for a dinner she had promised Kayla.

I often say that the Subway in Zion National Park is a great introductory hike to adventure hiking (I’ll review that later, and don’t get me wrong, you still need technical gear and an experienced guide), but this hike is an even more introductory adventure hike what with the obstacles and stream crossings. The only real “obstacle” is a short cliff you have to climb up using a rope and ladder. Of course, as you can see, the ladder, for some odd reason, only has two rungs (man, that was a lot of commas). We promised ourselves that next time we’ll bring some nails and another rung. Don’t forget to remind me.

For a good section of the canyon the walls and canyon floor were just covered in green vines. It’s a good thing I couldn’t take pictures on the way down because it would’ve been impossible to capture even a thousandth portion of the canyon’s beauty (plus we wouldn’t have gotten to Beaver Falls before dark).

On the way back I actually wanted to take pictures. This meant running ahead of everyone and taking pictures as they hiked towards me and then running ahead again (you can only stand so many pictures of people’s butts as they hike away from you). That was exhausting!

The canyon was seriously breathtaking! The greenery just climbed up the canyon walls and made the place seem more like a tropical garden then the middle of the desert.

Keeping the camera accessible for pictures on the way back also meant you were always a little nervous during those stream crossings that you’d lose your balance and be washing your camera prematurely.

When we got back to Mooney Falls everyone had actually cleared out a bit and the light was decent.

So while everyone else hiked back up for dinner I hung around and took some pictures of Mooney Falls.

Naturally, I (finally) got back to the lodge just after dark but couldn’t find anyone. I didn’t know where this restaurant was where everyone planned to eat so I found the hotel manager’s room and asked for a spare key so I could make myself some dinner while I waited.

This is a view of the canyon from the top of Mooney Falls.

When everyone finally returned from dinner (which I’m told was rather tasty) Jen told me the kids had had a great time playing in the pools and playing with some of the local village kids.
After filling my stomach and another refreshing shower it was off to bed again. Of course we had to pack our bags first, because tomorrow morning dark and early it would already be time to head back out again (sniffle, sniffle). Summary:
Distance traveled: Alan – 11 miles by foot; Jen & kids – about 4 miles by foot
Time traveled: I don’t even remember, a lot
Total cost today: $130(2nd of two nights)
Total cost so far:$532

Havasu Day 2 (cont.): The Falls

2008-07-24T16:44:00.026-06:00

At two we promptly threw our bags in our rooms and headed the two miles down to Havasu Falls. Some of us may have taken more direct routes than others. I knew Navajo Falls were somewhere before Havasu Falls, so every time a trail broke off to the left i followed it to see if it lead to Navajo. One of them finally appeared to do so, but you had to cross the stream and climb up a small wet "cliff." We decided to save it for later in case there was a better way across and on we went.

Naturally, Sheila and I had to stop and take pictures as soon as we saw the falls. Of course, the light wasn't too great, and it was way too bright to get those classic silky waterfall pictures (unless you had an ND filter, which i did), but we had fun anyways.

However, because of all our little sidetrips (to find Navajo Falls) and the excessive picture-taking, by the time we got down to the pools at the base of the falls everyone else was tired of playing in the water. And who can blame them? The water was freezing! btw, you can see all the people playing in the water in the bottom left of the picture.

Look at my cute (and cold) family! (And thanks to Sheila for taking the second picture).

Seriously, what was the guidebook author smoking, that water was not pleasant! But i think we all had fun anyway!

I somehow even convinced Jen to get back in and swim out to the falls with me. I think Anya and Aaron may have even gotten back in too. And while the water was really cold, after a while you kind of got used to it (or i may have just finally gone numb).

But just the way the water and terraces are, it's just so cool! After a little more fun in the water Jen figured the kids had had enough and headed back up to the lodge.
For those of you keeping track, that’s 8 miles to Supai, 2 miles to the falls, and 2 miles back to Supai for a total of 12 miles. Not to shabby if you ask me, especially for my little Anya! Not to mention Jen and her pack and me and mine. While Jen and the kids and Britny and Adam headed back to crash, Pat and Kayla settled in for the long haul waiting for the slow-poke photographers to get their pictures.

Of course it was still too early to take good pictures. The falls were half in shadow and half-lit which would make for poorly exposed pics (half of the picture would either be blown out or too dark). So we scouted around looking for other good spots. With most of the base of the falls in shadow, it was actually pretty easy to find cool little spots. And of course i looked for a good spot to eventually shoot the falls from once the canyon and falls were fully in shadow.

Seriously, these pictures just don't do justice to the canyon. It was just so incredibly beautiful. And you would not believe the colors. Especially the color of the water. If i remember correctly, Havasu actually means people of the blue-green waters.

Again, lots of pictures of the base of the falls because just above were i cut the upper falls off is still fully lit. But beautiful anyways. It's also a little wierd getting to the base of Havasu Falls and looking for some of those classic shots you may have seen on the internet before you came down. Apparently, a few years ago a flash flood actually swept away many of the terraces that were at the base of the falls. From what i understand, the higher terraces in the upper part of the picture were actually rebuilt.

I had read trip reports online of groups who went into the cayon during monsson season and instead of beautiful blue and green water pouring over the falls they were greeted with a river of mud. If i remember correctly, i think the village of Supai has actually had to be rebuilt a couple of times because of flash floods. But at least you don't have to worry about coming when the falls are all dried up, since they're spring fed they're pretty year round.

I looked and looked for the perfect place to shoot from and eventually found a place off to the left of this picture. It involved carrying all my gear across the terraces in the center of this picture and then more terraces off to the left. And while the terraces were only about knee deep at most, they were slippery and water was pouring over them. And the water to either side was plenty deep to ruin my camera.

Anyway, i ended up spending most of my time at this 'perfect' spot (off to the left) when it turns out this spot right here was the best spot. And this is really the only good picture i took from there. And even then i actually had to combine two pictures to get rid of the people walking across the terraces in one, and swimming at the base of the falls in the other. Doh! This picture actually shows my route a little better. Walk along the terrace that starts behind the tree, then step down (it was a big step, too) to the next terrace and continue left. If it looks easy, trust me, it wasn't. It was especially nerve-racking carring all that camera equipment! i still can't believe i didn't take more pictures from here!

And here (drum roll please) is my 'spot'. Sucks, doesn't it? i seriously thought these would be the best pictures and took so many and hardly liked any of them. And of course every time the wind blew a little it would spray mist all over my lens. I’d think I had protected the lens, but when I finally had a chance to download pictures (well over a week later) I realized I hadn’t and that a good many pictures had been ruined by the droplets on my lens. As if that wasn't enough, the mineral content in the spray stained my filter. Stupid spray! After reviewing my pictures later, I realized that the really good pictures had been right from the easy spot, but I only took the one from there. Guess I need to go back…

Everyone else finally left while I shot a final few pictures. But you can see the canyon is finally all shaded and i had the falls all to myself. It was really nice.

I imagine that the rock you see to the left and right of the falls was similarly formed by ab ancient, but much larger cascade here. Can you imagine what i would have looked like? As if it wasn't beautiful enough already.

Here's a few close-ups of the terraces at the top of the falls.

I thought this shot did a great job of really showing you what those terraces are like. There's that little ledge you can walk across, but to the one side there's usually a fall of some sort (obviously not usually this high), and to the other a deep pool. But whenever you crossed the stream or pools that's what it was like.

With still a little light left, on the way back I decided to wade out to Navajo falls which had earlier dissuaded us. i figured with all my earlier wading around i wouldn't have any problems getting out to these other falls. And now that i think of it, the pools at the base of these falls seemed much shallower, i wonder if it would have been warmer water over here. Oh well, next time. But it was definitely a little more dificult getting over there, but only if you didn't want to get wet.

This was actually a multi-image panaroma and i was pleasantly surprise to see it turn out since they so rarely do for me. Of course taking all those pictures in the good light used what little was left of the light in general and meant I got to hike back in the dark. At least it was cooler and it didn't get really dark until right when i got back to the lodge. Those two miles back seemed to take forever too, probably 'cause you're hiking in deep sand the whole way, but i sure had the trail to myself. By the time I got back I think my whole family was already asleep. But here’s the great thing about staying in the lodge (vs. camping), I took a shower. After a full day of hiking and playing that shower sure felt nice! And even though my pictures didn’t turn out as well as I would’ve liked, the bottom line is that I had fun and my family had fun. And I guess I can’t be all that disappointed if a crappy photographer (such as myself) and a simple microchip can’t do justice to the beauty I got to experience. If nothing else, the pictures will always remind me of how beautiful it really was. And hey, now I have a reason to go back! Anybody else want to come?
Summary:
Distance traveled: 12+ miles by foot
Time traveled: about 9 hours on foot
Total cost today:$130 for Havasu permits and lodging (just the one of two nights)
Total cost so far:$402

Havasu Day 2: The Hike In

2008-07-24T09:33:00.056-06:00

Four (the goal for our original wakeup) and then five rolled around all too quickly and found no one quite ready to get up (people had just finally fallen asleep!). Fortunately, sleeping in a little allowed us to meet up with my Aunt and her crew and we were still able to get onto the trail by six.

Go figure as soon as we started walking from our car to the trailhead (on level and smooth pavement!) Anya decided to take her first fall and ripped a hole in her new hiking pants and bloodied her knee. Keep in mind this is not even five minutes into our hike; technically, we hadn’t even started hiking yet. And she’s using her trekking poles. I figured that if she could fall on flat pavement not even 5 minutes in, that the next 8 miles were going to be a blast!

Fortunately, a band-aid cured all and we were shortly ready to go again.

Doesn't my back pack look huge? Well, it was, but the backpacks piled up behind me for the mule/horsetrains kind of blend in with mine. I believe that without camera equipment (probably close to 10 lbs.) my pack weighed around 45 lbs.! Go figure i was shooting for a third of my ideal body weight, which would have been closer to 25-30 lbs. And we weren't even camping! Oi!

Our group (from right to left): my cousin Kayla, Jennifer and Aaron, Anya, my Uncle Pat and his wife Sheila, and their family friends Britny and Adam.

Here's everyone actually starting down the trail into the canyon, well, everyone but my Aunt and me, we stayed behind to take pictures of everyones' behinds. It may not look it, but that canyon floor is a long ways away.

Alpenglow on the canyon walls. In the shadows you can kind of see our hikers traversing below the ridge and the switchbacks and trail down below. In the first two miles we descended over 1000 feet in elevation compared with the 1000 feet we lost over the next six miles.

There were a few of these pretty flowers growing along the side of the trail, but it was funny because everything was covered with dust, i assume from the mule-trains going up and down the trail. The other interesting thing to point out is that taking this picture was actually rather torturous. Why? 'Cause it stank to high heaven! Some large stinky animal must have died or something, but it was horrible!

Hey look! Someone actually waited for us! More likely this picture is just out of order.

Just another pic of the trail descending the canyon wall. Other than the section with the horrible smell, the hike was actually very pretty and pleasant.

All was going well, until about 30 minutes into our hike Jen realized she had forgotten the cash we had specifically taken out for this part of the trip in the car. I may have rolled my eyes in frustration, this in turn, may have led to Jen hiking most of the rest of the way down without me. As I prepared to ditch my pack, run down to Jen and get the keys and then run back up to the car and get her wallet and then back again my aunt insisted that we would be fine and that we could just pay her back later (I don’t think she realized that we would only really be able to use cash once we got to the bottom). btw, that's me in the bottom right of the picture.

Here is a rock that Anya wanted me to take a picture of.

Look, it's Jen and Aaron. My aunt actually took this picture 'cause, you know, Jen wasn't hiking with me. I think Aaron actually managed to sleep for a good part of the hike down. And even though Jen was carrying Aaron, whenever i carry sleeping babies it always seems they're heavier asleep.

You almost get the feeling that Uncle Pat is not amused by his wife's frequent, "hey! hold on, let me take a picture." I think that's why we get ditched so much. If no one can hear us they don't have to stop for pictures.

With Jen hiking with everyone else up in front we now had a grumpy Alan hiking with a slow Anya. Not a very good combination. Here’s me: “Anya, hurry up,” “Anya, get a move on,” “Anya, look where you’re going,” “Anya, could you please go a little faster…” And on it went, for 8 miles. I seriously did not think it was possible to walk so slowly!

Never mind that she’s only five, has never hiked this far before, and has never carried such a heavy pack. Naturally, it was really her who did great and Dad who could’ve done better.

Her pack consisted of a CamelBak Mini-mule, two 50 oz. reservoirs, lots of snacks, her water shoes, and her jacket. The water alone was over 6 lbs., so i figure she was carrying close to 10 lbs.

By this time Anya was really slowing down. When we finally got to the creek or springs we figured Anya could handle a little break. She had already changed into her Keens and was excited to just walk into the water and hang out. She actually did really well for a while after that until i think the heat, boredom and mean dad got to her.

On the way down we all noticed a little sign indicating service times for one of two churches we saw in the canyon. Keep in mind that the population of Supai is only about 600 people. Granted we didn't see near that many people (not including hikers and campers).

Guess what kind of church it was. It was a little LDS chapel, kinda funny, eh?

We must’ve finally gotten into Supai around noon, but go figure we couldn’t check into our rooms until two! Of course no one wanted to carry the heavy packs two more miles down to the falls and back again so we waited to check in and ate some lunch and played some cards while we waited. We also checked out the little grocery store. I don't remember the exact prices, but everything was pricey! And no, none of us brought a dog with. There were just dogs all over the place. They'd just come over and hang out and follow you around. There was actually a really cute puppy that Aaron absolutely had a blast playing with.

Doesn't everyone like wide-angle close-ups? Notice that we're not actually eating our own food. Sheila wouldn't let us. We tried to meet up before the hike so we could share and split gear so we didn't have to carry redundant items down for the group. But noooo, Sheila had to carry everything too and always shared her food so we had to pack most of ours right back out of the canyon at the end.
I was having some compatibility issues downloading my actual GPS tracks to this map, so this is just a guesstimate of our trail and distances, but it should still be pretty accurate. I'll repost a more accurate map when i get the issues worked out. Stay tuned for Day One Part Two: The Falls (that's waterfalls, not more Anya falls).

Havasu Day 1: The (long & boring) Drive

2008-07-23T19:20:00.062-06:00

The driving photographer.

I realize that after all this wait, this post will probably be a bit of a letdown, but you gotta start somewhere, right? Besides, my goal from here on out is a post a day until our recent trip is completely described and all of you never want to come back here ever again ('cause you'll be so bored). As a matter-of-fact, i'm not sure if any of you will actually be able to get through all of the posts before boredom overcomes you and you fall asleep and the site times out and you lose all desire to check it again.
My new 2.8 lb. tripod (that's light!)

So day one of our trip was actually pretty boring. And we didn't really have all that many pictures - i guess you'll have to use your imagination. (So i guess i could've posted this a long time ago then, eh?) For me, the day really began on Sunday, June 22nd - my birthday! I had to go to work that night. The original intent was for Jen to pick me up from work Monday morning and leave directly from there, but of course things didn't quite work out that way. The ballhead i wanted.

I had ordered a new lightweight tripod and ballhead for this trip, and while the tripod had arrived as scheduled, Monday morning we were still waiting for the ballhead (which attaches the camera to the tripod) which had supposedly been overnighted three days ago. We were hoping it would arrive first thing Monday morning and then we could leave. But when i called i found out that somehow the part never arrived from their distributor to be shipped to me in the first place! Doh! So instead we hurried on over to the local camera store and bought a not-as-nice ballhead for more money so we could leave and I could use my new tripod. Oh, and on the way we stopped and grabbed our mail for the day, which was good because a few guide books i had been waiting for had arrived (yay for alibris.com). The lame ballhead i got.

After picking up the ballhead we began heading our way down to Las Vegas, our first pit stop. Jen, as usual, was awesome and drove the whole way to Vegas so i could try and catch up on some sleep (we would have to leave on our hike the next day around 5 am and I had been working nights the past two weeks). We stopped in Vegas to see my sister and her family as well as my Mom who decided to skip my birthday in Vegas (and my sister thinks she's not spoiled - ha!). My sister had prepared a super yummy carb-loaded meal of noodles and shrimp (yay for pioneerwoman!). After a quick bite to eat we were on our way again, this time headed for Peach Springs. After sleeping (or trying to sleep) for the bulk of the 6-hour drive to Vegas i was ready to take over the wheel (at least until it got dark). In Peach Springs we tried to find my Aunt and her family. My Aunt Sheila, her husband, Pat, and their daughter, Kayla, as well as their friends Britny and Adam would accompany us for the first part of our trip down to Havasu Falls. But my silly Aunt had checked in under a different name and we couldn't find her. So on we went to Hualapai (pronounced wal-a-pie) Hilltop, the trailhead for our hike into Supai (the village in the canyon where we would be staying the next few nights). If only he could have done this at night!

The drive from Peach Springs to the hilltop was in the dark and i was starting to get a little tired so i sped up a little to get us there faster - until i started seeing eyes reflected along the side of the road, lots of big eyes! There were animals all over the place! And big ones too! I figured ramming an elk would be the wrong way to start this trip and slowed down quite a bit and eventually had to pass the wheel over to Jen (isn't she great!).
We arrived at the packed trailhead sometime between 10 and 11, finally found a parking space and reclined our chairs and tried to sleep (yes, in the car). Of course we hardly slept at all, and a playful Aaron in the middle of the night didn’t help either.

More evidence of the drive-by photographer.
Uh no, that's not a radar detector - it's an XM radio receiver... or something.
Some people chose not to sleep on the way. But they were cute, so it was okay.
Summary:
Distance traveled: Over 650 miles
Time traveled (but not like Back to the Future): Over 10 hours
Total cost so far: $272 (inlcudes lame ballhead)

Daniel & Amanda Engagements (Part 2)

2008-06-21T20:27:00.014-06:00

We took these pictures of Daniel and Amanda by the trailhead for Hidden Falls in Big Cottonwood Canyon.

The trailhead is on what i believe must be the north east part of the S-curve. The hike to the falls is actually only .3 miles (a very, very short .3 miles). But to really get over to the falls you either have to plan on getting wet feet and shoes or balancing your way across a log which you'll see later in the shoot.

Daniel & Amanda weren't up for the wet feet (seeing as we still had one more stop), so we settled for the pictures right here. Jen and i did end up hiking to the falls a few days agp and it is really pretty. I'm sure one of us will post some pics from that hike sometime soon. I definitely need to go back with my tripod and good light.

Hey look, it's the log! Obviously, i wasn't up for balancing my way across the log, so when Jen and I hiked it with the fam (& Niki's fam) i decided to give my supposedly waterproof socks one more try. Once again, as well as they may have kept my fee warmer, they defintely didn't keep them dryer. So we'll if the next pair i exchanged them for work any better on this upcoming Subway hike.

On to Wheeler Farm! What a cool place.

This is a pretty cool tree, but we kind of annoyed all the kids who wanted to play on it while we were taking pictures.

This is my attempt at a Direct Positive exposure feel - what do you think? Once again, thanks for stopping by. Feel free to let me know what you think of the pictures and i hope you enjoyed them. Thanks!

Daniel & Amanda Engagements (Part 1)

2008-06-21T20:17:00.010-06:00

Meet Daniel and Amanda. They're getting married. This is part one of their engagement photos.

This is Brigham Young Historic Park which is just east of the LDS Church Office building in downtown Salt Lake. If you get here early enough there's still pretty good light/shade.

Amanda and Daniel were great to work with. Naturally, they didn't laugh at any of my jokes or other attempts to be funny, but neither does anyone else. And i suppose that inspite of all that they didn't try to fire me, so that's good too, right?

Anyway, i hope everyone enjoys the pictures (more importantly, i hope Daniel and Amanda enjoy the pictures). And check by tomorrow for the rest of the engagement pictures as we head over to Big Cottonwood Canyon and of course, Wheeler Farm.

2007 Subway Trip (Part 2)

2008-06-18T12:51:00.018-06:00

When we last left off our hero was taking pictures of Jared trying to get through the canyon without duckwalking. (You thought the hero was going to be Jared, didn't you... well maybe he should get his own blog). Here he is trying to chimney through the slot - the gravel bar is so close, but what's around the bend?

By the way, i'm pretty sure he didn't make it. I think it got fairly deep after that and i threw the rope down to him to climb out.

Ha ha, i switched the captions from the top to the bottom. Are you confused or just annoyed. The ancient inhabitants of this canyon built these canals throughout the canyon to carry water down the middle of the canyon. Cool, eh? Yeah, they didn't.

Wait for me! They're not really that close, i had to zoom in!

This is at or near the top of keyhole falls. "What's that," you ask? Scroll down...

This is actually harder than it looks. Especially since yours truly went first to show everyone else how not to do it. Yeah, i thought it would be a good idea to wrap the rope around my hand a couple of times and then swing out and slide down. Not quite. With the rope wrapped around my hand, once i swung out my immense weight tightened the rope around my hand and i was stuck. Yeah, it was awesome. Let's see if Karen does any better...

Is this good?...

Why is she shaking her hand so vigorously? Cause it burns baby! Yeah, she held on and slid down the rope with her hands. Apparently that didn't feel so great either.

They finally had to get wet. Of course, they spent 30 minutes arranging that log so they could wade across it without getting as wet. It might seem silly to you in your warm dry clothes and chair, but let me tell you, once that cold water passes your upper thigh... oi! It's a whole new unpleasant ball game.

The beginning of the Subway. That log has been there forever!

Hey, where'd they come from?! Can you guess which one is me? Yep, i'm the handsome one. Yeah, that's right, you can't see me, i'm taking the picture. You know what else you can't see - my supposedly waterproof socks. They didn't work.

Another rappel. The first time i hiked this (and maybe the next couple after that too) i actually brought a harness and figure 8 for the rappels. It was easier, maybe i'll do it again. This is also the beginning of the giant potholes. In the summer they look like little hot tubs, but they're not - they're freezing tubs, but it's still fun to sit in them and pretend... for like a half second or so.

This is arguably the prettiest part of the canyon, but it's also the biggest pain because it so crazy slippery. And you're actually taking pictures, so you don't want to put the camera in the dry bag. i hiked down once with a friend who slipped on this section with his 4x5 view camera. Forunately, both he and the camera were okay.

Wanna know what the pain was about these pictures? (Other than this commentary, of course). The reflections in the water can occasionally be distracting, so you put a polarizing filter on. No big deal, right? Nope, you're wrong (it's my blog, remember). To save money (how many horror stories start like that?), i purchased a cokin filter system, so i could use the same filters on all my lenses. This usually works great, but on the wide angle lenses that work so great for these types of photographs the filter will actually show up in the corners of the photograph (called vignetting). So your 17mm wide angle lens you paid so much money for ends up turning into an overpriced 25mm lens. Doh! (Don't tell Jen, but that means i need a slim polarizer - yeah, they're only $150+! No biggie, she won't notice if one shows up on the front of my lens, right?)

Does anyone remember that old movie with the tiny little people that lived in the woods or something. And there's a couple of normal-szied kids, and a plot and stuff? Anyway, i bet that would be a fun water slide for them. Or it might kill them, i'm not sure. They'd probably need some lifeguards, but not those clueless teenaged ones.

The prettiness of the last pictures disguises how much the hike out of the canyon sucks - no, wait. How much you will suck hiking out of the canyon. Or maybe it's fat people like myself carrying 20 lbs. of camera equipment. Remember these pictures so you can compare them to the next trip which i should be posting around Chritmas or something.

2007 Subway Trip (Part 1)

2008-06-18T12:43:00.011-06:00

Last November (2007) i hiked the Subway (again) with my Dad, his wife, Karen, and my brother-in-law, Jared. Go figure, i'm getting ready to hike it again in a week and i'm just barely posting these pictures. Hopefully, i'll get this next trip report out in under a year.

The first couple of miles are fairly level with trees and such. Then you drop into a giant slickrock canyon that eventually spits you out here, about half way down to the actual canyon entrance.

This is looking down into the canyon (Left Fork of North Creek) while descending from the rim.

The descent from the canyon rim is actually pretty steep, but not very long. As you can see, Karen even made it. ;)

oooooh, aaaaaah. Look, it's the canyon wall!

It's half a subway! This is the only view i ever got of my hiking companions. Nobody ever waits for the guy with the camera.

Alright, some of these are probably pretty self-explanatory and if you're not tired of my commentary i'm sure you will be soon - who am i kidding, of course you're already tired of it. Well, too bad. I was going to stop, but now that you thought/said that i'm not going too. Look at the cool desert varnish.

This is the first of many, many examples of the lengths some of us would go to to avoid getting wet. I know, we're a bunch of wusses.

This actually reminds me a bit of Little Wild Horse Canyon in Goblin Valley State Park, but it's been a while since i hiked it.

Why are we rapelling off of a bush? To avoid getting wet, duh. Who wouldn't rather risk a 50 foot fall then get wet?

This is kind of funny. The rest of us scrambled up on the ridge in the top left-hand corner to avoid this particular series of pools, but Jared though he could jump to one of the shallow spots. Think he made it?

So graceful...

Doh! At least he did it first so i knew not to try it. I think i tried to tell him it got even deeper further down.

The "duckwalk" looks easier than it is, especially if you're a genius like me and don't take your pack off. The ceiling is really low, and the floor is mossy, wet and slippery - oh, and i didn't want to get my hands dirty. I have to take pictures with those hands!

Jared thinks he's in the clear now - check the next post to see if he was or not...

New Lens!!

2008-06-17T23:26:00.005-06:00

So my wife, being the great wife that she is, didn't try very hard to dissuade me from getting a new lens for my camera. You may have heard we're heading down to Havasu Falls and the Grand Canyon in the near future and i figured a really wide angle lens would come in handy. I've debated it for almost three months now, and go figure finally made the decision with a week to spare (granted, i had to pay higher shipping). As you can see, it's not much for portraits (which i expected), but these pics were cracking me up!

My new lens is a Sigma 10-20mm f4-5.6. I've used a Sigma lens before (on my old SLR), but i was a little nervous about quality control - a lot of reviews indicated their lenses didn't focus right or there were soft spots on the lens, but so far i haven't noticed any of that.

BTW, notice anything different about Jen (other than her giagantic head)?

This might be a little tougher, but there's actually two new things to notice about Anya.

Jen didn't want me to post this pictures, but i think it's hilarious. (I think he looks like Brain from Pinky and the Brain.

A Wuthrich Wedding (Part 2)

2008-06-09T06:15:00.006-06:00

This is a continuation of Greg & SueZann's wedding pictures shot at the Tuscany. If you didn't already think they were a good-looking couple, there's no doubt about it now. (But i'm sure you already thought they were a good-looking couple).

I figure i already tortured you all enough with my pointless commentary on the last post, so i'll try to limit it on this one...

Whatever, who am i kidding?

I'm not sure if this is the only bw that really works for me, but it's definitely my favorite.

Okay, so scroll back up a little ways, did you notice the hands? i didn't want you notice, but i can't help but notice - and it's all my fault! Yes, it's true, i made him do it. But maybe you didn't notice, that'd be good.

Love the eye shots! While i really like the straight forward eye shots like these, it's also really nice to manage the white space in eyes, where you have them either from the side, or up (like the first one in this little series).

Thanks for looking.

A Wuthrich Wedding (Part 1)

2008-06-09T05:59:00.016-06:00

Oi, someone's a slacker. It's been over a month since my last post! I've even had pictures uploaded and ready to go, i just need to actually do a post. But i've had so much other stuff to do i just haven't gotten around to it. I probably haven't gotten around to it yet because they're just pictures from one of my hikes and no one is harassing me to post them. Greg, on the other hand, wasn't going to just let me not post his wedding pictures.

Greg and i go all the way back to Moscow. Greg arrived in Russia i think two months before me, so we ended up serving most of our missions together. We actually got to be companions for a month or two near the end of our missions - ah, those were good times. We even managed to get together a few times when we got home.

When Greg told me he was going to be getting married out here i let him know i'd be more than happy to take his pics for him if he needed anyone. And after what i'm sure must have been a long and difficult decision-making process they actually called me up and said they'd have me do it. I (like to) imagine their conversation may been something like this: S: "Wow! These pictures are great! We should totally go with Alan." G: "Yeah, they really are good, but it's Alan - I'm not so sure that would be a good idea." S: "But the pictures are so good, why not?" G: "Well, it's just Alan - he's a little crazy. Besides, he'll probably photoshop horns on my head or make me smaller so he can be taller."

You're probably wondering what the "S:" stood for. I hope you realized that the "G:" was naturally for Greg. I would like to tell you what the "S:" stands for but i'm a little reluctant for fear of making (a bigger than normal) fool of myself. You see, i know what the "S:" stands for, i just don't know how it is spelled. I know it starts with a "Sue" sound and ends with a "zanne" sound. But if i remember correctly, if i spelled her name as "Suzanne" i would get in trouble, but i'm pretty sure her name would ryhme with Suzanne. i suppose i could try and find the wedding announcement, but then this would never get posted...

By the way, these are obviously just a few of the pictures (i'll actually post some more in the next couple of days, hopefully tomorrow), if you'd like to see all of them feel free to check out my (lame) website at http://www.alanjphoto.com and click on the link for Wuthrich Wedding.

We shot all these pictures out at the Tuscany Restaraunt in Holladay (in the southeast corner of the Salt Lake Valley). I actually probably should have scouted out the location before trying to shoot there. If i had, i might not have been 15 minutes late from driving past the dang place like 4 times. Anyway, sorry you two had to wait for me to find good places to shoot, that's what you get for a whole winter without any gigs.

Fortunately, there were plenty of good places (which you can hopefully tell from the pics), but even if there hadn't been any good places they're such a good-looking couple it probably wouldn't have mattered. Of course, when i say good-looking couple i mean it's a good thing SueZann (SueZann, if i am spelling your name wrong, i am so, so, so sorry - i would like to take this opportunity to blame it on Jen, but you're more than welcome to call me Allan or Allen if it makes you feel any better) is so beautful that you don't really notice Greg... just kidding Greg.

Anyway, i hope you enjoy the pictures. Of course, i really hope Greg and SueZann enjoy the pictures; the rest of you guys (assuming anyone still checks this blog) would just be a bonus. Feel free to leave me some feedback on which ones you like and all that (i know it would be impossible not to like any of them). Of course, if you were going hint that possibly one of the pictures didn't work out so well for you, you might want to leave that kind of note in an anonymous comment - you know, so we can still be friends afterwards.

It was a great wedding and i was really glad to be a part of it. It was nice to see some familiar faces and of course, i really enjoyed catching up with Greg again. I wish you guys the very, very best and a happy new life together!

This is just a note to break up the pictures. Not that the pictures need to be broken up or anything, just consider it a cleansing of your visual pallette so you can appreciate each picture individually.

I should probably also apologize for any other spelling errors, stupid blogger's spell check isn't working.

Woohoo for... Easter

2008-05-04T23:06:00.009-06:00

So yeah, these pictures are from this past Easter. As if you didn't already know i was a slacker...

We all went over to my dad's house for the easter festivities and then took some pictures that morning before church. These are my sister's cute boys.

Do you like our props? That's a lightsaber.

Nothing like a good nose-pick. I have, like, 15 pictures with his finger up there. He sure thought it was funny.

One of our other props was a ball, which you can see Gavin is ready to catch. Everyone says to use props, and this is what i get. i tell ya!

Here's cute little Rachel and family. Doesn't everyone look so nice for the pictures.

Of course, i saved the best for last - Anya and Aaron, and Jennifer too (but not Joe and Dacia, they're great and all, but you know, not "the best").

Happy late Easter!

Grace

2008-04-28T11:13:00.005-06:00

I got to visit Grace a couple of times last week and thought i'd share some of the pics.

I didn't actually put pictures from the same visit together, but on the first day, although Grace still had some tubes in her nose, she was so alert and happy! It was amazing. She was so beautiful. And it was really nice being able to interact with her.

The second time i visited was with Anya and Aaron. Unfortunately, it was rather late and i needed to get the kids to bed so we weren't able to stay all that long. And although Grace had no tubes this time, it was her first night out of the PICU and she started getting a little fussy as we were getting ready to leave.

Of course Anya and Aaron were thrilled to visit with Grace. Aaron wanted to rock the little bouncy chair and Anya just wanted to stand there and look at her. Actually, she wanted to hold her hand and give her a kiss, but we told her she could kiss Grace's cute little feet instead. She seemed okay with that.

While no one ever tells me anything, i hear that Topher and Alysia might actually be able to take her home soon. And while i'm sure everyone's excited, i can imagine a little bit of terror and stressed mixed in. Heck, i was terrified to take home a perfectly healthy baby! (I still can't believe no one stopped me)! So i'm sure the extra prayers in behalf of little grace and her parents will continue to be appreciated.

Ya know... If i can get my sisters to keep having regularly spaced babies maybe i can placate my kids and Jennifer with other people's babies. Or it could just backfire and Jen will want more kids now. Doh!

Hopefully, now that i've posted some more pictures of Grace i'll be allowed to visit again. Hopefully Emily doesn't get any ideas, she might not let me visit either until i post some pictures of her famiy.

Happy Birthday Jennifer!

2008-04-17T12:43:00.017-06:00

Today is Jennifer's 30th birthday, can you believe it?! i thought i'd celebrate in the blogiverse by posting some cute pics of Jen through the ages... Well, at least the ages that i have digital pictures for.

This is Jen... before i married her. Isn't she cute? i don't know how old she was, i'm thinking the 80ies though.

Here she is in Alaska somehwere sometime. I'm thinking early college or late high school. But i think it's easily one of her cutest pictures.

Philmont Scout Ranch, the summer before we met i think. So that would make it 1999 maybe? Finally, after 8 years, she doesn't go on and on about it anymore. Actually, i love her Philmont stories, and look at her, doesn't she look great? I think the time she spent at Philmont is probably one of the happiest times of her life. Can you blame me for falling in love with a girl who had spent the whole summer hiking around?

I think this is Emily's wedding reception, so it must have been some time shortly after we got married, oh look, i inlcuded the date in the file name, it was July of 2001. Smokin'!

i skipped a few years simply to try and keep this post at a reasonable length. This is June of 2004 on the Slickrock trail in Moab. My little mountainbiker. i was not only impressed that she even tried it in the first place, but that she did AWESOME!

July of 2004. My climbing partner. All the pictures i have of her actually climbing tend to be butt shots and i wasn't sure she'd appreciate that. But inspite of her semi-fear of heights, she has always been willing to go climbing with me. Isn't she great?

Here we are in Zion National Park in Sept. of 2004. If i could, i would include all the pictures i have of her hiking, but i won't do that to you. Not because she's not cute and you wouldn't like to see more pictures of her, but because you want to finish reading this some time. She is always willing and able to go hiking with me, even if it means dragging heavy kids around with us (she carries the babies too, ya know).

November of 2004. This photo illustrates a number of Jennifer's qualities. #1, if she's not cooking, cleaning or otherwise taking care of her family (or blogging now), she's got a book in her hands. #2, she takes great care not only of our kids (kid, at the time), but of our nephews (and nieces) too. And finally, #3, this photo was taken in Vegas while visiting my sister, she's always willing to go and visit family with me, even if they live 5+ hours away.

May of 2005. Jennifer is a wonderful gardener! She always makes sure our home is surrouned by flowers and that we do our best to get a garden in. She makes sure we're healthy and, as cheesy as it sounds, doing our best to live in a sort of harmony with the planet.

June of 2005. My wife will try just about anything, even barell racing! She's not a scaredy-cat (except when i try to scare her) and i think she really does great at the things she attempts.

I couldn't resist; here's another hiking picture from October of 2005. But this wasn't any old hike, this was the "hike". Ask her about it, she'll tell you (it involved lots of mud). But at least she did it once, right?

November of 2006, taking care of our baby. Plus, she's beautiful!

And look, she's a model too! With very pretty brown eyes.

Did i mention she's S-E-X-X-Y (sung to the similarly titled TMBG song).

July of 2007. Not just a great wife, but a wonderful mother!

I know, i know. I said i wouldn't do anymore, but look, here she's taking our kid hiking too! And she likes going to my family reunions with me (July 2007).

August of 2008. Look, she even left a motorcycle gang for me. Err, no wait. She joined one for me. And she does a pretty good job of humoring her husband (by letting him but all sorts of toys).

Do i need to even say anything here? (Dec. 2007).

She does a great job keeping everyone posted on our happenings through her blog. (Granted, she doesn't look at that happy about it; probably has something to do with Aaron on her desk).

She is a wonderful helper for me! Whenever i have a project in or around the house the requires or could use more than one pair of (adult) hands, she's always there to help with a smile on her face.

She's always super cute with the kids. She plays with them and makes sure they're happy!

I just can't say it enough: Jennifer is wonderful! I'm glad i get to celebrate her birthdays with her. And if you can't tell, she only seems to get more beautiful with every year. Happy Birthday honey!

The Byingtons (Reloaded)

2008-04-06T09:19:00.006-06:00

Day two with the Byingtons... After church and all that on Easter Sunday we headed over to the Byingtons to take some more pics of the baby in an environment a little more conducive to the creation of baby smiles, or at least not so conducive to unhappy babies.

They had some large west-facing windows that let in the setting sun and really provided some great light. (Incidentally, other than open shade, cloudy days and a dedicated portrait studio, light coming through windows like this provides some of the best portrait lighting).

Kaia Avi was a lot happier (for the most part) to be photographed in the comfort and warmth of her own home. And Julissa & Scott had a variety of outfits and backgrounds prepared for her.

Plus Scott, Jen and Julissa were all great reflector-holders.

I couldn't decide which of these two pictures i liked better; i always have a tough time deciding between black and white and color. I just like color.

Probably a good thing you can't see her face here, she wasn't too happy.

This is Scott and Julissa's little neice, i think. I was testing my camera settings and the light, but she kept making cute faces. Oh, and don't forget that you can see the rest of the pictures from this shoot on my website at http://alanjphoto.com.

These last three are probably my favorites. The bottom one looks like she's belting out some opera. And no, she's not screaming, she's yawning. And it's funny, because i got a lot of cute pictures of her yawning, and more often than not, when i look at them, i have to yawn.

The Byingtons (Part One)

2008-04-03T22:34:00.005-06:00

Immediately after "shooting" the Rutherford Family (pictured in the post below), our good friends the Byingtons arrived for some family pictures. They had really wanted to get some family pics with the newest member of their family - unfortunately, it was not getting any warmer. And understandably, no one wanted to unwrap the baby. It was just too cold!

These pictures were also taken around Vivian Park in Provo Canyon, between Bridalveil Falls and Sundance. We didn't hang out for too long because of the weather and the baby, but we set up another appointment for the next day for an inside shoot for the baby. (I'm almost done with those).

Their family was obviously pretty photogenic and the boys were especially fun to work with; Rannon kept striking various poses for me to photograph.

Kian, on the other hand, struck some interesting poses too, but for the sake of not embarrassing him i won't post them here (he was striking fashion model poses).

I hope to get the rest of the indoor baby pictures posted in the next couple of days, but i'm tired.

Can't...Stop...Yawning...

Oh, and of course the rest of the pictures from this shoot can be seen here.

The Rutherford Fam

2008-03-31T17:12:00.007-06:00

These are the various members of the Rutherford family at Vivian Park just past Bridal Veil Falls in Provo Canyon.

i had seen some cool pictures of a train car on another photographer's site (Kate Benson) and inquired where they were taken and Kate, the photographer, was nice enough to tell me. Granted, i think she may be tired of my questions now. But i think a lot of being a "good" photographer is knowing where those good spots are.

I have known Kari for quite some time - since i was a junior and maybe even part of my sophomore year in high school in Irvine, Ca. So that must have been the 1993-1995 time frame or something. That may not seem like a long time to know someone for most people, but for us army brats that's a long time to stay in touch with someone. Now that i think of it, she's probably my second longest friend. (That sounds like something one torturer would say to another during the height of the Inquisition). Sure there are lots of people i've known for longer, but none really other than one that i still keep in regular touch with. So thanks for being such a good and long-lasting friend Kari!

So those of you who know Kari very well (which would probably be no one who is reading my blog) might be wondering how i met Kari in Irvine, CA if she was living in Orem. Well, i'll tell you, even though you probably already know - but hey, wouldn't it be boring to just have all these pictures and no text? No? Oh, well - too bad.

Sometime during my Sophomore year i think i met and started dating Jenna Olson from Valencia, CA. I met her at a Church dance somewhere - they were a big deal back then, i think my friends and i went to a church dance every week, and they were HUGE! i was about to give you the whole story, but then i realized i could be held liable for the drool-damage to your keyboard. Suffice it to say that Kari is Jenna's cousin. When i moved to Utah from California, Kari was kind enough to let me road trip with her back to see Jenna. I still remember that road trip, it was pretty fun - and i think it may have been one of my first road trips with a friend vs. family.

Anyway, fun road trip and all that it was, i believe in some way it may have been the beginning of the end of my relationship with Jenna. i'm still not 100% sure how or why, but i'm pretty sure that any girl that reads this will shake their head at me for how obvious it must have been. I'm sure it was my fault and i still kick myself to this day - no wait, that's Jen kicking me. Ow, stop it.

We took these pics the day before Easter, and i had hoped it would be a nice warm day, but of course it wasn't. It was plenty sunny - really too sunny for the pictures i wanted to take, but it was really cold. It was kind of tough to take family pictures because the kids didn't want to take off their coats, which was quite understandable, there was no way i was taking mine off. And even with coats on, some of them just weren't too excited to be there. (That's why there are no solo pictures of the front of Elijah).

Although Elijah wasn't too enthusiastic about pictures in the cold, as you can see, Ally was a trooper! She even took her coat off for a few pics! Even with little smudges on her cheeks from keeping herself amused she was super cute and photogenic.

If you would like to see more of the pictures from this shoot please visit my website here. Oh, and i'd be remiss if i didn't mention my wonderful assistant for that day: my wonderful wife. She volunteered to accompany and assist me for the afternoon and was invaluable. She had lots of picture ideas and was a great reflector holder.

Gifts From God

2008-03-26T16:52:00.016-06:00

Well, i'm not sure if anyone still checks this blog - can't say that i would blame anyone for having given up. But when i'm posting my own pictures, or pictures that i took for myself vs. a client, it takes me a really long time to go through them and pick my favorites; Which is probably pretty obvious considering how many pictures i usually post at a time. But hey, i figure posting 10 or even 20 pictures out of a couple hundred (or thousand) isn't too bad. It's especially hard to virtually discard images (by not posting them) because even though some of them might stink, i like them all.

But when the pictures are for someone else, i like to think i do a reasonable job of getting them posted in a timely manner - at least relatively speaking.

Photographing nature, and the outdoors in general has kind of always been my passion. I've always felt that nature, this world, and all the beauty in it must be God's greatest gift to us. The beauty of nature has always been one of the primary pillars of my belief in God.

And although i still believe that, every time i see an infant i can't help but think that perhaps life, specifically as it is found in babies and children in general is His greatest gift to us. And thus the miracle of life and children represents another significant pillar of my belief in an Eternal Nature of Life.

But of course what would life be (to me, at least) without this beautiful world to enjoy; and not only enjoy, but to share with loved ones?

And so it's ironic that while on the one hand the gift of life reinforces my belief in God, nothing shakes my faith so hard as when it is taken back. He doesn't even have to take it back, just the threat makes my faith tremble. And never more so then when children are concerned - God's most innocent and precious gifts.
For those of you that don't already know, this is Grace, my newest niece; and the only niece from my side of the family. She was born to my youngest sister, Alysia, and her husband, Topher on the 18th of March. We knew well before her birth that her heart was not fully developed and that she would require extensive medical assistance after her birth. The full details are available here on Alysia and Topher's Blog.

My sister and her husband have been incredibly brave and their faith has been an example to everyone around them. And of course baby Grace is beautiful.

And although she's so beautiful it's so hard to go and see her hooked to so many machines with her life in such a delicate balance.

These pictures were taken before she was put on the respirator and my heart sank each time i saw her little face wrinkle up in what could only have been pain at so much discomfort. As much as i love to see her and hopefully through my touch and voice be of some comfort to her, a part of me shrinks from having to witness so much pain subjected to one so unworthy of it.

And of course, as with just about every sorrow i encounter, i can't help but wonder why God would allow this. But in most cases i'm eventually able to see that most sorrow is a result of our choices - even innocent ones.

I understand that while it wouldn't necessarily be difficult, per se, for God to stop "bad people" from doing bad things to "good people", it would be difficult for Him to accomplish His greater purposes if He was always stepping in to intervene.

And i suppose i can even understand that the simple choice to climb a mountain or go snowshoeing, or even drive to work accepts a cetain amount of natural risk. A risk we somehow overcome by thinking it can't happen to us or by simply weighing it against the alternative which would be to sit in a padded room for the rest of my life.

As much as i want my family and specifically my children to be safe, i could never take away from them the opportunity to experience all the wonderful aspects of life simply because something bad could happen - although i must admit i'm tempted occasionally.

But i can't even begin to understand how God could give such precious and innocent gifts to only take them back so quickly when the only choice i can see is His. But i suppose if i understood everything then i'd be God and what kind of Universe would that be?

Well, i should probably stop, although i doubt anyone is still reading. i'd like to say that at least this experience makes me more greatful for the life and family that does surround me - and i suppose it does a little, but at the same time it scares me more for the safety of my family. Especially when i realize there are so many things out of my control and it seems like God is so, well, unfair.

What more can i say then that your prayers in her behalf will be greatly appreciated. i hope she gets to stick around with us for quite some time yet - besides, her cousins wouldn't think it fair if she didn't get subjected to the same harassment as them by their uncle.

...In With the New!

2008-01-04T14:01:00.001-07:00

Actually, these aren't new pictures either, but lest Emily burst a blood vessel i thought it would be best to get these posted. Granted, they're probably still not the ones she wanted, but those really aren't done yet.

These pictures were all taken the week before Thanksgiving while we were staying in St. George.

I think my entire immediate family stopped by for a pre-Thanksgiving Feast. On one of the evenings we managed to head out to Snow Canyon State Park.

Of course, thanks to a variety of circumstances, some of them undoubtedly my fault, we tried to go a couple of times, but it always ended up being too late. This was the case here too, it was really much too late for any good pictures, and rather expsensive for the short amount of time we spent there (stupid Utah state parks only give you one day admission at a time - i love how National Parks are better, yet cheaper, makes tons of sense).

But i managed to get some shots of the kids playing in the dunes, they, of course, had a blast.

Even though, if i recall correctly some of them started to whine about it being "cold." I tell ya, live in Vegas for a few years and suddenly 60 degrees is cold - and this after they lived in Colorado for a winter! Oh well.

Anyway, in case you didn't know, i love St. George. Oh, and i also love the various subjects of these photographs; ya know, my wife, my kids, my nephews...

Out with the Old...

2008-01-03T10:27:00.001-07:00

You might think that the tile of this posting has something to do with the arrival of the New Year, but you wouldn't be completely correct. It's more like, "man, I've had these pictures forever, i should really get them posted." Also, I'd like to note that normally i would have posted some cute pictures of my nephews next, but my sister was mean to me, so you get these instead. Aren't they so pretty?

Photography in the Moab area is kind of a catch-22 for me. While these places (Canyonlands, Arches, Dead Horse Point) are all pretty all the time, they're at their most photogenic at sunrise or sunset. But in the summer, when it's pleasant weather, sunrise is just too early! Especially when you factor in about an hour's drive and some hiking to get to the destination, plus you want to be there about an hour before sunrise!

Of course, you could always go in winter. Sunrise and sunset are at much more reasonable hours and it's rarely crowded. But of course you'll also be freezing! This isn't always true though. I've been to Arches in late Winter and it was surprisingly pleasant. So i guess Winter is the best season. Plus if you get lucky you can have snow in your picture, which is a really nice contrast with the red rock. I guess that means i need to start getting used to riding Slickrock in the winter. Oh, and in case you're wondering, these first three pictures are Mesa Arch in Canyonlands National Park in the Island in the Sky district at sunrise. It's a very short hike (under 1 mile round trip i think) and i think less than an hour's drive from Moab.

This is another one of my favorite places; Dead Horse Point State Park at sunrise, although it's just as pretty at sunset too. I've been there countless times, and i never tire of the view. As a matter-of-fact, for the longest time i always wanted to get down to that road you can see below because i thought the view would be better. It's not; it's much better from the top. This is actually (kinda) on the way to Island in the Sky. Also under an hour's drive from Moab.

Also Dead Horse Point... I'm all motivated to get another winter trip in to Moab now! And actually, this trip in particular was pretty sweet because i was actually working! i tried and tried to talk my youngest sister into shooting her bridals in the Moab area, but she didn't want to. But she must have mentioned it to her future sister-in-law, Misty, because when she found out i was willing to go down there she hired me to shoot her wedding, bridals, and engagements. Since i had never shot any real portraits down there, i went down a couple of days early to scout out some good locations. She put me up in a hotel and even covered my other expenses! She was great! And as if that wasn't enough, she referred one of her friends to me later for another wedding package (this time at Lake Powell)! I know, i know, i should probably post those pictures too. They are on my website though at www.alanjphoto.com.

Back to Island in the Sky. This is now the Green River Overlook at sunset. Since i really only had a couple of days to scout things out i was running and driving all over the place to get to these destinations at either sunrise or sunset. The first evening i drove in i was running a little late but i wanted to do Delicate Arch first. I got to the parking lot and booked it up the trail. I still got there too late, but it was cloudy and overcast anyway, so it didn't matter (thus no pictures). But i still scouted the area out for the bridals (you should have seen us hiking up there with a tux and wedding dress!). I think i actually got here early enough that i sat around and read a book for an hour.

I'm actually impressed that these pictures turned out at all since it was so cloudy and overcast that whole week. But it ended up working out pretty well with the portraits. i guess part of the problem with getting to these places and taking cool pictures also lies in family. i don't like leaving my family to go on "vacation," but i never take any good sunrise or sunset pictures when I'm with them. Number one, nobody wants to hang around and be bored while i take pictures for two or three hours at sunrise and sunset. Plus, when I'm cuddling with my sweet wife, it's too hard to get up at sunrise. In effect, another catch-22: i can't take pictures if i take the fam, but i don't want to go at all if i have to leave them. Doh!

(Mom & Dad)2

2008-01-02T21:46:00.000-07:00

In-laws everywhere! We have been super fortunate the past couple of weeks to have Jennifer's in-laws in town from Anchorage, Alaska. They only recently returned from living in Germany over the past couple of years and that coupled with them living in Alaska again means we don't get to see them very often. And i'm not the kind of son-in-law to think that's good. Well, actually, i probably am, but they're not the kind of parents-in-law where i could think that. There's just too great!

And i'm not just saying that because my dad² could squish me like a tiny bug.

Naturally, i was honored when they asked if i'd take a few pictures. Actually, i don't even remember if they asked (although i'm sure they would have). I think Jennifer just told me i better get to it - i guess she thinks she can tell me what to do after having spent untold sums on camera equipment (isn't she great!).

Of course, i never mind shooting in my "studio" because i need and enjoy the practice/experience, and i get to wear a warm jacket and gloves - unlike my freezing clients. For some reason no one wants to shoot in there when it's warm.

We've had tons of fun with them while they've been in town and of course they've spoiled us and our kids rotten with their typical genorosity (btw, the term "genoristy" does not do them justice). Needless to say Jennifer and i are already trying to figure out when we can cash in our recently acquired sky miles to go up and visit them. But the figuring is actually harder than it sounds; and that's not counting actually working the mysterious airline mile math required to fly anywhere using them. The real difficulty lies in deciding when to go.

The summer offers near endless days full of fishing, four-wheeling, hiking, sight-seeing... you name it. But the winter offers skiing, which although i can probably do better here, i can't see the ocean from any Utah resorts. Then there's the Northern Lights which i really, really want to see, and of course, snow-machining. Anyway, something tells me the decision will actually be easier than i think - as soon as we have the necessary miles, we'll go. i doubt we have sufficient patience to be able to wait.

Oh, in case you're wondering why i continue to refer to my spouse as Jennifer instead of Jen, it's because her dad usually threatens me if i call her anything but the name he gave her (never mind that he goes by 'Fred' and calls his wife 'Barb').

Anyway, if you can't tell, i think my in-laws are great. I'm not just happy when they come for how happy it makes Jennifer, but for how happy it makes Anya and Aaron and even me!

Christmas Tag

2007-12-17T12:19:00.001-07:00

1. Favorite tradition: Without a doubt, my favorite Christmas-time tradition is setting our shoes out for St. Nicholaus. But i also enjoyed caroling back in the day when we had all the parts covered. I really like singing Christmas songs.

2. Least favorite tradition: I'd have to say that my least favorite tradition is ragging on Santa Claus. But granted, that's not my tradition, it's other peoples'. As much as i like caroling, sometimes i don't feel like going, so then it's also my least favorite tradition.

3. Favorite holiday treat: i don't know... i typically enjoy Christmas cookies, but only if they're soft. I always enjoy turkey, of course. But i'd have to say my favorite is probably hot chocolate, or eggnog... Oh, or this really good Apple Cider that we get through the Co-op, but hopefully that won't be limited to just the holidays.

4. Favorite holiday meal: i don't remember this being a tradition, except for turkey. i enjoy a mini-Thanksgiving meal for Christmas.

5. Favorite decoration: When it can be kept safe from little mischievous hands, i love setting up my "Christmas" train. Granted, it's not very Christmasy, but that's my favorite thing to put out. That and stockings.

6. Most memorable Christmas: i don't know. None of them really stick out for me.

7. Most missed tradition: i remember back when i was a kid Santa would always have extra presents for us that he forgotten that he would leave on the night of the 25th. i think he only did it a couple of times, and then maybe he realized it wasn't a very good idea. But that was always a lot of fun.

New Work Area

2007-12-16T23:18:00.000-07:00

Oi. That's all i can say. When i have the opportunity i like to browse family and friend's blogs and am always mildly (very mildly) annoyed to see that people haven't updated their blogs for quite some time. But then i just realized i haven't posted anything in over a month. Like i said, oi! You may have ready from my wife's blog that we recently moved our office downstairs to the "master suite". We just added a walk-in closet to the bedroom and recarpeted the basement. Go figure, we had just barely reconnected everything and gotten the office all set up when the water heater quite literally blew up all over the place. Of course it ruined our brand new carpet (or at least the carpet pad) and made me quite frustrated. I can't remember the last time i was so just plain angry and frustrated. I shan't say more, because it'll just get me riled up and you probably don't want to hear it anyway. Anyway, Jen felt bad for me so she got me a new desk. I love it! Of course, i love my wife more, but i still like the desk a lot too.

American Fork Part Two

2007-11-05T19:00:00.000-07:00

Naturally, i wouldn't be myself if i hadn't taken these pictures quite a while ago and then taken forever to touch them up and post them.

In my defence though, i've been busy working on our closet and my sister just got her proofs back from her photographer after over TWO months. I don't think it's been that long quite yet.

If you can't tell, i LOVE waterfalls. I love water in general, it's so fun to photograph. Got a stupid waterspot on my lens on one of these shots though. Took forever to get it off, hopefully you can't tell which photo and where the spot was. Granted, now you'll analyze every pic and find all sorts of stuff wrong with them.

Dacia and Joe showed up for a little while, but had to leave fairly quickly for Joe's family pictures (which, of course, he did NOT ask me to take - something to do with me wrecking his dirt bikes all the time).

Okay, before you get started, no, i do not like Dad, and Karen more than everyone else. It's just that little kids tend to be a pain to photograph, especially with longer exposures like these (to blur the water fall). So i posted a bunch so they could just pick which picture of Rachel they liked best.

Alysia and Topher also showed up (like two hours late!). They, of course, wanted a ton of pictures. I say "they", but really it was Alysia. But that's okay, i lover her and at least she knows what she wants. Alysia, don't worry, there are more pictures of you.

Alysia really wanted this pregnancy picture. Or at least i think she did. Can you tell she's preggers? Yeah, me neither.

Of course Jen didn't like any of these. She never likes the family pics i take. I believe it's a conspiracy so she can go to a "professional" studio. I think it has something to do with the fact that i always say i'll take Aaron or Anya's x month portraits and then never get around to it, but still never let her go to a studio. Doh! i like them! i think i have a super cute family (except me, of course).

This is one of Karen's friends. She probably thought i forget or that i was a slacker. Well, i guess she was right on at least one count.

My son, the future dentist.
Also, don't forget that none of these pictures are suitable for printing. These are internet quality pictures, if you try to print them they will look awful, and it won't be my fault. It will be yours because you never visit me so i can actually give you print quality pictures and because you didn't listen (cause you tried to print them, remember).
Oh, and keep reading, the post below is new too!