Bristlecone Pine Astro Photography

Sunday, August 8th, 2010 at 1:40pm - Personal

Last night I went up to the Bristlecone Pine forest with Tom Lowe and a few other high caliber film makers, and we had a blast!!  It was so great to just be hanging out with other creative people in such a magical place.  I was able to shoot my first REAL astro timelapse, and I´m soooo excited about it!!!  It might take me a day or 2 to put the timelapse together, but for now here´s a few random shots from last night and this morning.  Enjoy!!!

Buttermilks Astro Photography

Saturday, August 7th, 2010 at 1:49pm - Personal

So recently I´ve been incredibly inspired by the work of Tom Lowe of Timescapes, and I´ve even had the incredible opportunity to get to meet and hang out with him.  He´s such a nice guy, and he´s working on a film called "Southwest Light", that will be very reminiscent of Baraka and Koyaanisqatsi.  Tom´s work is simply mind blowing and jaw dropping, and he has a very unique niche.  His astro timelapse work with motion controlled dollies and cranes is simply the best I´ve ever seen.  You have to check it out.

Well the little bit of time that I´ve spent with him has completely inspired me to try some astro photography myself.  Last night was my first earnest attempt.  I went up to the Buttermilks about 11:30 last night and shot until 3 am.  When I got home I was so excited I loaded the images on my computer and stayed up until 5 am going through them.  Here´s some of my favorites. 

Do you have any favorites???  Do you like the added light in some of the shots???  Do you prefer when its more subtle, or dramatic???  Please vote for all your favorites and share any thoughts and feelings in the comments below.  Hope you´re having a wonderful day!

Feature Cover Story in Adventure Monkey Magazine!!

Tuesday, July 13th, 2010 at 11:47am - Personal

Recently I had an incredible honor when I got a call from a new adventure magazine called Adventure Monkey.  They wanted to feature a cover story from me for their second issue.  Now typically when I get these requests, its to do a story on someone else, or just shoot the photos; but they wanted this to be written and shot by, and about me! 

I was totally floored and excited, but nervous to.  "How am I going to write a story about myself and make it interesting without sounding narcissistic" I thought to myself.  Originally they asked me to just write "My Story", but that seemed too similar to the last article that came about me in Rangefinder. 

So I thought I would try to get creative and actually write a more narrative style story from one of my favorite adventures, and then use that to try and tie in aspects of how and why I live my life the way I do.  It was a tremendous challenge for me, but I´m really stoked how it all turned out.  And to now see it printed in a full 14 page article is beyond exciting.  You can download the PDF of the magazine or order hard copies here (its issue 2).  Hope you enjoy!!

Coastal Teaser

Wednesday, April 14th, 2010 at 5:33pm - Personal

I just got back from an amazing trip up near and on the Northern California Coast.  I shot a beautiful wedding on the Russian River, and got to explore some redwoods and spectacular coast close to there as well.  I hadn´t been to the ocean in a few years to the best of my memory, so this trip was particularly inspiring.  Thought I´d share a quick fun shot while I´m going through all the images with several blog posts to be coming over the next week.

In other news I was recently featured as The Photographer of the Week on Digital Photo Buzz, which is such an honor.  You can check out the interview here.  Hope you´re having an amazing day and be sure to check back soon for lots of new photos from the Northern California Coast 

Rebirth Retreat Recap

Sunday, April 4th, 2010 at 10:00pm - Personal

Last week was a life changing week for me. 

I attended the Rebirth Retreat in Clarksdale, MS; hosted and organized by my very good friends Will Jacks, Chris Williams, Sarah Hodzic, and Laura Beth Lott.  We had an incredible collection of people come together to the Mississippi Delta to foster creativity, share in community, and challenge everyone to continually better ourselves. 

I found the blend of structure versus free time to be perfect for my needs, finding it both challenging to accomplish certain exercises (more to come on this… ), and yet I still had time to really visit with dear friends and meet and appreciate new ones.  Honestly, I wish it was a day or 2 longer. 

There were exercises that helped us see that in our art, there´s always a piece of ourself, and that by stepping outside our comfort zones, we help and allow ourselves to grow.  I´ve always felt this way, and it was cool to see this through a  unique group sharing exercise that brought some very interesting insights.

Music also played a big part of the experience for me.  One night we went out to Ground Zero, a blues club partially owned by Morgan Freeman and heard some incredible Mississippi blues (more coming....  ), and the next night we had a local singer songwriter play live where we staying (more to come on this as well… ).  It was a magical time with so many artists exploring and sharing and has inspired me beyond measure.

I´ll be sharing images from the retreat over the next few days, but I wanted to start today with a recap of images from throughout the whole experience. 
 

Here´s a few teasers of whats to come next….

Red Rocks with Friends

Monday, March 15th, 2010 at 11:47am - Personal

Well I´m still recovering from my week down in Vegas last week for WPPI.  It was an absolutely incredible trip with so many wonderful highlights, one of which was getting my dear friends Will Jacks and Chris Williams out into some nature.  We went out to Red Rocks and spent an entire afternoon into the evening hiking, scrambling, creating images, and just having a blast.  There´s nothing I enjoy more than spending time in nature with great friends.  I hope you enjoy some images from our adventures.

While we were rambling around, Chris caught some images of me climbing with my camera that I´m super psyched on!!  I´ve never had my picture taken by a professional before : )  I also had fun capturing some images of the the two of them wandering around.

Thirst Relief Auction ~ Bid on Mentoring with Me!

Wednesday, February 17th, 2010 at 1:18pm - Personal

Hello friends, family, and colleagues.  I want to let you know about an incredible opportunity going on right now to help save lives by bringing clean drinking water to those in need, while also getting an amazing opportunity to be mentored by some of the county´s top photographers!  The Thirst Relief Auction is going on right now and the bidding will start to close just after 9pm Eastern Standard Time tonight, so I highly encourage you to go bid on your favorite photographers!!!  Thirst Relief is an amazing organization doing incredible things to help save lives through bringing clean drinking water to people in need.  Over the years I have won 2 separate auctions, and the mentoring I received from Melissa Jill and then Jeff Jochum has helped my business immensely.

I am honored to be one of the mentors, so lets make a difference, together.

For whoever wins a bid with me, I am excited to share with you and help you discover how continuing to pursue personal work in addition to your client work can help keep your passion for photography alive, while also strategically enhancing your brand. Really I want to do whatever I can to help you in your photography or your your photography business, whether it be shooting techniques, to Lightroom work flow, to networking and marketing, to living a life still doing other things you love while also growing a business. 

Sometimes we get so caught up in our business, that we forget what brought us to the business in the first place, which is most often a love for creating images.  Do you still have the same passion for photography you had when you started?  Are you still picking up your camera and going to create images for yourself?  Do you have harmony in other pars of your life as well while spending so much time on your business?  Are you working on your business or is your business working on you?

Lets talk about whatever you want over tea or coffee, or lunch, or dinner.  Or lets go out and shoot. Whoever wins, if you can make it to Yosemite I will give you a free "Day in Yosemite", personal guided photo tours and instruction in one of planets most beautiful places that I plan to start marketing this year ($500 value).  Can´t make it to Yosemite but you´ll be in Vegas???  Lets go out to Red Rocks and shoot or find somewhere else out in the desert.  I am also including for the winning bidder 10 free royalty free songs from ShawnReederMusic.com ($300 value), and my full set of Lightroom Presets ($20 value).

Thank you for helping support Thirst Relief bring clean drinking water to people in need.  Lets make a difference and help save lives, you and me together.