Honor.

She was my friend.  A climber.  

I climbed in the dark to get to this special place before sunrise.  Just another alpine start, I suppose.  But this one was different.  Truly special.  I'm honored to have been asked to carry out this request. 

Thank you, my friend, for trusting and empowering me for this personal assignment. 

 

PHOTOGRAPHY.

TO WRITE WITH LIGHT.

    This is an outtake from a shoot earlier this year with Mikaela. We ended up with almost two full days of shooting, from horses, to old trucks, to the fairgrounds, to the riverside, fashion, lifestyle, and eventually shooting some exciting shots at sand dunes.  She is well on her way to a full fledged modeling career and I wish her the best along her journeys.  No doubt, our paths will cross again.

    I rarely take behind-the-scenes shots.  This is primarily due to one legitimate reason - I forget to.

    You see one light setup here; however, this is a two-light creation.  On the left is a Nikon SB900 in a white umbrella, bounced.  The main light is out of view to camera right.  It is commonly referred to as the sun.  You can clearly see that there are scattered clouds to the west, which was a blessing, actually, as they subdued the main light.

    Below, we have a portrait taken a few minutes later, one of the last shots of the day.  As the sun set and the light became darker, I continued to lessen the power output of the SB900 to maintain a delicate balance of light on the model.

    A reflector may have worked pretty well for this particular shoot.  Winds were very light, so I may have been able to use a reflector stand.  An assistant would have been ideal if I had used a reflector.  Using a speedlight allowed me lots of control of the lighting, which I managed with Pocket Wizard TT5, TT1 and AC3.

    For those who claim that they like only natural light, I must proclaim that all light is natural!  But we don't need to argue over that (though it might be fun.)  Bottom line is that for my style of shooting, I generally like for the viewer to enjoy the image one way or the other without being caught up over the technical aspects of the shot.  By enhancing the light on Mikaela's right side of her face and body, I do believe that this may be a portrait worth savoring.

    And then the sun went down.

Breathe and Let Go

Breathe & Let Go

Brevity

Brevity

 

 MOUNTAIN GUIDES

R.J.

The past few weeks have been enjoyable in the mountains of western Wyoming.  Though we had an early round of monsoonal flow, stress levels generally have been normal to low.  Monsoonal weather in Wyoming becomes extremely unpredictable, from simple cloud cover to violent unprecedented thunderstorms.  Combine the mix of strong southerly flow, unstable atmosphere, and Teton-scale orographics, and you end up with something like a hormonal adolescent with his first beer on a Saturday night - absolute unpredictablility.

When the weather is forecast to be somwehat decent I do often take my SLR camera.  Maybe I should focus more on landscapes, but I tend to gravitate toward the people of the mountains in their environment.  It's difficult enough already to grab any snapshots, even more difficult to stage shots in advance.  The first priority, of course, is safety to the clients and to myself, and not necessarily in that order!

With every photograph there certainly is a story.  Neither of us has time to tell all those stories right now.  But when the day is done and we're old and decrepit and we're sitting at the base of the mountains, looking up with intensity, memory, and longing, come find me and we'll go for a walk and we'll share our stories.  For now, as my ol' buddy Jim Kanzler used to say, "Motion is Life," and I'm on the move.

Here is a link to a small sample of images from just a few of the mountains I've explored and traveled.  Take a look.  Grab a drink and hit 'slideshow.'  Climb on.

 

Tetons at Dusk

Summer.  Heat.  Long Days.  Long Nights.  Fun.  Exhaustion.  Energy.  Motion.  

Life. 

Landscape Portrature is one of my favorite subjects to shoot.  I hope it shows!

Grand Teton

View from the summit.  Father's Day.

Summer has arrived for most people in the northern hemisphere.  In the Teton Range of Wyoming, however, winter snow lingers well past the solstice.  For those uncomfortable with travelling on snow and ice and rock, the high Teton peaks will most likely be rather unwelcoming.  On the other hand, travel on snow can be a delight and can offer a distinct advantage for efficiency of movement on steep terrain.

I took this photo from the summit of the Grand Teton last Sunday, Father's Day.  While my dad is busy at his home caring for his less-abled wife, I am in the midst of providing care for clients who I've guided on this day.  Similar?  Perhaps.  I must say, as much stamina and endurance and mental focus that it takes to guide a peak like this in these conditions, ... this is no comparison to the perseverence and dedication that he demonstrates.  

I am inspired and motivated.

This image is not necessarily composed to evoke beauty.  It is the view that I had the other morning at 9:00 AM.  It's raw, cold, harsh, bright, dark, not entirely conclusive.  It isn't grounded so well and doesn't carry an obvious foundation.

Most accidents occur on the descent.  So, for middle-aged, or over-the-hill, people, what's so good about "it's all downhill from here?"

Stay focused on that descent!