Tools, PT II
This week I've continued in that vein this week with several more. Can you identify the second item?
This is turning into a longer term project - I've decided I'm going to be heading down to my grandma's place in Idaho to spend an visit shooting that vast garage full of treasures.
Back Home
Spent a bit of time in the mornings just wandering about in my "man I really need some exercise" mindset - this always happens when I'm away from my bikes - the true machines of my workout bliss.
Here are a few images of the the now slightly dingy suburban landscape that was writ decades ago upon what was once orchards. Can you guess the place?
We have a soccer
tournament this weekend, which will put us out and
about much of the time. Its nice to be home.
Cheers!
Vacations R' Us
Which, of course, means lots of fun and the requisite sand in the hotel/rental van/washing machine/pores. We've gone to the beach, visited with friends, seen movies and just goofed around. My family just happens to really kick it old school.
Here are a few images...
Penguins and Pirates
Tour de Blast
I rode the Tour de Blast which went from Toutle up the Spirit Lake Memorial Highway to Johnson Ridge Observatory - right near Mt. St. Helen's crater and 4000 plus feet above the starting line. And then we rode back.
This was one tough ride.
We did just under 7000 vertical feet of climbing over
84 miles. It was perfect cycling weather (for once in
Washington this year) around a balmy slightly
overcast 68 degrees. What has been called "Juneuary"
due to poor weather disappointed us for once, and I
relished the warmer summer weather.
We did the whole route in about 6 hours on the bike -
the pace was certainly faster than I would have done
on my own owing to some great riding partners.
There were a few times I was feeling the hurt - the
profile for the ride looks roughly like this. Guess
where the hurt was?
Here is a picture of me
at the top of the first peak - taken by a guy I rode
1/2 the first incline with (and yes, I wonder why he
included so much sky, but not my feet).
Here is a panorama I shot
at Johnson Ridge Observatory. This is made from 3
16:9 widescreen Raw files from my Panasonic LX-2.
That is one big pano!
Ballet Photography
I've always been drawn to documentary photography,
and while I've expanded my repertoire substantially
over the past year to include studio work,
portraiture and the like, it remains a big part of
how I see and feel my world.
The backstory..
We promised our daughter she could begin dancing at 4
years of age - and on her birthday my wife quickly
found this quirky little studio (Ballet Bellevue) nearby that
had the right focus on performances and had a
great artistic director with a wonderful pedigree. We really wanted to avoid
the cheerleader-esque "dance competition" studios
and we were quickly at home in the melee of real
dance. She blossomed and grew there and we were
happy.
In late 2006 my wife prodded me to do some work for
them. I proposed a project that would document life
at the studio over the year and it was quickly
accepted. It became and exciting and challenging
project - learning to shoot fast moving dancers in
less than stellar lighting conditions.
When Ballet Bellevue had a falling out with Viktoria,
their artistic director, we decided to follow her to
a new studio she opened nearby - Emerald Ballet Theatre. I
continued to shoot for Ballet Bellevue through the
rest of the 2007 season, but I felt more welcome
at EBT and Viktoria really understood what
photography can bring to the equation. She is very
open to using photography showcasing her fledgling
business and I've done all their advertising and
promotional work over the past year. We also
helped put the studio together with several
friends - the focus was to be a beautiful,
organized studio with a simple, beautiful
atmosphere. To augment this, I began hanging
regular groupings of work and I do sittings with
individual dancers periodically.
Today...
One of the things I've learned is that I increasingly
look forward to the big productions - when dancers
are in costume and are working hard at their
variations on stage. EBT really focuses on
performances as a learning experience - and Chloe has
really grown because of this. As a new studio, we are
still a bit conservative on the number of
productions, but our repertoire will expand as we
grow.
We recently finished up our first year and the
end-of-year performance. I am very pleased with some
of the images I've captured from this past season and
am in the process of putting together a book almost
300 pictures from EBT's first year.
Look for it here soon.
I'm off in a few hours to ride my road bike up a
volcano...
Da Pimped Van & Some Bubbles
I currently roll (at least with the family) in a 2003 VW Euro Camper Van, but sadly its pimped for storing kids and their crap rather than photo stuff. Someday, when the kids are gone, I'll be doing something very similar.
I got out for a 40 mile bike ride this AM before coming home to clean up my cluttered office. I hate working in a cluttered office.
I'm riding a road race this weekend - I'll ride from Toutle, WA up the Spirit Lake Memorial Highway to the Johnson Ridge Observatory and back, for a total of 135 KM and just over 6000 vertical feet of climbing. Its going to be a blast, and its called the Tour de Blast for obvious reasons. The family is coming along and we'll camp nearby Friday night.
Marshmallow time!
Its my kids last day of school. They are excited to be out for the summer - and I'm just hoping we'll have one. My morning rides are still in tights and jacket for @#$@#$ sake.
Here is an diptych from yesterday of my daughter playing around with bubbles - she's such a lovable goofball.
Emerald Ballet Theatre Galleries Online
I'm quite happy with this
series, and they are available now for purchase
directly from the web galleries.
Cheers!
Hans Gets a Haircut
Yesterday, my wife asked if I'd go over and take some pictures of Hans and give him a haircut - he's due to lose his hair soon, so they figured they'd preempt the hair loss with some controlled intervention. When I pulled out the clippers and we discussed the options, he decided he wanted something a bit more off the beaten path, as it were.
Here is a before and after...
Apparently, he's been
eating like a horse.
Something about steroids and appetite - which they
tell me is a good thing. He's eating so much that in
the last week or two he's put on some weight and his
cheeks seem to reflect the bulk of it.
Overall, he was in good spirits and kept joking about
his chipmunk cheeks. Go Hans!
Tales from the Mediterranean
I'm still working thru the images from the performances, but here are a few I'm particularly happy with.
More to come.
We're off to the Zoo and the "This is the Place"
Monument for the afternoon.
Square Kids, Square Kids, Square Kids
As Holden's classmates would scream: Digression!
I shot a series of square portraits for my sister today. I'm happy with all but one of them, and I might have to shoot a few more shots to get what I want. These are all in the vein of some portraits I did a month or two back - a style that I really enjoy and a format that I highly appreciate for portraiture. My sis was pretty happy with them, as am I.
After that, we headed
into Salt Lake to attend a SLC Bees baseball game.
To be honest, I'm not a fan of baseball.
Its a bit slow, slightly boring and just can't
complete with the beautiful game for sheer
athleticism, excitement and, ahem, beauty. That said,
its a mildly interesting past-time, with some quirky
side-shows, so when my younger sis handed me free
front row seats I couldn't refuse. We took the
parents-in-law and made an evening of it.
My son got one of those big foam #1 hands (a first
for our family) and then found a baseball - he was
buzzing with excitement. His grandpa is a big fan, so
the two of them talked about all the ins/outs and
made it all worth it.
Funny, they were playing the Tacoma Rainiers. I
suppose they are our hometown team...uh, go team!
Amusement, Where is thy Cotton Candy?
I had promised Steen a few fun activities during our trip. He was especially excited to visit a local amusement park we'd hit last year and mentioned it frequently in the days leading up to our departure. Yesterday, I pretended that the "exciting activity" I had planned was a trip to a pig farm to shovel manure, but he was mostly convinced I was goofin' on him. So mid-morning we headed out - destination Lagoon - for a day in the sun.
We had a ball. We rode roller-coasters, ate cotton candy and wondered why June in the arid southwest was too cold for shorts. The Ferris Wheel was operating as well, which wasn't last time we were here, so we rode it several times as well. Cheers to an amusement park every once in a while.
A few pictures...
Look for some dance galleries later today, hopefully.
The Sis Factor
I grabbed her kids last night and ran over to a local park for a few pictures...
Thanks Sis!
Soccer Academy
We drove down to drop my oldest son off at a BYU soccer academy for the week. He gets to stay in the dorms with a roommate and its quite exciting for him. Having older kids is proving to be as cool as when they were little - we have developed a great relationship built on trust and mutual respect. He's aces in my book.
Go Aidan.
Here are a few images from today...
I'll be here all week. I
brought my middle son as well, and we're going to do
some fun things together - including hitting an
amusement park and some other fun stuff. He's equally
excited.
I'm still working thru images from last week's
EBT performance Tales
from the Mediterranean and hope to be
done soon. I'm really happy with the images thus
far, so expect a few new galleries soon on the EBT
website.
Have a great Monday.
Tools
My grandpa was a rancher, farmer and nuclear plant worker, the latter sadly required by the economics of farming/ranching a small plot of land in the arid western part of the United States. He put in long hard days at "the site" (Westinghouse's nuclear training facilities) and then came home to work his little ranch until the sun went down. Life wasn't easy, as my mother can attest, but by the time I was old enough to spend the summers with them near Mackay, Idaho, progress had been made and times were easier. I helped changed pipe, cared for the cows and my cousin and I ran around on an old Trail 90 motorcycle looking for fun. I loved hanging out in the various out-buildings of his ramshackle world and these tools were a huge part of our lives - we built, made or fixed most things ourselves. The depression had made him thrifty, clever and resourceful.
Here is a picture I have of him holding me as a toddler. I'm pretty cute - much cuter than my sisters/brothers were, if memory serves...
He passed away, not unsurprisingly, due to
complications with cancer and I still miss him and
those days intensely.
These tools are some of what remains of him and those
long-ago days in the summer sun.
Well, I'm off to shoot
the final dress rehearsal for EBT, so have a great
weekend. I'm traveling next week, but should be
online and active.
Cheers!
Pranksters
Its a wonderfully quiet place, with a variety of people - from the quirky to the mundane. I have several extended family members who live close by, and several friends have moved into the area as well. I like where we are, and while it may not be the most flashy or exciting place, it suits us perfectly. With mountains and green flora all around, its hard not to like.
We do have some guy down the hill who puts up big billboards with silly conservative-leaning catch phrases during elections. You know the kinda guy - the big poster with the Kerry quote out of context. A real "Get us out of the UN" kinda guy. I always think of pithy things to, ahem, add to his display, but I never do out of equal parts respect for his right to say stupid stuff and time. And it is on his property.
Recently someone has been putting up these patrio-jingoistic little displays on the main road out of town. Bunting, flags, and these cheery home made quilt-like signs proclaiming things like "Thanks for Serving" and "With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility". When I drive by, it tends to aggravate me slightly as this display isn't on private land, and I always feel like putting something along side it like "With Great Hegemony Comes Great Suffering" or something equally pithy. Not all of us out here in the boonies breathe exclusively thru the mouth...
Well someone else took this to heart and added a few additions (tongue firmly in cheek I'm sure) to the display...
Even funnier, as I rolled
up on my bike, some guy piled out of his SUV and ran
over to take some pictures. I was giggling like a
madman, and he asked why. I pointed to the flags and
told them where they were from - he was obviously
clueless and had no idea what countries those flags
represented. He looked at me somewhat dumbfounded and
asked what they meant. Holding it all in, I said it
was probably a joke. He took some more pictures and
mentioned he was going to send them to his son
stationed in Iraq to make him feel good about his
service.
I let him go, and as he sputtered off, I thought to
myself that when people agree to participate
forcefully in geopolitics, maybe they should
understand the whole "geo" thing before they charge
into the Big Men's void.
I mean, honestly.
Rehersal Time
Brasil vs. Mexico
Here he is blowing the ubiquitous stadium horn...
Here are a few shots of the game/crowd I shot for
Photoshelter.
On Sunday we visited my nephew at Children's Hospital
- he is looking a bit gaunt, is a bit weak and is
feeling the effects of his treatment. He took us on a
quick tour (with his little monitor - we dubbed it
his personal robot C3-P-on-U) of his room and the
playroom they have for kids. He is working on
learning to swallow pills and hopefully will head
home in a few days for continued treatment.
Go Hans!