southern utah

in october of 2011 i took a trip back home to utah to visit the southeastern corner of my home state.  my dad and i drove down with plans to visit some of the anasazi indian ruins in the area and also to see some of the landscape in that part of the state.

our first stop was the "valley of the gods" - it's kind of a smaller version of monument valley however, smaller is a relative term here...  the tops of the buttes are about 1000 feet above the valley floor.

there's a dirt road that takes you through the monuments of the valley, this was our first stop as we got closer to the formations.

as we got worked our way around the valley we noticed a storm coming in over the valley and quickly jumped out to get the shot.  mine didn't turn out but my dad was able to get a great shot of the rain coming down over the west end of the valley.

after visiting the valley of the gods we headed up to cedar mesa to see a some anasazi cliff dwelling ruins.  the first is called fallen roof ruin.  

over the years the layers of sandstone have fallen away revealing the mineral-encrusted layers beneath.

this ruin is appropriately called house on fire.  the wide angle lens accentuates the layers of stone radiating out from the ruin.

the trick to catching these ruins at the right time is to be there in the late morning.  the sun shines on the opposite side of the wash and reflects the warm light up onto the ruins.

after cedar mesa we drove up to canyonlands national park.  we intended to catch the sunset looking west off of the green river overlook.  the sun never showed up but i'm glad i took a shot anyways - i like how it turned out.

early the next morning we got up early to catch the sunrise at mesa arch but we couldn't squeeze ourselves into the line of tripods that were already there so we hightailed it to our plan b - dead horse point.  we got there just as the sun was peeking over the la sal mountains.

i think it's just about time to start planning the next excursion... just not sure where.  any suggestions?

greetings from the lavatory

it has become a habit of mine to carry my camera with me at family gatherings or other similar outings. i enjoy snapping candid shots of what's happening around me - conversations, kids playing, friends laughing, etc. those pictures also make for great little surprise gifts for the people in them.

the picture above (the obligatory self portrait of photographers everywhere) was taken on one such outing. my family had gone to buca di beppo - which i think is becoming a family tradition at christmas time - and i had my camera right there with me... even in the bathroom.

after this trip i have to admit that i kind of burnt myself out photographically. i developed 8 or 9 rolls of film and then scanned something around 200 pictures and cleaned up most of them in photoshop - all within a week's time. it was awesome, i got so much done... but i haven't so much as loaded a roll of film into my old canon since. no need to fear though - the fire has been lit again.

i've got plans to explore the farmlands of northwest indiana now that it's warming up. i also might get a second chance to photograph in boston next month (if i can fit it into the schedule).

other than that, my next item of business is selling my old view camera. with the proceeds from that camera i should be able to buy a decent used lens.

it's good to be back.

happy halloween!

when i look for something to photograph i usually try to find the extraordinary in the ordinary. things that you walk by every day and don't notice but when you actually stop and look at it you find that it is something special, something unique.

this picture was one of those instances but not one that i would have normally seen as an opportunity. i don't usually go for the creepy when it comes to subjects but i had to take advantage of this scene.

just about every day as i walked home from campus i would pass this sign:



i remember thinking just how creepy it was - rusted metal, creepy hand-painted lettering, and especially the "...." at the end. i think if they had had a little more room at the end they would have added "or else!" to top it off, the trees were cold and bare.

for my part to add to the creepiness i knew the picture had to be taken with my holga - out of focus and dark corners, lo-fi reproduction, and a low angle to get that creepy sign looming above the viewer - everything came together nicely on this one to make one creepy image.

salt lake city

one of my favorite things to photograph is the urban landscape. i love seeing the way man made things fit into and interact with their surroundings. the urban landscape has many similarities to the natural landscape - a row of buildings is a canyon wall, a bridge is an arch, city lights are stars, streets are rivers, etc.

given enough time in a city an emotional attachment begins to grow. things that would mean absolutely nothing to someone else begin to have sentimental value. i quickly grew to love boston and new york city, and after spending four years in provo at school i grew to love its subtle uniqueness.

i spent a couple off years at the university of utah before i got married. sometimes after classes i would take the train into downtown salt lake city and just walk around with nothing to do but explore and see things. it's an interesting experience to be in the middle of a city with no particular agenda - to be able to just watch everything else happening around you.

a couple of years ago i spent an evening photographing salt lake with a friend. here are a couple of the shots from that night.

there is a time right after sunset but before dark that the sky glows a deep cerulean blue. this is one of the best times to get pictures of buildings - especially well-lit buildings. you can get the lights, the building, and the sky all within a nice range of exposure. this is the main entrance to the open air gateway mall which used to be the union pacific train depot.



this shot of the salt lake temple, the church office building, and the joseph smith memorial building was taken from a parking lot a couple of blocks west of temple square.

back to my roots - utah

my first adventures in photography were with my dad. we usually went camping and took photographs of where we went. sometimes we would stay up way too late or get up way too early to take pictures. i remember one night that we spent looking up the narrows in zion national park right next to the virgin river. it was one of our first experiments with star trails. it was cold and we probably didn't have enough layers on. but i loved it. i loved the sense of discovery, of the unknown, the solitude, and being with my dad.

that was one of the first (if not the first) of many photographic excursions. southern utah seemed to be the destination of choice in those first years. among other places, we photographed arches national park, bryce canyon, and nine mile canyon - (below).


we spent a good amount of the night here trying different exposure times, different lighting, etc. for this one we left the camera open for about 45 minutes with a coleman propane lantern shining on the petroglyphs for just a couple of minutes.

fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, the road that ran right next to this petroglyph panel was taken out and you can't get as close to it anymore. for some reason that makes this picture even more special to me - more unique.

another memorable trip was down to "the wave" in arizona. right between kanab and lake powell there is an expanse of red rock/desert known as the paria canyon-vermilion cliffs wilderness. to see the actual "wave" you have to get a permit (of only 20 offered per day) and hike in using landmarks to guide the way - or a gps. at the end of the hike you find yourself in this wavelike (hence the name) formation of striped sandstone. i was lucky enough to get there and snap a few shots before the sun was hidden by clouds.


to say the least this place is incredible.

thanks dad for getting me into photography and taking me to these amazing places. i'm indebted to you.