Gutter Scooter

I shot some kids riding their scooters in the gutter. Summer boredom is here in full force. Hey, sounds like a project, to document bored summer kids. Hmmmm.... How uninteresting.....

Ragnar Relay Wasatch Back - Slideshow

Here is my first attempt at embedding a slide show into a blog. It is a few photos of the Wasatch Back Relay last weekend. If you haven't heard of it, it's a crazy party where teams of 6 or 12, collectively run 188 miles, from Logan to Park City, over several steep mountain passes, with no sleep, lasting 17-32 hours and all with (mostly) smiles on their faces.

After a few attempts at getting the size of this thing right, it seems to have worked...Enjoy!

Start Building an Ark

If you haven't noticed, it hasn't really stopped raining in Utah for a few weeks or so and I thought it was relevant that I post this photo. Does it sort of feel like this? At least it's postponing the heat of summer a little longer.

Back on the Blog Wagon

As many of you know, this blog was started as a means to motivate myself to get outside my comfort zone and shoot a decent photo every day for a full year. The last time I posted was about three months shy of that mark, which came and went on February 23rd.

It was a difficult challenge to shoot a good photo everyday for a year.

During that same time, I was also working on another project of publishing a book about the city in which I live. It's a documentary portrait project about Ogden, Utah which started out kind of small, and has since mushroomed into this huge art project with all kinds of community support.

Earlier today, I picked up the posters I will be hanging in shops all around town advertising the book. I just received a call from a company handling the customs clearance since the books, which have been on a boat from Hong Kong for a week, arrive in California on Friday. I just finished cutting 35 frames which will display some of the photos at the Union Station on June 5th at a book release party.

A short year and a half ago, I never would have imagined this would be possible. Back then, a book wasn't even on the radar, not even close. My wife and I had batted around an idea about a "print on demand" book from our time in China but nothing like this.

Yet here it is, just weeks away from arriving on my front door and who would have thought this was possible. Not me.

It certainly hasn't been a one man show. I had a bunch of help from a whole host of people. Early on, it came from the folks at Union Station who allowed me some time to shoot at their place. As I started shooting photos, there began to be an enthusiasm and the people I photographed began offering more and more suggestions as to who else should be included in the book.

I got a bunch of help from The Union Grill staff who sent people over from lunch and were very generous with their time and delicious food.

Keith Johnson, a friend and fellow photographer who understood the scope of the effort, was an enormous help in his countless hours of editing photos and offering constructive criticism and generous praise. And Mike Terry who produced a sweet marketing video (which I have yet to do anything with,(sorry Mike), I'll be posting it later this week).

I certainly couldn't have done it without the generous individuals who offered to sponsor the project. If anything came as a complete shock to me, it was the generosity of the sponsors allowing me to raise nearly $12,000 to help cover printing costs. That blew me away, and I can't thank those people enough.

Steve Conlin has been a huge support by providing advise and publicity, and for getting the attention of community leaders who have also been a big support.

And most recently, Simon, who has offered his time and expertise to help make a bazillion frames which will end up costing less than a tenth of what it would have.

I know this is starting to sound like the Oscars and will even more so when I include my dad in the list, who has also been a big contributor with his time and resources.

So there it is. A blog post about the "I AM OGDEN" book. That is probably the main reason I have been such a slacker blogger the last several months.

I hope you enjoy reading and I will attempt to keep this a little more current.

BN

Thanksgiving Swing

I was lucky enough to catch this photo of the world's prettiest seven-year-old. She rushed out to this swing after turkey dinner and I'm so glad I had my camera.

Turkey Bowl '08

One of the reasons I like shooting this so much is the fact that besides the rough play and ample opportunity for great action, there are no helmets to hide the expressions of the players. It's not too often that you can catch a meaningful expression behind helmets during a "real" game. It's gotten worse lately since players have added that plastic shield over their eyes.

This is John Falls gaining yardage while losing his shorts to Chris Quintana.

Turkey Bowl '08

Every year, some guys I know get together and toss around a pigskin the morning of Thanksgiving. It's common, lots of people do it. I like playing football but I always feel that the photos I get are much better than any contribution I can make on the field. This is one of those times.

Pizza/Bowling

One of my children won this free trip to the Salomon Center for a night of pizza and bowling. This is one of our friends riding a cheep 25 cent carousel. Woo Hoo!

WSU Clock Tower

As some of you may know, Weber State has undergone some huge changes in the last few years and this week, one of the projects was rededicated. The clock tower and plaza surrounding it were remodeled and made to look beautiful again.

This is WSU president Ann Millner and the iconic tower.

The campus looks awesome and everything looks shiny and new. Now if they could just make that clock tell time, everything would be perfect.

BYU Utah Lesson

The day after covering the BYU Utah game, I made a slight error that I won't soon make again. My error wouldn't have been too costly if it weren't for the help of my three-year-old son.

I was working on a bunch of folders I had downloaded as .zip files and when I opened them, there was the original .zip and the file it contained. Needless to say, there was a bunch of clutter on my desktop. When I dragged everything to the trash, the BYU Utah Folder was also dragged. No big deal, right? the next time I would look for them, I would just drag it back out.

Unfortunately, in my son's zeal to be just like dad, he was messing around with the mouse and in doing so, emptied the trash. Ouch. Over 1700 photos of the biggest game of the year were gonzo.

Luckily, I realized what had happened early on and didn't re-write anything on the computer. I ran a data rescue program which I thought worked pretty well, it seemed I had all my photos back.

While going through them, I found that most of the files that had been recovered were corrupt, leaving me with images like the one you see above. But despite the loss of 1200 photos, most of the images I moved into a "finals" folder were spared. Whew!

Sunday! Sunday! Sunday! (actually Friday)

Here is Ron the monster truck driver from Maverick crushing the BYU/Utah cars. It was a huge spectacle while it lasted. Lots of noise and flying pieces of glass. Almost makes me want to get one. I wonder how that kind of machine would fare on the red rocks of Moab.

Rivalry Week

I got a call to cover a story about Maverick executives and their unconventional marketing and promotion strategies. This guy is bashing in the side of a blue car representing BYU at a 1280 AM, "The Zone" remote. Maverick brought along a monster truck to take care of business after the cars had been beat up with sledge hammers. Don't worry BYU, there were guys bashing in the red cars too.

Bonneville Skybase

Also at this location, there is a small hangar which houses a flying parachute. You can rent a ride with Lew Ershler, a FAA certified flight instructor for views of the Oquirrhs. I was a little nervous about this part of the day but after some brave participants when before me, I gave it a whirl. Besides, what could happen anyway? If your engine fails, at least you're already strapped to a parachute.

Bonneville Seabase II

Here is another shot from Bonneville Seabase. A reverse version of bobbing for apples.

Bonneville Seabase

At the end of October, I covered a story on Bonneville Seabase, a series of warm springs turned into a scuba diving destination in the middle of the Utah desert. There are tropical fish and a couple nurse sharks in the green waters, along with some fast moving Crevalle jacks and tons of little minnows. I didn't want to post the photos until the story ran but you can now find it HERE.

I initially thought the story would go along with the Halloween events scheduled for the weekend, like "reverse" bobbing for apples and an underwater pumpkin carving contest. here is the pumpkin carving.

Discovery Gateway

Random shot from a recent trip to Discovery Gateway. These kids seemed to LOVE stuffing balls in these vacuum powered tubes.

Face Toy

Here's a quirky shot of a toy we picked up within the past few birthday parties. Not sure if I could identify the kid under the plastic rods but if you can, let me know.

Fireside

Here is a shot from a LDS Fireside which took place at Weber State featuring Elder Boyd K. Packer. I don't really love the podium shots, or "talking head" photos so here is one of the choir director leading the Choraliares, a Ogden Institute group.

Anderson Cooper in SLC

Anderson Cooper is an Emmy Award-winning journalist, author and television personality. He currently works as the primary anchor of the CNN news show "Anderson Cooper 360°." He came and did a speech up near the U and I was told to shoot for ten minutes, max, and go back to the office. I maybe got three creative shots I liked in that time. This is my favorite.

Point and Waits

I think it's ironic that these small little digital cameras are called point and shoots. Seems the more appropriate titles should be, "point and wait a few seconds after the moment has past and shoots."

Another Birthday?

Birthday's are nice and when you're a kid, they are something you look forward to for months. Well, E-man was lucky enough to have THREE birthday parties this year, and on different days. Here is a shot from one of those parties. Nothing like swinging at a piñata in the form of an eyeball.

More Ballet

You know, fifteen years ago if you would have asked me to attend a ballet, I would have turned you down cold. No way was I going to a ballet. Those things they wear to dance in made me way too uncomfortable.

Well a lot has changed in the last decade, mainly the fact that I have done a bunch of photos for the Ballet West Academy and Imagine Ballet Theatre. The guys I have worked with at both places have been friendly and respectful and have been very good clients to work with. Now I don't really mind going to the ballet, occasionally, to fill my "culture" quota for the year. I guess it's irony in action.

Not everything has changed, however, some of those outfits they wear still make me feel uncomfortable.

These photos are of Macall, Jennifer and Jessica at Imagine Ballet Theatre following a performance at the Egyptian. We took my daughter and she LOVED it. That certainly made the ballet more enjoyable as well.

Heeerrreee's Keith!!

This is Keith Stubbs, a DJ, Comic and Business Owner in Ogden. He DJ's on 101.5 The Eagle in Salt Lake, he owns Wise Guys comedy club on 25th Street in Ogden and he does a lot for the city of Ogden. Keith wanted some updated material (what comic doesn't) for his website, KeithStubbs.com

E-Man at Six

We had several parties for the E-Man and this is one of them held at the grandparents house. Gotta love the tight shot of kids stuffing their faces with cake.

Guess What This Is??

I'll buy you lunch if you can guess what's going on in this picture. Why don't you type your caption as a comment and the comment containing the most truth wins.

(those in the photo are excluded from competition)

By the way, I really liked the rich color saturation and the natural light in this image. The content and reaction on the faces doesn't hurt either.

BYU Missed Shots

Here are a couple outtakes from the game. This is from the same play in which Austin Collie ran a 61 yard pass into the endzone for a touchdown. I caught the catch and a few steps of the run until I was luckily able to zero in on the ref. I wonder what kind of watch that is.

Collie ran right towards me and I was thinking,"Wow, I can get some sweet reaction photos of him screaming and cheering with teammates." Once again I was even more fortunate to have caught the brand name of Trent Nelson's hat. Don't worry, the next frame has Collie in focus with teammates, just a very UN jubilant reaction.

BYU vs SDSU III

I really liked the peak action in this image and I think it works over all. However the composition seems to be a little bit cluttered. Still, I am happy I caught the action.

BYU vs SDSU II

Here is Dennis Pitta getting upended by a defender early in the game. I wish I had been on the other side to catch the expression on Pitta's face but the body language looked ok too.

BYU vs SDSU I

Here are some of my picks from the BYU vs. Sand Diego State game. This shot I thought I had missed because the two players had jumped up and out of my frame. This was as they were coming back down.

ELECTION '08

This is reporter Aaron Faulk. I don't think he had just cast his ballot.

I was lucky enough to work the night of the elections and I made some interesting observations from that night. I hesitate to get too detailed about what I observed but I will say that some things took me off guard.

Observation Number One: The folks who ordered the pizza for the newsroom are very astute when it comes to good taste. No 'cheese and sauce over cardboard' for election night. It was awesome.

Observation Number Two: You can never judge a book by it's cover. Meaning, some folks who I had thought were one way, politically, were extremely opposite what they appeared.

Observation Number Three: I need to preface this last observation by saying that this was just merely an 'observation.' I don't mean to judge anyone of any persuasion on this issue, it just took me off guard.

I noticed, and was quite surprised at the boisterous reaction in the newsroom as election results began coming in, from people on BOTH sides, and especially when the winner was announced. Now granted, this wasn't exactly a 'public' display for the world to see, it's likely those reactions would never make their way into print. And I think some of the ruckus could have been directed at what America had accomplished as a country in electing an African American president. However, regardless of who you support, Obama or McCain, BYU or Utah, Pro or Anti Voucher, Weber State or Idaho State, Raptors or Owlz, Banks or Credit Unions I think we as journalists should be very private about our personal opinions.

I remember one of the very first sporting events I ever covered at Weber State. I caught myself cheering in the press area during a key moment in the game and the reporter respectfully leaned over and told me that it wasn't appropriate to show a side, one way or the other. I talked with the adviser later that week where I learned more about the role of our profession. Since then I have been very careful to keep my opinions private. Of course sporting events are much less meaningful than political issues but most of us know not to cheer while covering a game. Political issues mean more and can have a more serious polarizing effect. Personally, I try and stay away from those discussions, and have turned down political friends in O-Town who have asked if we would put a sign in the yard.

I know it may seem hypocritical that I occasionally wear around a Utah Jazz hat. Just try and catch me wearing it while covering a game.