Horse Power

I love to walk around downtown SLC on my dinner break and look for good light. I saw this horse and buggy coming down State street toward a narrow strip of light. So I waited for it to arrive and luckily, that red car sped by to provide an interesting juxtaposition. I'm not sure if the couple in the buggy are in a hurry but they are definitely using less gas.

Good Bye Beijing

As the sun sets on the Beijing Olympics and we watched the closing ceremony, I can't help thinking what an amazing few weeks that was. I loved watching the games and would have loved being there, to cover the stories and the culture for which I have gained an immense appreciation. I loved seeing the men's and women's marathons, the men's beach volleyball, Usain Bolt's incredible sprints, and the opening ceremony was amazing. Thanks for a great show, China (中国). 再见.

More From Holga

You have seen a fair amount of shots this summer from our two trips to Bear Lake but I just got the roll developed from my Holga. Here is some more fun from the beach front.

Chinese Diving Competition

As I was working in the office all night, I watched diving. I don't really get diving but since I didn't shoot any photos today, I thought I would post some Chinese diving of my own. And in case you are wondering, that IS, in fact, ice. This was shot in January, 2007 and these guys swim at this location everyday of the year in Tianjin, China.

Mmmmm Cooookie

Shot from a wedding reception. Hey, if I was that age and could get away with it, I'd be there too. -BN

Fire Number Two

This fire was much bigger and burned a huge hay stack at a dairy farm in Plain City. The cows didn't seem to mind as long as they still got something to eat. CAN will probably like this one since she once had this thing for cows. GO AGGIES!!

Fire Number One

I shot two fires today, one was actually last night which wasn't too big. And the other one was early this morning, even though they started about the same time. This first photo I shot after chasing down some fire engines while riding my bike home from the train station. First time I have shot spot news from my bike before.

Strip Camera

After checking out all the work of Bill Frakes and Tom Dahlin on SportsShooter.com, I decided to start designing my own strip camera. I solicited the help of a good friend of mine, an engineer, who figured it would be just as easy to design a digital strip cam as a film version. I still want the film version but he decided to dismantle a flatbed scanner (strip camera principle is basically the same) and use it to "shoot" pictures of ourselves and our kids. Here is the result. Unfortunately, the range of focus is only one to three inches, you need lots of light, and we still need to figure out a way to affix a lens of some kind to shoot actual sports. You can view others from this experiment at my SportsShooter site.

Little Man Turns Three

Our youngest child turned three and this is one of the photos of him enjoying cake, an Oreo cake made of ice cream. Forget the presents, give me another piece of that. -BN

Bear Lake II - Day Three

This last day at the lake was an after thought since I had previously registered for the XTerra 21k race from Pineview to Snowbasin. It was a tough choice to stay at the lake another day and skip the race but after spending the two hours skiing and shooting these photos, rather than trudging up an 1800 feet incline in 13 miles in the middle of the day, I realized the choice shouldn't have been that difficult.

Bear Lake II - Day Two

Another great day at the blue lake, although this night, it wasn't so blue, more grey. We watched as some heavy clouds rolled in, it got real cold and the wind picked up. A couple guys started getting wet suits on and I grabbed some long glass, and a life jacket. After shooting photos of these guys jumping the smaller waves near the shore, I took a turn on the wave runner. Out in the middle of the lake there were waves that felt like they were eight feet high, but in reality were maybe four. We were jumping them and maybe getting four to six feet of air, which was quite frightening at first. What a rush! We went in and out toward the center of the lake, taking turns on the wave runners until the storm subsided. I can't remember having that much fun at a lake in a while. Thanks guys.

Bear Lake II - Day One

We took another trip up to Bear Lake with some friends (See the June 5th Post) and I was able to get some photos for my "People Flying Through The Air" series. This first one is of some kids on a tube thing. Believe it or not, that guy on the right stayed on.

Volvo Enthusiast

This is Berk and you might say he is nuts about Volvos. Not that he has Swedish blood in his veins, he just likes the cars. I shot this with a Holga after I had finished shooing other shots for a photo contest on a Volvo related website, at Berk's request.

And speaking of Sweden, there is a paper in Stockholm that will be publishing some photos of mine. Not award winners but that's the furthest away my photos have appeared. At least that I am aware of. Woo Hoo!

China Games II

Here is the next in the group of China sports photos. It's actually not an organized sport but I rode my bike to work every day and I can tell you, it's tougher than you think, much different than riding around in the U.S.

Ogden Raptors vs. Helena Brewers

I shot the Ogden Raptors as they hosted the Helena Brewers this fine evening and to repeat myself in a previous post, I love shooting baseball. The problem is that sometimes it's hard to come up with photos that don't duplicate themselves from game to game. Some of the most common photos at a baseball game are, in my experience, either a tight shot of the pitcher or a double play attempt at second base. (tied for third is either a slide at home plate or a pick-off attempt at first base)

Here are two photos from tonight and I can't decide which I like better. I tried to get creative with this pitcher since the sunlight was coming in and lighting just the rim of his top half (if that makes sense). And I am very happy with this double play shot also, which is actually better action than you often see at second base, with his legs up in the air.

What do you like?

Chicken Coop

This is where the chickens live at my parents house. I think they decided to raise chickens to teach us kids a little bit about work, collecting eggs and feeding them, that sort of thing. Regardless of the reason, the chicken coop made a nice backdrop for kids soaring back and forth on a rope swing at the monthly BBQ.

Hike the Ridge

So after being inspired by my sister's recent trip to a place called "Twin Lakes" with her kids, I decided it would be cool for us to take ours hiking. After a long,... and I mean really long, sales pitch to convince them that it would be cool, and not scary, to ride a gondola up the mountain, we climbed aboard the Needles Gondola at Snowbasin. My two boys were not to worried about it but my daughter's fear (which actually kept her and the other kids from walking on the Great Wall of China) sort of got the boys a little nervous, but finally they jumped on it.

At the top, we made a 30 minute hike out of what would normally be a 15 minute hike to the top of the ridge above Ogden. They all hiked the trail up and back which, at times, was a little steep. This nicest part about the experience was that they seemed to feel that sense of accomplishment the rest of the afternoon. It's funny how that sort of accomplishment, no matter how small, tends to keep kids from complaining, fighting, bickering and back-talking, at least for a while. Unfortunately, that doesn't last, and they are back to their usual selves. But that few hours of satisfaction is priceless.

08/08/08 China Games

Didn't catch any great moments today so to celebrate the Beijing Olympics, I thought I would post some random sports photos I caught while I was in China. This is a couple guys playing badminton with no net. This seemed very popular for kids to be hitting the birdie back and forth an any random location, usually near an apartment complex.

Look for more China related sports photos over the next few weeks.

Reflection

Cruising around on my dinner break I saw this reflection across from the Gallivan Center concert today. I shot tons of photos trying to get the right one. I like this one but I think I may go back at different times of the day to get it just right. This was the closest to an exact duplicate.

Parking Garage

I was walking through the parking garage and saw this light coming through and thought it was a good reason to shoot a photo. I guess you could call it a self portrait.

Utah State Media Day II

As I was editing my take for the Utah State media day slide show, I was really intrigued by this photo. These players are waiting for interviews with the media. I was showing it around to some other photographers and the feelings were mixed, some loved it some didn't. I am posting it here for your perusal. I can't put my finger on why I like it, maybe it's the flatness, maybe it's the effect I got shooting through the glass, maybe the opaque window shade, or perhaps the guy on the right. Not sure. Anyway, I hope you like it.

Utah State Media Day I

I covered the Utah State football media day and had some laughs with a few of the players. Despite the fact that these guys grumble a little about getting their photo taken, they seemed like they were having fun. You can view an audio slide show at DeseretNews.com.

View from the Office

I saw this view out my office window late Saturday and thought it would make an appropriate Sunday post. It's the spires of the temple of the LDS Church in downtown Salt Lake City. -BN

Himalayan Dinner

We met these friends for dinner at the Himalayan Kitchen on 400 South and I must say, the food was fabulous. Afterward, we walked along and shot a few photos. This is Emily and her friend's daughter Ellie. Emily and her husband Chris spent a year in Tianjin, China with Tiffany and Kyle, a year after we were there. This was a reunion of sorts.

My First Holga Pics - Part VII

This is the last of the first attempt at Holga photography. It's the Monkey in his pajamas in the front yard. My wife loved it and I didn't think it was too bad either. But when the wife loves it, you go with it. Know what I mean? -BN

China's Great Hall of the People

So leading up to and during the Olympic Games in Beijing, I will most likely dig into the archives of China photos in case there is a "not-so-stellar" shooting day. This is one of those days. By the way, this photo looks much better in it's original size, 60 inches long.

This happened to be a photo I have recently been working on for someone and it was fresh on my mind. It is obviously a composite of several images and in the center of the room (the right center of the photo) is Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. as he was visiting some Chinese officials. The colorful room is inside the Great Hall of the People next door to Tiananmen Square, and it's comparable to the U.S. Capitol in D.C. The official speaking to Huntsman would sort of be like a senate majority leader. I have some great stories about this experience but they would require a huge text post. To spare you, I'll leave it at that.

More to come...

Bad wreck, Worse commute II.

Here is more from the wreck, or the results of it. These commuters were jumping the median onto the frontage road to get into Bountiful. Don't worry, your license plates are blurred out to keep you from getting cited. -BN

Bad wreck, Worse commute.

On my way to work this afternoon, I noticed some southbound traffic in front of me slowing down and quickly realized that they were all rubbernecking this wreck in the northbound lanes. Apparently, semi-truck/trailer/semi-truck combination was merging onto I-15 from I-215 and lost control, spilling the contents of the trailer onto the freeway. Not a huge deal, right? Except the contents on the freeway was a 210,000 lb. tank that was 110 feet long, and a huge concrete counter weight larger than my first car. The wreck was confusing at first because I saw this overturned semi-truck in front of the tank, but then there was this other semi in back, and a bunch of huge trailer things upside down with about 20-30 wheels in the air. I found out later that the truck in back was set up to push the load while the truck in front pulled it.

Anyway, I feel truly sorry for any of the five readers of this blog if you were trying to get into Davis County today. I'm sure it took a few days off your life from the stress.

Speed Skating 3 - Long Track

Monday the 28th was another day of shooting speed skaters, only this time it was the long trackers. Everything went very smoothly until the very end when the cold temps at the Olympic Oval froze up my batteries and the shutter in my 10D went completely south rendering the camera unusable. Luckily, there was another photographer to shoot the group portraits and everyone was happy. After I loaded the photos onto my lappy and started looking over them, I noticed that the bad shutter hadn't only stopped at the end of the shoot, but in the process of breaking down, left this really cool double exposure on some of my images. If you look closely at this photo, there is a "ghost skater" just above this one. I thought the effect was very cool, too bad you can't flip a switch on and off when you want a double exposure like this. -BN