First Snow of the Year

If you remember back on October 12, the snow hit hard and fast and where we live, it dropped about 7 inches on the ground. We quickly made use of the new white stuff and built this snow person. The princess wanted it to be a snow woman and E wanted it to be a snow man. The monkey didn't care. The snow person didn't last long and tipped over before dinner, along with tons of heavily laden branches in the neighborhood.

Wedding Weekend III

Last from Wedding Weekend. This is a fellow photographer, Nate Caulford who shoots a bunch for US Figureskating and has plans to start up a studio specializing in children and babies.

BYU vs. New Mexico II

Here is my favorite shot from the BYU vs. New Mexico game. Good action, ball in the air, decent expression, bodies flying... I love shooting football.

BYU vs. New Mexico I

I got to cover the BYU vs. New Mexico game this weekend also. (October 11) This is a photo of Austin Collie making a big run for around 50 yards early in the game. Cougs won it.

Wedding Weekend II

Another from the wedding weekend. Not all weddings can produce this type of photo but these kids were great, and not bad jumpers either.

Wedding Weekend I

Shot a bunch of stuff this weekend, including a bridal portrait and two last minute weddings. It's nice to be busy enough to worry about your charged batteries and whether or not you have enough memory.

Di$neyland Re$ort II

Here are the youngsters at the happiest place on earth. Don't they look happy?

Di$neyland Re$ort

More from our vacation in SoCal. This is the famous tea cup ride at Di$neyland.

Laguna VI

Once again, this image is probably quite common on the streets of Laguna but I liked the colors and the composition of this photo.

Laguna III

Here are some kids on a shiny park bench after have been beaten up by the high tide. We headed to our favorite So. Cal eatery, Ruby's Diner, for some shakes, fries and turkey burgers.

Laguna II

This is another photo from Laguna Beach. This pack of cyclists locked up traffic on the PCH for a couple miles.

Laguna I

Following the marathon, we zipped on down to one of our favorite spots, Laguna Beach. I'm sure to those who live here, a guy riding his skateboard to the beach with his surfboard in hand is a common site. I thought it was unique.

St. George Marathon

This is the finish line of the St. George Marathon. My wife admittedly has trouble getting the action shots at the finish line of races. I appreciated the motion blur in this one since it LOOKS like I'm going real fast.

Snow v. Hurricane II

Here is another photo from the Snow v. Hurricane game and this guy in the green was amazing. His name is Adam Timo and he plays quarterback, running back, punter and kicker. If he could throw the ball high enough, I'm sure he could play QB and receiver on the same play. Trouble is, he had a bull's eye on his back the whole game and Hurricane defeated Snow despite this one man wonder.

Snow v. Hurricane

I went down for the St. George Marathon and to prepare, I decided to eat some pasta, drink lots of water, stretch my legs and shoot a football game. A natural choice. The last time I tried this technique prior to a marathon, I slept in and missed the first five miles of the race. (which I went back and made up at the end) But this time, I left the game early, got enough sleep and made it to the bus with time to spare.

Anthony the Traceur - October 1

So I was introduced to a guy who identifies himself as a Traceur. My wife posted an entry on her blog about this very thing. A traceur is a title for someone who actively participates in Parkour, (and I mean ACTIVELY) which is a sport of urban running, climbing and flipping. This Anthony the Traceur made some very nice pictures for me. Here is a link to watch this art form in action.

Halloween Early

This is an RN at McKay Dee who's job it is to train other nurses. She dresses like this to make the training classes more memorable. This was shot Sept 30 but since it's Halloween today, and I'm a month behind, what the heck.

Another Wedding Photo

Here is a second photo from that wedding.

Cake Eaters

One of my favorite events at weddings is the whole, cut-the-cake-and-shove-it-in-each-other's-face photo. I know what they say, "that's how you will treat each other through the whole marriage." Whatever. My wife and I were very respectful during this ritual at our wedding. Some couples are like that, and some have a full on cake wrestling match. The messier they are the better the photos.

On a side note, I LOVED the design of this wedding cake. Very fresh and original. Nice choice.

Stein Erickson - Take III

Here is a quick experiment using Lex and flowing water as a subject. This was commissioned by Stevo who wanted to see the water blur.

The topic, shutter speed.

If you know any of the basics of photography, you will understand how a camera shutter works. The photo on the right was shot at 1/15th of a second at f/22. The one on the right was 1/4000th of a second at f/2.8.

Stein Erickson - Take II

More swimming from a safer, less watery position.

Stein Erickson - Take I

We spent some time with some friends at the Stein Erickson Lodge in Park City. Luckily, it was beautiful weather and great for swimming, which seemed like all we did.

Field Trip to the Farm

I took a field trip today with my daughter to a place in Logan called the American West Heritage Center, also known as the Jensen Farm. It's a living farm where they use mostly all the same type of equipment and techniques they did back around the year 1916. It was a bit of a wake up call thinking about how many things we take advantage of these days.

Before refrigerators, they used to cut ice out of a pond in the winter and store it deep in the ground in the summer to keep it from melting. Every week, like the milk man would do, an ice wagon would drive around and deliver chunks of ice you could use in the ice box. What a huge difference 100 years makes.

Of course, my favorite photo of this event wasn't anything from the farm but the ride up. There were several classes on the trip and this is one of the teachers, Mrs. Benson

Elementary School

I don't remember much about my days as an elementary school student but I do remember that we always had the flag displayed for the Pledge of Allegiance. Well apparently, this classroom hasn't yet installed a flag pole/bracket. I thought it made an unusual photo.

Grandma's Toys

My wife has really missed seeing an occasional post of one of the kids on this blog the last few weeks. This is an image that made me proud since one of the little guys seems to be into using a hammer. Maybe if I train him well, he can do the house repairs instead of me.

Logan Mascot

Logan mascot getting knuckles from a fan. This guy (grizzly bear) was voted Mascot of the Year this year. Nice work Grizz.

Logan Football

Finally another post. This is from the first football I've covered this year. It's Logan vs. Highland, Id.

From the Archives - Chariot Racing Story

This is the team and the horse after a day at the races. To me, this seemed like a whole lot of work involving several people, just for a quick race which probably lasted less than a minute. However to them, this was something they prepare for all year. It was exciting to watch and be a part of this culture of cutter racing that seems to culminate here in Utah. The National Championships AND the World Championships are held here, although most of the teams are from Utah, Idaho, Wyoming and other western states. I covered these races several times since this first story and will hopefully have the chance to follow another team someday.

From the Archives - Chariot Racing Story

The quick minute or so of actual competition.

From the Archives - Chariot Racing Story

This is the main caretaker who is responsible for the horses. I thought this was a nice moment between the two of them.

From the Archives - Chariot Racing Story

Here they are tapping the horses legs for protection.

From the Archives - Chariot Racing Story

Here are five images from my first attempt at a photo story. It's about this team of cutter horse racers who were preparing to compete at the races at the Davis County Fairgrounds. Enjoy.

From the Archives - Utah Jazz at Weber State

Back in the day, the Utah Jazz would play at least one pre-season game at Weber State and the three photogs at the Signpost would usually fight over who got to shoot the game. In this case, I must have abused my photo editor's authority and assigned it to myself. I know, I know, that NEVER happens, and I felt terrible...but anyhooo, here is a photo from that game.

From the Archives - Tennis Courts

This was for a story on a proposed plan to put a bubble over the outdoor tennis courts, or to enclose them in a permanent structure. Because of the unpredictable spring weather, it would give the tennis team a longer season to train, rather than practicing on nets on the hardwood floors of the gym. The tennis courts are still uncovered so apparently, the proposal didn't fly.

From the Archives - Lind Lecture

Weber State used to have this huge pendulum at the Lind Lecture Hall, a science building. Here is a 'wild art' of that pendulum.

From the Archives - More Basketball

Here is another photo of basketball from earlier in the season.

From the Archives - Basketball

Here is one of the first decent sports photos I can remember. This is the year that Weber State went to the NCAA tournament in Tallahassee where they defeated Michigan State and almost beat Georgetown. It was a last second alley-oop thrown by Allen Iverson to another Hoya which ended one of Weber's closest chances to reach the sweet 16. As I was watching this clip on YouTube, I realized how much of a rookie I really was. There was a ton of great images here that I didn't get. The best shot I can remember from this game was the bench as they watched Reuben Nemhard miss the 1 and 1 which would have given Weber the lead, and could have put them up by 2. It was my first time covering a huge game like that and I learned a ton from the experience but I would love to have a second shot at it.

From the Archives - Babies in College

The Signpost was doing a story on students who chose to bring their children to school. I talked about challenges facing parents in college etc. This was an OK photo but I sure wish I had shown some faces.

From the Archives - Busses

I am finding that the longer you go on a "Daily Blog" without posting, the fewer hits you get and the more daunting the task is to catch up. I have been extremely wrapped up in a personal project and haven't taken the time to find a photo a day. So, I am pulling from the archives.

The following posts are from the very first time I started archiving images digitally and come from my time at the Weber State Signpost. This first one was a 'wild art' of a ton of elementary kids visiting the school.

Red Shadow

After a delicious meal at the in-law's, we cruised over to the nearest park and tried to take in a beautiful warm day, since the end to warm days is nearing. I mostly liked this photo because of the shadow and the warm afternoon light.

Cousins

One of the nieces was baptized today (and by today I am referring to the day this photo was SUPPOSED to be posted) and we went to my brother's house for the usual get-together-and-eat portion of the event. This is one of the nieces who likes to make sure you know she's around.

Steak House (the meat kind)

It seems that every year in the near vicinity of someone's birthday, we head up to Maddox in Perry to stuff our faces silly with all you can eat rolls, cornpones, salad, red meat, white meat, filet mignon top sirloin, new york strip....you get the idea. As they were hauling us out of the restaurant on a stretcher to have our stomachs pumped so we could go back for more, I snapped this photo of the sunset. It was very beautiful.

Bikin' at Dusk

This photo I just happened to catch as I was walking through the neighborhood, Oh and they also happen to be my kids on the way to a dinner party/celebration dinner. One of our best friends argued a huge victims advocacy case before the Utah Supreme Court. She amazing.

Jessica

This is from a recent bridal portrait and I had to wait to post it since she didn't want her future husband to stumble upon this prior to the wedding. I loved this one and was glad to see they used it for their huge photo.

First Day of Pre-School

Here are two best friends who spend tons of time together. Mostly they play well together but there are occasions when there is some drama. Well, luckily their parents put them in the same pre-school and today (Tuesday) is their first day. They couldn't wait to get out the door and it was tough to get them to sit still for this photo.

Chinglish

This is one from the archives. In China, we often saw public signs that were mistranslated. In the six months we were there, this was by far the most outrageous. I think what they meant to say was, "Aim High."

Hippee in the Making??

I'm not sure what to make of this, my kid swinging a hula hoop, barefoot, with his favorite shirt, a tie dye, and a guitar in the background. The only thing missing is Buffalo Springfield and a field full of mud. -BN

Weber State Party - Take Two

This is technically the next day so I feel OK about posting another photo from that same Weber State Party. The music was good, the food was free, the hypnotist was hilarious, you could breath your fill from the oxygen bar, and the pay wasn't bad either.

Weber State Party

I covered this Weber State party where they "officially" opened the new Union Building. They had this company come in with all kinds of stuff to do, like this blow up obstacle course for example. It was very well attended and as I was walking out, I heard comments like, "That was a great party! Especially for Weber State." Nice job Weber.

First Day of School

My second oldest child just started school and this was his first day. He was remarkably excited about going and had no trouble jumping on the scooter and heading toward the school. It was a very opposite reaction when we took him to the Kindergarten Camp a couple weeks prior. He went kicking and screaming. The Kindergarten Camp must have served it's purpose, however, since today couldn't have been easier. The only one who choked up a little happens to be close to his 39th brithday. -BN