Changes

Well I have finally got sick of posting little iddy-bitty photos and so have switched to a wider template. Its not huge, but should be much much better. I'm working on a new header and playing with template options but I'm thinking I'll go with something nice clean and simple.

This is a new version of a scene I probably posted before, but I was re-working it from a different set of photos and thought I would post it in all its wide glory.

Under the Bridge

I find that the more time I spent in post on my photos the more things I learn about composition.  For example, at the time I shot this I was mostly concerned with getting some pictures of the bridge quickly so I could get back in my car.  Totally wrong mindset, but I did get a few images that I liked.  This was one of my favorites, but looking at it now I would have composed it differently.  I don't really like how the bridge is almost perfectly lined up with the horizon behind.  I should have tried to get higher so the bridge was above or something.  Oh well....

Lonely Church

The other day I spent a couple or three hours photoshopping two photos. This is one of them and is my favorite of the two. It is a church somewhere in Montana or Idaho on the Boulder Cutoff... Looking at it you can't tell how much work went into it. Maybe that's the way it is supposed to be eh?

The Boy, the Boots, and the Devil

I have been helping out building sets for a student film called "The Boy, the Boots, and the Devil" and doing other odd jobs. Yesterday morning I got a call saying their Director of Photography had to bail on them and they were desperately in need of a DP. So I gathered up my gear and headed over to the set. It was my first actual legit DP experience, and it was actually a ton of fun! I need to learn more about artificial lighting and try to get involved in more films. We shot for around 11 hours before I had to leave and they kept shooting for another hour or two after that. One of the last scenes we shot was on a friends land near the mountains. We were there for the golden 30 minutes or so right before sunset and it was absolutely spectacular! We got a shot that looked as good as anything I've ever seen in a blockbuster. The sky was perfect, the mountains were perfect, the actors were amazing, everything came together. After the shot I grabbed a few frames of the location to see how they would turn out. They look pretty good, but not as good as when the light was perfect. The sun had set and the color was starting to fade when I took these shots, but they still look gorgeous. I built that outhouse! (well... I helped on it anyways)

Remembrance Day

Today is Remembrance Day. Being in the States I forgot all about it till after 11, which is a sad commentary on both myself and on the USA in general for not reminding me! In any case, I am very grateful for all that has been done for me by so many in both World Wars and other conflicts.

I wrote a few posts in the last year that you should check out if you are interested in WWI or WWII. One was last Remembrance Day, and the other was on the anniversary of the D-Day invasion of Normandy. They are much more thought out, you should go check them out.

Here is a picture stolen from one of those posts, and the rest are new ones (but from the same trip to Europe)

This was taken in the American Cemetery in Normandy:

Flanders Fields, Ypres, Belgium

Canadian Monument at Vimy Ridge in France

More from the US Cemetery at Normandy

This is the central monument at the German Cemetery at Normandy. Just because the Nazi leaders were terrible people does not mean that all, or even most, of the soldiers were not normal, good people just like the men on our side. Their cemetery was just as large and was very sobering to see. This cemetery wasn't nearly as crowed; in fact I think my family was the only group there at the time. While the US Cemetery was sobering as well, there was a feeling of accomplishment and thankfulness for the sacrifices made. At the German cemetery, the feeling was more somber, as I realized that all these men died simply because they were forced to fight by a madman. It was more of a hopeless sorrow. War is brutal and there are good and bad people on both sides, but never before has the sheer pointlessness of WWII (from the German's perspective) been more apparent to me.

Last of all, here is a shot from one of the Beaches of Normandy.

Getting Closer

I was up in Salt lake last weekend shooting a black tie event at the Grand America Hotel and got a chance to take a few shots of the hotel. Afterwords I slipped down to Temple Square to try to get some cool shots of the temple. I'm still working through the shots I got but here is one of my favorites.

This one is probably overly HDRish, but whatever...  The Hotel was amazing in any case.

Mountain Meadows

After a recent shoot with my cousin Mel, who played a key role in getting me into photography, I decided that I need to practice landscapes. I used to only shoot landscapes and never people. On vacations I had to always tell my family to get out of the photos. Now my favorite photos to take are usually portraits, head shots or anything else with people in them, or at east a man-made subject like last post. However, some of my favorite photos to look at are nature ones, so I guess I better learn to take shots of nature that I can stand looking at. This is my latest attempt, taken up South Fork Canyon today, only a few miles above my maternal grandfather's (or great or great great grandfather's?) homestead.

For anyone who cares, this is an HDR (as was the last post). I'm trying to learn how to process HDR so it looks realistic, but still with more pop than a normal photo.

Cheers

On looking over my blog, me thinks it about time to find a wider template and start uploading slightly larger photos... Hmm....

Fall Truckin

Thanks to my cousin Mel, I finally got out and took some pictures of the wonderful fall colors. While out shooting we happened upon this super awesome truck. I thought I wanted to make it black and white, but after working on these for a few hours, I think I like the color versions better. Enjoy.

Amy+Clayton

Had a great time shooting Amy and Clayton. These are all basically untouched, only some global adjustments to lighting and colour in Lightroom, but between shooting beautiful people and using a 5d (thanks Nathan!) things just look awesome!

It's in the Details

Here are a few shots from a wedding this weekend. I was the second shooter, and it was nice and relaxing!

Brandon+Chelsie