Scout Camp

I spent the past week with ten boy scouts at Camp Tomahawk in the High Uintahs. I carried my camera around with me nearly the entire week. Here are the results...

New Toy

Last year I rented a Nikon 24-70 f/2.8 to shoot a wedding. The image quality from a professional lens was phenomenal, but by the end of the day I was sick of carrying the heavy thing around. I have been eyeing its predecessor (35-70mm f/2.8) for a while. Not only is it a lot lighter but a lot cheaper too. It has been discontinued for some time so the other day I was browsing around eBay and came across a used one that I liked. I shot an email of to my wife with the subject "I want one" and "pretty, pretty please" in the body. I got a response to "use my best judgment." A couple days later a package arrived. Here are a few shots I took playing around in the yard. So far, I am very happy with it.

The primary reason I bought this lens is for portraits. Needless to say this shot made me really excited to get out and shoot a portrait session for someone. 

I need to give credit to my wife for this one shot along the living room sofa. 

The macro feature on this lens is a lot of fun. Up to this point I have used macro filters which screw onto the lens. Not only are they a pain to use, but they are not very sharp.  My kids were terrified this baby praying mantis was going to pinch me as it crawled up my leg. 

For some reason I had never thought of insects as being aware of their surroundings, but the pupils on this praying mantis tell a different story. I shot about dozen pictures of it and in every single one the pupil is looking right at the camera (click on the image to view the full-size). Needless to say I am very happy with the clarity that this new lens brings. 

Feet

I wish I could take credit for the first one, but my wife gets to claim this awesome photo.

But the second one was mine. I guess we both had an itch to take podiatric photos recently.

Millcreek Canyon

Last Saturday evening we had dinner at The Dodo then drove up Millcreek Canyon. It was great to escape this heat we have had. Here are a couple shots I captured.

Senior Pictures

Here are some shots from some Senior pictures that I took a couple weeks ago. The location was City Creek Park in downtown Salt Lake. 

Oldies but Goodies

It's been a while since I have shot much other than my kids. Maybe I'm a little over-paranoid, but at this point I'm not real comfortable posting pictures of them in a public forum. Tonight I went back through my archives to find some pictures I could share. The below pictures were all shot in good old fashioned 35mm or slide film. In a lot of ways I feel like digital has made me a lazy photographer. It is easy to take a lot of shots and check yourself along the way. Even if the exposure isn't exactly right, there is always Lightroom. Don't get me wrong, I love digital. However the cost of slides forces you to take your time to get the right setup and only take shots that truly have potential. 

Unfortunately, I don't have a slide scanner so the scan quality on some of these isn't the greatest. 

This was taken in the Sacred Grove near Palmyra, New York. It is the grove where Joseph Smith prayed as a young boy. As I entered the grove I truly felt as if I was walking on hallowed ground, and indeed I was. It had just rained that morning so the green leaves were extra saturated on the film. It was kind of dark, but the sun came out just long enough to give me enough light to take this shot. 

 

This shot was taken at Red Butte Garden as part of a Nature photography class during my freshman year at the U. 

This was taken at Liberty Park, also part of the photography class. 

In a return trip to Taiwan about 6 years ago, I took this shot on the ZhongShan Road in Chiayi. I spent seven and half months of my mission here so this street has special place in my heart. 

The summer after I graduated from high school some friends and I planned a trip to hike Timpanogos. The weather turned bad so we decided to do arches instead. Although initially disappointed, it turned out pretty good because I got this shot. 

For me the typical elk hunt results in an empty tag, so I always bring my camera with me.  This shot was taken on the Skyline above Scofield.  

This was taken in my backyard in Price. It is one of my favorite shots. 

I love how the waves came crashing in perfectly along the beach in San Diego. 

Starting to Share my Work

Each month I get together with fellow alumni from my MBA program at Westminster College. At the December lunch I had the opportunity to meet Jon Cracoft. We talked photography for a bit. During the conversation he asked me if I had posted any of my work for others to review. When I said that I had not, he strongly suggested that I do so. I finally found some time to share a few of my photos. I hope you enjoy it. I'd also love to hear your comments on what you like as well as areas that I could improve.

Also go check out some of Jon's work at  www.jonathancracroft.com if you get a chance. He has some great stuff.

Taiwan Trip

In late March/early April Rose, me and some friends took a trip to Taiwan. Despite the fast paced nature of life in Taiwan it was so nice to slow down and spend some time reflecting and taking pictures. I haven't spent that much time behind a camera for a long time. Here are a few of the creations that I was able to make during our vacation. 

Here is Hsinchu from the balcony of our hotel room. 

While driving from Chiayi to Kaohsiung we pulled off the highway looking for a lake. The lake turned out to be a tourist trap but we can across this rice field and spent about an hour taking pictures. 

Here is another one from our rice field detour. 

I was kicking myself for not bringing a tripod for this night shot across the Love river. Despite the fact that I did not have a tripod it turned out decent. 

By this point everyone else in the group was ready to move on, but I was having too much fun taking pictures. Their  complaining was worth this shot though. 

This is a shot of an folk village in Meinong. 

I woke up early one morning and walked around the park in Kaohsiung for over an hour. 

This is one of my favorite shots from the trip. We were walking along Chengqing Lake. This time rather than the complain everyone just left me behind and continued. 

This one is looking up the staircase of the Dragon Pagoda at the Lotus Pond in Kaohsiung. 

The time difference helped me to wake up at around 5 am every morning. Not only was the light perfect early in the morning, but I was able to have some great time to walk around and reflect on those quiet early mornings. This shot is outside of our Hot Spring resort in Beitou. 

Taipei 101 is very tall. That's all I can say. 

You will rarely see a sky this blue in Taiwan.  Thank you blue saturation levels in the CS5 camera raw editor. 

Here is another shot of the dragon pagoda at Lotus Pond.

I loved the soft side-lighting that captured the front of our Hotel in Beitou. I wish I had a slightly wider angle than 18mm so I didn't have to lay down in the bushes to get this shot. 

I liked how the view of the city faded into the background of this flower at Chengqing Lake. It made it feel like there was a greater separation between nature and the bustle of urban life. 

Just a quiet little lane. The picture turned out great in full color but I particularly liked the desaturated version.