Jonathan Cracroft Photography

Battle in the Backcountry

2011-02-05T16:24:00.000-08:00

Battle in the Backcountry

By: Jonathan Cracroft

Synopsis --

During filming on Thursday Feb 3, 2011, just outside of the Alta Ski Area, skier Jake Jennings came off a 15-foot face of rock while sending nearly 25 feet of air and landed almost directly on an old tree stump. The rate of speed he was going resulted in a swift impact of the stump. This caused a major compression in his back, which we later found out resulted in a fracture of his L1 vertebrae and a minor tailbone fracture. Jake spent the day in the hospital and was released later that night. He escaped without having to have surgery but will be in a “turtle” brace until early May. I’m super bummed out as Jake is one of my best friends and favorite ski buddies, but I’m grateful that it wasn’t any worse and we’ll be able to ski together again.

After a lull in snowfall over the past several weeks, it was nice to finally receive a shot of cold Utah powder at Alta, totaling nearly 14 inches. Jake Jennings is a close friend and local ski athlete. We were discussing throughout the week which days we could get out for our regular mountain therapy and a little filming. I had been feeling a little under the weather and already been busy early in the week with other projects so it took until Thursday to get the green light on skiing. We decided to get up at dawn and try to catch an early chair at Alta Thursday morning. After talking to the two right people at the Alta administrative office our plan came together. We met up with local athlete Luke Perin who Jake and I had skied with once prior. The chair ride up was beautiful; the dark blue sky seemed to accent the glowing white mountains as it does on those prized sunny mornings. The air was cold, but not nearly as cold as the two days prior, with lows down to 15 below zero. The wind was blowing light and consistently through the trees and on the ridges.

We reached the Supreme chairlift just a few minutes ahead of the lifties. As we eagerly awaited their arrival at the abandoned lift base we made conversation while taking in our incredible surroundings. I took the opportunity to snap a couple shots of the morning light pronouncing itself on the rest of Little Cottonwood Canyon. After a short delay, the lifties arrived and the motors above the bullhorn began to hum. Soon we were off to the top the mountain and headed to escape into the seemingly endless terrain of the Wasatch Mountains. Traversing into the Dry Fork area, and what's become one of my favorite places to shoot over the past few years, we entered the boundaries of the "Gargoyles." This pristine ridgeline of juxtaposed metamorphic features, offers a snowy, picturesque view that rivals the best of the best.

As we arrived at the first set of cornices, known here as the "gargoyles," I took one glance and composed my first shots of the day. I visualized a skier banking a graduale left turn off the near cornice and just infront of a whispy pine. As he took off into the air, the snow gathered by his skis on the approach would leave a trail in the air behind him, catching the low beaming light on the morning sun, and just momentarily leave a glittering trace through the sky as he shot for his landing. The background staggered with cartoon-like mounds of snow resting on the undulating angles behind him and would nicely complement the action in the foreground. This would be a magnificent image.

Luke volunteered to be the first. We discussed the options, talked about the framing of the shot, made a plan and went for it. Luke took to the air with style and landed nicely onto the firmer than expected, but steep, landing. He quickly skied to the side to start his ascent back to the ridge for another lap.

I asked Jake if he wanted to do the same, knowing that I could get another great shot. He took a minute to scope it out. Again we discussed the options for entry, the take-off points, the amount of speed needed, the airtime and subsequently the landing. What we didn't do, and which never even came to mind, was to probe the landing. During the early months of the year, caution is used by probing landings, scouting and thoroughly discussing the risks of each jump. Being early February, having a great amount of preseason snowfall and skiing on the leeward side of the ridge, with lots of blown-in and sheltered snow, that thought didn't even cross my mind. If it crossed Jake’s mind, I didn't hear about it. We proceeded with the shot and began the count down. With the camera ready and Jake in position the go-ahead was given. "Dropping in 5," Jake said. I pulled the camera close to my eye and rested my finger on the shutter release in anticipation of the motion to follow.

What happened during the next seven seconds would change the three of us forever. Jake moved down the fluted ridge towards the take off, directly on point he sped off the edge of the mountain, pulled up nicely into a styled-out skier tuck and pointed his skis into the air. For two full seconds he moved through the frame. I kept the camera in its respective position, trying to capture as many frames of the same composition as possible. Jake finished flying through the viewfinder of the camera and landed. I quickly shifted my eye from the view inside my camera to the view outside. I witnessed then what none of use expected, and something I wish I could rewind and avoid completely.

Jake landed in snow, but not enough. He quickly uncovered an old decaying, but consequently deeply frozen, tree stump. Compression through his spine immediately followed with little to no give from the snow that preceded. The shock from the compression sent a violent spasm through his body, pegging him straight as an arrow, like a Nordic jumper leaning into his calculated flight, as he bounced and flipped into a tumbling fall.

The sound of landing in deep backcountry snow is usually a welcomed tone and often elating. Ideally the pronounced swoosh moves its way through the air as the snow absorbs the force of the skis and body. The powder quickly surges off in whatever direction it can escape and the whisper of the snow reacting to the force lightly resonates in the air. This landing however, was very different. The sound was bullish and rough as if a bag of cement was being dropped from a roof onto a driveway. I hated hearing the sound this starkly different tone broadcast around us. It was harsh and crushing, like a linebacker taking down a running back at full sprint at the line of scrimmage.

My heart sunk. I knew something was wrong. I paused for a second. I looked at the landing, then at Jake, then at the landing again. I looked at Luke. I looked back at the landing. I couldn't see anything but white and a thin brown strip of what appeared to be a pine branch in the landing. I looked back at Jake. "What's up? Are you okay?" Not knowing that he hit anything other than snow I was confused to what actually happened, and my mind started racing as to the possibilities and more importantly, what to do next. I waited a couple more seconds. "Jake, what can I do to help?" -- "Give me a minute," he replied. He tried to stand up and like a rag doll tumbled downhill onto his side letting out another expression of anguish.

At that point I knew I was needed. Earlier I had left my skies on the ridge and boot-packed down to the spot I planned to shoot the photograph from. Knowing that my timing was critical I quickly made my way to Jake without my ski gear. I released his bindings from his boots and helped him straighten out his legs. Having very little, but at least some, medial experience I did what I could to help stabilize him and make him more comfortable. I asked him where his pain was, and how intense it was. I encouraged him to lay still. Being a talented, tough and resilient guy he grudgingly replied with some groans. I could tell he wanted to give it a minute and see if he could walk it off. Perhaps he could push off closer evaluation until we got down to the bottom. He was breathing, mostly coherent and to my best evaluation stable for the time being. I knew I needed more help so I called the first person that came to mind, our friend and Jake's roommate, Dave Sutherland, who is a search and rescue volunteer, a ski patroller for Park City Mountain Resort and a fourth year medical student about to start residency as an ER doctor. Seemed like a good fit, and luckily he answered. He gave me some instruction over the phone to help pinpoint Jake’s pain and symptoms. We discussed options and agreed to stay in touch. I then called Alta Central and reported the accident. They put me in touch with Alta Ski Patrol who would shortly thereafter send patrollers to help aid us in the evacuation. As a backup the Air-Med helicopter was called to be on standby and ended up actually flying a couple recon laps over-head to evaluate a potential heli-lift.

As the patrollers arrived and organized into a team, a game plan was made to further stabilize Jake with a neck brace, backboard and a fold-up body sled in order to hoist him up over the steep ridge and back into Alta boundaries. It took all of us to transport him the couple hundred yards to the top of the ridge. With a full team of capable and humble patrollers, collectively we arrived to the top of the ridge. From there Jake was placed in a toboggan and transported to the Alta Clinic to see Dr. Ken.

Luke and I arrived to the clinic shortly after Jake and anxiously awaited the doctors prognosis. Results from the X-ray indicated a fracture in the L1 vertebral body, and possibly some muscle damage lower near the sacral vertebrae. Concerned for his current stability, and vulnerability of further injury, Jake was transported to the University of Utah trauma unit via ambulance for further assessment by a specialist. With great care and support from the medical staff, Jake underwent further examination with the aid of CT scan and later an MRI scan, which settled the doctors concerns the damage was treatable without surgery. Jake was treated with a thorasic lumbar sacral orthosis (TLSO) brace, which he will bear for the next three months. Unfortunately, he was advised and instructed to lay off any exercise for the next three months and any major activities for a total of six months. Being as active as he is, this has been pretty heavy news. But I’m confident that the same tenacity that has led him to such an adventurous and active life will help him quickly and thoroughly heal and return to the sports he loves with full strength…and possibly a healthy disposition to caution.

End Note –

We realized that we were deliberately headed out of bounds to ski and film and that there are inherent risks associated with that activity. Additionally, we realized that Alta Ski Area and the patrollers working that day had no obligation to help us. That said, I express my personal appreciation for the service we were given and I know that Jake feels the same way and did his best to make that point known. The patrollers showed great poise, control, organization and teamwork as they worked hard to get Jake to help as quickly as possible. I'm grateful for their service. I'm also grateful for skiing in my life, it's something i love deeply and being in the mountains, especially with good friends, brings me a true sense of happiness, clarity, and reminder what life's really about. I hope to be able to enjoy these feelings until I'm an old old man. May this be just a small bump in the road and learning moment for us all.

-Jonny

Families Helping Families

2010-12-14T17:52:00.000-08:00

A call to all people I know somehow or another,

Four of the past five years, my family along with a select group of other familes, have traveled to Puerto Peñasco Mexico to give our service. We construct homes for those in need of shelter.

This has been a tremendous blessing for me and my family alike. We rein in the Christmas season and the new year with a true spirit of gratitude and love. I personally have a great appreciation for all that I have been blessed with, including my family, great friends, colleagues, peers and more.

Our service is only part of the effort needed to make this project possible. Each year we raise money to pay for the supplies needed to construct these homes. Blocks, cement mix, lumber, roofing, electrical, plumbing and more add up. Each home costs over $20,000, which is penny's on the dollar compared to what most of what you and I have experienced living in most of our lives. None-the-less, these homes still prove to be very comfortable and nice places for the families we build for each year.

With that, I pledge you to give a modest contribution to our non-profit 501(C)(3) foundation, Families Helping Families, Inc. We have asked for donations of $300, but anything helps. A letter and receipt of charitable giving will be mailed to you after donating.

Donations can be made on our website: http://www.fhfmexico.org/donate/

Thank you for your support, and Happy Holidays!

With love,

Jonathan Cracroft

Artist Reception at Washington Square

2010-09-12T11:05:00.000-07:00

You're Invited!

See You There!

City Creek Canyon Ride

2010-08-25T20:28:00.000-07:00

Click this ling for details: To the top of City Creek and back

by: Jonathan cracroft monitored with

Garmin 405

I love my Garmin 405! Tracking elevation, heart rate, cadence, milage, calories, speed and more, all while plotting a nice track on google earth is pretty sweet! Click above for more details.

I haven't done City Creek Canyon for over ten years. I forgot how quite and peaceful that Canyon is. My family name is even on a sign near the top. Apparently Laury W. Cracroft was part of the Rotary Club, who helped establish the recreation area and I'm assuming pledged the money to build the park.

Mountain Biking the Bobsled

2010-08-24T11:42:00.000-07:00

Continuing in a series of short mountain biking videos over the course of this summer, I'm pleased to present the latest release, Bobsled. This is my first time back on this trail in five years, as is the case for most bike trails due to my bike accident five years ago. And how epic it was! Actually it's changed quite a bit, lots more wall rides, extra features and bigger jumps. We started riding about 7am and got back to the cars at 8:30ish.

Directions: Start at or near the JCC or University Hospital. Ride up Drycreek Canyon just above the Electrical Station. Traverse North along the shoreline trail above the Avenues, climb the annoying and seemingly endless hill in the middle of the ride, then look for the City Creek sign on your right. In that area there is an opening with several spurring trails. One on the right into City Creek (fun, but not the Bobsled), a gnarly climb straight ahead, a continuation of the trail you were on and the Bobsled to your left. It's directly across from that white City Creek sign. The drop in is gnarly and loose, then smooths out and rolls into the most epic downhill barrel canyon in Salt Lake. Tear it up!

To view in HD, click the fullscreen button at the lower right corner or click anywhere on the player and you will be re-routed to YouTube.com where you can select 360p, 540p, or 720p HD.

Photo A Week

2010-08-22T21:54:00.000-07:00

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This week I was favored to do a photo shoot with a young and rising star. Allison Eliason is twelve years old, is an actor and model, is currently represented by Wilhelmina Talent Agency and already done some great work including a cover image for a new Nintendo Wii game recently developed and being released later this year.

Ali, Jenny, Chung (and family) and I headed to Thanksgiving Point to capture some images in the late afternoon light. I've only been to these gardens a couple times, but the light always seems to glows so nicely there as it gathers hints of gold reflecting off the desert grass hills surrounding the garden oasis.

Recently, I was accepted into the istockphoto community. I am now able to submit my work to their portfolio which is viewable by the public and available for sale for use in a variety of publication ideas. Seeking a new collection of work for potential istockphoto images, Ali and I collaborated while at the gardens. She a great talent for a wide variety of photography, this being the first time I've shot with her we just played around with the light and a few ideas. While playing around a number of new ideas began to surface for future shoots.

I'm really enjoying this new istockphoto gig. I see lots of opportunity in it and will need lots of help to get going. If you would like to assist, be a model or otherwise contribute to future photography please let me know.

-Jonathan Cracroft Photography

Triathlon in the mix

2010-08-22T08:34:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I completed my 13th recorded triathlon and received my best time and highest overall ranking in my eight years of racing. So stoked!

Type: Sprint Length
Swim: 750 m
Bike: 22.5 km
Run: 5 km

Overall Rank: 19th of 293
Age Rank: 4th place

I love my garmin 405 race watch it does great job tracking my movement. If you're curious how it works you can click on "details" in the lower right hand corner.

Anyone wanting to get into triathlons? I'd love a training buddy.

SLC to Big Mountain by jlcracroft at Garmin Connect - Details

2010-08-12T22:38:00.000-07:00

SLC to Big Mountain by jlcracroft at Garmin Connect - Details

Is Photo A Week turning into Video A Week?

2010-08-08T10:59:00.000-07:00

I've shot hours and hours of video with my little GoPro HD camcorder this summer and the editing que keeps filling up! I like to feel like I'm on top of things as much as possible so this week I'm releasing another summer adventure. This time it's just a short. In homage to one of my favorite podcasts, Radio Lab, I'll name this: Video A Week, Shorts!

- Jon

Enjoy in HD by clicking anywhere on the player below. This will redirect you to YouTube.com

The Adventures of the Cutthroat Crew

2010-07-22T17:56:00.000-07:00

Sometimes making ridiculous home videos is super fun! Combine that with an epic whitewater rafting trip and you get the Adventures of the Cutthroat Crew. Thanks to all my friends that made this trip possible, I had a great time on the river with you all! -Jonny

Enjoy in HD by clicking on the player below.

Photo A Week

2010-07-22T07:49:00.000-07:00

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Mountain Biking the Wasatch Crest Trail.

July 21, 2010

Today I completed another element of my "post cycling accident 2005" list. Celebrating five years post accident I rode the trail that absolutely sank the hook in me many years ago. The Wasatch Crest trail starts at the top of route 224 and 152 (Guardsman Pass) above Brighton, Utah. My introduction to this trail started something like, "You're going to puke your brains out on the first climb and then be treated to some of the best single track in Utah after that." Well the name Puke hill has been adequately adorned to the first ascent of the Wasatch Crest trail for good reason. Dig deep and you'll be rewarded by great views and unparalleled single track!

After cresting the first climb, it's on to the Park City ridge line, fast stretches on beautiful single track through lush and beautiful wildflower foliage lace this section of this trail to The Canyons resort. After one last mellow climb between these section you end up at the top of 9990 chairlift at The Canyons resort. This vista bears incredible views of Park City valley, Big Cottonwood Canyon and even a glimpse into Millcreek. The spine is a challenging outcrop of sandstone, buckled blades of rock jutting out of the ridge-line. There are two routes over the spine, one medium difficulty and one extremely technical.

After playing on the spine for a couple minutes we hung a left at Desolation Lake to catch the Mill D drop back into Big Cottonwood Canyon, opposed to staying right and heading into Millcreek Canyon which is my preferred ride on days when I have extra time to ride. After bombing down the fast, steep, switchback section down to the Lake I ran across some back luck and blew out my rear tire. I limped along on the small amount of air I was able to keep in the tube and gently rode the last mile at creakingly slow speeds, never-the-less arriving at the cars safe.

Now it's your turn to get out and ride. I'd love to hear about your favorite rides too!

The beautiful red single track on the backside of The Canyons resort.

Trevor dropping down from the lookout.

The Spine above The Canyons! The flowers are beautiful right now.

Desolation Lake.

Conquering the Spine.

Sad day for the rear tire. :(

Ouch!

Photography Sale!

2010-07-16T12:03:00.000-07:00

Photography Sale Tomorrow!!!

Jonathan Cracroft is hosting an art sale featuring his local photography. 50-75% OFF!!! Cards from $1, prints as low as $5, matted artwork $20-100, and Framed pieces $40 and up.

Everything must go to make way for his newest work which will be available for preview.

Come stop by and say hello!

1185 South 2000 East

Salt Lake City, UT 84108

801-631-5635

View Larger Map

Photo A Week

2010-06-30T11:20:00.000-07:00

If you've been following my blog you know I've been MIA! The image above may serve as a clue as to what I've been up to. In 2004, after a bad bike crash and a broken neck I decided to sell my race bike and begin recovery. Finally, after five years of mountain bike withdrawal the stars have aligned and I'm back at it and madly in love!

Thanks to the guys at the Sports Den, I found a great deal on a super fun FUJI mountain bike. After making some fitting adjustments at the shop, installing pedals and putting the final touches on the bike, I couldn't wait to get out and ride! I headed straight to Little Cottonwood's Temple Quarry trail to get my fix on a favorite trail from years past. Apparently the government was conspiring against me because the trail was closed due to flooding and trail rehabilitation. I couldn't let that get me down so I asked another rider, who just realized the trail closure too, if he wanted to shuttle the Pipeline Trail with me. Luckily he was up for it! We headed to Millcreek Canyon for what was about to be my first ride on my own bike in five years.

Getting on the trail after spinning up the canyon, past the closed gate, I placed my other new favorite toy on my helmet for a little ride documentation. The GoPro Hero records HD video, is the size of a small clamshell phone and mounts in an acrylic case to just about anything. With the record button pressed I headed down the trail, through the trees and back into a life I hoped never to forget. Everything came back to me in streams of bliss. The feeling of riding through the woods at high speed, over the rocks, stumps, bridges and pipelines brought back an exhilarating feeling lost five years past. But they were back now, strong as ever and I'm sure the gigantic smile on my face was evidence to passersby as to how I was feeling at the time! I'm so stoked to be back at it, on the trail, in the mountains, exercising and exploring the Wasatch on a bicycle again. Mountain biking provides such a rush of energy and excitement for me, yet also calms me and provides such a vital release and break from the mundane. I can't remember how I did without it.

I've edited the footage from my first ride and posted it below. It's 7 minutes. Enjoy!

Photo A Week

2010-06-08T07:53:00.000-07:00

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This week I'm stoked to share my first individually-authored published article. (My first article was co-authored...kinda) I was given the assignment to write on mountain biking. Mountain biking is definitely one of my greatest passions in life, ironically since I broke my neck almost six years ago I haven't owned my own mountain bike since.

I started training for mountain bike racing, without knowing it, when I was ten years old. I received my first mountain bike for my birthday and quickly set about to make use of it in the foothills. I rode my bike as often as I could, I quickly fell in love with the equipment and the experience of pedaling through the mountains on a variety of surfaces surrounding my home, then around Utah including the Slickrock of Moab, and eventually all around the Western United States. I began racing when I was about twenty. I fell in love with the competitive, yet supportive community of racing.

I climbed the rope of the Intermountain Cup Series, starting when the circuit was only about five or six races deep. Now the circuit has over a dozen races through-out all of Utah and into Wyoming. After breaking my neck in a race at Brianhead resort in 2004, I began a slow recovery immediately, even before having a single-level fusion of my cervical 5 and 6 vertebrae. While Bally's gym was still in business in my neighborhood I was training on the indoor bikes to keep my motivation and attitude inline. I knew I didn't want to let this accident get me down. I would walk into the gym with my neck brace on and would get some funny looks at first but then I started getting a lot of smiles, people were realizing that I was fighting to keep my fitness level and they started to believe I could. I couldn't do a whole lot with my upper body but I would workout on the stationary bike, spinning for an hour at a time, trying to keep my leg muscles strong.

I started a 6 week series of rehabilitation at a local clinic. We did a number of stretches, range of motion tests and practice, heat therapy and electro-pulse therapy. After training on proper exercises and graduating from the rehab center I took back to the gym and set about to get my life back in order. I took a solid three years to feel strong again. Re-gaining the muscles in my neck was difficult. I compare it to holding a new-born's head up when you move first carry them. It was nearly the same thing, except I had the advantage of having about 25% of my strength to begin with. Getting up to 85% would take a year and the other 15% another two years. Along the way I'd have random neck pain which added a whole new meaning to the expression "pain in then neck." Whoever coined that phrase must have really known what that meant.

With mountain biking out of the picture for a couple years I turned to a new sport, one I figured would be a little more forgiving yet still highly challenging. My good friend Jeff Larsen called one day and asked if I wanted to race the Spudman with him, "the what?" I asked. The Spudman, it's is an olympic length triathlon in Idaho, he explained. "But don't worry about the swim, it's down-river!" That sounded pretty good to me, so I borrowed my neighbors road bike and signed up for the event. We had a couple days to get our stuff organized and learn the new style of biking. After seeing my neighbor and childhood idol Jared Parker riding his bike around I always knew I wanted to try it for myself, but I was a hard-core mountain biking fan and was convinced it would only be a secondary love. We hopped on our road bikes, new to Jeff as well, for the first time in Idaho along the long flat potato fields outside my friends parents home in Burley. I began pedaling and quickly, to my surprise, fell in love with the smooth and fast feel of this new machine. I couldn't believe how quickly I could get up to speed and how effortless is was in comparison to the grind of mountain biking up a steep, loose trail in the woods. I knew right a way I wanted bike of my own. After finishing in the 30-40% of men racing I felt pretty good about my first triathlon, this would come be the first in many to come.

Shortly after finishing the Spudman race I purchased a Cervello Soloist road bike from the Sports Den in Salt Lake City. I began training on it and have now finished 16 triathlons to date and a small number of road races as a side plate. It's been a blast to learn the new sport, however I have to admit every year about March, the snow begins to melt and I get a urge from within my soul to get back on a mountain bike. Last summer, my friend Meagan Thornton did me a huge favor and helped me act on my urge to ride again. She organized a bike ride in Park City on the Flying Dog trail. I can't explain how exciting the experience was for me, from sliding on the heavy Shimano SPD shoes, wearing the mountain biking clothing, and whole bit, I was like a little boy in the candy shop all over again. The feeling of the full suspension bike, her dad kindly let me borrow, flexing under me as I shifted through seemingly endless number of gears and the hard dirt grinding under the knobby tires brought back invigorating feelings of racing through past trails, up steep climbing, over bridges, logs and pipes and even through the hot desert and punishing slickrock. A boatload of senses hit me head-on and reminded me of where my true cycling passions resided. We exhausted ourselves on the 23-mile trail and celebrated with a yummy meal afterwards. I officially got the bug back. The irony of it is, even with a previously broken neck I was much more comfortable on the mountain bike than I've even been on my road bike, not to take away how much I enjoy the road, but with full suspension and a more upright body position I didn't have pain in my neck at anytime of our ride. I've been saving up since that day to purchase a mountain bike, with almost enough cash now I will hopefully be able to afford getting back into one of my ultimately favored hobbies this summer.

I hope you've enjoyed my story and if you get a chance check out the biking article too! You can read the article full size here. Thanks, Jon

High Dynamic Range

2010-06-01T13:48:00.000-07:00

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It's been too long since my last blog post! I've been out learning a new technique called HDR (High Dynamic Range) photography. It's how the image above was created. I've learned a ton while doing and feel like I still have a ton more to learn. It's pretty easy and a blast to do. The basic concept of HDR photography is to get an image that captures more shadow and highlight information which is closer to what the human eye sees. To take that a little further, you must capture the same subject multiple times at sequentially higher exposure-values using the bracketing function on your camera, then blend them all together, focusing on a combination of exposures of the best shadow and highlight details.

I first heard this term about three years ago while shopping for my Nikon D200 at Pictureline in Salt Lake City. I was talking with my friend Nick Gilson, a sales associate there. I was asking him how to get more color and detail out of a digital camera. I wanted my new purchase to be much closer in quality to the slide film I enjoyed using back in the days of film. I knew I eventually wanted a digital camera that could capture the resolution of a medium or full format camera and the dynamic range (highlight and shadow detail) of slide film. I was relatively certain that nothing on the market could do that, including the D200 I eventually purchased or even the D300 that I recently purchased. Knowing that the technology was not available yet I asked more questions and HDR came up. It wasn't discussed much in the photography world at that time, but now it's all the rage. I saw print of HDR images first at the Park City Arts Festival two years ago, since then I'm seeing it more and more! It's a beautiful technique that yields a beautiful painterly images.

There are many forms of HDR and many techniques that you can apply to get a myriad of results. I've chosen to follow Trey Ratcliffs techniques that he teaches in his book A World in HDR. (see more at his website www.stuckincustoms.com) He teaches how to set your camera to capture an image using the bracket function, then blend them together using PhotoMatix software (www.photomatix.com). His results are very inspiring and he has a fine collection of images he's captured from all around the world. I've applied his basic techniques and added some of my own to get what I have so far. A collection of my HDR images are posted on my facebook page with a sample few below.

If you're a photographer and haven't tried this yet, give it a shot and share what you came up with. If you have any questions about what I have shot or how I did something in one of the images let me know.

Jonny

Photo A Week

2010-04-14T17:35:00.000-07:00

NEW YORK CITY, NY.

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The Big Apple! What a great time in the NYC and with such a great excuse to get back to visit friends and family this ended up being a really nice trip. My friend Jessica Baucom is an interior designer and has a client in NYC who needed a project done. For the last week of the project Jessica needed some help installing hardware, hanging mirrors, lamps and other wall fixtures and basically needed a go to guy for crutch-time finishing details. I was happy to assist and as a bonus was kindly compensated for doing so. Jessica lined me, along with two of her other friends Jamie and Ally up with a great place to stay. We had a sweet little one studio apartment in the West Village (between Time Square and the Financial District). This apartment served as our hub for work, play and sleeping. With two main subway lines within a five minute walk, public transportation was easily accessible and well-used.

For the first five days I spent the day-time helping Jessica get the install done. She had a crew of helpers doing various jobs to complete the huge task of moving her clients and all their belongs from one home to the other. What seemed nearly impossible in the beginning actually came together nicely in the end. Jessica put in many extra long days and spun a little magic to get the mission accomplished.

I was stoked to have a little time to myself in the evening for visiting friends and exploring Manhattan with my camera. I met up with a good friend, Matt Domingo, who I know from Westminster College. We had a couple MBA classes together and kicked ass on a couple project our final couple semesters, not to mention we ended in Eastern Europe on the same trip as part of our final MBA experience in foreign direct investment. Matt and his wife live in Hoboken, NJ just across the Hudson. A short ride on the PATH train under the water gets you to NJ quickly. I was able to meet up with Matt and Jenna a couple times for food and conversation. I can't leave out the best steak house experience to date, Pace's Steak House on Long Island. Matt found out I headed to Long Island after and knew he had work out that way about the same time and could pass up the opportunity to eat at one of his favorite steak houses. By far the most expensive steak I've ever had, my meal ended running around $65, mind you that didn't include a desert. The Fillet was by far the best cut of meat I've ever tasted, dipped in an amazing wine reduction sauce, with a perfectly balanced blend of herbs and spices, and sides of mashed potatoes and sautéed mushrooms. MMMMmmm, delicious.

Between Manhattan and Long Island I was able to meet up with another friend from Salt Lake. Scott Clegg and I became friends though church. We ended going to a Jazz game once and have been friends ever since. We met up for yet, more delicious dining in NY, this time at Nino's Trattoria. This wonderful little Italian diner has one of the best vodka sauces you'll ever try. I chose to get the linguini, vodka sauce with meatball plate. The food in NY is great! I imagine it would be difficult to survive in a place like that if your food was only so-so. Scott and I made time to walk around Time Square, the fashion district, the lower end of the park and up past Columbus Circle. I happened to catch the a church meeting Saturday night with him as well at the NYC temple house near Columbia University. It was great meeting up with Scott and Matt while in Manhattan.

I also got a surprise call from Meagan Thornton who happened to be in town visiting her sister in Battery Park. We walked the Brooklyn Bridge and shopped around in Dumbo for a couple hours, then walked back on the Manhattan bridge and through China town. It's always fun shopping with Meagan because she has such a fun and unique taste, which usually leads to interesting and off-the-beaten-path places, perfect for photographing.

After working for Jessica for five days, I had a couple full days off the do what I wanted in the city. I used every moment I could do be out and see new things. I took a train to 116th, near Columbia University, walked the campus, toured the cathedral St. John the Divine (Largest Anglican cathedral in the world), bought a deli sandwich, walked the entire length of Central Park, stopping along the way at the Museum of Natural History, and pausing every so often to just enjoy the beauty of the park. The trees were blooming and the park was breathing in the season of Spring. The grass was vibrantly glowing green and the cherry blossoms, magnolia and other trees were limbing with new life in shades of purple, yellow and white. Even though it was a rather long day of walking it was nice to be out in the perfect weather, with people all around enjoying the turning of the seasons and getting out for fresh air. I continued though the rest of the park, making my way to the subway at Columbus Circle and caught a train to Chelsea, where I would continue my walking tour on the Highline Trail. This trail, once an above ground train line, has been recently renovated to host an above ground garden. The park spans from about 22nd St. to about 10th St. and hosts a variety of plants, flowers and trees. The incorporation of the old railroad times, track and materials make this a nastolgic place to take a relaxing walk, lounge in the rail-chairs (the equivalent of a lawn chair but on wheels and resting on the old tracks), read a book, eat lunch, sip a cup of tea, or meet up with friends. Best of all, in the evenings you get a great view of the sunset over New Jersey.

After finishing up a long day of walking, I met up with Jessica and crew for a nice dessert at the Blue Ribbon Bakery. This bakery/restaurant is a fancy place to eat in the West Village and a bit pricing. My singe item, a créme brulée was a costly $11 dollar...plus tip. But the company was great and we had a great time celebrating our time being together and also Jessica for her job completion.

After bidding farewell to the city, Jessica and I headed out to Redhook in Brooklyn to say hello to her friend and former employer, Carly. Her and her husband Fritz live in a townhouse in Redhook where Carly practiced interior design and Fritz works with artists. Carly, Jessica and I ended up grabbing brunch together. Jessica and I then explored Redhook a little bit after borrowing Carly's dogs for a walk.

After a great time in Manhattan and Brooklyn my adventures now pointed East, nearly at far east as you can get in the United States. I've been trying to get out the NY for a couple years now to visit friend and classmate Chris Ferrugari. My timing wasn't perfect, as my intent was to visit during hurricane season, better now as Surf Season to us, but none-the-less I was going to be in NY and couldn't pass up the opportunity to visit for a day or two. Chris and I spent the day chilling out on Fire Island watching the small beach-break waves. They were tempting, but the 43 degree water kept us from venturing in the water. The only two other people in the area, brought their boards, put on their wetsuits, paddled out, turned around immediately and paddled right back in. They figured it out pretty quickly. Chris and I spent some time catching up over a little hockey and baseball at the local pub that night. I plan to get back in August if I can for that warm Atlantic summer water and perfectly cresting hurricane-drawn waves.

After a way-too-early wakeup and trip to the airport I boarded my next plane. After leaving for Richmond, Virginia just after Thanksgiving last year, it was really good to meet up with Justin, Amanda, Caitlin, Will, and Brinley...oh and Pepper, their little Yorkshire-Poodle. Deja vu set in as I once again found myself moving boxes and furniture, this time for J & A's move from their rental to their new home. It was great timing to be there to be able to help them get their belonging in the moving truck and help get them move into their great new home. I'm stoked for them to be in a fun new neighborhood and have a place to call home again. We spent the rest of our time walking the cool districts of Richmond, visiting the parks and rivers in the city and eating out. My favorite sights were the James River and Belle Isle were you can walk a half-mile suspended foot-bridge to the isle and go watch the kayakers run the boulder gauntlet at Hollywood Rapids. Also, fun to see, was Maymont Park which features beautiful Italian and Japanese gardens along side an old baronesses' mansion. Lastly, Monument Avenue is possible the prettiest city street I've ever seen. The street is host to hundreds of beautiful victorian homes, presbyterian cathedrals, war monuments and stretches of lush grass lawns. All of which are well kept and easy to navigate. Surprisingly, Richmond is a cool city with other great places to visit, like Washington D.C. and the Virginia Beach and the Outer Banks of NC within driving distance.

The past two weeks have flown bye but the memories of this trip will stay with me for ever. I'm grateful to those of you that helped make this a great experience. Things really seemed to line up perfectly. Thank you all again!

-Jonny

Photo A Week

2010-04-14T12:15:00.000-07:00

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Another opportunity to work with JessicaMB Interior Design came up and I didn't hesitate to take it! This time I headed to Manhattans' West Village to help do the final interior installation.

This beautiful home, originally built as a town house was converted to an apartment 50-some years ago. Jessica and her team had the challenge of taking it back to its original state and making it shine. Mission accomplished! After some handy and creative construction work by Peter and his crew, Jessica had the space figured out and began the creative work. The four separate apartments, joined by one common stairwell became a beautiful townhouse once again.

My favorite aspects of the home included: the construction process and conversion, the cellar (never seen this old building trait before), the very tall ceilings, the giant decorative pocket doors, the old balcony facing the courtyard, the old radiator heating system, the old style bath tub, the bathroom tile, the sitting room, all the hallway bathrooms, the entire kitchen and the artistic design details Jessica implemented into the "new"old home.

For more on my time in NYC see my the following blog post and/or my facebook images. For more on JessicaMB Design and her work visit her site here.

2010-03-29T19:14:00.000-07:00

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PUBLISHED! Yeah, I'm stoked to report that I have my first published article. Coming soon to news stands at local Wasatch Front sports shops, coffee houses, restaurants, etc. is this years Outdoor Sports Guide - Keeper 2010 issue. Pick it up to and check out the full article. I'd love hear what think, good or bad. Thank you! -JC

Photo A Week

2010-02-27T13:02:00.000-08:00

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This week I had a handful of fun photography opportunities, one of which included some interior design photography for designer and friend, Jessica Baucom. This home stand at the base of Little Cottonwood canyon and is recognized for it's progressive concrete architecture, converging angles, large glass surfaces and industrial design. The home is amazing and Jessica didn't fail to provide a sharp modern design in her childrens-bedroom assignment. The colors are punchy and the bookshelf design is creative and fun.

These photo were fun to take because I got to use really nice strobes and a super wide angle lens, rented from Pictureline in Salt Lake City. The strobes are made by Swedish manufacturer Profoto. This company is synonymous with professional strobe lighting and recognized by many photographer as THE lighting to use. I rented the Acute2 1200R lighting kit. These strobes are very fast, very lightweight and offer fast recycling time and consistent light output every time. The lighting can be controlled over 6 f-stops and is asymmetric. The model lighting feature is simple to use and is adjustable at three levels. I used an umbrella to diffuse the light into the room and give the space a nice soft and dimensional light. I would have used a second light and possibly a soft-box but the space was so tight I was already stacking tripods, stands and myself as tight as possible in the corners of the room to get the angles I needed. I used the tripod and 1/6 sec exposures to fill the room with natural light before the rear-flash popped at the end of the exposure. This helped give a nice balance of light on the shelves, bed, and other features.

I shot all these image with a Nikon D300 and Nikkor 12-24mm f/4 lens. Camera settings: ISO 100, 1/6 - 1/125 second, f/4.5 - f/7.

I use Adobe Lightroom 2 to edit my images. These have a slight exposure increase, added contrast, vibrance and saturation to bring the images to match how I felt like they looked when I took them.

For more about Jessica and her work vistit: www.jessicambllc.com, http://yourheartout.com/?p=3125, or http://www.8point8design.com/.

Photo A Week

2010-02-22T14:26:00.000-08:00

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Bouldering competition at Momentum followed by Disciples of Gill movie premiere.

This last weekend I spent the better half of Saturday at Momentum climbing gym in Sandy, Utah. I've been climbing there recently with a couple friends and heard they were sponsoring a bouldering competition for local climbers. Afterward, local climbing expert and legend, Pat Amend was scheduled to introduce and show his climbing film, Disciples of Gill. It sounded like a fun way to spend the day so I went to check it out.

I was overwhelmed by the number of people in the gym when I got there. I guess for a Saturday that should be expected, hence the reason I avoid ski resorts, gyms, theaters and such on the coveted day of the weekend warriors. Not that there is anything wrong with these places on Saturday, I'm just strangely blessed to get to enjoy these places during the week. The gym is very large with an entire top rope island (estimated 30 top ropes and 40 routes), a large overhanging lead climbing area, tall inside and outside arretes, corners and cracks, tall ceilings (estimated 50'-60') and an entire bouldering room full of overhangs, corners and plenty of variety for the beginner to the seasoned pro.

The competition was in full swing by the time I got there and I quickly set out to orient myself with the climbers, routes, scoring method and layout. Fortunately I spotted Jonathan Campbell right off the bat. He and I have skied to together a couple times and have become friends over the past year or two. He explained the four categories of the competition (Blue = Beginner, White = Intermediate, Green = Expert, and Pink = Open/Pro). I spotted around to see what they looked like and who's climbing what, quickly identifying veterans and realizing the variance in ability levels around me. There seemed to be a crew of seasoned climbers mingling together, scoring routes, watching each others moves and cheering each other on, a common trend I've witnessed in many outdoor sports, even during competition.

The climbers get points by completing a designated route, all of which are identified by the large number clearly boxed at the beginning of the route. In all there are over 40 routes in the bouldering room, set by the staff route-setters just for this competition. The lower the points, the easier the route. The lowest worth 74 points and the most difficult route fetching somewhere around 1200 points. After completing a route without falling, otherwise known as flashing a route, the climber must obtain two signatures from fellow climbers to gain the credit need to solidify the score. The climbers are registered in their respective category (Beginner to Open) and allowed to climb up to two routes in the division higher if they feel they can score better by challenging those at the next level. At the end of the competition all the scores are compiled to reveal the highest scorer for all four categories.

After wandering around for a couple more minutes I spotted Gavin, a new friend introduced to me at the gym recently. The idea weighing on me immediately after getting oriented was how I was going to get on top of the wall to get the vantage I wanted for photography. Gavin's timing seemed impeccable because he was the man for the access I needed. As an electrical contractor for the gym he knew the right people and quickly got me in the right area to climb the back rafters and set up high above the climbers. I loved the vantage point from atop the wall, however the light was less than ideal and the bars back there were super dusty, not ideal for expensive camera equipment! I was forced to shoot everything at a very high ISO, making the images a bit grainy looking; too much for my taste, but my options were limited so I made the most of what I had available.

The opportunity was amazing, the climbing was inspiring to watch and the stoke in the gym that day was definitely good. And what better way to end the day than awards to the top climbers and a climbing movie on the cushioned floor at the gym. Rumor has it...there may be more movies coming to Momentum soon. Vertical Limit anyone???

More photos on my Facebook account: Jonathan Cracroft

Photo A Week

2010-01-09T22:23:00.001-08:00

Jibbing at The Canyons with Shanny Cohen and McRae Williams!

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This week's Photo-a-Week a combination of ski images shot at The Canyons resort in Park City, Utah. I met up with professional skiers Shanny Cohen and McRae Williams for a little park shoot. When I left my house the sky was clouding up and I began to question if it was going to be worth the time to shoot. I figured why not and grabbed three of my Nikon sb800 speed-lights and a couple stands just in-case.

I met Shanny in the village at The Canyons and headed up the gondola towards Saddleback Express and the Painted Horse terrain park. The clouds started thinning just as we rolled into the park giving a nice glow to the area. We headed straight for the feature Shanny had in mind for shooting. After a couple test runs we got the light dialed and Shanny styled out several runs down the box-rail. Trying to find the right angle and depth I held the camera as close to the front/leading edge as possible without being too in the way for her drop in. This angled helped me get the composition I was looking for. I didn't shoot directly perpendicular to the box because it wouldn't have given the shape to the image that I was looking and worse Shanny would have been washed out by the trees in the background, over-complicating the simplicity of the shot. By being as close to the image as I was I feel like I was able to capture that nice flowing look with the roller-coaster rail.

McRae was lapping us in the park and stopped long enough to snap off a couple shots. The first one I almost completely missed but I caught the vision of what the image could look like and sent him around for another go. I feel like the second worked. The only thing I would have done different is maybe crouched down a little lower than I already was which would have positioned him a little more in the sky creating a little cleaner, more clearly shaped subject.

Technical Specification:

Nikon D300, ISO 100, 1/250 sec

Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 shot at 38mm f/3.5.

Three Nikon SB800 flashes set on Manual 1/1, remotely synced with pocket wizards

Photo A Week

2010-01-05T11:10:00.000-08:00

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This weeks photo of the week is of the Hoover Dam bridge construction. I love taking night shots. They're always challenging and with the right light they can be very interesting images. This was taken about 9:20pm on January 2, 2010. On our way home from Mexico we crossed the Hoover Dam. I've traveled route once or twice a year for the last several years and have been watching this project develop. It's so amazing to me how this bridge is engineered and how the construction teams are building it. The sheer size of this project is mind-blowing, the amount of concrete in the bridge and the span it makes from one side of the canyon to the other is incredible. I can't images how much planning was involved for this thing to come to be.

This was shot at F/5, 30 sec shutter, and ISO 200. I was in a hurry because I didn't want to make my family wait too long while I was taking pictures. If I was thinking clearly I would have lowered my ISO to 100, closed down my aperture to F/22 and made my exposure several minutes. I also would have manually focused. I used the auto and you can see that it's a little soft.

Photo A Week

2009-12-23T13:50:00.000-08:00

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This weeks Photo A Week is focused on how to capture publication-worthy images. There are a handful of basic elements that I want to discuss. The three that I'll focus on are:

- Story

- Composition

- Detail

Story: First off, it helps to have a story assignment or a perspective story thought out. As your looking for images to capture be conscious of the story behind it. For example, let's say your story is on your local professional sports team. Let's take soccer for example. Brainstorm what element of the story will be the highlight. You may focus on the teams' fans, the stadium, the athletes or perhaps the vendors. Come up with a couple visuals. I like to visualize what would look cool in print. I might visualize an enthusiastic group of fans all outfitted with they're team colors, jerseys, hats, face paint etc. The shot of the fans would probably include an energized-cheering theme, perhaps a fish-eye shot with the fans right in the lens yelling and cheering, or if possible a shot right after a goal with fans jumping, cheering, yelling, throwing their arms up, waving their flags, etc. Or perhaps you could visualize the stadium on game day. The parking lot filling up with cars, the tail-gaters partying, the fans in masses headed to the ticket gate, the gate and ushers taking tickets and welcoming fans, the colors on the stadium, the team flags and banners, etc hanging from the stadium. You can do this same visualizing with the athletes, vendors, or any other point of interest relating to your story. But you want to stay focus on the story, think about all the possible things you will want to take pictures of that way when they present themselves you'll be able to recognize them and capture the moment quickly.

Composition: The composition of your image needs to work with the space it is going to be placed in. For example, if you're shooting for a potential magazine cover, it's most likely that the image will be shot in the vertical position. Another thing you need to keep in mind for a cover shot is that there needs to be space for the publication title, headlines, and sometime other print like address label, barcode, etc. Keep some white space (or neutral space) open for wording. And lastly and possibly the most important is the relation of the subject in the frame. I like to follow the rule of thirds for this purpose. If you're not familiar with the rule of thirds, it simple means: if you were divide the space you're looking at through the lens, you would divide it in thirds vertically and also horizontally. Then place your main subject at the intersection of one of those four points. In this cover shot the waterfall would follow the left horizontal third and the man in the water would be closest to the bottom right third intersection. You can find more examples of this with a quick google search - photography rule of thirds.

Detail: The last thing I want to point out is detail. Attention to detail is key for publication images. The exposure needs to be very close if not perfect. The focus needs to be perfect, unless you are intentionally blurring for a special effect, but even then you need to make the point your focused on sharp. There shouldn't be any unintentional motion blur. The color needs to been accurate. And the details need to be sharp. If you can put all these elements together, conveying an interesting story, creating attention grabbing composition, and have pin-point detail in the image you should be able to come up with publication worthy images.

*This is a short and simple example of how to capture publication worthy images, for more information you can email me, research the web, join a photo club, attend a workshop, read a photography book, take a photography courses, etc.

Photo A Week

2009-12-11T18:31:00.000-08:00

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Holiday greetings from the Cracroft family!

I'm attempting to kill two birds with one stone with this weeks Photo A Week image. So first off, happy holidays. I feel like they are officially here. I bought my first real tree ever. The last couple years I didn't even have a tree in my house, and at my parents house the tree was fake, so I'm stoked to have the fresh smell of a real tree this year.

This image was one that I shot on a tripod with a timer. It's not an amazing image but there is a little photoshop work worth mentioning if you're interested in how to make your own holiday greeting card. Since my brother Parker is on a mission in Tacoma, Washington he was not able to be in the original image with us, this is two images layered together. This is the quick and dirty version of layering two images together:

After editing the original photo for color and exposure, save it. Then make sure to size it at 300 dpi. You can do this clicking on the image tab, then image size. Make sure the bottom three boxes are all checked. If you resize all your images at 300 it will make layering them together easier. Once you've determined what size card you are printing you can also size the images to fit inside your design. I'm currently using www.overnightprints.com to order my cards. They use a GraCol 2006 icc profile so make sure to download it from there site and use that as your color profile. CMYK CraCol 2006. If you need technical assistance their customer service department can walk you through it easily.

Once your image is sized and the color profile is set, you can work on the cut-out image. This image of Parker was shot on my sister-in-laws point and shoot. It was good enough quality to edit in photoshop for print use. I took the original and used a quick mask (Q) then used the brush tool (B) to quickly pull him out of the image background. Play around with zoom (Z) and brush size ([ or ]) while using the quick mask to get tight cropping lines. Once you have your subject all masked, you can press (Q) again to get out of the quick mask function. This leaves you with a marque around your subject. You can now copy and paste your subject onto the original image. You can use the free transform tool (T) to adjust your image to fit the perspective of the original.

I also added some grey boxes at the top and bottom of my design so I could add text to the greeting card. Additionally I added some snow flake designs I created in Illustrator and imported them as eps files.

Play around with your design. Let me know if you have any questions. I realize this is extremely lacking in detail. Sometimes just playing with photoshop for a couple hours is as good a learning tool as any.

Photo A Week

2009-11-30T20:31:00.000-08:00

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I'm thankful for my family, my friends, new opportunities, countless blessings, AND I'm grateful for skiing! Thanksgiving holiday signifies opening day at the resorts for me. This year I'm super stoked to get back on my sticks and make turns. Am I expecting too much to ask for mid-season conditions right now? 'Cause I do. Probably, in part, due to the fact that I got them a month ago on Baldy shoulder. And, it just makes sense that as the winter season progresses we should have more snow each week, equaling more face-shots. Pray for snow, cause all I see in the forecast is high pressure and 40 degrees.

I chose to put together a three part "Photo A Week" image for this week. This ski theme is a collection of three of my favorite recent winter shots.

The image on the left is of Rob Holmes, shot at Alta Ski Area in Utah. I like this image for a couple reasons. First thing I like about it is the relationship of the subject and foreground. Also, there is a good sense of motion in the image, which helps bring it to life. The ground behind the skier gives some sense of where he's been. Having just released one turn and coming into a new one the snow giveway to the skis and lofts upwards capturing extra light from the defused sun above the skier. In order to get this vantage point I scaled an old pine tree 50 feet up. I wanted to go higher got nervous as the tree started swaying more and more the higher I went. These shots are tough for both of us because it takes time to get to our location, up the tree, setup and communicate the desired line, all the while in freezing temperatures. From where I am I can see exactly were I want the skier to be in my frame, however from where he's at everything I'm describing is perceived from a completely different vantage and is easily mis-interpreted. One thing I love about working with Rob is that he is able to interpret our conversation almost exactly every time. I feel like we got this shot right on. The best part of this tree shot for me is the massive huck out of the tree in to the soft snow below after capturing the image.

The center shot is of Jeff Campbell, again shot at Alta from a tree, in-fact probably the same tree. I have a handful of trees that I like scaling to get the over-head vantage of the skier. This one however looks completely different than the image on the left. The day before we shot this it had snowed about 26 inches and the conditions looks amazing. The storm had come in a little warmer and wetter than usual and produced a real graupely snow. Graupel is basically snow that has lost it's shape due to a freezing process in the sky and is essentially round when it hits the ground. These little snow drops act as ball-bearings on the mountain and can be detrimental to the stability of the snowpack. In this particular case we didn't have any problems with safety but the graupel reacted so much different than average snowflakes. In this picture the snow seemed to explode as Jeff skied through it. The graupel was shooting up like it had come out of a cannon instead of swirling up and circling around like it typically does. I love the different character it gives this shot in particular.

The image on the right is of Weston Deutschlander skiing at The Canyons, Park City, Utah. This shot was taken pretty early season. There wasn't a lot of snow, but it had just dumped freshies and I wanted to get out and get back behind the lens. This was my first time shooting with Weston and I wanted to get some nice shots for him. I was feeling pretty skunked due to the conditions and had already written off any good opportunities for a great shot. We got down to this area at the end of our last run and Shaun and Weston liked what they saw and asked me to take a couple quick shots. I didn't really care to get my camera back out, but with a little convincing they persuaded me to anyways. It's not a very big jump so I used my fisheye lens to help add some depth and drama to the picture. What we came up with surprised me. I really like the simplicity of this image. The snow lit up beautifully by the sun behind it and the relationship of the skier to the background gives the sense of flight. Take aways from this shot, don't ever give up, who knows what you'll get at the end of the day.

Technically Specifications:
(Left image)
Camera: Nikon D200
Camera Settings: f / 9, 1/640, ISO: 100
Lens: Nikkor 17-55 mm f / 2.8
Lens settings: 17 mm focal length

(Center image)
Camera: Nikon D200
Camera Settings: f / 9, 1/640, ISO:100
Lens: Nikkor 80-200 mm f / 2.8
Lens Settings: 100 mm length

(Right image)
Camera: Nikon D300
Camera Settings: f / 10, 1/500
Lens: Nikkor 10.5 mm f / 2.8
Lens Settings: fixed 10.5 mm focal length

Photo A Week

2009-11-24T09:11:00.000-08:00

This image was taken from Sunset Point in Bryce Canyon. I had been experimenting with panoramic imaging for about a year at this point and had successfully created one large forest panoramic before this one. The pano of the forest was seemingly more difficult at the time because I was much closer to the subject (the trees) in the forest image. Being so close made it difficult to seem the edges of each frame together. The spherical nature of the lens distorts the edges of the image by a couple degrees, bending the trees on the edge of each frame inward. So seeming each edge with trees leaning away from each other, and trying to line them up gets really tricky. I do all the post processing in Adobe Photoshop CS4. I shoot all my images in Nikon raw format or NEF. In my post process I color correct all my images using the white balance tools, adjust the exposure if needed, I usually add a little contrast and usually I saturate the colors 5-10 points. I tend to add more contrast and saturation to my images because I set my camera to a very neutral setting, opposed to vidid. I like to have more control of how the image looks in post-processing and try really hard to make it resemble exactly what I saw as I was taking the image.

This image is nine separate vertically captured files seemed together. It was taken at 7pm, October 12, 2007, just as the sun was setting. There was a light cloud cover in the sky, yielding a nicely diffused natural light on the landscape below.

These features are referred to as Hoodoo's. "These famous spires, called "hoodoos," are formed when ice and rainwater wear away the weak limestone that makes up the Claron Formation. However, the hoodoos' geologic story is also closely tied to the rest of the Grand Staircase region and the Cedar and Black Mountains volcanic complex. In short, Bryce has enough fascinating geology to fill a textbook." referenced from the National Park Service: http://www.nps.gov/brca/naturescience/index.htm. These amazing features provide the spectacular setting for this photography. In years past I have taken pictures at this same point, but it wasn't until I learned the panoramic technique until I got a picture that I felt did justice to the serene beauty of Bryce Canyon.

Technical Specifications:

Camera: Nikon D200
Camera Settings: ISO 100, f / 22.0, Shutter speed 3.0 seconds, 9 frames total
Lens: Nikkor 17-55 mm, f / 2.8
Lens Settings: Auto focus, focal length set to 55 mm, manual exposure mode

Photo A Week

2009-11-20T11:14:00.000-08:00

This image was taken from the upper Alta parking lot on October 6, 2009, 12:06pm. To be clear, my theory of getting good images is that you usually have to work harder than the average guy to capture a great image. What I mean is I usually have to get up very early in the morning, spend time hiking to my anticipated destination, typically be somewhat uncomfortable (cold, wet, too hot, exhausted, etc), and then exercise a great amount of patience waiting for the light to be just right or the subject to be just in the right spot...then again, sometimes luck is all we need.

I couldn't believe how perfect the subject, lighting and my vantage was on this setting when I drove up to it. There were clouds in the sky helping to break up the direct light from the sun. The light was beaming down in-between the stands of aspen directly in-front of me giving the image a nice feeling of depth and richness. The snow had fallen the day before and just brushed the tops of the highest peaks and the colors, really rounding out the image, were perfectly staged orange, yellow and green with the snow-white mountain to top things off.

This was one of luck!

Technical specifics:
Camera - Nikon D300
Settings - Aperture F/5.6, Shutter speed 1/100, ISO 100
Lens - Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8
Settings - Focal length 105mm

First Corporate Clients

2009-11-11T21:43:00.000-08:00

I'm stoked to say that I have my first and second corporate clients! Thank you Academy Mortgage and Sturgeon Electric for your photography purchases.

At Academy Mortgage:

In the main entrance

Group work area

Conference Room

At Sturgeon Electric:

Conference Room view of Green River

Conference Room view of Bryce Canyon

Family photos

2009-11-09T10:46:00.000-08:00

Yesterday our family went up to Research Park for some family pictures. I just stood up a tripod and set my camera on a timer. My brother Justin got a new job back East and they will be moving to Virginia in a couple weeks. This was a good opportunity to get a current family picture. If you're thinking about family pictures and need a photographer, let me know. BTW, they'll be better quality than these cause I'll actually be behind the camera, not in front of it!

Training 'em young! He'll be a fine photog some day.

Caitlin training for her time as Miss America

Thumbs up dude

Nan's and Pop's

Auntie Lindz

Cattail snow

Evolution of a business card

2009-11-08T11:37:00.000-08:00

Just finished the new design. View the evolution below.

About 2005

About 2007

Current design

One Photo Every Week

2009-11-07T09:40:00.001-08:00

Welcome new readers! This blog is a new forum for communicating and I'm really excited to showcase my photography here. I feel like I've been a recluse on the web for the past year, with the exception of Facebook.

The thing I like about blogging is the ability to view the history links. This should make it easy to archive and visit past images of the week, which is my goal for this blog. I also like the simple and clean look of a blog.

Here is the quest...I hope to post an image each week and write a brief description of it, tell you how I captured it, give the specs and quick technical data and open it up for questions/discussion.

This image was taken just off highway 224 between Midway and Deer Valley in the little cabin community there. It's private property but the gates are usually open for pass-through. This image was taken on October 1st just after the first snowfall of the new season. I love the fall colors, and the snow can really accent the vibrant colors if you catch it at the right time in the right light. I liked this image because of the colors and snow, but more for the feeling it gives. It feels warm to me, yet there is snow on the ground. It feels like a comfortable place to be, yet it was probably 35 degrees outside when I took it. I like the road cutting up on a diagonal. And I like the log fence. The major thing that make this stand out to me is the composition. The tree-tops in the foreground looks as if they could be the tops of the tree-trunks in the background creating a wrap-around image effect.

Technical data: NIKON D-300. F22 @ 1/6 of a second. ISO 100. 4288 X 2848 px.

Skiing at Powder Mountain with the Nyman's

2007-11-16T22:38:00.000-08:00

Saturdays are usually not the ideal ski day, right?! Unless you're skiing with Olympic gold medalist Steven Nyman and his brother, big mountain skier, Blake Nyman.