Pano of palmyra peak near telluride with the yellow autumn leaves and a dusting from the first snow 2022/2023 winter season

Fall in Telluride

November 4, 2022

Fall in Telluride could be a title for me crushing bones biking or hiking but in this case it does refer to the explosive color that happens just once a year. That fleeting last hurrah before white monochrome winter.

It almost felt like the whole summer I kept telling people, “oh yeah Telluride only gets better when the trees turn yellow and snow falls” having no real experience of this of course. That is until this last month when the season changed to fall, though now that I am a “local” in a mountain town, I know better. It’s a time when all the aspen leaf painters are hard at work and the snow dance is performed by every Telluride local only in the darkness of their basements (sheds work too) when no one is looking.

Anyway, regardless of how the leaves get their color and the mountains their snow I went out a couple days and took photos when I could. I wish that I had the leisure I usually have to plan compositions, choose the best weather conditions and load out with both film and digital. But this year between work and visiting with Catherine and friends in Chicago I took what I could get. Namly shots through gondola windows and snaps before beers at the Oak St. bar. While I’m happy with what I made happen with this constraint, I very much wish I could have just ran around all day taking pictures.

Fall picture from gondola plaza mountain village toward snow and yellow aspen leaves

When I post I most often organize by when they were taken as it makes sense in my head, time unfolding. This time around I flipped my regular organization. That’s because my favorite picture came from the day I got back from my trip. Flying in that day I saw snow was here, clouds were still sticking around, and everything was at full peak. Sadly after +12 hours of travel all I wanted to do is see my new mountain bike (a post coming soon undoubtedly). But I did get this one snap through the gondola glass when everything was just right. Though to my disappointment after that one day all we got was blue sky and the baking melting sun… still wonderful but nothing quite as beautiful as my first day back.

Canon 7D MarkII, Canon 70-200mm F2.8 USM, Vertical Panorama (8 frame composite), Silverthorne CO, 2020

Goals for 2021

January 13, 2021

I am lucky to have had the ability to travel home for winter break. I get to wake up everyday with the view that you see above. This is part of the Gore Range here in Silverthorne and it is now my new home away from home. My parents sold their house in Golden and have moved to Silverthorne in a nice place right next to Blue River. It’s a pretty tough place to be especially when you realize that I’m 10 minutes from Copper Mountain. Anyways, I’ve been wanting to share some images from up here and share some thoughts I had this past year.

Many people will say that 2020 was one of the worst years ever. For me it wasn’t, it was a time of growth contemplations and discovery. Which will often happen in the context of a tough year, if you have the right mindset . I was finally able to find closure from a relationship I was stuck on, I made my own prints for the first time, bought a new film camera (one from the bucket list), and I hit my first block as a photographer. This year was also one of the toughest semesters of engineering school I’ve had. It felt like there wasn’t ever time for a break so being here, away from St. Louis, has been much needed.

Canon 7D MarkII, Canon 70-200mm F2.8 USM, Silverthorne CO, 2020

I have a couple photography goals this year. The first is that I really want to get published. I’m not sure why this hasn’t been a goal in the past, but for whatever reason I finally feel ready. I want to get published in order to provide further context for making images and sharing what I think is interesting. Making images for myself has always been enough, and being able to document what happens around me has always be what drives me to create. That being said I’ve realized that my images can and probably should be used to tell stories that can be shared with a broader audience. So this year I’m hoping to get some images published in some way. I’m looking at the revampt Outdoor Idaho Magazine, Idaho Magazine, and really whomever may be interested. If you’re reading this and you’re like, “I know someone that would love to publish this guy,” please don’t hesitate to reach out!

Canon 7D MarkII, Sigma 18-35mm F1.8, Silverthorne CO, 2020

The second goal for this year is to start focusing on a a personal body of work. As I’ve said before I usually get inspired to shoot by documenting life around me. But, as I dive deeper into my film photography I want a more artistic challenge. What really made me want to start a personal project is the passing of a really special person named Paul Kresge. Paul was, among other things, my dad’s “ski instructor” a true playful child at heart who intentionally dusted his wisdom and passion onto every person he encountered. He was a true staple in the community in Summit County and I had always had it im my mind that I was going to do a short photo series with him. Some photographic project that would attempt to show others who this amazing person was. Sadly he passed away and I was never able to complete this project.

So this year it is my goal to not assume these people, places, stories, or things that I find exceptional will last forever. I want to start a body of work with the general context of Stanley, Idaho focusing on the people who live there and make it special. I now have some money saved so that when something pops into my head I will have the means to create it and hopefully be able to share it with all of you.

Powder Skiing

March 12, 2019

As most people how are close to me know I am not the biggest fan of writing creatively on my own. Words for me have always be harder to create then an image, but after the winter wilderness course I saw the importance of this skill. Sometimes words can achieve higher levels of thought then even a perfectly composed images. So here’s my go at explaining skiing in powder accompanied by a picture of my good friend Beth Mixon getting pitted on a 24in bluebird powder day at the Glades near Stanley ID.

The crackle of white dendrites hitting your hard-shelled jacket and the cold penetrating your core means the snow is falling and you’ve been blessed with another extraordinary powder day. As you skin up the mountain through the Douglas Fir and Lodgepole Pine being buried in crystals, your inner child oozes through the oppressive goo of the realities of life. Worrying about grad school, homework, relationships, or even the day to day noise created by living dissipates as your lungs start burning, climbing, climbing up through the mountain air and into the blank monochrome forest. It’s only there where you can be so preciously played by gravity and snow. It’s only there one can truly understand the addiction to winter.

Being in the moment amongst the storm in the wildness of winter is more than challenging the innate human instinct to reject logic. It’s even more than being able to ski fast through the trees and thick banks of snow or being blinded by the pulsing waves of white as you turn. It is all of these things, but skiing powder is so much more because it is one of those times where one can focus so precisely that everything makes sense. A beautiful paradox of nothing that’s something, an out of body experience that can only be recreated in similar conditions. Deep light snow is not only rear but exceedingly fleeting a brilliant diamond that melts away almost as soon as one can start to appreciate it.

Oregon Trip Day 1

October 21, 2018

I usually fit all of a trip into one blog post but I think that this one deserves one fore each day as I feel like I accomplished a lot in only three days in a place I’d never been before. That being said the first day driving to Portland I did what probably everyone and their mom does going that direction, and stopped at Multnomah Falls. That whole part of the highway had been marred by a wildfire but I was surprised how green everything was despite that.

This post will pretty much be all the images that I captured from that location. Something that I find interesting as a person who started an Instagram early on is there are location you see all of the time and this is one of those. The challenge was to get something I enjoyed that others haven’t done and all I can say after being there is there’s not much original you could do. Not to say there was nothing just it was difficult. So much so I ended up dropping off my LowePro bag and going back a second time with only me and my Fuji to see if I could get something interesting.

Editing Tips: My Lightroom Workflow

September 3, 2018

For this blog I'm going to step you through the way I edit all of my images. Just because you follow these directions doesn't mean you will get images like mine but it will get you on the way to creating your own style. I'd like to claim the most important thing to do in photography after learning to shoot in manual is learning how to edit to your own style.

1. Check your histogram: The first thing that I do is check my histogram to see if I need to change the exposure. At this point I also flatten the image by lowering the highlights and bring the shadows up, this gives you the most flexibility when editing but don't over do it.

2. Get your true whites and blacks: While holding command or control and moving the white slider your screen will turn white and as you increase the whites black spots will start to appear. These spots tell you where you are clipping the highlights (true white) so I bring the whites up until I just start to see the dots appear. The same thing can be done when lowering the black. I find this is the best way to get natural contrast. This is also the time to add clarity or dehaze if needed, both will slightly alter saturation which is the next step.

3. Change color saturation and temperature: After the whites and blacks are adjusted you usually get a boost in saturation making color shift more evident. There's no prescription for this I simply just change the color temperature till I like it. If there still isn't enough color you have the choice between saturation (increases all color channels) or vibrance (increases subtle colors, leaving already saturated colors alone), I nearly always use just a little vibrance with my 7D MK II.

4. Use HSL to correct colors: One of the most important things you can do is use the these sliders to ensure your colors are true to the scene. For me I change the hue of blues and decrease its saturation to achieve the look I like. It can also be helpful for increase the saturation of the oranges in a sunset but leave everything else the same. It is really important that you don't over do this as your photo will start to look fake.

5. Cropping, lens corrections, transformations: At this point I focus on making sure the cropping is what I envisioned as well as the horizon is level. There is nothing worse then a crooked horizon! It is also important to make sure that everything that should be straight and/or vertical appears that way. This is where you need to play with lens corrections and transformations. That's actaully one reason why I hat this photo becasue it looks like the horizin isn't straight. Finally, use the dropper to get rid of any chromatic aberration in the high contrast area.

6. Local corrections: This is where you need to take a brake and move on for a short time. It can help to take a step back before doing local adjustments ensure you don't over do it. With the help of the gradient too and brush tool, emphasize the focus of the composition and minimize the distractions. I like a subtle vignette around the corners and adding light to dense shadow areas. If I'm going to print the image I soften the bokeh with a blur tool and then add sharpening in photoshop.

Here is the final before and after of the image. It is definitely a big difference but it is a repeatable look that reflects the image I saw in my head when I took it. (It is what the scene actually looked like) I used more tools and tricks then I wrote here in order to get the look I like. So lookout for more editing tips in Lightroom and before and after of my images. Finally, non of this is possible if you don't shoot in RAW format so shoot in RAW or get images that lack quality and interest.

Stanley Idaho

August 17, 2018

After three years in Idaho and many before that traveling with my family I finally made it up to Stanley, ID. I spent three days and two night with my friend Anabel roughing it out in this majestic place. We were lucky enough to grab a stop at Lake View Campground right next to Stanley Lake. I think we got pretty lucky cause not only were our neighbors great (let us barrow their kayaks), but a spot never opened up in our site the whole time we were their.

The first day we visited Red Fish Lake and after a toasty nap we found a road that takes you up and over the hills adjacent to the Sawtooth that offered probably some of the best views in the valley. As the sun went down we saw Mars pop out and the milky way go vertical over the mountains as meteors streaked the sky.

After a late start (wanted to sleep more when it was still cool) we decided that a hike to one of the many lake in the area. After very little planning we settled on the beginner rated hike to Sawtooth lake. It turned out it was much hotter and longer then we both wanted but the cool lake at the top made it well worth it. After getting down and grabbing cold drinks and ice for the cooler we retreated to the side of the lake and recuperated. We went to bed early to catch the sun rise from the mountain overlooked we found previously and quickly packed up camp to end the trip in a hot springs. Definitely a trip to remember.