Froggie's Team Photo

Froggie's Team Photo, originally uploaded by preyingjaws.

This was last day of contract work for several of us. My team leader wanted a group photo so I pulled out the camera. A hundred plus degrees in the parking lot this speckled shady spot provided only limited relief. I worked quickly one on camera flash and motor drive on the self timer. I personally wish we could have grabbed this image before the first round of lay offs from the Census Project.

The last three months of working for the Census was good. The project taught me a lot and did provide a positive out bound call center experience. To my team thanks. To my team leader thank you. To all at the Census Project thanks for keeping it light.

Carnival

_IGP2892.jpg, originally uploaded by preyingjaws.

Not only is it backpacking season, it's also carnival season.
I headed to the local carnie last night for a little light creativity. The rides cost but,to get in, is free. Tonight will probably be packed so I took full advantage of the quite Thursday.
This particular image is of the 'kamikaze' ride. I used a little zoom action in the bulb setting. Ah, got to love the variety of lights and sounds of the carnival.
Also in the same area it the 4th of July Rodeo. I could hear the announcers from my place. I'll say this of West Jordan UT, it's a weird city built up around a small town that got trapped in urbanexpansionville. I'm still exploring the streets even after calling WJ home for 2 years. I still find the lost barn and horse trailer next to a $300k house.
Any how take time to explore this weekend both with the lights and sounds of the local carnival and hometown events.
Later.

Season Opener

Return Image, originally uploaded by preyingjaws.

For most folks when they hear season opener they think their favorite team sport. I guess for me the season opener is part team and part game. My team includes the weather forecasters, the National Forest Service, and other hikers. Individually they have their parts, together the information exchanged leads to some awesome game. My game is seeing what is beyond the trail head.

This past weekend I garnered up my gear, some of it new, some of it dating back to when I first got into hiking. The image posted above does have flickr notes enabled which high light what I call important. Things like water and the map. I've already received word on why do I have a pair of shoes on my ruck. Easy, last year I took moccasins. Bad idea, when moccasins get wet they get heavy and take a long time to dry. These are croc's, they are 10 ounces, rubber, and comfortable for in camp and that short jaunt a little further out of camp, say to cast spinner into the lake.

This trip took me into the Kidney Lake area (Brown Duck Mountain) above Moon Lake Utah. I also headed to Clements Reservoir. My first night I slept a bit cold, so my second night I used the poncho as a sleeping bag sleeve on the outside of the hammock. I slept toasty, the sleeve I estimate added an extra 5 to 10 degrees of warmth. My sleeping bag is a Kelty -4C rated down. In a hammock a lot of warmth is lost to the underside due to compression. The sleeve added the lost air space back.

The trail itself is beautiful pines most of the way with nice clearings for ponds & streams. The surface varies from rocky to sandy to stream. There were plenty of rocks to hop along. The lakes are incredible with plenty of camp sites tucked away from others. Truly, one does not need to see someone else unless they want to see or be seen by them.

Things I am reconsidering already is this ruck is a medium torso size. It wasn't until day 3 that I found the right balance point for my 35lbs. I want to exchange this Go-lite for the next torso size up. I do have praises for the pack it does swallow what I put into it. I am minimalist but not an ultra-lightest. The difference is I like my comfort in camp as well as the ability to have the safety margin that an ultra-lightest removes. Most of my gear is double duty. My rain gear (gortex) is my evening wear when it starts getting chilly. The poncho is also a ground cover. The foam pad is a camp seat. The water bladder is a camp shower. I do have the 10 essentials held separately and do leave written word of my itinerary with family and in the car.

The first trip out every year is the shake down trip. Last year my pack weighed in at 45+ pounds, with food and water. This year the initial weigh in was 35 pounds. What changed? I changed my menu and swapped out some heavier gear pieces like a multi-tool for a pair of nail clippers and key chain knife. I trimmed the pad down to size, the holes allow body moisture to escape. I up graded the stove from a tablet and can to a canister Burton mini-stove, this move cut my cooking time in half and reduced my weight several ounces. I changed out hard bottles for water bladders and doubled my in camp water capacity while reducing weight. It does come down to exchanging ounces for ounces without adding up the dollars.

The season opener proved to be just that opening the season for something awesome.

Tree Climbers

Luckau_selected_DSC3497_1.JPG, originally uploaded by preyingjaws.

Last Sunday morning I had the privilege to do a big family portrait session. I'm glad my friends showed up first to get me into the swing of things. I tried a few different poses with them. This tree climbing picture is one of my favorites of them.

Their clan began to filter in and for the next 2 - 3 hours I realized this is what I want to do. Take a look at the set and you will count over 30 individuals in the big family portrait. Yes, patience is a virtue. It can also be a fun curse. In the separate groupings the children were the most fun to work and create an image that incorporates each personality.

I learned a great deal in working with such a large group. The first is know the lighting. There is some speckling and shadows particularly with the big group set. Second, take more pictures then necessary. With such a large group not everyone will be looking at the camera. Third lesson is do not zoom in to closely. There are a few images where I chopped toes off.

As I processed the image I did include a wide white border know that some of the images will end up in picture frames. The white border will allow home printers not to use so much ink and will let them put the image into a frame without further chopping into the already close to frame images.

I know I am a beginner at family portraits. Each session or setting is a learning experience. I know that to become better I need to shoot more. I know that to shoot more I need people to focus on. As you are interested in getting an image taken please stop and see what I have to offer.

Thanks for stopping by.
Brian J

Trail Head A Head

Trailhead A Head, originally uploaded by preyingjaws.

I thought snow shoeing season was over. I am wrong. At the last minute I grabbed the hard-decks out of storage and I am glad I took them. I headed up to the White Pine area as part of my spring trekking rituals go. I do not go all the way to White Pine Lake itself as part of the approach crosses avalanche territory. The snow literally conditions literally changed with each step.

The weather recently is a photographer's dream come true with the myriad of clouds passing over. As for the skiers they say differently, particularly those in search of sugar snow conditions. This image is taken upon return to the trail head which is but 200 yards a head.

GLSC Art Show

Good Shepherd Lutheran Church is the church I grew up at.  I'm one of these characters who can tell you 'I remember when stories' about the place.  I wouldn't recognize the place if I didn't stick my head in there every so often to say hey and howdy the folks there.

One of the activities that is up and coming in less then a fortnight is the annual art show.  There are many talented people in and through out the church and who like me stay inter-connected with it.  The date of the Art Show is Saturday May 8th.

I will be showing a few of my images.  I am having a tricky time a deciding which ones I want to display.  If you would like to recommend a particular image you'd like to see me display please drop me a line.

Save this date:
May 8th, 2010 between the hours of 12 noon and 8pm.

Later

About An Hour Later

About An Hour Later, originally uploaded by preyingjaws.

My lawn temporarily looked like this for a split moment this morning.

Welcome to spring time in Salt Lake City Utah.

Check out the other two images, the one before and the one after. These images were all taken within 4 hours of each other.

Earth Jam

100_1796.JPG, originally uploaded by preyingjaws.

Earth Jam is more then a bunch of tree huggin' hippies getting together to have fun. It's about meeting people. It's about sharing ideas. It's about a lot of things. One could fill in their own blank here.

For me it's a chance to get outside on a gorgeous spring day to take random photographs of people in an unstructured environment. Along the way also meet new friends, reacquaint myself with old friends, and of course share an image or more of those I meet.

Seldom at the 'Love In's' like Earth Jam do I meet shy people who turn away at the first sight of a photographer. More often then not people want their picture taken. A free spirit doubled back on me after hearing the click. She quickly told me to take more pictures.

This lady I passed and seeing her style while walking her dog, I asked may I take your picture holding your dog? She let me. She is the first in a long string of people I asked throughout the afternoon and evening if I could take their photo.

I am wading through the 500 images this evening and will be on into tomorrow. I did give out a few business cards. I did mark a lot of photos after sharing them. I have not forgotten you I am wanting to make sure these images are mind blowing or at least above my own expectations when I post them for you. I am doing this for you.

If you read the post before this one on MS Utah, I wanted to post out of human interest factor not via the rules I shoot by. I like to shoot by the rules of composition, interest, exposure, and focus. Sometimes I bend them because I said I'd post a specific image and later see it does not meet my own criteria.

Before I close I do want to thank everyone whom my lens fell upon. I take away more then captured photons, I see a reflection of life. I return to you the aurora of yourself.

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For the photo geeks like myself, I shot aperture priority with an SB-400 flash set to minus 2 out put as a fill in flash. I don't recall the shutter speed or ISO figures at this time. I do try to preserve my exif data, so take a look at the additional info on flickr. Some images are cropped and have minor adjustments.

I do use open source software. This does not mean that my images are free. At events like this I love to share openly so if you are in the image or know those who are then do get a copy. If you use the image please link back to PreyingJaws(dot)com and let me know where the image/link is being show. I enjoy seeing where my images go.

Later with the Best.