Chasing "that" Shot...

How many times have we as photographers seen someone else's image and thought, "Man, THAT'S the image I want for my living room... I need to go take it!" only to try and try and try and never quite get it right...?

That has totally been me for the last few years living in Colorado. Ever since I saw that image of aspen trunks (I'm fairly certain you all know EXACTLY the shot I'm talking about...), I've been trying to take it myself. Geez. Fail after fail after epic fail. I've gotten some really pretty images of aspens, but it hasn't been THE shot.

Until now, I think. Finally, I think I might have nailed it... Until the next time I see "that" image and have to go chase it down.

Crankworx Colorado

I have had the biggest mental block in the planet over trying to figure out what to say on this blog post. This morning, I gave up after sitting at my computer for an hour looking at photographs of other people riding and not getting anywhere, I totally gave up and went mountain biking myself.

I STILL have total writer's block.

SO..... These images are from Crankworx Colorado, a huge mountain biking festival that takes place in Winter Park in July involving cross country races, slope style competitions, and this thing called the Intergalactic Pond Crossing...

We got there fairly early in the morning... Here's Winter Park:

Some of the bikes were priceless, really... Especially if you work at a bike shop like I do.

Then, we got to the serious stuff. These guys that compete slopestyle are freaking amazing.

There's always a cute pooch or two to throw in the mix...

...and the Intergalactic Pond Crossing. Riding a bike across 2x6's attached to floating styrofoam blocks... HYSTERICAL.

Hope you enjoyed! I certainly had a great day drinking beer and shooting pictures...

The other day, one of my friends asked me, "So, did you ever do anything with those pictures you took at the cyclocross race last fall?" Of course, I hadn't. So I did.

Cyclocross, for those of you who aren't quite sure what it is, is this slightly in

sane discipline within cycling where people basically take road bikes with slightly knobby tires and race around a course filled with obstacles, mud, and ruts. It's a mess. Bikes (and their owners) break on a regular basis. Drive trains get gunked up beyond recognition. Spectators tend to have beer for breakfast. It's quite a culture.

That being said, I have a few of my favorite images from the day to show...

Those pesky obstacles make for a lot of jumping off (and back on) the bikes.

...and much running with the bikes...

The faces are priceless...

Then there was that thing about culture... Dogs EVERYWHERE!

We're going to Crankworx this weekend, more cycling photographs to come!

Baby Pics!

This little guy was ADORABLE! And SO good. We made the poor baby lay on his back, on his tummy, on the floor, outside, and he never once complained. Not so much as a whimper! I had an awesome time photographing him, so thanks to Mom and Dad for that! I'm just gonna let the pictures speak for themselves...

LOVE baby feet!

Not the sharpest image of the session, but one of my favorites nonetheless. The dog was tipping me over as I shot, but I love the look on baby's face!

I have been dying, most of my life, (well, okay, not most of my life, but for a long time, anyway) to go down to southwestern Colorado and bum around places like Durango, Silverton, and Ouray. A couple of weeks ago, I finally got to go.

To be completely cliche, OMG. It was one of the most beautiful places I have ever been in my life. The snow was melting, and the cascades down all the random mountain sides were spectacular. As any good photographer would do, I spent the whole weekend cursing my idiocy for forgetting my tripod. Ever tried to shoot moving water without one? Doesn't work very well...

Anyway, all idiocy aside, it was beautiful. I can't wait to go back there again. Here are a couple of images from the trip...

Somewhere along the Hermosa Creek Trail:

These next couple were along a random stream bed with a dirt road running next to it just outside of Silverton.

Down another random dirt road outside of Ouray...

And we decided we couldn't NOT go to Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, as it was only like 12 miles out of our way on the way home...

Moab, UT

I'm sure you have all read my lament about Mesa Arch in Moab, UT, from my blog post a couple of years back, about being there at the wrong time of year, there being too many other people around, and blah, blah, blah.... I hadn't had the chance to go back and nail the shot. So when Matt and I went to Moab, UT, for a long weekend of mountain biking in February, I couldn't help but get his ass (and mine) up before the crack of dawn to go photograph the damned arch whose beautiful photograph has eluded me for so long.

With much grumbling, we made it out, and instead of 40 tourists jockeying for position, there were about 10 normal, sane people hanging out, quite polite and careful to stay out of each others' way so we could all get a good shot. And so, I think I nailed it enough to keep me from having to go back there for a while. Here are a couple of my favorites.

Good enough for me. For now, anyway!

Of course, a trip to Moab is never actually complete without a trip out to Delicate Arch in Arches National Park. After mountain biking all day, Matt and I decided it would be an awesome idea to hike out the three miles and see what sunset looked like up there. It was COLD. Thanks to that, though, it was us and one other lone photographer, which was awesome. I snapped a few frames, and decided the wind was just NOT worth it to stay any longer, but I did get this image:

Nice to not have to Photoshop any people out of it!

That's it for now, hopefully I'll get back on track with the blogging!

Mary Had a Little Lamb...

The other day, my friend Susie asked me if I would be interested in going to one of her friend's farm to see microgreens and little lambs. I said, yes, of course, I would love to make like Mary and play with lambs. I didn't quite know what to expect, but it ended up being a very cool experience. Susie's friend grows greens for some of the best restaurants in Denver, and it was, well, delicious, to be wandering around rows and rows of trays of greens and sampling them at will. Here are some of them...

The farm also has sheep for milking; they also make cheese. We went into the room where the cheese was aging, and it smelled awesome! Too bad it was really dark in there and I didn't have a flash....

And where there are sheep, there will be lambs...

And a baby was born while we were there... This little girl was about 15 minutes old at this point... SO FREAKING CUTE!!!!!

Hope you enjoyed the images from the farm!

Kayaking in December

While we were down in Florida, my husband and cousin thought it would be a great idea to go kayaking... I told them to go ahead, that I would gladly hang out on the beach with my camera and take some pictures of them - that water was COLD, and I'm kind of a baby for cold water. We loaded up the boat with ourselves, the kayak, all my camera gear, and the dog, and dropped anchor in the inlet by my cousin's house. I'm looking around, not really wanting to get wet, and knowing darn well that water's deep where we are stopped, wondering how in the hell I'm going to get my camera gear down to the beach without soaking it. What do I do? Load myself, the gear, and the dog into the kayak, and off I went. Thankfully, my camera gear and I did NOT get wet, and I managed not to capsize the kayak.

In any case, it was a gorgeous afternoon, and the light was at that "magic" stage. Combined with the colors of the beach, I felt like I was in photographer's heaven. Here are a few of the results...

My cousin caught a pretty good wave here, and rode it until he fell over when the kayak hit the sand.

My husband showing off his stuff...

The dog...

And the results of getting somewhat bored at the boys' repeated attempts to catch waves...

So I'm FINALLY getting around to looking at some of the images I took in Florida over Christmas. We go down there to visit my family most years, and much to my husband's dismay,I usually drag my humongous backpack full of camera gear on the plane "just in case" I decide I want to take a photograph. As usual, I'm glad I did. I managed to drag him out to a few different nature preserves and a National Wildlife Refuge, and I got about three shots I like.

And I can't leave out the humor....

Seriously, the thought of anyone "molesting" an alligator is just creepy...

Anyway... Up in the next post, some adventure sports, Florida style!

I Want to be a Photographer

I want to be a photographer. I decided this (again) sometime in the last week. I miss it. All of it, even the parts I thought I hated. I want the excitement of brides on their wedding day. I want to capture the fun in a toddler's eyes as she discovers new things. I want to be that idiot laying on the ground at the park to capture the light coming through the flowers at just the right angle. I want to spend the hours at the computer, figuring out new ways to manipulate images that I think people will like. I want to remember how to use Photoshop to create the advertising pieces that so many people complimented. I want it all back.

Whew! I had to get that out. I feel better now. "So," you might be asking yourself, "where in HELL is she going with this, and what does it have to do with anything?" Well... I don't know. But just this morning, I found myself farting around, actually playing with manipulating images in Photoshop. Here are just a few of the results, starting with the original image. Enjoy!

Wow. 2010 is over. SO fast... I think I blinked and missed it. It was a tough year for me with photography. I've been pretty burned out on the whole thing. I played around a little bit this fall with a friend of mine, shooting for myself for a change, and slowly started enjoying it again. By now, I actually miss the people, the places, and the fun... Anyway, here are a few shots from the fall, with more to follow... I promise, this time...

We went to the zoo one day, and this guy was just hanging out there, posing for me. I have this stupid soft spot for bears, as long as they're not trying to eat me.

This was a rather phallic mushroom I found on the floor of a gorgeous forest at Meyer's Ranch Open Space Park.

Susie talked me into going up this (okay, not terribly) nasty four wheel drive road off of Fall River Road. Apparently there was supposed to be a lake up there. When we arrived, this fallen tree was the only thing worth photographing. Stupid drought!

This is another one from Meyer's Ranch Open Space. I swear, aspens have eyes...