Wednesday, December 30, 2009

My favorite photos of 2009 and what's in store for 2010




A year ago I had no idea what 2009 would hold.  Our paper had just layed off eight employees, shut down our in-house press.  I was due for knee surgery at the end of January.  A few months into the new year and we would reduce our publication schedule from five days a week to three, and reduce our staff size ever further.  Despite all of these changes, the remaining staff persevered to produce a quality product.

During the course of the year I always seem to question how good of a job I am doing--assignments I could have done better with, if I just would have looked for a different angle, used a different lens, etc.  With the end of the year closing in, I decided to pull together my favorite images from the past year.  As I looked through hundreds of photos, I realized I had a really good year.  I found photos that made me smile, either because of the moment they captured or the experience I had in capturing them.  To view the slideshow of my favorite Sky-Hi Daily News images from 2009, click here.

Now I ask the same question I asked myself a year ago, "What does the next year hold in store?"  I already know of several things I have to look forward to.  My son, Erik, has decided to enlist in the Army and leaves for basic training in two weeks.  The journalist in me wants to go along and document his journey, but I know I can't.  A few weeks after that I leave for three weeks in Canada at the Winter Olympics.  When I return, not only will I be returning to work at the newspaper, it will be time to start coaching girls soccer again.  Later in the spring I hope to travel to Georgia to witness Erik's graduation from basic training.  In the summer I am looking forward to my 30th high school reunion.  That's just half of the year and mixed in with all of these experiences I will be attempting to capture meaningful moments around Grand County for the newspaper.  Join me for the ride.

goo, goo g'joob

Sunday, December 27, 2009

Same event, same time every year...different image




On Christmas Eve, Winter Park Resort holds its annual Torchlight Parade and Fireworks--a tradition that has been going on for years.  I believe that in the last 22 years that I have lived here, I have photographed at least 20 of them.  This year's had to be one of the coldest though--somewhere around 5°F plus a steady wind, which created bitter wind chill.  Fortunately I was able to park my car right next to where I was shooting and could hop in to warm up as needed.

Someone commented on my Facebook page that this is basically the same event every year, why not just use a file photo?  No way.  I am always trying to create a better and different image than I have before.  Things around the base of the resort change.  Just look at the ad the ski area used to promote its holiday events.  The background photo is one I shot more than 12 years ago.  None of the base village buildings have been built--it just doesn't look like that anymore.

I had always wanted to shoot this event from across US 40 above the Lakota subdivision, but there were too many trees in the way.  As a result of all of the beetle kill in the area, there are many views that have opened up thanks to the removal of the dead trees.  I couldn't have shot this angle five years ago.

This event happens in several stages.  First the torch-bearing skiers make their way down the Lower Hughes trail.  They are followed by the ski area's fleet of snow groomers.  And it finishes up with the fireworks display.

Back when I shot film, I would do multiple exposures on the same frame of film to capture these different pieces into one image.  That also meant one camera, one image.  So I would often shoot with three cameras to have more than one image and to increase my chances of success.  With digital I can shoot multiple individual frames of the various stages of the event and combine the ones I want to use later in Photoshop to create the final image, but I still use multiple cameras to have different framing of the scene.

This year I utilized two cameras, one shooting horizontal and one framed for a vertical.  I used Pocket Wizards on both cameras to trigger them and help eliminate any camera shake.  It also proved useful while I was sitting in my car trying to stay warm.

I take my first exposures shortly after the sun goes down, so I have a frame with detail in the sky and detail on the ski trails.  Once the skiers start down with the torches I took several frames that, when combined later, will create one long continuous streak of light down the trail.  I do basically the same thing with the fireworks, I shoot several frames during the display and later pick the best bursts to add to the final image.

One of the challenges of being a photographer is creating new and different images of what happens around us everyday or in this case, every year.  I heard it once described as "creating extraordinary images of the ordinary."  It is the challenge I am happy to take on every day.