Just about 24 hours in LA

I had told my son Erik that as part of his high school graduation present I would take him to see one of the World Football Challenge matches this summer. The one that would work out best for us was the Inter Milan v. Chelsea match that would be held at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. It would be a quick trip--fly in on the afternoon of the game and back out the next day.

As we waited for our flight, I became bored and started shooting reflections in the floor of the DIA terminal:


After arriving in Los Angeles, we went to pick up our rental car. I got a great deal on a full size from Enterprise, but Erik thought the Mercedes looked like the way to go...we went with the Altima...Erik, the Altima, it's behind you:


Heading to our hotel in Arcadia, we jumped on the 605 freeway. Five minutes later, this is what the rest of the drive looked like:


After checking into the hotel, I had also promised him that I would take him to In and Out Burger. Here he is experiencing his first Double Double in 100-degree heat:


From there it was on to Pasadena and the Rose Bowl. It was my first trip the stadium since the 1986 Rose Bowl when Iowa faced UCLA:


We were part of a crowd of 81,000 at the game and what a great setting on a wonderful evening. It was a very entertaining game, but maybe next year Liverpool will take part:


The next morning I discovered my point and shoot was no longer functioning, so I wasn't able to get any additional photos. We found out our hotel was actually on Route 66, but I couldn't get any pix of the sign and I don't have any photos of Erik's first trip to Baja Fresh--yummy Mexican food. That was pretty much it--almost 24 hours on the ground in LA, most of it spent either driving on the freeways or sleeping.

goo goo g'joob

Fire on the mountain, lightning in the air

As I was getting ready to close my blinds last night, I noticed that clouds had built up over the Continental Divide. I didn't think much about it until, out of the corner of my eye, I saw several flashes in the clouds. A few weeks ago there had been a similar storm, but I was on my way back from Denver and I didn't have my camera with me, so I missed out on quite a show. I told myself I wasn't going to miss out this time, so I jumped in my car and headed to the Granby airport, which gave me a clear view of the storm.

I wasn't the only one who wanted a good view of the show. Not long after I got set up, one of the local police officers came by, not wondering what I was doing, but he said he was just wanting a better view. One of the advantages of working in a small community is getting to know the local law enforcement officers and having them not be surprised when I show up in strange places, at strange times.

The photo above was probably the best image I captured that showed a significant number of lightning bolts. I tried a variety of exposures trying to capture what I was seeing. As the sky got darker, the lights from Front Range cities began to light up some of the clouds along with the lightning. It took on an appearance of a massive fire or a scene from Lord of the Rings. The scene also brought to mind the Marshall Tucker Band song "Fire on the Mountain."

Stalking bicyclists

Had an assignment this week to illustrate a story we were working on about a new Colorado law that will go into effect on August 5. Motorists will now be required to give at least three feet of clearance when passing a bicycle. I had seen several other photos illustrating this, but they were all shot straight on showing a car passing a bicycle. I definitely wanted to do something different, so I thought the best route to go would be to shoot with a wide angle from a car as it passed a bicycle.

Sounds easy enough, doesn't it? But I would need to mount a camera to my car and position it in a way that it would show both my car and the bicycle. And I would need to find someone riding along the highway, not on a bicycle path. Actually the first thing I did was call a couple of friends to see if they would be doing any road biking--they weren't. So I would have to rely on coming across a cyclist by chance. Here is how my set up looked:


I clamped the Magic Arm to the handle on the door and ran a safety cable through the camera strap, Magic Arm and PocketWizard just in case anything would come loose. I would rather it dangle alongside the car than hit the pavement at 45-60 mph.

I was in the western part of the county, but didn't find any bikers, so I headed back towards Winter Park where I thought there might be a better chance of coming across some riders. My only worry was that the weather looked like it might take a turn for the worse. But it didn't take long for me to find someone and I was fortunate enough to pass him once, then pull over and let him go back by, then have one more pass.

Looking at the results, I wish I would have been a little closer, but that's where I wish I was photographing someone I knew, so I wouldn't cause the rider to panic. But considering on how quickly I had to get the shot done, I'm pleased with the results.

Click here for the story.

Gearing up for the Fourth

Danny Tucker assembles sideboards for mortars that will be used for the Grand Lake Fourth of July fireworks display. Tucker was helping Chuck Barry, whose family has been putting on the Grand Lake show for the past 28 years.

When an event happens every year, it's easy to get in the habit of shooting the same thing each time. So my challenge is to come up with something different. I was fortunate enough today to come across workers rigging up the mortars for the fireworks show in Grand Lake. As Chuck explained, "Putting on a fireworks show is a lot like preparing Thanksgiving dinner. There are weeks of preparation, the dinner itself that doesn't last very long, and then the clean-up, which seems to take a couple of weeks."

It sounded like a good idea...at the time

While shooting the Mud Race during Kremmling Days last weekend, I kept trying to think of something different I could do in order to come up with a really awesome shot. It was easy to shoot straight-forward action, so as I watched the first run I noticed there were a few of the trucks that had open roll cages that I might be able to attach a remote camera too.


Between runs I approached the driver of the truck that I had noticed didn't seem to get too much mud on the driver or in the middle of the truck where I would likely be mounting the remote. I explained to Mitch Perron of Soda Springs, Idaho, what I had in mind and he said go ahead.


After clamping the camera to the roll cage and adding a couple of safety cables to keep the camera or rigging, if it should happen to come loose, from dropping into the mud, Mitch checked out the set-up:


As Mitch's second run approached I got more nervous as I thought about all of the things that could go wrong. I had double-checked to make sure everything was tight, exposure was set and Pocket Wizards were working:


Aside from my concerns about my equipment, I was also worried about if the lens was going to give a wide enough view and if I was using too slow of a shutter speed. The answers would turn out to be no and yes.


The 16mm didn't quite give me the view I was hoping for and 1/30 of second was too slow for the speed and vibration from the truck. Oh well, live and learn. As the truck crossed the finish line I noticed that the Magic Arm and camera were starting to fall over (I think the vibration the truck experienced during its run loosened the Magic Arm). Fortunately the safety cables did their job, however the rig fell over far enough to put it in line where the mud was flying.




I finally broke down and cleaned the camera and lens this morning. The only consequence appears to be that I got some moisture in the lens while I was cleaning it and the autofocus seems to not be working. However, it does show signs of starting to work this evening.

This tree is just right

Heard a call on my scanner late yesterday afternoon saying there was a report of a bear in a park in town. I was going to ignore it, but seeing as we don't get many bears here in Granby I thought I might as well check it out. He was hidden by the leaves and branches from most angles, but after moving around to the east I was able to get this shot of him. In talking to the police officers who were keeping tabs on the situation, they said the plan was to leave him alone and let him come down on his own. The wildlife officer wasn't too concerned as this bear hadn't been a nuisance before, so they would let him be and sure enough, a few hours later he came down and went on his way.

"Please keep this pass visible at all times"

As I was trying to be productive today and clean up some things around the house, I came across the bag that I have tossed all of the various media credentials and passes I have accumulated over the past 28 years into. As I looked through them I reflected back on the variety of experiences they represented--predominantly sporting events, some significant, others just another game.

Among the credentials you can find:

•my forged photo pass for the Iowa-Michigan State game in 1981 which sent Iowa to the Rose Bowl. The first college football game I shot from the field, but spent most of the time worrying I was going to get caught rather than shooting.
•my pass for Mother Theresa's 1986 visit to the YMCA of the Rockies in Estes Park, Colo.
•my photo pass from the Colorado Rockies first home game in 1993.
•my Secret Service pass for G8 wives visit to Winter Park in 1996, actually it's so small compared to the others you probably can't see it.
•my media credential for the Kobe Bryant hearings in Eagle, Colo., in 2004.
•numerous Denver Broncos and Colorado Rockies credentials.