I did it all without coffee or breakfast

Did I just hear a siren?  Wait, what time is it?  Did I just dream hearing a siren?  If I did hear a siren, what kind was it?  Ambulance?  Police?  Fire department?

My alarm clock goes off, so I turn it off.  It's my day off, so I'm in no hurry to get up.  But what's that smell?  Is something burning?  I stumble around the house trying to determine if what I'm smelling is coming from my house.  There is no smoke, but the smell is fairly strong.  I'm fairly confident that it's nothing in my house, so I decide to investigate outside.

Wow, it's cold again this morning!  The smoke smell is definitely coming from somewhere in town.  Now that I am starting to think logically, I go back inside and turn on my scanner.  Within a couple of minutes I can determine from the radio traffic that there is a fire at the Frontier Motel.

I grab my cameras, start the car and head to the other end of town.  As I arrive, I see a lot of smoke and some flames.  I spend the next hour shooting the firefighters efforts to finish putting out the blaze.

I head back home and download the images I shot.  I post one to the newspaper web site and e-mail several to our layout person for the day.  Not a bad morning for not having any coffee or breakfast.

goo, goo g'joob

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

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.

Ships passing in the night

The International Space Station and Space Shuttle Atlantis create streaks of light in the sky as they pass over Byers Canyon on Wednesday evening while traveling at more than 17,000-miles per hour and more than 200 miles above the Earth in this 30-second exposure.  The shuttle had undocked from the space station earlier in the day, which created the two separate streaks.


I was incredibly fortunate this evening as I was able to capture the International Space Station and Space Shuttle Atlantis as they passed over Byers Canyon.  Adding to the image was the fact that the shuttle had undocked from the ISS earlier in the day, but was still in the same orbit, thus creating the two individual light trails.

I had been planning to shoot something like this for some time, but the ISS never seemed to cooperate--whenever I thought about shooting it, it would only be visible along the horizon if at all.  So I happened to check its upcoming orbits last week and, sure enough, there were going to be several days with evening orbits over Grand County.  I used Heavens Above to figure out where and when the ISS would be --it is a great site to determine when the ISS or other satellites are going to be passing over your location.

Now that I knew it would be very visible, I just needed to decided where to shoot from.  My first thought was to set up and shoot from a hill just outside of Granby, but the more I thought about it, that wasn't going to be as interesting a photo as it could be.

My next thought was to go somewhere around Lake Granby, but I still thought there was something better.  Then I remembered I had been trying to come up with something different to photograph in Byers Canyon, west of Hot Sulphur Springs.  This was the perfect opportunity.

Armed with my photo gear and my printout with all of the pertinent details from Heavens Above, I headed out to find a location in the canyon where I could show the amazing rock features with the light trails from the spacecraft.  My first pass through the canyon yielded three or four possibilities.  I soon realized there was a problem however--with the way the canyon winds, I had no reference as to where exactly the ISS would be coming from.

Fortunately, as it grew darker, I could start to make out some of the stars that I could use as reference points from the sky chart I had.  But I was still worried about where exactly the light trails would be in relation to the canyon.  I stopped and started to set up in the location that I thought would work, but the more I looked at it, the more uneasy I became that it wouldn't yield a good photo.

So I moved on to another location, pondered, then moved on to one last location.  At this point I had less than 15 minutes before the ISS would be passing over, so I decided to make the best of this spot.  My plan was to try and shoot with two cameras to double my chances of getting a useable image.  I set both up, tinkered with how I had each framed, then waited.

Suddenly I noticed a faint light crossing the sky about 30 to 45 degrees to the east of where I thought I should be seeing a light.  I basically freaked out and tried to get the cameras moved to catch it before it went out of view.  My tripod fell over, I reset the cameras and tried to click off a frame.  I was frazzled and was letting loose with quite a string of curses.

What had gone wrong?  Was I really that far off on my set up?  Frustrated and cold, I decided to start packing up.  Glancing once more to the sky, I noticed a very bright point of light appearing above the canyon wall, then shortly after that, a second bright light.  I hadn't missed them, it was some other satellite I had seen!  I scrambled to get my gear out of the car and get it reset before the space station and shuttle were out of site.  I was able to get one 30-second shot off, which is shown above, before they were gone.

It was well worth the effort and difficulties.

goo, goo g'joob

Two of my favorite images from over the weekend

The incredible colors of Saturday's sunset:


These mugs were hanging up at the Grand Lake Brewing Company and picking up the colors from the television:

All alone in Rocky Mountain NP

I went up to Rocky Mountain National Park this morning in hopes of finding an image for the front page. I did see a bull elk in the trees, but couldn't a good photo of him. I was able to get a shot of this coyote before he scampered back into the woods.



Aside from a couple of workers doing some work in a campground, I think I was the only person in this part of the park. Despite the tire tracks in the snow on the roadway, I never saw another person.

A frosty cold Coors. . .Field

On Sunday I shot my first Rockies game since the deciding game against the Phillies in the 2007 NLDS. It was nice to be recognized by several of the security folks and ushers after a two-year absence from Coors Field. I spent nearly two and a half years covering the Rockies from May 2005 to October 2007 and knew many of these people by name. It was always a pleasure to show up at the ballpark and chat with them even if it was for just a short time. I can't say the same for the stick-in-the-mud types over at Invesco Field. Take a hint folks, if I've made it through the five security checkpoints between the media entrance and the field, I'm probably supposed to be there. But I digress.

The story of the night was the weather, so the storytelling image would be something showing the players dealing with the bitter cold. I wasn't seeing what I was hoping to see, that is until the Philadelphia Phillies began to come out for batting practice. As pitcher Pedro Martinez walked through the dugout I knew I had an image I liked.

I should also mention that it's always good to see my photographer friends from Denver. I don't miss all of the driving I used to do when I was covering the Rockies, Broncos, Avalanche, etc., on a regular basis, but I do miss the camaraderie with my fellow photographers.