In my last post, I lamented how I felt I'd turned my back on my photographic education and friends and mentors I made and gained along the way, and I said I wanted to change that. I also mentioned that I went out last Saturday with the sole purpose of making photographs. Here are my two favorites from that evening:

Boat Launch, Bear River, Benson, Utah, 2016 — Boat Launch, Bear River, Benson, Utah, 2016

Cutler Marsh Near Benson Marina, Cache Valley, Utah, 2016

Last night Gina and I loaded up the car and headed back out to Benson, which is only about 10 minutes away. Instead of taking the tactic from last Saturday and drive from one spot to another, I decided to just go to one spot and stay there the entire evening. I think the exercise was fruitful. And even after about an hour of photographing there, I know there are many more hours of photographing to do just at that one location. Edward Weston spent much of his life photographing Point Lobos; he made 29 other photographs of peppers until he finally made Pepper No. 30 (part of me wonders if he finally thought "Eureka!" or if he continued with Peppers No. 31, 32, 33, etc...). Ansel Adams did the same with Yosemite. After years and years in those same places, they still continued to find new photographs to express the way they felt about those places. Back in college when I was living in Rexburg, Idaho, I returned time after time to Texas Slough. Something about that little body of water spoke to my soul. This is my favorite photograph from 2004:

It was so cold, and my fingers fumbled around trying to work my new 5x7 camera, and I stood shivering as I focused, took a light meter reading, and then waited the couple minutes while the film was exposed.

Like I said, I felt pretty successful last night. I took some of the lessons learned from Saturday's outing, and came away with stronger images. At least, I feel more confident in them.

I think I've found my "pepper" in this next photograph. That huge limb that's lying just above the water really drew me in, but this photograph (while I like it quite a lot) doesn't really emphasize that limb the way I'd hoped. I guess I'll have to go back and keep trying however many times it takes to get it right.

Setting Crescent Moon, Marsh, Benson, Utah, 2016

It's been a while since I went out specifically to photograph, but this afternoon a rain storm rolled through the valley and left behind some pretty dramatic clouds and I couldn't not go out and photograph them.

I'd never been out to Newton Dam before, so that's where I ended up. I've heard that there are Musky out there that I'm going to have to go try and catch once I get the necessary tackle for landing such a toothy fish. Anyway, here are some of the photographs I came away with:

Tree Swing, Newton Dam, Utah, 2012