Flies

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Yesterday I went fishing up Logan Canyon again. Before I hit the river, I went to the local fly shop to get a few flies I was lacking material for to tie myself. Turns out the reason I've been having such bad luck is because I've been going too far up the canyon, and into Brook Trout territory, who, evidently, become quite lethargic and don't like to feed much this time of year. So, I took the advice of the guys at the fly shop and stayed much lower in the canyon where the Browns like to hang out. I went a little past Second Dam, and fished a while with no success, even though I could see the fish in the water. I tried a few different fly patterns, both dry and nymphs, but they still didn't want to bite. After fishing about 200 yards upstream, I went back to where I entered the river, and started fishing downstream. About 60 yards down, I a few hard rises, and after one bad cast, and then one well placed cast, I saw the fish rise. I set the hook, and I knew I had him. He (or she; I don't know how to tell the sex of the fish yet) turned out to be just a young 8 inch Brown, but after 2 weeks of no fish, I finally felt better. And I was even more happy since I'd caught it on one of my own flies. I haven't figured out how to photograph the fish I catch myself—at least the ones I don't keep—so I don't have any pictures of the fish, but at least here's a photograph of the fly I caught it on (size 18 Henry's Fork Hackle Midge):

And since I was already set up for that photograph, I decided to make another (this fly I didn't tie—it was one of the ones I bought yesterday):

 

Logan River

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Lately I've been getting out fishing up on the Logan River after work and on the weekends, and with the change in daylight savings time, it's made fishing after work a lot more fun. Although I haven't been able to convince any of the fish to bite on the fur, feathers, and thread tied on a hook quite yet, it's still really enjoyable to be out on the river after not having fly fished in several years.

After I got done fishing this stretch of the river, I had to come back to photograph it.

Logan River 2nd Dam

This afternoon I headed up Logan Canyon to scout out some fishing holes and see if there were any bugs flying around. I managed to find a couple of pools that I should be able to hit without having to buy waders just yet. While I was out, I stopped at one of the three dams on the river to see if it was worth photographing, and came back with these:


Life...Don't talk to me about life.

So...It's been what, 6 months? Yeah, I've been blogging-lazy. Not much real new or exciting has been going on. Just work and coming home and being lazy. Well, until last week. I started camping at our job site that we've been at for about as long as I've been Blogging-AWOL. We've been there about six months and we're not even half way finished. At present, we're projected to be finished in the summer of 2008.
Last week when I camped up at the job site (the owner of the property had a yurt built there, and is gracious enough to let us stay in it), I brought my mountain bike and went for a ride Monday night, and Tuesday and Wednesday night I went for a couple of hikes and found a neat little stream and made a few photographs. Once I get a scanner I can finally start putting up all the TONS of new photographs I've made in the last year or so.

Blog Facelift

You'll notice I change the template on my blog somewhat often. I never really like the "stock" templates you're given by blogs, webpage developing software, etc... So I decided to try and make my own. Ok, I actually didn't make this exact one, I just...changed one that someone had already created. I had always wanted one of my OWN photographs at the top of the blog...now I have one.

Anyways, in my last post, I mentioned that I had gone down a dirt road and under the highway next to the Provo River. All this week I've been camping near there. It saves gas (it's only 20 minutes away from the job site instead of 50), and it get's me outside. So thursday I decided to take advantage of the situation and go photograph. Here's a (bad) photograph of the bridges of the highway that go over the Provo. I made a photograph with the 4x5, pretty much where Tex (that's what I've decided to name the Pathfinder) is, then hiked up a little bit to get a better angle with my crappy camera phone. At least it's something new, right?

....

I apologize (to anyone that happens to even look at this blog) for the lack of photography-relevant posts lately. And for the lack of any kind of posts at all, for that matter. I don't really have any kind of excuse, other than the fact that I've gotten blog-updating-lazy. Nothing really exciting has happened since the purchase of my Pathfinder. Except for me finding dirt roads all over the place north of Heber on the way to Park City. One of them takes you down off the highway (Highway 40, FYI) and parallels the Provo River and below the bridges of the highway that spans the river. I went exploring Monday, and ended up going down that road. I'm kind of certain that anyone who isn't Fish and Game or BLM isn't supposed to go there after looking/researching the area a bit more--it's all part of the Provo River Restoration Project. Despite the sentance in one of the posts about the Pathfinder, about me being an environment destroying SUV owner, after I realized just where I was, I got out of there. But I did manage to make a photograph of the bridges. I'm excited to see how it turns out...Just gotta get another batch of negatives developed...Ughh. I need a DLR.

Anyway, here a few kind of old, and really poor pictures I snapped with my camera phone a few weeks ago bouldering in Rock Canyon. Enjoy, or...whatever.


Nissan Pathfinder part 2

I have officially joined the ranks of the environment-destroying SUV owners.
I got the Pathfinder last nite, and I couldn't be happier. It drives like a dream, and it'll be excellent when the snow hits, which is soon...like, tomorrow, soon. We got a little of the white stuff today, but only for about five minutes.

Nissan Pathfinder

I went out car shopping today and found a 98 Pathfinder. All the financing stuff should be finished on Monday or Tuesday. I'm real excited to get it. Going through Provo Canyon and up to Park City won't be so bad this winter.
Winter is pretty well on it's way, I think. All the mountains here got a pretty good dusting last night. I think Park City is high enough that it saw some of the dust as well, which might be bad news for us framers. We're about done with the roof of the house we're working on, and then we get to finish framing up the interior walls in the upstairs and finish out the basement, and finish the porch and deck (which are quite large). And then we have another house to start that will be ready in 2 or so weeks. This new company is really good. It has been a good switch. Except for the coming winter. We could do without the several feet of snow that will be on the ground soon.

New Job

So I start a new job on Monday. I'll still be framing, but I'll be building log cabins up in Park City for Custom Scandinavian. I can't wait. It'll be fun to learn some new skills, but it'll be an awefull commute. Oh well. Oh, and I got a new hammer. My old one started getting a crack in the handle, so I decided to replace it now.

Anyways, like Jon, I had neglected my camera for too long. WAY too long. This morning I was out running errands and drove by the BYU campus and there was a little "park" area that looked excellent, and decided to come back in the evening when the light was nice. So I loaded up my film holders and headed out. It turned out to be quite a nice little "park." Although with all the wedding bridal shoots in this one "park," I actually started to gag. Just kidding, but seriously, it was redicolous. Anyways, on with the photography stuff....I think I came away with some nice images. I almost didn't make one or two of the photographs because I wasn't too sure about them, but decided to make the photograph anyway. If they don't turn out well, no big deal. I won't have lost much. Well, anything at all really. All in all, it was a pretty satisfying date, er, evening with my camera. Now I just gotta work on gettin my negatives developed and scanned.

New Apartment

So I'm in my new apartment. I got moved in a week ago, and I'm "borrowing" someone's wireless. (shh...don't tell). I'll have my own in a week though. I'm liking it so far...except for one thing: the walls are completely bare. All of my frames are still up in Idaho. And the way things are going, I won't be able to go back up to Idaho for 3-4 weeks. I may just go buy one or two frames to get something up. I really want to have my photos all over my walls here. Other than all that, things are still pretty much the same: work in the day, do whatever in the evening. Once I get all my developing trays down here I'm going to get to work with getting negatives developed. I mentioned in my last post that I have a lot of them. I still haven't figured out how I'm going to solve thescanner situation; it's going to be a while before I can afford my own, unless I want to max out a credit card. Maybe after I get my skill saw and nail gun paid off I'll do it...we'll see.

Here are a few more new/old photographs:

I printed this off, but I'm still not sure if I like it. The tree right in front looked better on the ground glass than I thought it would...I'm torn. By the way, that one is in Discovery Park in Seattle.
This next one is really old; I took it on the last trip Darren, Jon, and I took to the City of Rocks. I don't think many people have seen it, but I like it, especially after adjusting the contrast and levels. I almost think I could go a bit further though.

It's Mine!

I just got the R2400 today, and just ran off my first print and it is gorgeous. Okay, it's my second print--I forgot to check a certain setting on the first one, and even it turned out beautifully. Anyways, I'm soooooo excited to be able to output my photographs again...it's been a long and painful year. I'm hoping that within a month or so to get a good scanner to import new images and get those printed.

I'm Back, But From Utah

Well, It's been a real long while. For those of you who read this, and have wondered "where in the world is he?," I moved down to Utah a few weeks ago, and just barely got internet service last night. I got a job framing still down here. I'm living in my cousin's basement (while finishing it), who lives in Saratoga Springs, located a few miles west of Lehi. I think I've decided to just take this year off of school and not go to USU for the Landscape Architecture degree...yet. My heart is still set on an MFA. I just need to figure out a way to get better copy slides QUICK, cause deadlines are very soon. Or perhaps altogether new slides of my photograms. I just wish that grad schools whould accept a web gallery or some other type of digital presentation for the portfolios. It would make things easier on all parties, I think.
Anyways, I don't have any new images this post, although I have about 50-60 sheets of film to develop. As soon as we finish the bathroom in the basement, my big project will be to get all thos sheets developed.

Long Time

Well, it's been about three weeks since my last post, so I figured it was about time to put something up. Nothin particularly exciting has happened in the meantime, except that I went down to Salt Lake City two weeks ago looking for apartments in the area, and while I was down there, I went to Liberty Park (here's a link to some photos I found on the web). It's a fairly large park, close to downtown. I'd been there once a few months before and knew I would need to photograph it. I don't know the history of the park...yet, but just from being there, I could see that whoever designed it was influenced by Frederick Law Olmsted in one way or another. There were certain elements that Olmsted used in his parks that were apparent in Liberty Park, such as a Ramble in the park, and a Parkway leading to the park from the city. I made several photographs of the park that trip, and I will likely need two or three more trips to completely capture all that needs to be captured there. I still need to develop those negatives, along with several others. That's the one bad thing about being out of school now, is I don't have ready access to a darkroom.
Anyway, here's a new construction photograph:

Camping Trip

Well this weekend I went up to Island Park to camp and to photograph. It was a much needed trip; for one, I just needed to get out and camp (it had been a LONG time since my last camping trip), and two, I needed to go up there and make some photographs before the snow sets in up there, which is coming quickly. I stopped at all the..."major" sites: Sheep Falls, Harriman State Park, Island Park Reservior, Big Springs, and my favorite, Island Park Scout Camp. All the leaves are changing color up there (and in some spots, have completely fallen off the trees), and it was really pretty.
I borrowed my brothers digital camera and made some photographs to be able to put up here on the blog sooner than if I had just used film (it seems it takes forever for me to get film developed). I hiked down to Sheep Falls, and found a fire ring:

I'm not real sure how old it is. I looked like it had been there a while, but it still caught my eye nonetheless.
Then, I made this photo:
I only made it to pretty much document the change in the position of the log. My friend Darren photographed this waterfall a while ago, and the log has completely changed location. But after looking at the photograph more, I actually kind of like it.

More Construction Photographs

I got one of the rolls of film developed of all the construction photographs I have been making at the jobs/houses I'm framing, and have been gradually getting them scanned and corrected in photoshop. The goal/plan is to have a good number of prints to bring to the regional SPE conference at the end of October to share with some friends. Here are a few more that I have finished (well, sorta, I still need to work out some color balance issues, but you get the idea):


And, on another note, I've ultimately decided to forego the grad classes at USU, and instead, begin pursuing another degree in Landscape Architecture. It took a LOT of thinking and debating to arrive at the decision, but it's what I think to be best right now. I still may apply to a couple grad schools this winter, but I'm not sure yet. I think I may have my parks project to blame for the decision. I began to notice a lot of things about the layout and placement of plants and paths and such in the landscape, and I have begun reading Frederick Law Olmsteds biography again (I got half way through during the second semester at school last year, and then kind of put it aside at the end of the semester), and it started making me think about a second degree. So I submitted my application to USU for the winter semester, and now I'm just waiting to hear back from them, which may take a little over a month or so, minimum.

Website Update

I finally got a web gallery of my photograms up on my website. So far I only have the images posted, and I'm in the middle of writing a process statement, and maybe an artist statement; I'm not sure if I have anything to come up with for an artist statement yet though.
Also, here's another photograph I made at the last house we just finished building

Photograms

The past little while, I have been slowly getting all of my photograms corrected and fixed to put them up in a gallery on my website (which I hope to get done this weekend). While I was trying to fix one that was, and still is, nearly impossible to match to the original print, I started playing around with levels and curves and hue and saturation, and other tools in photoshop, and I came up with these:

I played around with the curves on this one
On this one I just applied auto color
This one is the original scan, which doesn't at all match the original print (I've finally decided I'm going to have to rescan this to get it to match the original print)
After playing around like this, I think this could be a way to take Burchfield's idea one more step. But I almost feel like it's a cheap way to be different. And, there are some that I just can't bring myself to alter so dramatically; the original colors are too beautiful to not try to preserve.