Rolls Family Liberty Park SLC

One of the greatest parts of photographing people and their life events is seeing their forward progression of life from the first time you met! I was fortunate enough to cover Eric and Jo Rolls' wedding several years back in Steamboat Springs Colorado where we all lived at the time. Jump ahead more then 5 years later in Salt Lake City (we live 2 miles apart now) and I got to meet their first edition to the family. At 12 months, Evelyn already has this beautiful adventurous spirit and seems to enjoy being in front of a strangers camera like a walk in the park.

Yes, Patagonia may be calling soon for a sponsorship.

Heather and Kevin's engagement hike on Mt. Olympus

It has been a while since my last engagement session but I really like when we get to use a location that doesn't see a lot of action. If you know Utah then you know that Alta's Albion basin, Memory Grove park, Big and Little Cottonwoods can get really congested with family photo shoots in the height of wild flower and Fall foliage seasons. My friends Heather and Kevin also have two dogs, which makes shooting outdoors even trickier in the Wasatch. Today's session was more PJ (photo journalistic) then "stage and rage" which fit them just perfectly. I wanted to shoot light and fast so I kept it real simple, Sony A 6000, 16-70 F4, 10-18 F4 and 70-200 F4 all in my favorite action shooting back pack the Mindshiftgear 34L Panorama.

The trail to the summit of Mt. Olympus starts right at the edge of the valley and is an amazing place to enjoy sunset and watch the whole valley come alive.

There are several rock outcroppings that make for some great viewing spots in just the first 5 minutes of hiking.

That is Thunder mountain in the back drop, some 5000+ feet above the valley floor.

A little privacy for the happy couple.

Their two dogs were real troopers and would have kept going if it weren't for the dang photo shoot.

Not a bad spot for a break.

Happy happy.

Looking forward to a real cool Wedding in September at the Utah Olympic Park in Park City with a finale down the bob sled course!

Sunday with friends.

Although this hasn't been a banner year in or out of bounds, touring with friends is always good!  Today was another first for me to this little mound of goodness up Big Cottonwood Canyon.  My tour guides chose to return  back here from the previous day saying there was plenty still to be enjoyed.

 Leading the haul was my awesome cousin Kate Kopischke along with brothers Ralph and Bill Becker.

Playing around with some settings on the Fuji X-T1 I found you can move the "tilt-shift" to any where the focus point is.

Ralph Becker taking the lead for a bit while I admire the  aspens..... I think I see my line!

And for all that, you are often rewarded with stellar views of the surrounding Solitude.

The air out there!

This is going to be a short post, because I had to test out some new product (good plug) www.buyc2.com before the air gets any worse in our beloved city of Salt Lake. As an outdoor adventure sports paradise you might find it odd that there is such a battle with something as simple as breathing while enjoying life outdoors. There are often many smaller contributors to poor air quality but sometimes there are large contributors too. I won't go into detail but (bad plug) www.stericycle.com has been independently tested to be a MAJOR player in the degradation of Salt Lake city's AQI (air quality index). It doesn't stop some of us, but it does slow many people down from enjoying the city they pay taxes in. Today is an orange day or USG (Unsafe for Sensitive Groups). If you are ever curious about your air just visit www.airnow.gov .

Perhaps I should follow the girl with the dog and run away from the brown cloud?

Yes, that is the downtown of SLC.

Night riding Salt Lake City Utah

We recently came into a little warming trend after some cooler Fall weather so I brought out the night light (helmet mount) and discovered a scenic little section of the BST above Salt Lake. These were my finds.

There are numerous spots like this to view the valley, but this one had all the elements I was looking for this evening, single track, sexy curves, mountainess views and city lights! I was hoping to get a little further across the trail but that was it for a 30 second exposure.

Without another rider I was hoping to create a shadow of myself with the glow of my head lamp somewhere in front of me. The sexy curve was real nice too. Funny thing happened while I was making these, the editor of CyclingUtah magazine was up there on a night ride himself and asked what I was doing? He asked if I could send him over a sample or two and perhaps he would run it in their POD (photo of the day). Never know who you'll meet on the trail.

Wasatch Bike Park jump session

The new Wasatch Bike Park (indoor mountain bike park) that just opened here in Salt Lake City just added an air bag (stunt couch). Last night was the first night open to the public, so I set up a couple strobes and watched the talent get down.

The Founder Justin Randle has done an exceptional job with a great warehouse space not far from downtown Salt Lake. The wasatchbikepark.com is located at 815 W 2400 S and is making improvements daily. First off the entry has ample room for hanging out with bike rentals from scott-sports.com and harobikes.com along with gear from foxhead.com. The main room is the pump park with a technical area off to the left.

 These guys were working the whoops section of the pump park.

The largest room is considered the cross country room. This area houses the "stunt couch" or air bag for now.

 Yep, you can practice anything you like here!

I plan to be working on my fantasy jumps all Winter long.

I chose to cast a shadow on the back wall while using at least 2 strobes, so the set up was quite simple. I had one strobe on a small stand lighting the ramp from behind riders right and also creating a rim light from below while casting the "phantom" shadow with my second strobe camera right (CR).

Slight movements by either my main light or me and I could alter the shadow distance dramatically for different effects.

Lots of different kids here working on new tricks to take to the dirt.

Eventually, some pro riders dropped in and the back flip attempts became more frequent for the regular folk..

 This young guy was pretty fearless and I'm sure is hitting this wooden wall bigger then I will.

It really looks easy when you see it in person, but I know better.

Even though I caught him in an awkward moment, he did land this upright. That's the cool thing about still capture is "it's not always what it seems".

A couple more "backy" attempts.

You may have noticed that my main light was visible here in the center, perhaps for a commercial edit I would have tried to hide it behind one of the riders on the left.

This guy took home the biggest air of the night. As you can see he out jumped my "shadow caster" too.

He's back at it, but with someone else's bike. He'll be landing them soon.......

Thanks again to the guys and girl who helped make the first night a great success.