Mt. Timpanogos with #newlywedsnotnewlyweds!

I was fortunate enough 6 years ago to photograph Devon and Kaydee's wedding in Steamboat Springs Colorado, where we all met several years prior  serving in the youth ministry together. These two are my favorite couple ever!!!

At 11,752 feet Mt. Timpanogos is the icon of the Wasatch as far as I am concerned. So when Devon asked if I wanted to hang with them on their first summit as husband and wife, I jumped on it. Naturally I turned it into a photo shoot for their 6th anniversary and what a great day it was. To add to the challenge my friends are triathletes now, in full fledged training mode AND it was my first hike/run of the season! I am not a runner by definition, but if I was it would strictly be trail running. But, I am not a runner...... perhaps a fast hiker. Anyhow, they were a joy to follow up the 5,000 vertical foot, 15 mile roundtrip heart pumper that is Timp, with a photo backpack on.

 We chose the more scenic approach from the Aspen Grove site which gives you a few hundred more vertical and is loaded with waterfalls this time of year. I liken it to an escalator in the woods, with every switch back you make the valley just drops away and the scenery only improves the higher you go.

Never a shortage of "God showers" to cool off in either.

 A stunning landscape alone, but add 2 trail runners and their dog.....................WOW! The wildflowers are just starting their magical transition too.

Emerald Lake is a proglacial beauty and a nice place to refill your water before the final 2,000 feet up to the summit (top right). Also, the snow glaciers are what counts for the highest number of accidents, resues and death with hikers, due to the practice of "glissading" with less than ample skill.

 This was the only mandatory snow crossing, and will be gone in another month.

 Kaydee in her last few strides to the summit and almost 7,000 feet above the Provo valley floor.

 In case you didn't know, both male and female goats have horns. This little one is getting first hand experience on cliff management from Mom.

The observation hut at the summit was constructed around 1959 to help with infrastructure for hikers and rescue parties. It also helps block the summit winds during snack time.

 Perfect day for a summit with this crew! Yay human skittles.............

Happy 6th anniversary guys. #newlywedsNOTnewlyweds

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!

Catching the corn before Winter returns.

My brother recently visited from our old home of Steamboat Springs Colorado with a couple of over-sized grown up toys to play with in the spring  like conditions of the Wasatch! Thanks to his wife for loaning her Specialized Fatboy to my wife, I then secured a Salsa Mukluk from the cool folks at Go-Ride sports. Conditions were mere guess work as this is a fairly new sport here and finding "daily ride" conditions is really hard. It only took about a mile of dry road before we got onto snow and even though we had a late start conditions were now great for the 4.7 inch tires with 6 psi.

The views are very impressive from the road, but we were hoping to find some firm corn which would allow for an almost endless choice of routes. Due to our late start, the higher we went the warmer the snow was feeling and the less our options became.

We stuck to the snowmobile tracks as these had the most stable base to keep us floating, but once we hit the highway summit we realized our tour was hitting it's return mode. The next day would change dramatically with lower temperatures and a lake effect[ storm.

Wow, what a day can do in the mountains! We actually made it to the summit of Guardsmen pass in the blizzard and decided the visibility was only getting worse, plus we were both ready to dry out,warm up and find some breakfast.

Meanwhile, back in the valley we had to get Blue out on at least one trail as the Wasatch canyons are all watersheds and do not allow dogs up any of them. The reliable Bonneville shoreline trail is always fun and even funnerer on a Fatty!

Five day photo challenge?

I couldn't wait to be nominated by any of my photog bro's for the "black and white five day photo challenge", so I decided to create my own and stiffen up the challenge a bit. I feel as photographers one photo a day is not very trying and even more so choosing photos that had already been produced meant time in front of the computer instead of behind the camera. I decided to create all five of my B&W images from my most recent back country trip in the Wasatch mountains of Utah. This was my first Winter visit to this spot in Big Cottonwood Canyon but I knew where I wanted to end up, I just wasn't positive of the route I would take. Fortunately I found a trail right across from where I chose to park and a skin track was already in place.

This was only 2 days after Christmas but everyone up here was enjoying the "gifts of white" under and in between the trees like it was Christmas morning all over again!

My goal today photographically was to find some scenes that would transfer over to clean black and white relics of the untracked Winter landscapes amidst a bustling back country playground. By the time I hit my summit the sky was beginning to fade but the trees were ever so frosted and the lack of tracks made for some great moments.

I often look for defining lines or an element of surprise to add dimension to an unfinished composition, like the animal tracks here in this pristine "pow" field.

If I was shooting skiing this would have been an epic spot to leave some marks, but the sheer pleasantness of no other skiers was absolutely perfect for my assignment today.

Worried that no one would know I was here, I was forced to leave something behind for the next visitor of this little paradise.