Still finding Solitude.

Solitude Mountain Resort is a new and unfamiliar playground for me. Finding the ideal shooting spots can often take years to learn and I have a hard time with that. Fortunately, the other day I was  introduced to my new favorite action hero, a veteran athlete and Big Cottonwood local by the name of Jason West.
This was going to be a great day!

A locals knowledge is good, but a veteran athlete's is really good! As a bonus some new terrain was opening and with the warmer temps and clear skies it would be a challenge to find the lighter snow.
After a big traverse we found some surprisingly light and unnoticed lines to work with.

Solitude is a quaint ski resort soon to experience some upgrades from the recent acquisition with Deer Valley.

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.