Painting With Light at Delicate Arch

This photo was taken at Delicate Arch in Arches National Park, Utah. It's it by high-power hand-held spotlights, and was a 30 second exposure at f11. It was a fun exercise and is a technique I will use to light a building sooner or later while on campus.
We have had a lot of great informative lectures and workshops out here. This afternoon everyone was split into 3 groups and run through 3 different lighting workshops. I have a lot to work on with the portraits I am shooting, a whole lot. Looks like I'm going to start carrying a lot more gear also, it's time to start lighting things up more.

Skate and Photo Session in Orem, Utah

After a long day sitting in classrooms Tom Thompson and I hit the Orem skatepark to get some exercise and work on our photography skills. Shooting skateboarding is on of the more challenging disciplines in photography. If you have never done it I'd suggest going to your local park and playing with it. But first go to a bookstore and look at the magazines. It's all about creativity, off-camera flash and wide-angles!
The above photo is Tom going frontside in Orem's concrete bowl. The light was great, beautiful clouds and the setting sun behind me. This was around 8:30 last night.

That's me, backside rock in the Orem skatepark. Photo by Tom Thompson.

UPAA Workshop

Well I am in the middle of this year's UPAA symposium in Provo, Utah. The above photo is Glenn Carpenter judging photos at the print competition. There are some really wonderful images here this year!
We had several informative lectures yesterday. There was an archivist from BYU that spoke on the longevity of current storage media, which was very interesting to me as I have so many images at ASU and I worry about them being available long after my existance.
We also had an instructor from RIT do a photoshop lesson, and saw a rather spetacular set of photos from a gentleman that has traveled the world and shot images of religous symbols and temples.

Off to Utah!

Had a great weekend just hanging out with Mary and Ileya and now I'm in Utah for the UPAA workshop. It will a be a week of learning how to take better photos with lectures on everything from photoshop to psycology and studio lighting workshops. Cool thing is that this place is beautiful and I'll get a chance to do some scenic photos also.
I'm gonna miss my girls though!