Cordova: Day 1.

Landed in Cordova yesterday around 1pm to lots and lots of snow.  They got about 16-20" in about 2 days.  I'm told that I was lucky to get in since all the flights the day before were rerouted to Anchorage.  Once I got checked into my hotel I got a bit a of tour of the town, followed by a family potluck with the Webber's.  After the potluck we drove around town trying to find locations for the post-wedding photos.  We found a few spots but with the heavy snow fall it all was pending weather.  Got a break in the clouds so we got a few ideas.
Today the sun is shining and everyone is very positive about the day, including myself.

A couple shots from last night.

It's been awhile...

Some exciting news in the last few months! We are moving back to Anchorage for the summer, tomorrow I am flying to Cordova to shoot a wedding for the Webber family, and yesterday I got Fiona (my Fuji S3Pro) back from repair!

First shot after getting Fiona back from repair

Went to Auke Rec to get a few shots to get used to the Fuji layout again before using it in the wedding on the 9th.

Black and White converted in Lightroom2

Part of a spine that someone placed on a piece of granite.

Granite AK Photo Shoot.

Friday was another fun day full of photo taking, hats, cold, and great company. Met up with Bri, CEO and creator of Granite AK, in the afternoon, after taking Noe to class. After a quick little chat at the river house, we moved on to our first destination. We hit up a couple Totem Poles on the UAS campus since I had to go back and pick Noe up from class. Shot a bit there at the two poles we knew of, and moved to Auke Lake. Auke Lake originally was not on our list of locations, but the lighting was right and I had a shot in mind. A few minutes there and we moved on to our last outdoor location of the day. Not sure what the place is called, but there is an old run-down shed that I drive by almost everyday. It sits in a large field, backdropped by beautiful mountains, and if you can get the angle right, the Mendenhall Glacier.

Here are a few teasers from the shoot. You'll have to check out Granite's website to see more.

www.granitegoodness.com

Bri and Noe at The Shed

Noe and Bri at UAS

Bri at Auke Lake

Snowboarding: Day 2.

Im about a week behind on this, and I apologize for that. On Wednesday, November 10th, Myself, Noe, Spenser, and Bri made a trek out to Eaglecrest for some hiking, and snowboarding.

The morning began, for me, at 7a.m. Once my alarm went off I got dressed and drove to The Grind. After I ordered and received my two Raspberry Redbull spritzers I headed back home. Delivered Noe her spritzer and cooked myself some breakfast. After breakfast we started gearing up and packing the car. We left the house about 9a.m. and Noe, Spenser, and myself met up with Bri of Granite AK in the EC parking lot. We began our hike sometime near 9:45a.m. and it started pretty mellow. Well, honestly the whole hike was pretty mellow in comparison to what I am used to hiking to snowboard. The first few hundred yards was just wet ground, not much snow until we got a little past the Black Bear chairlift. Once we hit snow we were very optimistic. There was not much at first, but it was good snow. It was wet, but not the really heavy wet that we all are not fond of. About two hours of hiking we made it to the Eagles Nest which sits at the top of the Ptarmigan chair. There we ate lunch and planned out where we were going to drop in. Spenser had a "secret spot" he wanted to take us to where he had been earlier in the week. After a little more hiking and tree climbing/dodging we were above our lines and preparing to drop. We were all very anxious, even more so because Spenser had mentioned how there was close to another foot since he was last there. Spenser dropped, then Bri, Noe, then myself. After our first run, Spenser, Bri, and myself all found something we wanted to hit, so we hiked up a little again. Hit our little hits and continued on. The ladies made their trek down the road a bit and Spenser and I hiked back to the Nest where we left our bags. The two of us hiked up a little more and made our drop down below the lift a little and cut over to meet up with the girls on the road. The snow was awesome, the company was awesome, having another day to ride was awesome. The only thing the day was lacking was visibility, but even with the low clouds/fog/whatever it was, we all had a great time.

For more photos and a short video edit of the trip, you can check out Spenser's blog here.

Eagle Crest trail map

Spenser and Bri gearing up for the hike

Quick portrait of Spenser

Noe ready for the hike up

Chair 100 of the Black Bear

Bri and Spenser on the hike up

Noe almost to the top

The Eagles Nest

Bri doing her post-hike stretching

The group of us eating lunch and stretching inside the Eagles Nest

Snowboarding: Day 1.

On friday I made a trip out to Turnagain pass with a big ol' crew. The day started out with a phone call from Chris Gadomski at about 6:15 a.m. need-less-to-say I promptly set my alarm for 15 minutes longer. Chris showed up at my house close to 7a.m. then we loaded up his truck and began our trek back to his house. We met up with more of the crew there, including Gabe Gibbs, Kendal Pastor, Colton Lowe, and Jett Selman. About 8a.m. we met with the rest of the crew at the southside rendezvous and headed south. Reached our final destination about 9:30a.m. and after a quick safety meeting we began our hike. Now I will be honest, this was the hardest hike I've been on to go snowboarding. Not sure if it was because it was my first trip of the season or if it really was that intense but regardless, it was kinda rough. The weather was almost white out so visibility pretty much sucked so I did not really have a chance to shoot. It did feel good to get out and strap in, got a few turns down and am loving all my new gear.

Some highlight shots of the trip.

Chris Gadomski ordering his 6a.m. coffee

The crew unloading for the hike

The crew hiking up

Jeremy Rumfield rests while Kendal Pastor films a little of our break

Final saftey meeting before dropping in

Russel gets a Method on a little pillow Kendal found

Ken Hayes with an Indy

Movember!

I've donated my face to a good cause. For all of November I will not shave my mustache. This is to raise donations for The Prostate Cancer foundation as well as LiveSTRONG. I am also doing a few promotions for this including; any donation over $10 will receive a free 11"x14" print of mine of the donators choice. On top of that I will donate 70% of what I make from print sales the whole month. The selection of photos that are available for print can be found on my flickr page. If you would like to donate you can do so by clicking here.

Memorial Day Weekend

This last weekend was Memorial Day Weekend, but of course you don't need me to tell you that. Noelani and I made our way South to "The Hole In The Wall" which is a Harrington Family camp site located near the Anchor River in Anchor Point Alaska. We arrived Saturday afternoon and stayed until Monday morning. Overall it was a wonderful trip, with great weather and better company. Sunday we went on a small hike at Happy Valley Falls which was an awesome site. Nothing too eventful happened really, and I didn't shoot as much as I had wanted. Below are a few of the shots I did take.

Robert, Brittany, and Sierra near Happy Valley Falls

Noelani and Warren "Buddy" at Happy Valley Falls

Eric Baxter at "The Hole In The Wall" with dinner

Warren "Buddy" Baxter

and of course, Happy Valley Falls.