A few weeks ago, I got the unexpected chance to spend the night shooting Earth, Wind and Fire. No, not the band, the elements. Shot Water and Sky too. It was pretty much just an elemental photography kind of night.

I was on the tail end of a road trip to California to go shoot the Gold Rush Adventure Race, set in the beautiful location seen above. I had just been dropped off by my awesome ride to Cali, Amy Marquis from the Digital Naturalist, for a brief layover at a Starbucks in Bakersfield. Four hours later, Brian Leitten of Hyperion XIII Productions, the film producer for this project, picked me up and we headed to Bridgeport, where the race was to begin 2 days later. The plan was to just go straight to Bridgeport, but that soon changed. We realized how close our route was taking us to Mono Lake and decided that we should go there, sleep a bit and shoot the sunrise in the morning. Little did we know that this was the beginning of a long night of increasingly great reasons to shoot instead of sleep.

A short while down the road, we came across the largest windfarm I’ve ever seen, in Cameron, CA. There was smoke rising in the background from what we presumed was a wildfire, and with wind turbines spinning in the foreground and it was a pretty stellar scene. So, we of course had to stop and grab some stills and video.

After wrapping up everything that we could get from the distance we were allowed to get to the wind turbines, we packed it up and got back on the road. About 15 miles down a highway that was essentially driving around the mountain the we had first spotted turbines and smoke on, we saw the source of all the smoke. As we got closer and closer and pulled in Mojave, CA, the scene just kept getting more and more epic. Smoke was heavy in the air and the horizon was glowing red, guarded by ominously spinning, giant turbines. We kept driving towards the fire, and checking google maps on our phones to see what roads will take us closer, all the while expecting to be turned back at any moment. To our surprise, that moment never happened. So we just kept driving til we got an angle on the scene that we liked, and shot to our hearts desire.

I know that wild fires are destructive and cause a lot of people hurt. And it’s even worse that this one in particular was cause by a small plane crash that claimed the 2 lives on board. But even so, I couldn’t help being struck by the strange, eerie beauty of it all. The juxtaposition of elements was palpable and the commingling of senses was intense. The glow of the fire and the taste of the smoke. The audible force of the wind driving the turbines and the fire at the same time. The loud buzz of of life giving energy created by this whole scene, flowing through large power lines that were not nearly as far overhead as I would have liked them to be. I have to say, it was all deeply unnerving, and it was the most stark cohabitation of creepy and beautiful I’ve witnessed since Fabio.

We stayed there for a while, shooting stills and video, but also just being blown away and trying unsuccessfully to take it all in. Eventually, having sufficiently appreciated and captured this moment for what it was, and we moved on. First to a Subway, since all other attempts at eating had been thwarted by the chase, then on to Mono Lake!

After Brian and I got to Mono Lake, we realized how amazingly clear the sky was and realized that we couldn’t possible sleep through what was such a perfect night for star photography and time lapsing. We became hugely inspired to abandon all hopes of sleep and make some star trail time lapses. Unfortunately, by the time we had shot the wind turbines, shot the wild fire, unsuccessfully helped some people change a tire at 2 am, finished driving to Mono Lake, found the shot we wanted and figured out the exposure and lighting, it was 5 am. And although the sun doesn’t rise until 6:30, it’s starts shedding it’s star photo destroying power at about 5:05. We tried for the time lapse anyways, but when played back 30 frames per second, you get about 1/3 of a second into it before the sun comes up and bleaches out the scene. Luckily, one of the great thing about time lapses is that even when the Plan A, doesn’t work out, you almost always still walk away from it with some great still images.

But with the glow of daylight just barely beginning to slide it’s way into the sky, came other opportunities for beautiful scenes. Everything unfortunately still looked really great, and we couldn’t stop shooting this far into the night/next day. Might as well finish the job. This is an image that I stumbled upon quite by accident. When captured, I was experimenting with angles for the next setup, and I moved on from this one and didn’t think much of it. But once I started cooking things up in Lightroom and editing a little bit outside of the box, I discovered an image that I quite like.

After eventually pulling into Bridgeport, in desperate search of some breakfast, we ate our fill at a local joint, and then zombied our way to our hotel. We checked in and only had time to take short naps, before it was time to start prepping for the race. From here on out I was shooting almost purely video, but there were still a few opportunities where I couldn’t resist switching my Pentax K-5 over into photo mode and grabbing a few great scenes. The most notable was at the very beginning of the race, which is the image at the top of this post.

The race was only about 30 minutes underway. The racers had just ran 2 miles, then biked 18 miles, then were arriving at the other side of this like to drop their bike and swim across. I had finished shooting the bike stage early so that I could boogie to the this side of the lake, where they would be swimming in to. As I was hurrying in to scout a shooting spot and get setup, I turned to the left, saw this, and my jaw hit the dirt. The first teams were just getting into the water, still too far away to shoot. So I enjoyed the cool, crisp air of the mountain morning, relaxed during this calm in the storm and spent 5 minutes making photos of this amazing scene.

                          

LowePro ProTrekker 400AW with Kata InserTrolley

Traveling is definitely one of the biggest downsides of adventure photography for me. I love being in the places that I go, but as for getting there, I could do without that part. As I said in my last post about my past trip to Puerto Rico and the trip I was on to San Diego, travel issues were a special part of both those trips, which spurred me to write this post. I’ve had definitely my share of travel drama and airport pains, and to a small degree, I’ve learned from them. So, I’m going to try and offer up the best in travel tips that I can muster. I think it’s nearly impossible to for traveling to be pain free, but hopefully these will help it be a little more like a mild headache rather than an all out punch in the face.

Tip 1 – Get everything you can onto wheels. With photography, especially the kinds that frequently require additional adventure gear, it’s pretty difficult to travel light. I’m usually quite happy if i can keep it under 100 pounds. And the move I move into the world of video production, the baggage scale is only becoming more and more my nemesis. Heavy bags will wear you out quick, and you don’t want to start out you trip already sore and tired. I have an assortment of wheeled luggage, some photo specific, and some not. There is an Eagle Creek Twist 45L rolling suitcase which is good for clothes and soft things, a SporTube hard-sided ski case which is actually great to use for light stands and other long skinny things, and my favorite: a Kata OC-97 rolling light case, which is a slice of rolling heaven. Not only is this bag beautifully laid out for carrying strobes, stands and other lighting accessories, but it is also has a bombproof construction, which is clutch since it always houses expensive items and is always checked. The only downside to this bag is that all that protection comes at a weight cost, and that definitely makes it a more difficult to make the 50 pound limit. Between the bunch of those, I can always fin a solution that carries everything I need and doesn’t involve strongmanning my luggage around the airport. I’ve found that having most of my items be on wheels has made a huge difference on arriving to an assignment or project feeling energized and ready to go, instead of feeling beat and ready for day off.

Tip 2 – Suck It In. When your MO involves rolling with bags that are flirting with the weight limit and technically too big, it’s important to do what you can to go unnoticed. The bottom line is that a bag that looks like a nice, tight package will seem much smaller than one that is sloppy and cluttered with peripheral items, even if there is very little difference in actual size. The wheels on the Kata light case, which is technically oversized, are a peripheral add-on; and while they don’t really add much to the dimensions of the bag, they definitely make it look much bigger. Every time I’ve traveled with that bag, I’ve removed them before I get to the baggage counter to help the bag look as normal as possible, and I’ve never been called out on it. Knock on wood.

LowePro ProTrekker 400AW loaded with Elinchrom Ranger Quadra pack, 2 Pentax K-5's, Lenses, and HDSLR video accesories.

Tip 3 – Don’t check mission critical items. With the way lost and damaged baggage goes, its imperitive to never let items that are mission critical out of your sight. If you’re just on vacation and a bag goes missing, it’s definitely a major bummer. But more than likely, with a few small purchases you’re trip can go on, even if it’s in limp mode. When you’re on a trip that is specifically for photography, however, and your photo gear goes missing, you’re completely hosed. Game over.

I pack the majority of my photo gear into my favorite new backpack, the LowePro Pro Trekker 400 AW, and never let it leave my personal bubble. Apart from the fact that this photo backpack is just flat out awesome, are a few things I love about it that are specific to traveling. For starters, it’s carry on size, but just barely. Also, it’s really great at comfortably carrying a substantial amount of weight, which makes keeping my checked under the limit a little easier. If I think I’m going to be moving a lot of weight, I’ll just go ahead and stick all the smallest heaviest things in that bag alleviate the check bag of some penalty inducing pounds. Having a bag that can do that without torturing your neck, back and shoulder is almost as important as wheels. Which brings me to my other favorite things about this bag, which I only discovered on this trip to San Diego: the wheels that come out of my Kata bag when I check it can easily slip into the shoulder strap adjustment sleeve (as you can see in the photo at the top!), which makes moving from security to terminal to gate with the Pro Trekker a cake walk. Well, usually it’s a cake run. Next tip.

Good Travel Advice!

Tip 4 – Leave room in you itinerary. Things to go wrong, and this can be particularly awful on the front end of your trip. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve screwed myself good and hard with this one. Something will always pop up that will add to the amount of time it should theoretically take to get from where you are staying to your seat on the plane. Unexpected traffic, forgetting that you need to stop for gas, jockeying weight around between bags, a million people in the security line. Plus, I’m the kind of person that seems to think if a plane leaves at 7:45, then you should be able to roll up to the gate at 7:44 and it’ll all be good. Apparently it doesn’t work that way. The guideline up top is pretty good advice, although some airlines won’t take bags inside of 45 minutes. Just do everything early. Pack early, leave early, get there early, go through security early, get to your gate early. The half hour or so that you “waste” by being early will be nothing compared to the whole day that you WASTE because you miss your flight to Puerto Rico and they only fly there once every 24 hours.

Tip 5 – Bring food or snacks. Traveling is expensive enough as it is. But eating meals at the airport is brutal. I’m pretty much hungry every three hours, so that means every time a plane takes off or lands, I’m hungry. Essentially, for every airport I set foot in, I’m out ten bones. Any food I can bring to snack on while I’m waiting at my gate, killing time during layover, or trying to avoid buying that $9 mid-flight cheeseburger that is really quite small and fairly awful, can really help cut down the hidden costs of traveling. Cliff Bars are my best friend.

Bullseye!

Tip 5 – Try multiple scales. In light of my constant issue with 50+ pound bags, I always try to get my bag on the scale as soon as possible so I can start jockeying stuff around to make weight if I need to. On the way out I had one of my proudest moments of my traveling career. Dropped my bag on the scale and got a perfect score! I did a little dance, and sort of made a scene. But on the way back home, I had another new experience that is potentially very helpful. While the attendant was looking at his computer, I plopped my bag on the scale, which frustratingly read 52.5 lbs. I was just about to pull it off the scale and start messing with it when I decided that since the attendant hadn’t seen that number, I might as well put my bag n the next scale over and see what happens. Much to my satisfaction, it read 49 lbs. So I left it there, and the problem was solved. Now, I don’t know how widespread the inaccuracy of airline package scales is, but seeing as how the very first time I tried it, the scales tipped in my favor, I know I’ll definitely be trying this from now on whenever my bag is close to the limit.

Well, that’s all I’ve got for now. It’s far from a complete list of travel tips, but it’s everything I’ve got figured out so far, even if I’ve yet to successfully implement some of them. I’m sure I’ll have many more “learning experiences” in my future travels, but in the meantime, I would love to hear some of you travel tips in the comments, whether you’re a photographer or not. Cheerio!

                          

Pentax K-5 with DA* 16-50/2.8 @16mm - 1/125th at f/8, ISO 320. Elinchrom Quadra with 8 1/2" reflector from left behind rock.

This post was about to be brought to you by the letter S (The S is for Sucks.), but yoga had to go and mess things up. Sorry. Had to. Moving on…

Things have sure been warming up lately in The Colorado Front Range, and it’s sure starting to feel like summer. Right now, I’m on a plane headed for sunny San Diego, where I’m sure it’ll be even warmer. All this sunshine, heat and the soon-coming saltwater breeze of being near the ocean is reminding me of the time I spent this winter in Rincon, Puerto Rico. I was invited down by Adi Carter, of the YogaSlackers, who was spending the winter down there to get away from the cold of her New York home. It wasn’t a hard sell for her to convince me that I should come down for a week to shoot stills and video of surfing, slacklining and beachside yoga of her and some others that she was going to be with. Photos from San Diego will roll out in near-future post, but for now I’ll just share from PR.

We took it somewhat easy for the beginning of the week, since Adi was doing a lot of teaching and I was spending my time scouting and getting to know the area. But the end of the trip a photographic rampage, pulling off 7 photo/video shoots, in 5 different locations, of 4 different sports, in 2 days. Well, I guess portrait shoots aren’t a sport. So, 3 sports, but just go with it. Would have taken too long to explain in a non-awkward way. Crap. Did it anyways…

Now I’m on the plane home from San Diego. (It took me six days to write that???) It was an awesome trip and I can’t wait to share the results! But I’m glad I drew out the conclusion of this post, because the more I compare this past trip to California, with the trip to Rincon, PR, the more I notice another striking similarity, besides the sand and sun. Both trips were plagued with the bane of all adventure/travel photographers, and of people who like to travel with cameras, and of people who just like to travel, and also, of people who don’t like to travel, but have to anyways. It’s… Travel Drama!

I’ll let this post end before it turns into a marathon, but right behind it will be a post with the best I can offer up in photography travel tips. For now, enjoy these images from PR.

Stay tuned!

Pentax K-5 with DA* 200/2.8 - 1/180th at f/5.6, ISO 125.Elunchrom Quadra with 8 1/2" reflector sraight on.

Pentax K-5 with DA* 300/4 - 1/1600th at f/4, ISO 100.

Pentax K-5 with DA* 200/2.8 - 1/180th at f/2.8, ISO 80. Elinchrom Quadra in 53" OctaBox from close left.

Pentax K-5 with DA* 16-50 @16mm - 1/180th at f/5.6, ISO 160. Elinchrom Quadra with 8 1/2" reflector far away from tight left.

Pentax K-5 with DA* 16-50/2.8 @16mm - 1/180th at f/4, ISO 80. Elinchrom Quadra with 8 1/2" reflector from right.

Pentax K-5 with DA* 16-50/2.8 @16mm - 1/250th at f/4, ISO 80.

Pentax K-5 with DA 18-135 WR @18mm - 1/320th at f/5.6, ISO 80.

Pentax K-5 with DA* 50-135/2.8 - 1/180th at f/10, ISO 80. Elinchrom Quadra with 8 1/2" Reflector from right, Pentax 540 flash from back left, sun from back right.

Pentax K-5 with DA* 200/2.8 - 1/125th at f/5.6, ISO 200. Elinchrom Quadra with 8 1/2" reflector straight on.

Pentax K-5 with DA 18-135 WR @18mm - 1/320th at f/5.6, ISO 80.

Pentax K-5 with DA* 16-50/2.8 @16mm, 1/180th at f/8, ISO 80. Elinchrom Quadra in 53" OctaBox.

Pentax K-5 with DA* 16-50/2.8 @16mm - 1/125th at f/5.6, ISO 200. Elinchrom Quadra with 8 1/2" reflector from left.

                          

Two of the greatest parts of being a full-time freelance adventure photographer are the ability to be somewhat location independent and the freedom to take large chunks of time somewhat off from work. These two things were put to excellent use last month when Genny and I decided to spend the month in Connecticut. We grew up in neighboring towns in CT, so most of our families, as well as many of our friends are still in the New England area. And except for our two moms and one aunt, none of them had met Annika yet. So with Genny on Maternity Leave and our awesome doesn’t-cry-on-airplanes baby in tow, we were off for a month of…

Rain.

Like I always do when I head back east, I compiled a list of things I wanted to climb, places I wanted to photograph, and the people I wanted to do them with; which always far exceeds the amount of time I have on the ground. I’m a happy clam here in Colorado, and I love the local fare of climbing, hiking and mountains, but there is still a very special place in my heart for the small, steep and sandbagged rocks and hills of New England. Amongst all of this scheming, and in light of being used to the 300+ sunny days a year here in Boulder, I seemed to have forgotten what brings May Flowers. Rain. Or more precisely, April Showers. And guess what month we were home for.

Luckily, in an effort to keep the trip reasonably vacationish, there really wasn’t anything I needed to shoot. Just lots of stuff I wanted to shoot. And when it became apparent that good weather days were going to be in short supply, and that there wasn’t going to be enough for all the climbing and photography I wanted to do, I did what any adventure photographer would do. I hung up my camera and went climbing. You might not think this was right thing to do, and usually it wouldn’t be. But this time it was.

Looking back over the last three years, I’ve realized that a big part of being an adventure sports photographer is spending a lot of time watching through my camera as other people have all the fun. I was becoming too much of a photographer, and not enough of an adventurer. Worst of all, I felt like I was beginning to lose the love for these sports that had driven me to want to document them in the first place. The way I saw it, I needed to leave my camera alone for a little while and spend some time reminding myself why I ever picked it up, or risk losing the most valuable thing you can have as a photographer: Passion.

But of course, I couldn’t play the whole time! There was one place I really wanted shoot. Around Northwest Connecticut it’s just known as “the daffodil place”. Acres of land that were planted with daffodils decades ago, then donated to the public and allowed to run wild. They usually only peak for about one weekend a year, and according to my mom (who has it all figured out based on when the daffodils in her yard bloom), it was going to be the last weekend we were in town.

The idea was to find a beautiful yoga teacher, put her in this beautiful location, and voila! Beautiful yoga pictures! So, in search of a subject, I hit up the local yoga studio, the Yoga Center Of Collinsville. After a blistering yoga/pilates class that left my core in flames, I approached the teacher and asked her if she would want to shoot with me, and she was all for it. We met on a beautiful Saturday morning, and these are what we got! Big thanks to Susan, who was flexible with scheduling and posing, and as committed to making great images as I was. She brought beautiful, awesome, strong energy to the day!

Enjoy!

                          

This past weekend was the 12th annual American Bouldering Series National Championship. And as such, the climbing elite descended upon Boulder, CO to crush anything they can get their hands on. Children and small pets beware.

I love climbing comps. They’re tons of fun to watch, have tons of energy, and you get to watch some of the strongest climbers out there tear down the walls. But as fun as they are as a spectator, they’re twice as much fun as a photographer. All of the same stuff applies, but you’re closer because you get to be down in the trenches with the climbers, where you can almost taste the energy and emotion. One of my favorite parts of having that kind of access and proximity, is getting to observe the way they interact with each other in the face of competition.

Hit the jump for more images and for what I love most about climbing comps.

I think the best sportsmanship and camaraderie I’ve ever seen has been at climbing comps. My favorite image from the night is the one above. And it’s not because it’s anything mind blowing from a photography stand point. In fact, it’s somewhat soft, and a bit noisy, since it was crazy dark where they were sitting. But I love what is happening in it. In this photo from left to right are Alex Puccio, Angie Payne, Francesca Metcalf, Tiffany Hensley, Sasha DiGiulian, and Kasia Pietras, with Alex Johnson out of the frame, up on the wall. For those unfamiliar with climbing comps, the reason they are in in chairs facing away from the wall is that the competitors have to face away from the wall until it is their turn to climb. That way they can’t watch how the previous climbers as they attempt to solve the problems. So, what you’ve got in this photo is that the girls who have already gone are watching and supporting their competition who is on the wall, and the two girls waiting to go are friendly as can be, talking about staying clam and what they think the route sounds like. It’s not too many sports that you find this kind of decorum among athletes who are in direct competition with each other. By the way they act, you would think they are all on the one team. But of course, when things get global at the World Cup in Vail every year, many of them are.

Alex Puccio took the night for the ladies, and Sean McColl took it home for the guys; both with very strong flashes of their final problems. For much better info than that, check out the write up on the Climbing Magazine site, with photos from yours truly.

                          

Boy has it been an exciting last few weeks! I am vaguely aware of the fact that it is no longer 2010 or that many, many weeks have passed since Christmas. I’ve fallen off the blogging wagon hard. Tons has happened in the last month and there are so many things I’m excited to talk about. But just this one time, I actually have a pretty legitimate excuse. And this excuse makes all the other things I’m excited about pale in comparison. From the picture above, you can draw one of two conclusions. Either I’ve given up on on adventure photography and am now a baby photographer. Or…

Five weeks ago today, Genny and I were so excited to welcome our brand spanking new daughter Annika Leigh into the world. She is most definitely the cutest baby on the planet. Apologies to everyone else, and I won’t take it personally if you still think yours is cutest out of obligation. But for realsies, she is. Annika is our first, and we’re both really excited (and fairly terrified) to figure out the adventure the lies ahead of us. I guess, in a way, this is still adventure photography.

                          

When I started this post, having already decided to stay in for Halloween night due to needing to get work done, recover from a long few days and be refreshed for a full day of shooting the next day, it was supposed to be a quick recap of the week, and some of my favorite images from the various shooting I’ve done in the last few days. I guess I was inspired by, no, depressed by, no, inspired by how depressed I was about sitting here, being Captain Lame Sauce for Halloween. This post is by no means meant try and garner sympathy, or try and make it seem like my life as a photographer is ‘sooo hard’ or anything. But for something as generally regarded as ‘wicked sweet’, or a ‘dream job’, like professional adventure photography, I thought I would use this moment of stewing in the unfortunate down side of this lifestyle, to reflect openly from the heart, and try to give everyone an honest look at the other side of the the equation of life as a professional photographer. It may be a little morose, and the events accounted might not have been quite as bad as described (close though!), but this is meant to be an accurate representation of how some days of ‘living the dream’ really feel. Inside, you’ll find a relatively unedited stream of consciousness that reflects how I was feeling at the time, and of course, the images that this whole post was supposed to be about! Cheers.

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Professional Adventure Photography Is Lame.

Not all the time, of course. Most of the time its awesome. Most I love my job. And most of the time, I’m not working on Halloween night.

I’m in NYC right now, and have been for the past few days. What started out as a casual trip to shoot some stand-up paddling yoga with Adi Carter of the YogaSlackers, has turned into a whirlwind, tour de force, marathon of shooting, editing, networking, trade-showing, and since I’m in the city, walking. Everywhere.

*Cue the wavy television scene cut that indicates the forthcoming account of events past.*

I get in at 12:30am on Thursday morning, and am at the Rockaways on the shore by 2am. After a bit of sleeping, I’m on the beach by 8am, shooting some surfers who are tearing it up at the 90th street break. After 4 hours of shooting, it’s back to the bungalow to download, sort and edit. Then a walk to the pizza place for two delicious slices of BBQ pizza, a quick hang out at Boarders, the local surf shop, and then back out to the beach for some sunset shooting. Back to the bungalow. Download, sort and edit. I try to get to bed early, but it doesn’t work.

Six-thirty rolls around, and it’s time to set out on dawn patrol. Back to 90th street while the water is calm (in a relative sense), to try and shoot some stand up paddle yoga. Things go well. The sunrise is gorgeous. And I’m back in the bungalow, downloading, sorting and editing. But this time I’m in a hurry, because I still have to reassemble all my traveling bags, leave two in Adi’s car, and take the other one with me to the train I hope I won’t miss, to get to the PDN PhotoPlus Expo.

Things always take longer than I think they will, and I barely make the train, which gets delayed later on anyways. I make it to the Javitz Center with 2 minutes to spare before the workshop I’m supposed to be at. Just enough time to buy a coffee and a overpriced, mediocre cheeseburger. The very awesome Corey Rich teaches an equally very awesome workshop, and for the first two hours since the wheels touched down at JFK, I can relax. By now, it’s already 3, I’ve already been at it for 8 hours, and the day isn’t yet half over.

Spend a few hours on the show floor, until it closes. Head out to grab some dinner, and get some work done on my laptop for a few hours. Then hit up the PDN Bash networking party, where I run into Corey again, and we have some great conversation about the future of photography. Hang out for a while longer, and manage to find my way into the VIP room where the drinks are free. Never a good thing. By the time I leave, it’s 11, and after wandering my way to the Times Square subway station, delays on the 7 train, and figuring out the alternative route, it’s 1am by the time I get to the new place I’m staying, where Adi dropped off my stuff (what a nice gal!). Getting to bed early was already long gone, and it doesn’t get any better when the creative bug bites and I stay up till 3:30 video editing.

Up at 6 the next day to finish the video, and I’m off into the city to have breakfast with Michael Clark, one of the top dogs in adventure photography. Then the rest of the day is spent at the expo, listening to talks, taking a workshop, checking out new products, talking to editors and marketing people, and getting my regular hustle on. This day ends at 7 which feels early. I finally manage to actually get to bed early.

That brings me to today, which thanks to the PhotoPlus Expo ending a day earlier than I thought it did, is void. I sleep in late. Then have a delicious brunch at the Cafe Henri, a small french restaurant in Queens, with Kathryn, (with whom I’m staying), and Dan, who is also staying with her and is another of the ubiquitous YogaSlackers. The day is slow and mellow, and involves far more playing on a playground than a usual day. And finally, I can spend some time sorting through and organizing my stuff, my inbox and my brain.

And that leaves me where I am right now. Which is behind my laptop writing a blog post, inspired by how lame I am for intentionally doing nothing on Halloween. I guess what I meant when I said that professional adventure photography is lame, is that professional anything is lame from time to time. But photography has more of a habit being lame at all the wrong times. Like right now. I think Halloween is great, and I’m in NYC, which is a very fun place to be on Halloween. I would love to hang out all night, have a blast, eat a bunch of unhealthy food, have a few beers, stay up late and feel like crap in the morning. But I have two full-day shoots the next two days, and I want to be on the ball for them. It just so happened that Halloween night is the one evening amidst all this chaos that I have to get my head back on straight, and the one evening before the morning that I have to once again be awake, alert, organized and creative. Which leaves me with a choice. Do what I want to do, and go have fun all night. Or do what I know I should do, and get my crap together.

I guess this isn’t just limited to professional photography, or professional anything-ing. Being successful at just about anything often comes down to whether you’ll do what you want to be doing, or what you know you should be doing.

This was just supposed to be about posting pictures, video and a few words. And now after all this negative reflection, I don’t even want to attach my images to this post. It would feel too much like, “Hey guys, I just got all emo and cranky, and complained about being tired, lame and lonely for 10 paragraphs. Here’s some cool pictures!” And I wouldn’t want the negativity of this preceding paragraphs to rub off on the images. But then I realized that I have to attach them to this post. Because they are what redeems the whole situation. They are what makes this whole game worth it. And they are why I’m here doing any of this to begin with.

Maybe the last few days have been uber-hectic, chaotic, long and tiring. Maybe it’s Halloween, and I’m not doing anything. But then I look through the images from the last few days, and I realize that I saw all those things. With my own eyes. Through the lens of my camera. And that in those moments, I was at work. On the beach.

And when I think of it this way, the last few days don’t seem that bad at all. Enjoy the images!

                          

Holy crap, where have I been?!? Sorry to be silent for so long, bloggies. The last 4 months have been some of the busiest of my life, and unfortunately the blog got thrown under the bus. But enough apologizing. Tons of great stuff was going on, and lots more is on the horizon. Among my favorites from the last few months are:

-Doing an art gallery of climbing images at the prAna store in Boulder to benefit the Access Fund.
-Taking a trip with Genny and our friends Travis and Laura in a VW bus to the Black Hills, SD.
-Attending the ever-crazy, always-tiring and mostly fun Outdoor Retailer trade show in SLC.
-Teaching an intro to Adventure Photography Workshop, here in Boulder, with Julia Vandenoever, Photo Editor of Backpacker.
-Spending two days at the gorgeous YMCA of the Rockies in Estes Park with Yoga Journal, shooting their annual Yoga Conference.
-And as always, doing lots more shooting with those rambunctious YogaSlackers.

Ok ok. Enough about the past, Ben. What’s this about the Aspen Lodge CycloCross?

One of my favorite bunch of images I’ve taken in recent weeks was just the other day, and was entirely serendipitous. After spending a few days in the mountains at an awesome place called Camp Timberline, hanging out with a bunch of high schoolers and gettin’ wild with some ziplines and epic nighttime games of capture the flag, Genny and I were on the way to Estes Park to get some pie, and drove by what appeared to be a pretty rockin’ CX event. With my gear in the car, a very patient, awesome wife, and a complete inability to pass by something like that without stopping to shoot, I pulled into the event and started firing away.

Cycling, of any sort, isn’t something that I’ve shot much of; and I always love the opportunity to try my hand at shooting a new sport. There’s a certain freedom you have when approaching a sport that you don’t typically cover. Especially when no one is relying on you to bring home the goods. You get to approach the action with a clean slate, an open mind, and no preconceived ideas of what that sort of photography ought to look like. I had never even seen a CX race go down before, so I wasn’t even sure what to expect; which just makes it all the more enjoyable for me as a shooter. The unexpected and the unknown are very often, the most enjoyable. Everything you see is for the first time, as you take it all in through the lens. Then you just react, and try to capture all the action, energy and emotion as it unfolds before you. Just like an athlete who cross-trains, I always find shooting that things besides my usual sports are excellent at honing and sharpening skills for when I’m back on the usual beat.

I had a super great time taking in the Aspen Lodge CycloCross event, and big thanks go out to the people at DBC Events, for putting it on. And head over to 303Cycling for an event wrap up and race results.

All images shot with the Pentax K-7, DA* 16-50mm f/2.8 and DA* 200mm f/2.8

Lastly… Mad props to the kid above for riding the hardest part of the course on his sister’s pink Strider bike.

                          

For the last two days Sam Salwei from the YogaSlackers and Adelaide Marcus of the Shimmy Sisters have been in town on their Discovering Harmony in Duality workshop tour. I always jump at the chance to shoot, hang out or play with any of the YogaSlacker team, so Sam and I had been trying to coordinate something for while they were in town. I had never met Adelaide before, but she is a belly dancer, hooper, stilt walker, fire spinner, and all around awesome performer and artist, so I knew working with the two of them together would make for something magical. The problem was that my schedule was very tight while they were in town, and theirs wasn’t much better. After one of their morning workshops in Boulder at the prAna store, we decided that the only way we would get to work together was to do something after their evening workshop in Denver, which meant we would be starting no sooner than 11pm. We got together at a Boulder park where we played, experimented and shot late into the night. I didn’t really have the time or energy, and I still don’t. I shouldn’t even be writing this post. But I’m just too pumped about how we made the shoot work and what we got from it. There are other things I should be doing, but they don’t stand a chance of occupying my brain right now. I’m stoked about these images and the about joy of be able to work with Sam and Adelaide, and the only way to clear the slate of my mind and get back to other work is to share it all. Their workshop is all about the coexistence of opposites: the stillness of slackline, the movement of hooping, the tranquility of yoga, the intensity of fire. In trying to find balance in life, I find that to get to you goal, you sometimes have to take a path opposite of what you thought it would be. To go faster, you need to slow down. To go forwards, you need to take a step back. And sometimes, to feel energized and full of life, you need to stay up way past your bedtime being recklessly creative. Enjoy!

Hit the jump for the rest of the images!

                          

The Teva Mountain Games are stuffed to the absolute limit with whitewater paddling, rock wall crushing, dirt jump soaring action. But there are two things that that I might like more than the non-stop adrenaline rush of all the competitions, and those are the Emotion and the Lifestyle of the event. For all the athletes who compete, and more than likely the majority of the audience, these sport aren’t just activities, they’re a way of life. And in any given sport at the games you’ve got some of the best in the world competing against each other, and what’s best is, they’re all friends. So as you can imagine, there’s a lot of emotion in the air, as some of the best athletes in their discipline’s compete among friends for in the sport they live for. On top of that, you’ve got the hordes of spectators who are also passionate about outdoor sports, the gorgeous setting of Vail Valley, and the totally rockin’ nightlife like the free Julian Marley concert you see at the top. What I’m trying to say is, you really should have been there.

Hit the Jump for more images!