Fox

Disgusting
Rotting
Questioning
Searching
Pondering
Hurting
Learning
Beautiful

Ivy

_MG_4972, originally uploaded by dksumm.

Spent this morning in a lecture with the BA students. It was about landscape photography. As interesting as it was, I kept thinking about what kind of photographer I am.

What kind of photographer am I?

I like making photographs no matter the subject. Landscapes or portraits, doesn't matter to me they are both fascinating. I would like more experience with still life and commercial assignments as well. Until then I will continue to try and figure out if I should follow one path or the other.

Mother Nature Taking Over _ 2

Even before we as people abandon a place its decay has already begun. We just don't see or notice it taking place. Once we have left then things can uninhibited.

Mother Nature Taking Over _1

Mother Nature Taking Over _1, originally uploaded by dksumm.

This is photo one of a series I am starting. I am calling it mother nature taking over. We were at an old fort in Oregon when I decided to start the series. I noticed a number of years ago while mountain biking that mother nature actually takes back over where we as humans have been when we finally give up and move on.

Some of the trails that I used to bike were disappearing where people stopped using them. I found it sad because that means less people are out enjoying some beautiful places. At the same time it is good because it shows that there was less abuse of the land. I have been thinking about it ever since then.

3 Versions of One Scene

This scene was shot in Yellowstone National Park in the summer of 2008.

Involving Water

Panoramic

Used Photomerge in Photoshop to put together a few pictures of Riby Lake to make a panoramic.

Yellowstone National Park

I apologize that it has been so long since I blogged anything. My computer has been on the fritz. We also made a trip up to Yellowstone not too long ago. It is about an hour away, maybe a little longer.

Anyway we packed up our twins at 4:30am and drove up. It was the perfect time because the Kids slept the whole way. Ours was the only car at the west gate. The air was still cold and the sun was just starting to come up when we got there. It made for great conditions to take photos.

Here is my favorite from this trip:

Upper Mesa Falls

I recently made a trip up to a water fall here in Idaho called 'Upper Mesa Falls'. It is a nice waterfall. There are only a few spots to really get a photo of the falls from. So here are a few of my favorites from the evening I spent there.

Go for a Drive

One of the best things about photography is that in order ot take photos you have to get up and move around or sometimes, go somewhere and get down in the dirt. Either way it is a great way to make sure that you don't become a couch potato watching things on TV that don't matter.

I would like to encourage you to grab your camera and set off on an outing. Get out and start looking at details about where you are going. There is still alot of snow on the ground and not much is growing, or out moving where I live. However, I started the car this morning with grey skies above and snow flurries coming and going. I was determined to take a photo of something though. I had no idea what it would be but I got out into the countryside and stopped the car, got out and just started taking photos. Here is one of those photos.
The snow that had been coming down early in the morning while the skies were still greay was now melting and evaporating. It was great to be out when the sun decided it was going to grace the skies and make them blue. The water evaporating gave me the inspirationg to kneel down and get a shot of the cars driving through the mist.

So, just get out there you never know what you will find!

Ice Climbing

I was up Provo Canyon in Utah a few years ago watching people cliimb the ice on and around Bridal Veil Falls. This was a good winter for it. Water seemed to have come out of every crack in the mountain and frozen on it's way down to the bottom. There was tons of Ice and alot of Ice Climbers.

I love this picture because it shows the vastness of the ice and smallness of the man climbing it. Still he just kept focused on what he was doing and climbed.

August of 2006 Kings Peak, Utah

My wife and I took a Backpacking Course at the University. As a class we did a 3day and 2night backpack trip to Kings Peak.

I didn't take my tripod with me because it would weigh too much. So I used a steady rock to set my camera on and then take the shot. Sunsets tend to come and go very quickly. You need to be set up and ready to get the shot that you want.

Let me know what you think. or If you have any questions ask away.