As with any city I visit, I like to wander, enjoy, and take pictures.
Jun 142011
Lindsay wanted to surprise her husband-to-be with a bridal session, so she specifically asked me not to mention anything anywhere, especially on Facebook where he might catch wind of what we’d been up to, until after the wedding…
Well… That stunning wedding took place on May 14th, so I’m finally free to share these gorgeous shots with the rest of you 
May 222011
It’s been a while. One day short of three weeks in fact. And according to recent predictions, today is The Rapture: D-Day + 1! How are you feeling? Good? Good. I feel hungry, but otherwise I’m fine
Back to reality though; this was a behind-the-scenes shoot I did for Crimes of the Heart, a play performed superbly by some of my local actor friends. I didn’t get to see the play for myself until 2 days later, and what’s funny is that I had about as much fun observing the behind-the-curtain craziness as I did watching the play.
So many funny things we had to whisper and hold back the laughter for…
Promise, I did not write this, nor did I encourage it. What’s really funny is what I’m not posting here, but these messages to me got completely out of hand! Somehow it ended up involving silverback gorillas.
Jul 072010
In no particular order and for no other reason other than the fact that I can, here are some things I wanna share on the blog.
Ready.
Steady.
Go!
My 8-year-old and I were talking about outer space not too long ago (he seems to have a real fascination for it) and he asked me the following question: “Dad, if there’s no air in space, how come thrusters work to keep the ship on track?”
Uhhh… [Expletive]… I don’t know…
Two months later, when I finally had some time to research it, I discovered the principle of Reaction Mass. It’s basically material expelled by a rocket to provide thrust. What I struggled to understand was HOW that worked. And for that… Just… Just Google it, I’m not gonna make any sense if I try to explain it and I can’t find the link that made the most sense to me. I’m gonna have a hard enough time trying to explain Reaction Mass to an 8-year-old as it is.
Some questions:
Do dentists hate going to the dentist’s too?
If Justin Timberlake sang “I’m Bringing Sexy Back“, doesn’t that mean he still has it and isn’t sharing it with anyone? He didn’t sing “I BROUGHT Sexy Back”. Next time someone gets divorced, go sue Justin Timberlake.
Does a bear really poop in the woods? Isn’t it possible he sometimes poops in a lake? Or in an abandoned vacation home?
And now, some statements:
I had a great 4th of July. Went swimming at the Grand America, then hung out with a friend and her family. Thanks Lexi, for both of those! How was your 4th?
I was playing a game of soccer last night. We needed an “awesome goal” to call it a night. I SCORED THE AWESOME GOAL!!! YEEEESSSSSSSSSS!!!!! I bet someone will break both my legs on tomorrow’s game. Maybe that can be the “awesome injury” that ends the game.
I was at the dentist’s yesterday morning and couldn’t feel the left side of my mouth for almost five hours afterwards. When the feeling finally came back, it really rushed back, and all I could think of was “I can feel my lips!! I need to just grab someone and kiss them!!” I’m glad I didn’t. I’d rather stay out of jail.
This looks like my kinda funny movie: Vampires Suck
This is my kinda music: Zack Hemsey’s “Mind Heist”
On a related note (to the music thingy just above), Inception is gonna rock like no other. Thank you Hollywood, for allowing original stories to seep through. Yes, Iron Man 16.3 is great, but it’s nice to have something fresh every now and then.
And speaking of movies. Sin City 2, Machete and Predators. Robert Rodriguez is finally back! Let’s see if he’s still got the chops he used to.
Time to throw in some photography. I had the privilege of sharing a scouting expedition with my good friend Brittany who likes to goof around with her own camera. We headed down to Eureka, a creepy, half-ghost-town with lots of interesting stuff. I’ll have more (hopefully) when my roll of Diana shots are developed. Specifically from the breathtaking view atop the Tintic Standard Reduction Mill.
Blue cat, red bat, black cat, dead cat
And now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to get some cheesecake with random strangers! Kind of a sharp turn from a dead black cat, I know…
Hey look, there’s an Atari logo in my title!
Ok I’m done. Commence blogging!
Ahem…
Derek and Summer’s wedding was the third in a series of back to back weddings. It really was a blast! Yes, I was a little tired that weekend, but I feed off of people’s energy, and these guys’ wedding was dripping with it! Everyone, including the bride and groom, were out on the dance floor like nobody’s business and that just makes for a great time.
Also really interesting to me; Derek is a CSI. Yep, like the TV shows!
I’d like to humbly suggest to Hollywood producers to consider the following:
CSI: Salt Lake City
What?! You’ve already done all the major cities, time to branch out to the smaller ones! Just imagine CSI in teeny tiny towns. Like CSI: Mount Pleasant… Oh the irony!
Anyway, so Derek & Summer were really just awesome. As with anyone else, I try to stay in touch with them on Facebook, where Derek and I have exchanged some hilarious David Caruso clips.
“Horatio, there don’t seem to be any pictures in this blog post.”
“Well maybe you should try…
*sunglasses*
… a little patience”
*exit screen left*
YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!
Just look at that mathematical equation up there in the title!! Can you tell that it means Wil and Ashley are engaged?
Have you noticed this lately? Every photographer posting pictures of couples feels compelled to write some basic equation, like “Wil + Ashley = Engaged”.
Well, I decided it was time I took this to the max! So the equation goes like this:
The sum of Wil and Ashley multiplied by love minus four fifths of a carrot equals seven eights of pi to the power of four.
YEAH!!!!!!
And just for good measure I added in a Trademark and a Copyright symbol. Why?! ‘Cause I can, that’s why!! Although I’m sure this is the least likely title anyone will ever steal. In fact, go ahead and take it. Heck, I dare ya to expand on my bogus mathematical equations!
Anyway… So the point is, Wil and Ashley’s engagement session was awesome. Can’t wait to shoot their wedding!
Apr 042010
The last of the quiet escapades I’ve been pulling off lately.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again:
I adore New York.
Before even going to San Francisco, I already knew I needed to be in New York. And the funny thing is, and I’m being totally serious here, although yes, it’s kinda funny anyway; I was really nervous about going to New York.
Why?
Well… You know how when you’re dating around and you’re about to meet with someone new and you already think he/she is awesome and you really hope the date lives up to your expectations?…
Like that. Except I was really hoping my date with a city would live up to my expectations.
This is where you can laugh. I know that’s where I do!
But yeah, New York absolutely rocked my world. It more than lived up to my expectations. I even spent a bunch of time digging through craigslist to find apartments. Never managed to see one in person though. See, I made the mistake of lying to the real estate guy and saying I was gonna move to the city in a few months instead of lying and saying I was gonna move there in two weeks.
Apparently that’s about as far out as these guys were willing to consider in terms of bothering to show me an actual place.
Oh well, I’ll lie better next time so I can see what to expect for $2,000/month for a place around 650 square feet… Yup… I told a close friend of mine this and he jokingly (or maybe not?) said “that price is unmentionable in polite company dude”.
Now I don’t want to involve you in my financial life, but at a glance, that’s basically twice what I pay, for RENT instead of a mortgage, and it gives me roughly three times LESS space and no yard. So I look around my house now thinking “Don’t need this, chuck that, sell this” and so on.
I’ve heard people try to offer a solution and say “Ok here’s what you do; move to Brooklyn –” STOP STOP STOP STOP!!!
Nope. No.
NO.
I’ve been to Brooklyn. It doesn’t feel like New York. You may as well be thousands of miles away. Why would I move 2,000 miles just to miss the bullseye?!
It’s gotta be Manhattan.
So now it’s no longer about “if”, it’s about “how”. It’s gonna take a couple of years for it to happen, but it’s gonna happen.
I’ll be going back to New York twice a year until I move. I’ll get a better feel for the city each time, I’ll meet with Art Buyers each time (hopefully) and I’ll refine the plan for my very own eventual big day.
And since it’s still so far in the future, while we wait, here are some pictures from my trip These are all iPhone shots.
A little bit of New York humor. Read that sign… So who’s cleared and stupid enough to eat the fish in small quantities? Men, ages 15 and up. That’s it!! I couldn’t help but laugh. George Carlin said it best: “I EXPECT a little cancer in MY water!”
The letter Y’s light wasn’t burned out, but apparently this place called COLONY chooses to turn on each individual letter in sequence… Um… Not a good idea.
And finally, the gorgeous, clean lines of the Guggenheim Museum (which by the way has some fantastic art).
Holga shots to come soon.
Mar 102010
I don’t shoot as much film as I’d like to have time for, so yeah I’ve got a shot from as far back as when I was in Rome.
Rome’s Amphitheater. I’m starting to think that it’s not how crappy the Holga is supposed to be, it’s the way the film was loaded. I really don’t know what this thing is doing…
Right up by Millcreek Canyon on a beautiful (and rare) rainy day.
A lonely, less trodden path.
This was from a trip to Antelope Island from a while back. I like this first one. It feels like we’re looking up, but I was actually looking down a road back to the mainland.
Managed to get close to a buffalo. I wasn’t that brave, I stayed in my car.
And then he stopped to look at me…
And I can’t help it, I had to caption it haha
Nov 172009
Ok, here’s some of what you’ve missed out on.
Day 293/365
If it weren’t for this shot, I would have forgotten to take anything that day. I thought it interesting that a chair was just out there (iPhone photo)
Day 294/365
Family shoot.
DISCLAIMER: Both my good friend Heidi and I were shooting with my camera that day. On the same memory card. For those who have been following my blog, her gear was stolen recently, so she needed loaners as she worked to get back on her feet – which she is now; she bought all the new gear she needed! Yay!! Anyway, what this means is that I’m not completely sure these are all my shots. I’m pretty sure most of them are, but I’m not 100%
Day 295/365
I can’t post pictures of Kenzie’s bridal shoot until after her wedding on December 16th… But I have a good deal of cool stuff to show you when I’m allowed. Put it on my tab!
Day 296/365
Scouting for new locations. Best day of my life.
Day 297/365
I absolutely LOVE being on movie sets!!
This was from a goofy short film a friend of mine wrote and directed called “Takito: The Quest to Save Rivendork”. It was, believe it or not, a prequel to another short film he wrote and directed called “Takito: The Revenge of Dreyfus”.
Yes, it’s a spoof. It’s a joke film. I mean… “Takito”. We’re alluding to taquitos.
It was a spoof on a largely unknown feature film called Shikito, by Utah Wolf Productions. Now, I’m not one to talk smack about other artists, but these people make some truly, TRULY atrocious films… As if that wasn’t enough, they’ve willfully infringed on an unbelievable number of copyright laws while insisting that you don’t infringe on theirs.
Andrew (the writer/director for Takito) and I found this incredibly funny. Particularly because Utah Wolf Productions seem to take themselves so damn seriously. So Andy decided he wanted to make a short film out of it last year. The original Takito film. I found this to be dangerous, not just because he’s stealing the movie from Utah Wolf Productions, who are stealing things from giant corporations like Sony, who probably stole their ideas from some schmuck in Arkansas, but also because… Well, how do you spoof a film that sucks? Make it suck MORE?… Andy decided to make it more obviously silly (ie. make it a comedy) while making the cool stuff cooler (ie. better production values).
Regardless, it was enormous fun shooting on set. I shot on days 2 and 3. On day 1 I wasn’t available.
Kim wasn’t an experienced actress. She needed some reassurance.
Director Andrew James overlooking the work of his DP (Director of Photography)
Day 298/365
Day 2 for me, day 3 for the production of the film. The last day of the shoot.
Fight scenes!!
The ominous bad guy, Dreyfus.
Look! Kanye West!! “Yo Andrew, I’m really happy for you and I’m-ah let you finish, but STEVEN SPIELBERG IS ONE OF THE BEST DIRECTORS OF ALL TIME!!! ONE OF THE BEST DIRECTORS OF ALL TIME!!!!!!!”
It was unspeakably cold up there, and the wind didn’t help.
Day 299/365
My new price sheets! (iPhone photo)
Day 300/365
Location scouting again
Oct 262009
Nothing new to report, and I’ll be blogging with new images soon, but I just thought of something kinda funny and had to share. Hope you get a good laugh
I made some tabouli the other day and messed it up. I must have been distracted, because I forgot that the onion, for some reason, can’t be thrown into the food processor. You have to just tough it out and cry through chopping the onion.
What happens when you throw the onion in the food processor is that no matter how hard you try to fix it afterwards, the whole thing ends up being way too bitter.
Lesson learned! Throw the parsley in the food processor, leave the onion out and chop it up instead.
This concludes another exciting episode of…
DON’T PUT THAT IN THERE! <— FUNNEH!!!
