first 2011 roadtrip: garrette's wedding - arkansas

Is it worth it to drive over 1,600 miles (that’s about 30 hours) just to see a friend at his wedding for 3 minutes? Sarah and I did laughed when we asked that question before we left, but we also knew that Garrett’s wedding in Arkansas is just the excuse we need for an adventure. There is something about being forced to sit and observe that calms the stresses of the work week. It doesn’t help that we were enthralled by the temperature changes; 7 below when we left and in the mid 30’s when we arrived, that is like shorts weather! We saw countless birds of prey swooping and diving, the huge Mississippi river, interesting geological changes (my major by the way) that made me wish I knew more, and great big fields of endless…nothing. Looking out a window at an ever-changing landscape is similar to photography; the car window frames each passing second as a unique photograph.

Oh, and Garrett’s wedding was worth going, he is a great friend from college that got me past the initial hurdle of photography questions (back in the film days mind you) and loaned me a camera that got me hooked. He is a great photographer now, and even had a moment in the ceremony where he grabbed a camera and took a self portrait with his bride and the audience. It was a photographers dream too, a glass chapel set in the middle of the woods that look like it was plucked strait from Lord of the Rings.

SC11 Images

The last 6 months of my (work) life has really revolved around Staff Conference 2011. This is a national conference for InterVarsity Staff to gather once every three years to be encouraged, gain teaching and make connections with other staff. My role before the conference was mostly creating 3 documentaries (see that post here) as well as general tech solutions. During the conference we all setup the myriad of equipment (see that here) and I ran sound in the morning sessions and photographed the evening sessions.

If you are frinds with InterVarsity/USA or 2100 Productions on facebook, you can see all the images that Adam Jeske and I took at the conference.

setup for SC11 - not real time

Intervarsity's Staff conference 2011 setup.  I am just going to let the 3,500+ images speak for themselves.

books

The other day, I was reminded of Steve McCurry's 3 part series of the fusion between Images and words when I walk into this gem of a book store downtown with a couple friends.  And while I am nowhere near the photographer that Steve McCurry is, I still was transfixed.  Something between the smell of old books, the old jazz that was playing, and the photographic opportunities; I felt like a kid in a candy store.

I do feel like there is some mystical connection that we all have with words, whether it is the escape into an alternate reality or the natural high of learning, there is something that draws us to them.  Even saying the word, "Book," feels hardy and intelegent.  I would have still had fun if I was alone, but photographing people enjoying these was what really made me happy inside.

downtown in the snow

The other day, several co-workers and I (yes they are all girls...sorry) tromped around downtown on a gloriously snow afternoon.  Snow like this just brings out the malicious in some; like pushing each other in the snow wile walking on the lake.

MLK day

Sarah and I headed down to the State Capitol again this Martin Luther King Jr holiday to see the annual celebration. We went a couple years ago too. I took my camera again and struggled to capture the scope of things, it seamed that if I tried to capture everything, I lost the a key element; but if I tried to capture a detail, I lost the scope of things. There might be a life lesson in here somewhere.  It is amazing how similar they look, but I might have done a better job two years ago.

hiking in the snow

My first winter adventure with a camera was hiking through the Calaveras Big Trees State Park (basically Giant Sequoias) in the winter of 2001.  Steve Salt and I hiked a pair of trails  the other day that really reminded me of that first winter experience.  There is something about hiking a trail in the snow; being the first one there (no footprints) the freshness of new snowfall and the adventure of "what the heck am I doing," that makes it all grand!  One of these trails was Devils Lake, compare it to this entry.