Kauai, Sunsets

We were usually very busy in the late afternoons and evenings but we still found time to enjoy a couple of cool sunsets. Michelle was even kind enough to allow me to photograph a few sunsets while she was getting ready, it worked out great.


D700, f/7.1, 40 sec, ISO 250, 21mm
This shot was taken pretty much after dark


D700, f/13, 30 sec, ISO 200, 24mm


D700, f/16, 1/15, ISO 200, 14mm


D700, f/2.8, 3 sec, ISO 200, 16mm
Grand Hyatt

Kauai, Whales

I had no idea Kauai was going to be so awesome, I took just over 2,800 photos during our vacation. One of the things I was most excited about, was the new underwater housing I got for our Canon G10. It proved to be well worth the money. Catching a photo of a whale in action, while being thrown around by the sea is no easy feet, especially if you want that photo to be in focus! It was a lot harder than I thought.


D700, f/7.1, 1/500 sec, ISO 200, 270mm
This was a male whale attempting to get the attention of nearby female.


D700, f/7.1, 1/800 sec, ISO 200, 270mm
Here a calf partially breaches just after her mother, to bad I missed the mom, she came right out of the water!


G10, f/2.8, 1/60 sec, ISO 80, 6.1mm
It may not look like much, but this is the mother and calf that swam right under our boat. By the time I swithed cameras, and pushed my little G10 under the water for some luck shots, we had drifted farther away. According to my camera, this whale was 70 yards away. I had no idea what to do, I just pointed it in the general direction, and hoped for the best.

Cool or Creepy

I had this great idea, but i'm not sure if it flopped or not. I had visions of it being so cool, but I'm doubting the outcome. I originally made this banner for our family blog, but i'm not sure it is cool enough? Maybe it's the text, maybe it's the layout, i don't know. but I spent so much time creating it, I wanted to post it somewhere. It was fun taking pictures of the kids, they really got into it. It was pretty easy, one off camera strobe hard left of subject triggered wirelessly from camera flash. Anyhow cool or creepy, you decide.

Farmington Bay

I surprised Hunter today and took him out to see some Bald Eagles, He had a riot! He used my spotting scope while I took some photos. Somehow I need to figure out how to get a real long lens. Hunter would get so excited every time he spotted an eagle, he was even doing an awesome job of panning the spotting scope all by himself and making some impressive finds. Here are some shots we got today.

Birding

Went out to Farmington Bay this afternoon with Troy Parkin. We saw a ton of bald eagles, but they were so far away. Got this shot right off the side of the road. Overcast light made it hard at these distances but these shots turned out good enough to share.



I had no idea this bald eagle had a fish in it's claws, till I zoomed way in on my monitor. This shot is way cropped in, this the lack in image quality.

Januaary 25, Snakecreek

Had a very interesting ride today, my sled was not running up to par, but we finally had some killer deep snow. Unfortunately we spent more time than usual on the roads, the moguls turned out to be more like small hills and valleys. We had a fun large group today, 14 sled total. We only had one minor casualty, a broken shock, but no lame ducks. We all got our cardio in for the day, that's for sure. My back may never be the same. No extreme shots today, this shot is very ironic, the only groomed trail we saw, was just out of bounds on the Snowbird ski resort. We were not allowed to cross the border.

The Little Man

The little man has been climbing up on everything, he thinks it's so funny. It's scary when he climbs up the gate blocking the stairs and knocks it over. It's pretty much a 50/50 if he goes backwards onto the floor, or forward and goes for a ride down the stairs. Poor kid! He sure is growing fast!!

Winter Scape Panoramas

Inspired by Matt Draper, here are a few panorama images. 5-6 Images were stitched together in Photoshop, Lightroom was used for color correction, sharpening, and vignetting. I took these shots while helping with the MY11 Polaris Assault Camp extravaganza on Jan 14-16. We need way more snow, but there is never a lack of sweet pictures to be had in the high country.

Here is a view of Timp from the East.

Valley Fog can be very cool, if you are not in it.

MY11 Polaris shoot

Lots of cool pictures and video to be had in the back country. It has been a while since I have had the opportunity to pull out the camera in the mountains. Can't wait till we get more snow.

Here are some cool trees.

D700, 1/1250 sec @ f/16 ISO 640

This Mega Camera was used on the Polaris shoot.

This remote controlled chopper is a really expensive video camera. It is piloted by two fellers. the first one flies the chopper, while the second one controls the tail of the chopper and the video camera. It was quite impressive to watch it in action, I can't wait to see the footage this Hilo captured.

Here the assistant get the Hilo ready for action. This is extreme RC at it's best.

Temple square @ Christmas

Took the kids to Temple square to enjoy the lights. Kids did great, thankfully it wasn't too cold. People were standing in line to take this shot, thought since everyone else was taking it, I might as well too. Hopefully the full frame sensor and a 14mm lens brought something new to the shot.
Hand held, ISO 3200, F2.8, 1/160 sec. No post picture work to remove grain or artifacting from using High ISO. Love the D700.

Final Hunt of 2009

The 2009 huntin season is now over. We closed out the year with a couple of great buck. Mac and Johnny Gebbers where a pleasure to hunt with again. We had a riot! We recovered this deer after wounding it the day before. We trailed it for well over a mile and it took 8 1/2 hours to track it down.

Took these shots with a Canon G10, a very nice point and shoot camera I picked up because my big SLR is just heavy.

Johnny made it happen on this buck, after one of our other hunters missed it days before. Mac, Johnny's dad, helped radio us in on the awesome buck, Thanks Mac.

Not a bad buck for the last day. Definitely a go home happy buck.

New Kiddy pics

We took this years family pictures at the Lagoon trail last week. It's one of our kids favorite spots because of all the animals.
It's hard to get the little ones to hold still for more than a few shots, but luckily we got a few keepers
F 3.2, 1/160 sec, ISO 250

Michelle held the frightened Paxton up on the rock, while Paxtons older brother and sisters danced around to keep his attention off of falling off the rock.

F 3.5, 1/100 sec, ISO 500

Sage is a natural, she did wonderful as usual and it's easy to see why the camera loves Sage!

F 3.2, 1/160 sec, ISO 320

Hunter is ham for sure, He was very patient even though taking family pictures is not on his top 10 list.

F 2.8, 1/320, ISO 200

Jade normally does very well, but she was not feeling the camera on this outing. This is one of only a few shots we got of her the whole evening.

F 4, 1/60, ISO 320

Dahln & Angel Sept 29, 2009 Engagements

I was able to help Dahln and Angel with their engagement pictures. These shots where taken at the famous Lagoon train. It was a little early of Fall colors, but we liked how they turned out.

Deer Hunt

Another great deer hunt ended with success. Great friends, good weather, and amazing deer numbers made for a another memorable hunt in the hills.
Bob and his wife Dorthy came out on this hunt, even though he is fighting colen cancer. He stopped his Kemo theropy a couple of weeks prior to the hunt so he could have enough strength for this hunt. He pulled it off and made a great 310 yard shot on this great deer. Our Prayers are with him and his family.

Vern Is Bob's Brother-in-law and they are life long hunting partners. Vern was so excited when Bob got a deer, It was an honor to hunt with such good people. After passing a lot of bucks and missing some bigger bucks due to equiptment failure, Vern and I took this 28 1/2 inch buck the last hour of his hunt.

Last Elk hunt of the year

Another good hunt, this one was in Northern Utah. Luckily we had some cooler weather and found some great bulls. Everyone in camp was awesome, we had a ball and even ended early!!
Joe and I located this bull on the second day and Jed helped us bed it. We waited 5 1/2 hours through wind, rain, and snow, for it to stand up and feed, when it did Joe made a great shot and we got it all on video. My range finder was dead, we guessed it at 350 and it worked.

Joe with his 344 7/8 bull, it rained the whole time we where taking photos. We where able to get the Ranger within 50 yards.

I helped Russ and his hunter Don on this hunt. Chris Munford spotted this bull the night before and we relocated it the next morning. After missing a rushed shot, I was able to relocate the bull bedded down in some thick quakies. I got Russ and Don in on and they waited 3 hours till it stood up and Don put it right back on the ground.

Don's 320 bull, 320 yard shot. Matt Wayment helped too.

Kory and Bob where having a slow hunt, so I took them out on another ranch. I had found this bull the night before and we where able to get Bob right in on it. Bob has some kidney issues but he made a sweet shot and was able to get on the bull fast before it got away. He didn't want to take a shot over 200 yards, but he got the job done at 310 yards. We got it all on video.

Kory and Bob with Bob's 329 3/8 bull. It died less then 20 feet above a main road. One shot and the hunt was over.

Yellowstone 2009

Yellowstone was amazing once again this year. We saw elk, bison, coyote, osprey, ealges, deer, goats, and big horn sheep. The kids got in close to some rutting elk, it was awesome. We drove home through the Tetons and it was beautiful!!! (f5.6, 1/320, iso 200, 340mm) Midday this bunch of elk was still out.

(f5.6, 1/200, iso 1600, 370mm) This 7X8 was a little skidish but gave us a good look before he ran off with his cows.

( f5.6, 1/125, iso 200, 400mm) Hide and go seek was a hit while we waited for a road to open up that was temporarily shut down because of a fire.

(f5.6, 1/125, iso 200, 370mm) Sage took this game rather serious for a moment or two.

(f5.6, 1/200, iso 1250, 400mm) McKay and I called this bull into 30 yards even after we busted the cows.

(f5.6, 1/500, iso 200, 400mm) This coyote just grabbed a mouse and ate it. I just missed the grab in between shots, oh if I had only caught him in the air jumping!!!

(f5.3, 1/250 iso 400, 260mm) Not many deer in Yellowstone, but we found this one. Hunter and I got 20 yards away from this curious buck.

Huntin Season Begins

Huntin Season is finally here, it is such an amzing time of year. With the leafs changing colors, temperatures dropping, and Elk bugling, this season is far to short, unless you ask my wife Michelle!


I guided Tyler on this Trophy Hunt and we had a ball. This bull has such an amazing front end. 170 yard shot with a rife.



I guided James on this sweet archery bull. Patience paid off at a water hole and we got some great footage of this bull coming into water with a whole harem of cow. 42 yard shot with a bow.

Tyler Guided Larry on this hunt, since I had tagged out I went along to video and got some great footage of this huge bull. Ben Peterson also helped assist. Packing this beast out at night was brutal!! 462 yard shot with a rifle.