Costa Rica Day 1

In Costa Rica...LOVING it. Right now, I'm laying in bed, I can hear the ocean....oh...just saw a gecko. He keeps peeking out from behind the tv stand. I've been hired by a great company to come down and take pictures of their staff while they vacation here. So they've put me up in a rather nice hotel on a beautiful peninsula in Costa Rica. Luisa is actually joining me tomorrow, and after we're done here, we're taking an extra week to see the country.

So I just wanted to post a few of my travel pictures. Spent the day on planes. Not fun. Except if anyone can make it fun, my wife can. I have a blast with her.

Houston Airport

Flew into Liberia, CR. On the way in, the pilot decided to "dodge" the lighting storms below. I saw the most spectacular natural light show. It was amazing. We also flew over an active volcano...beautiful.

Liberia was just wonderful. So small, and out there. The terminal, baggage claim and customs were all together in a big warehouse type building. I loved it.

Then there's the hotel. I guess I can't really say that I'm "roughing it" but Luisa and I are going to have our fair share of that after we finish up the photo job here. The hotel is beyond beautiful. Went down to the beach...forgot my tripod, but took some long exposures just for fun holding the camera on my lap.

Good day, beautiful place, and incredible people. Can't wait for tomorrow.

Rodeo Round TWO!

Lots of fun at the rodeo this year! Had a blast taking pictures and videos!

Sub!

I have a good friend here that is a teacher at a beautiful private art school here in Idaho. The school has only about 100 high school students, and the classes range from music, to dance, to photography, and even your general science, math, and english classes. It's an INCREDIBLE environment. I felt surrounded by gifted and amazing individuals.

Well my friend David asked me to substitute teach for him since he was going to be out of town for a wedding, and I was SUPER excited at the opportunity. Amongst some of his classes were two photography classes. We had an absolute blast (at least I think so). David wanted me to show the students a bit of my work and talk about why I wanted to be a photographer. I also thought it would be a great learning experience to bring in all my gear and do a sample photo shoot of one of the kids right there in the classroom, then run it through photoshop for the final edits...So kind of a beginning to end type of thing. Here are two of the students from different classes that "volunteered" (some needed a little persuasion) to be the models for the photos. And they both did amazing!

Both photos were taken inside the classroom with the lights off, and the blinds mostly shut. I shot with my flash through an umbrella. Some of the students asked about texture overlays, so here you see our experimenting with textures over the portraits.

It was honestly an amazing experience. I go back tomorrow (Monday) for my last day. Sad. But hopefully I'll be able to sub in the future. I was so inspired by these students. They all have some amazing work, and have an incredible eye for photography. Much of their work lined the walls of the room, and it was incredibly inspiring to see such great work from such young students.

Bogus...

I went skiing a few days ago and decided to bring my camera. The conditions were BEAUTIFUL! Fresh powder, blue skies, it was wonderful. There are two decent sized jumps at Bogus Basin here in Idaho so I skied up to them, and took off my skis, and set up shop next to these jumps. At first there were only a few people that would come down and hit the jumps, but I could tell that as time went by, everyone wanted to come try and show off their moves for the camera.

Everyone was SUPER friendly and nice though. A few skiers and snowboarders came up to see their pictures and talk for a bit. One snowboarder had a knack for jumping over me (top picture). One snowboarder decided to spin as he came off the jump. Well I just happened to be in the wrong place, and he coated myself and my camera with a full coat of snow! But here are some of my favorite shots.

Off Camera Flash!

I've been reading "The Hot Shoe Diaries: Big Light From Small Flashes" by Joe McNally, one of my all-time heros in the photography world. I consider him one of the kings of off camera flash. You can check out his website here, or his blog here. Joe is a journalist, a story teller, which is probably what makes him such an amazing photographer; each of his photos tells a dynamic story. But you'll notice his style is not typical. He's photographed for National Geographic, Time, Life, and much more...BUT, to stay on topic here, he's made me want to get my flash...off camera, triggered wirelessly.

So I ordered a few fun new gizmos and gadgets from B&H and waited patiently (not really) for my package to arrive, and it did on Tuesday! I had family in town staying with my brother and his wife that live close by...perfect! So I headed over there, "Hi, yeah, good to see you, come outside for a second and stand under my umbrella..." I had a blast. Seriously, too much fun. I set up my flash on a light stand shooting through a Westcott Umbrella, exposed for the sky, and let the flash do the rest.

I'm excited for this new world that has opened up to me, with the

ability to light my subjects with nice flattering soft light.

Hope you enjoy!