We're starting a series....

It's been way too long since Pip and I shot a good heel click photo like the one that took "Best Mountain Lifestyle" in the first annual Ski Salt Lake shootout. We finally decided to continue the tradition. This here is a pre-season-first-real-blanket-of-snow-in-the-mountains heel click.

Leading Ladies, 4: Ski Photographers

This is the 4th in a series of "Leading Ladies" in the ski industry that ESPN is featuring on their freeski site. Scroll on down to the 4th name, it may look familar :) Then check out the first two photos in the gallery that I shot of Angeli and Pip!

Yeti Pumpkin!

Went through a few sketches, brain storming, and inter-web inspiration.... Final random idea... A Yeti! Must have been subconsciously channeling my inner love for winter and my bike.

BD Ski Swap

So you want to sell something at the BD swap? Do you like dawn patrols?

After waking up 3 days a week at 5am for bootcamp, it didn't sound too bad. Pip and I arrived at 5:50am to set up shop and hang out in the dark for the next hour and a half.

It's great to see your old gear go to a good new home, and see someone else get stoked out on a budget. It's also great to see all your ski friends before the snow flies.

And speaking of snow.... the forecasted rain came blowing through, and we had to pack up early. But when the clouds lifted there was a fresh coat of white paint in the mountains. (I am hoping it melts or just keeps puking until May so we can avoid those rotten, persistent weak layers that have plagued us the last few years).

After bailing early from the rain, Pip and I joined Angeli and Ashley for lunch at Ruth's. SO GREAT! Happy Saturday!

Cover spotted on newstands!

SO EXCITED to announce that Backcountry Magazine (no relation to Backcountry.com) has chosen my shot of Tanya Christensen for their October 2010 cover! And it's officially been spotted on the newstands (in good company I might add! Of course I'm talking about Shotgun News and Bowhunter! No definitely not, that's a lie.)

Featured in the Red Bull Illume Photobook!

Look what the DHL guy dropped off today! (Hmmm....who uses DHL? hmm... it must be from Europe!)

Red Bull recently released a limited edition photobook highlighting the top 250 semi-finalist photos from the 2010 Red Bull Illume Photo Quest. Check the spirit category for a photo from yours truly.

And if you're interested in your own copy (sorry if you wanted number 262, that one's mine!) check out the Red Bull Illume website for more info (and to check out all of the other truly amazing images that were submitted!)

"Buried Treasure" in the desert

The southern Utah desert (and the northern for that matter) are chock full of what I call "buried treasure." It's not really buried, but on the surface and from a distance you just see hot, dry, dusty desert. But as soon as you take the time to enter a canyon you find playgrounds, lush greenery, and/or a water paradise. It's the kind of place that corporations try to model their waterparks after. But it's real and it's not full of chlorine and the smell of people frying their skin.


So here I am again, so fortunate to shoot photos in this beautiful environment.

Here is the obligatory self portrait (and I am pretty sure Hannah and Kyle are shooting their own self portrait in the background!)




A beautiful waterfall (never jump! A broken ankle in a place like this is the worst idea ever). We had a nice little corridor to scoot around to the side.

It's amazing to think about the forces of nature that created this waterfall. I'm pretty sure it's just a pile of debris that was flushed down in a flash flood and got stuck at this extra skinny corridor with sediment and more debris piling in behind it until the top leveled off. I could be wrong though... I'm no scientist. ;)

Still hiking on day one. We did have a small panic in the name of flash flood danger. The danger rating was low, but we heard thunder just after our lunch break, and then a few raindrops, so we decided to book it straight to camp (at the end of a good section with many "safe" places of high ground).





A nice spacious campsite for our group of 9.









We were hoping the water level would be high enough to float our packs on day two, or possibly float ourselves so we brought some super cheap tubes along for fun. It was a float-failure for most of us, but who cares, the scenery was AMAZING and the bright green donut colors just pop so nicely in the relative dark at the bottom of this canyon.


Although Hannah did find the right combo for the ultimate "lazy" river set-up. Nice view from there!