Football Noir

It is the state tournament right now. It amazes me how good high schoolers are. That guy caught the pass in the middle photo for the first TD of the game. The last photo was after a dropped pass. The incompletion didn't decide the game or anything but the poor guy was so frustrated at himself, he was taken back out to the sidelines the next play and I watched him hang his head on the sidelines and angrily unsnap his chin strap. I always say that sports really don't matter, they are just a distraction, but say that to the senior who won't forget that pass for the rest of his life, then I remember my last high school soccer game or cross country race and go back on my words.

Veterans Day II

Wasatch Elementary - Salt Lake City

Veterans Day

Flag projections.

Randi Evans

Had an assignment to shoot the So You Think You Can Dance Tour. Must have been cool for Randi Evans to get to finally perform in her home state for a packed arena.

Feature Stalking a Stalker

Had to find a weather feature the other day, no one was really that pumped on this pic, but maybe because I watched the whole thing I thought it was hilarious. (it's actually the girls husband, not a stalker. they were meeting at the park for their lunch break. he snuck up on her and whistled from above, she heard something looked up and sees a creepy guy with a camera at the other end of the park...nice one mike. we got it all straightened out afterwards.)

Penny For Your Thoughts....

.29 cents is what it would cost me.

It's Halloween

In the age old tradition of having your car windows smashed from pumpkins thrown from the cities taller towers by those dressed as cartoon donkeys, may you all have a wonderful Halloweens filled with all those historical reasons and traditions we observe in our celebrations.

Waiting

Was waiting for an assignment to start at this childrens museum place and spotted through this weird window thingy this girl standing up and giving a weather report in front of the "media play time" weather green screen. Dunno what the forecast was but she mos def has a future as a meteorologist. Pretty funny.

Pensivity

It snowed this morning. It was a dark morning, but pockets of shine glowed from the wet street and streaks of light reflected off the crisp grass. Mid-day I found myself behind a velvet rope, shooting dignitaries rededicating a university library. It was a stale waxy photograph and I had shot it ten times already. Just waiting for nuances, smiles or waves of the high rollers who sat perched on the riser where the podium stood. 11, 12, 13. I was getting bored. At least for myself the transition time of each season sticks out among the other marks of the year. Especially fall to winter, more than the others. The morning of the first big snow storm of the year will stick with me through the week. The sun came out for a moment, just a slice and put some light down on those suffering through the long meeting. Thanks to a cooperative skylight.
I was glad to see the sun, all of us lost in the translation of autumn to the old and unforgivable man that is winter.

Sugar Cane Mercado

Did a story on Latino businesses on the West side. The lady I hung out with while she shopped bought a whole sugar cane to make drinks with. I kinda freaked out and thought it was so awesome and acted like the sugar cane was a big bow staff and I was going to fight someone...she didn't really laugh or think it was very funny. Good times.

Road to Manali, July 2009

Bumpy, our driver picked me up curbside on Arakashan road. It took us three hours just to leave Delhi. The freeways to the north were just larger roads, laneless, full and mildly frightening. 15 hours away was Manali, the launch pad to the Himalayas, the greenest, most mysterious and exotic landscape I have ever seen. It hit me that this little jaunt was actually longer than driving from Salt Lake to the Pacific Ocean. Before long the cities disappeared, only towns, rice paddies and then villages. A one night stop in Chandigahr, then through Kullu and evenutally into Manali. Everything was different up there. It was like I was in some South-Asian Switzerland. The drive up was filled with conversations about photography, our assignments, religion, burning-man and everything inbetween. Bumpty made me try this crazy powder chew so I wouldn't fall asleep that looked like grey drywall dust, only it had a scorpion on the packet (red light #1) and turned my whole mouth deep crimson. I choked on it and I think there is still some lodged inbetween my throat and nose...probably in my brain by now...lovely. Bumpty bought a grip of Indian CD's and we coursed along. I just watched the land, the trucks, the truck accidents, the rain the rivers, the bikes the cows, the climbs and tunnells smear by. We felt like we were driving into the deep green throat of the Himalayas.

State CC

The last time I saw this race, it was from the pack and to give you an idea of how long ago it was...I had a full head of long brown hair and was about 145 lbs. Was a blast to shoot. With the exception of the kid on the ground, every other picture of a single runner were the state champs in their division.

17.5 Revisited

Went to a great show the other night at Urban Lounge. Three new bands, smoke, colored lights, LOUD LOUD LOUD, felt like I was in high school again. Ate some VI with Jeremy after the show, picked his brains on the roots of Mod and then walked home. One of the best nights yet.
If you are curious here are the bands, Laser Fang (SLC), All the Saints (ATL), A Place to Bury Strangers (NY). Strangers are on a pretty gnarly tour schedule, they are on iTunes, check them out and if you likee, and live in these spots, go! You won't be disappointed.

10/24 The Record Bar - KC, MO
10/25 Firebird - St. Louis, MO
10/26 Double Door - Chicago, IL
10/27 Mod Club - Toronto, ON
10/28 Il Motore - Montreal, PQ
10/29 Bowery Ballroom - NY, NY
10/30 Middle East Up - Boston, MA

Last 3

Last 3 from my time in Delhi. It was a quick dream, deep but surreal.

REFORM: a series by the deseret news

artist, father of 3, husband, self employed, cancer survivor, uninsurable.

$45 a month, $5 a visit

8 heart surgeries, deadly infection, a charitable hospital

expansion, the system


If the halls of Congress and the Senate are the front lines of the health care debate, the homes and hospitals of these people are the trenches.

For the past couple weeks I have been involved with a 5-part series on health care reform written by the Deseret News in Salt Lake. I produced a video to kick off the series, you can find it as well as the written stories, HERE.

Let me know what you think about the video if you get a chance. It is supposed to be pretty neutral.

Morning to Morning : New Delhi

If you can remember those cheesy Family Circus cartoons from way back, there was a single picture with Jeffy's route through the neighborhood and mischief signified by a dotted black line, dipping and rolling up, around and over dozens of situations.
A full day in this city felt like that, I often imagined what my line would look like as I sat with weavers and stitchers in small rooms off of the beaten path or explored back alleys and tall buildings. There is a electric wave of excitement that seeps through my veins when I realize how hard it would be to find me.

Delhi Cont'd - Red Fort & Chandi Chowk

Moab

Windows - Arches Natl. Park

Pahar Ganj: New Delhi

When people asked where I was staying, I proudly told them Pahar Ganj, they would smile and nod like they should have guessed. They were probably fighting the urge to turn me around to check if I had a Lonely Planet sticking out of my back pocket. It was full of young foreigners, but even fuller of life and an Indian current of activity that could care less who they were temporarily sharing the space with. For two nights I went to the same spot and drank Chai under a darkening purple sky with a group who mutually accepted the foreign break in the ordinary as I leaned onto a windowsill between friends. I sipped and watched shadows skip across blue and green lights, beaming from the back of alcove businesses that line the street and fill the holes of storefronts. There were layers of activity, business and commerce in the middle of the road and edging the stores, then a soft and fuzzy layer of transient alcohol between the two.
As much attention as I would get, being a sweaty pale guy with a camera - there isn't much that could interrupt this pulse of night's seething color, flavor and life as usual.