Backcountry Magazine - 2009 Photo Annual

I am pleased to have a photo featured in the December issue of Backcountry Magazine - The 2009 Photo Annual.  Just having a photo alongside the others in this section of the magazine is an honor.

After what seems like weeks of anxious anticipation, my copy arrived today:

Flip to page 96 to find what has me so excited (they spelled my name right and everything).

Thanks for supporting me.

2009 Buddy Walk

In September of this year I was asked to help document the Buddy Walk.  This is a fundraiser held every year for the Utah Down Syndrome Foundation.  I had a great time shooting the event as the kids were all psyched to be there and they loved having their picture taken.

Here are just a few of my favorites:

Turkey Bowl

I am the Venture Scout (age 16+) leader in my neighborhood.  This week we got together with more ventures from the area and played the annual Turkey Bowl - night football in the cold.

Festival 8 - Day Three

A friend of mine, Jimmy Bunting, also met up with us for days two and three of the festival.  He brought an old medium format camera into the venue on day three and you can see some of these sweet images here.

Day Three:

She introduced herself as Spanky Sparklebottom.

They played a full acoustic set at noon with free coffee and donuts (coffee? really? it is 90 degrees out).

Fishman played a simplified drum kit for the acoustic set.

They did a mirror image of where they typically stand for the acoustic set.

They played Wilson.

Hippies really like to hula hoop.

The sun went down as we awaited the second set.  Notice the ferris wheel and other installations brought in specifically for this event.

The first night we were actually able to see Fishman's face during the show.

We were very front row (on the rail) today and directly in front of Trey.

More Fish.

They played Mike's Song > 2001 > Light > Slave to the Traffic Light.  It was so sick.

Seeing them live is just an entirely different experience.

The show ended with a riveting Tweezer Reprise.

I have to say that these were the best concerts I have ever seen... and I have been to a few in my day.  If you ever get the chance to see Phish live, do it.  You will thank me for it later.

Festival 8 - Day Two

Halloween + Hippies + Phish = Awesome

Day Two:

Is it just me or is Trey looking right at me?

Page came out front to sing Lawn Boy.

Here is why I shot more pictures of Trey than anyone else: Page only shows his head occasionally above his pianos and organs, you have to be in just the right spot in order to see Fishman through his drum kit, and Mike just isn't as animated as Trey - he just stands there and bobs his head.

For the second set Phish put on a "musical costume" and covered the Rolling Stones - Exile On Main Street in its entirety.  To help they brought a trumpet, a saxophone, a trombone, and two soul singing ladies.  Yeah, it was just as good as you might imagine.

Trey and the horns.

We were about 3 rows back today straight out from Mike.

One of the soul sisters.  They also came out during the encore for a super-awesome version of Suzy Greenberg.

He can sure play that guitar.

What is he looking at?

Mike plays bass.

Exile On Main St was a superb choice for the musical costume.  It had great energy from start to finish.

The extra talent really brought some added coolness to the set.

Three sets of music today.  Not too bad.

More to come with Day Three...

Festival 8 - Day One

Some of you may know that my favorite band is (and has been since I was 16) Phish.  This Halloween weekend circumstances allowed for me to attend a three-day festival put on by the band in Indio, CA.  It was the eighth festival in their history, and thus it was called Festival 8.  I happened to bring my camera along and I shot a few photos of the event.

Day One:

Ryan and I left SLC around 3:30pm on Thursday arriving in Indio around 2am.

Wading in a sea of hippies while we patiently await the band.

The last time I saw Phish was their supposed "last concert ever" in Coventry, VT in 2004 (coincidentally, this could be referred to as Festival 7).

This could very well be my favorite image from the weekend.

Phish has always had an amazing light show accompany their concerts thanks to Chris Kuroda.

Exodus.

More to come with Day Two...