The Best Street In Salt Lake

It's hard to choose my favorite part of spring, more sunshine, warmer weather, the scent of flowers, green grass ... you get the idea. But one thing I always look forward to is the neighborhood coming alive with everyone heading outdoors to soak in the changing season. Moods are better and with the additional daylight it is finally an option to stay outside and share evenings with friends and neighbors.

This is particularly enjoyable when you live on the best street in town like I do. My photographic mentor Andrea "plans" the best impromptu gatherings under her legendary tree and I've looked forward to attending those all winter long. It turns an ordinary street into a family-like community and brings us all together for a few hours of relaxation and visiting. A celebration of spring.

This week has brought some welcome warm weather so it was a chance to get outside and see who was stirring. Any time is a good time for some jump pictures, but it's hard to beat the feeling that comes from jumping in the spring and on the best street in Salt Lake!

My Friend Megg

First let me clarify that I haven't met Megg but I have followed her Flickr page for nearly a year and have enjoyed her talent and learned from her, so I feel like I can rightfully call her my friend. She is a teacher by profession so it's no wonder that she has been so willing to help me learn, and so patient with my questions. When I first saw her work I was attracted to it by something very unique and creative but the problem I had was that I am a CPA and I live in the decidedly uncreative world of tax law so I couldn't put my finger on what was so appealing about her images. All I knew is that they kept drawing me back and had me looking forward to more of her interesting posts.

One day as I was enjoying her latest post I knew I had to learn from her so I sent a quick note asking her about her processing. Of course Megg sent me a note back explaining things and forwarding a link to a tutorial that I have referred to a number of times now. The easy part, even for a CPA, is learning the mechanics, but the talent associated with her photography is something else entirely and that's what sets her work apart from so many others that I have seen.

I checked Flickr this morning like I do each day and saw another awesome post from Megg so I fired off another email to ask her permission to post some more of her outstanding pictures. After posting some of her images a month ago I've had a few people mention how much they enjoy her work too, so I'm thrilled to share more. Personally, I have never seen lomography presented any better, but it isn't just the iconic processing that makes her work impressive, it's the amazing talent and dedication to telling a story with each picture she takes. Follow the link to her blog here and enjoy her posts! Megg, if you're out there, you're the best :)

April 15th (or so)

I have neglected almost everything in my life the past 4 months and although it's normal for tax season (particularly when you are self-employed) this year has seemed worse. When the IRS announced in January that brokerage houses and banks had an additional two weeks to issue 1099's to their customers, it had a ripple effect all the way down to little ole me. Nearly everyone was slower this year getting their information organized so it made it later in the season for me to get things prepared. I am still very grateful for the work I have and this is in no way meant to gripe. I count my blessings everyday for work and health and family. I'm exhausted every April 16th so a rest is welcome. I know many people who are facing employment challenges and they are in my thoughts frequently.

I have been an avid photographer, albeit amateur and a slow learner, for a few years and I have wanted to upgrade my camera for some time .... so, I received a Canon 5D Mark II in the mail this week for my after tax season surprise to myself, and what a sweet camera :) This is going to be fun!

In 10 days Bret will be home from 2 years in Taipei, Taiwan and I can't wait to see him. What an awesome experience he has had, and I have to believe that being fluent in Mandarin at 21 years old will be a real asset for his entire life, let alone the wonderful blessings he has accrued from living among those great people of Taiwan.

Oh yeah, a jump for joy picture for the end of tax season!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Way Behind

My friend Don Adamson mentioned to me today that I needed to get my priorities straight and get some updates to this blog. I admit I've been over the top busy with work but I have had time for some awesome jump shots with a few willing victims. I am so ready for nice weather I can't stand it. Just a chance to get some shots outside with blue sky in the background would be nice. This week wraps up the freaking wild tax season so I'm looking forward to a little quality camera time real soon. I can't take credit for the first picture because Bret took it in Taiwan and emailed it to me last week. I was glad to see he is enjoying jump pictures 7,500 miles away!

It Feels Like Spring

Wow today felt like spring! It was hard to stay inside and try to be a responsible adult. So for the 45 seconds I spent taking this picture of Morgan I thoroughly enjoyed the warm and sunny day. May 1st needs to get here quick!

When Irish Eyes Are Smilin'

_MG_9707, originally uploaded by rtsmithcpa.

"Oh Danny Boy, the pipes the pipes are calling,

from glen to glen and down the mountain side.

The summer's gone and all the roses falling,

It's you, it's you must go and I must bide.

But come ye back when summer's in the meadow,

Or when the valley's hush'd and white with snow.

It's I'll be there in sunshine or in shadow,

Oh Danny Boy, oh Danny Boy, I love you so!"

For The First Time : Wedding Jumps

Jason and Leslee actually invited us to their wedding reception and it was a lot of fun. I told the real photographer not to freak out when I brought in my camera and he seemed ok with it all. It helps to have a mellow photographer because nothing goes as planned when weddings are involved. I like to think that I helped make his job easier, and I got the jump shots, yay!

Lomography By The Best

I mentioned in my earlier post that I asked for permission to post a few pictures from my Flickr friend Megg and she sent me an email this morning saying heck yes, post some! So I choose 3 of my favorites. She has some very real talent for this cross-processing and it adds a very cool effect to the pictures. She set me up with a photoshop tutorial so I can learn the ins and outs of lomography. Thanks Megg, you're awesome! If you like this technique as much as I do then be sure to check out her photostream and her blog both are sweet. Here is the link to the first picture ,second picture, and the third picture. Hope you enjoy them like I do.

More Experiments

This picture of Elle Adamson and her friend has been a favorite of mine since I took it a while ago so I thought I would continue my cross-processing experiment. I'm hoping to get permission from one of my Flickr friends to post one of her cross-processed images real soon.

Lomography

I'm not an artist or a real photographer and I've never done anything with film processing so I keep learning all sorts of new stuff messing with Photoshop and viewing photo's on Flickr. I've really enjoyed a type of processing called lomography which is based on cross-processing of color negative film in slide film chemicals or the other way around. You get blown out highlights and intense contrast with a light yellow-green shade over the image. Back a few years ago there were camera's called diana's and they duplicated this process in a cheap campy sort of way and created a kind of cult following check the site out here. I think it adds a way cool effect to photo's so I've been experimenting with this process. I've followed the most awesome Flickr photostream singlecupofcoffee and Megg has mastered this process. Check out her pictures.

Zoom Zoom

I feel like I never leave work before dark this time of year and other than the occasional daytime jump shot my photo ops are in the dark. That will be changing real soon, particularly since we are returning to daylight savings time this weekend. But it's difficult to find things fun to photograph in the cold darkness of winter. I've wanted to take some car light trail pictures for a long time and I figured I better get on the ball before I have to stay up way past my bedtime to capture some. So when I noticed the cool reflections on the wet road I pulled off to the shoulder, set up the tripod and let loose.

Jump Shot Updates

Oh, beauty I've been busy so it was refreshing to wake up to snow this morning. Since the daily high temperatures have been hovering around 52 degrees for the past few days I have had a hard time focusing on work and my camera keeps calling my name. The desire to sneak out of the office and play eases when the weather is cold and snowy. I start the work week by staying as late as my body lets me and then by Thursday I start wearing down and needing a diversion. So I welcomed Andrea's call yesterday morning when she said "I dreamed we were doing jump shots of people, so lets go get some." I couldn't spend as much time as I wanted but we got some awesome shots. Thanks to Tanna who is always so willing to jump for me (with no notice even), thanks to Kylie's Seminary class for sneaking out and jumping and thanks to Marsha and Kylie for jumping when sick and injured. I've included other pictures of recent shots that have done more for my mental health than anyone could imagine.

A Flickr Post

I have a blast with Flickr and I have made some pretty good friends just from sharing photos. I've found a lot of people with the same sick love of jumping pictures and a few of us have made it a goal to keep as many posted as we can. I thought I would post a shot of one of the largest groups, the Jumping Project. I highlighted the number of members and as near as I can tell, most still post a picture to the group fairly often. When you have a few minutes go to the Jumping Project site and look through the photos.