Sunday I got to go to the state fair with my parents. They're pretty great. We got to go see Bill Cosby, King Tut, and some lumberjacks. I got to eat my weight in gyros, funnel cake, and my favorite, cotton candy. It was super fun getting to hang out with my parents all day, especially since I'm leaving for college in just a few hours! In fact, if you're reading this, chances are I'm in the air right now, sitting next to two awesome guys! (Matt and his brother Ben.) I guess I should finish packing now. My friend Lauren described it perfectly, I guess I'm kind of afraid that my first year was just a dream. I'm not as nervous for school, but I'm also not as excited. To help with this, I watched the videos I made for first and second semester. Those made me pretty excited to see my friends again. :3 They make me smile.
Welp, I've been rambling for far too long. Time to pack some more. Oregon, here I come!
Well, today I am heading out on the very last day of my internship, and needless to say I'm a little sad. It's been such a crazy ride and I'm sad to leave all of my co-workers and my boss!
This summer I had the hugely unique opportunity to intern under Jeff Schultz, who has been the Official Iditarod Photographer since 1982. My two big projects were to redo his two websites and file literally thousands of stock and Iditarod film slides. I also got to accompany him on many photoshoots, by helping with setup as well as modeling for test and stock shots. You Alaska people might be seeing me on a billboard soon. ;)
It was really by chance that I got this internship. I emailed him asking if I could do it, knowing he didn't usually accept interns, but then a few email exchanges later and I got the job! It's been such a fantastic time learning from him and my two fellow (awesome) employees, Trent and Haley, who are both also wonderful people and insanely talented photographers. I learned so much that I've already been able to put into practice, whether that be photoshop techniques (thanks Trent! You have saved me hours of work on multiple occasions), lightroom, the ins and outs of owning your own business, and of course, "fake it till you make it."
That saying has saved me so many times. There were a lot of days I had no idea what I was doing, but somehow everything worked out (not without a million google searches). You can see Jeff's new fancy Iditarod Photos website here and his personal photography page here!
I am so so thankful I had this opportunity and I'll be very sad to say goodbye to everyone today, but I'm also excited to take what I learned and apply it to my own photography.
This past weekend I got to go with my parents, my brother, and my dad's friend (who owned the boat) to go fishing out of Prince William Sound. As someone who doesn't particularly like standing in a river waiting for hours for a fish, but loves spending time on a boat and actually catching fish, I was excited to spend an entire day on the ocean. Don't be fooled by the awesome weather in these photos! Usually it's pretty miserable weather, but I seem to always go on the one sunny day of the year. That's a good curse to have though, so I'm not complaining!
We woke up early and donned our warmest gear (though we shedded all but the minimum as the day progressed), prepared for intrepid winds and harsh seas. The extra water, Dramamine, and camera batteries were packed, and we began our trek in a camo-lined truck pulling a 25 foot boat down the highway.
Upon arriving and stowing our belongings and ourselves onto the boat, my brother William and I immediately fell asleep. Strangely though, it wasn't from taking any medicine to help with motion sickness, it was just because the waves were lulling us to sleep. I was actually surprised that I didn't need to take any drugs, considering driving for any amount of time in Oregon makes me carsick. But turbulent sea waves in Alaska? My tummy was in heaven, apparently.
We sailed out to one of the many lagoons in the area simply to explore, and came upon a school of fish jumping out of the water. So the anchor went down and our fishing poles went up, and we floating on the water's surface while a fresh breeze blew in and the sun shined overhead. It was in that moment I discovered what being an old man feels like, and let me tell you, it is a great feeling.
Over the course of the day, I caught only one fish, a Silver, but it was still quite exciting. My dad thought I had gotten stuck on a rock since I never felt the fish bite and it seems like he was swimming with us, but when we reeled it in, there was a fish on the end of the line! He put up quite a fight, but in the end I won and booped him on the head and soon I shall eat him. And he shall be delicious.
We also caught some shrimp (those were consumed very quickly) and an octopus, although he was returned to the sea. You can see a few more photos plus the fish I caught on instagram under the tag #hardcoreparkours2013 (and other family summer adventures as well).
