July 26, 2014
One of the highlights of working for Jeff Schultz this summer, and one of my summer highlights in general, was being able to attend his Portage Pass workshop through Alaska Photo Treks. We began the morning by meeting outside the tunnel to Whittier, trying to call anyone who knew if it was raining on the other side. After finally getting a weather report of only sprinkling, clouds moving out, we drove through. We got breakfast at the hotel and listened to Jeff talk about the day, some of the basics of photography, composition, and hyperfocal distance. Then we drove out to the base of the hike.
Having never been to Portage Pass before this, I didn't know what to expect. Usually I anticipate something grand only to be disappointed by reality, But I'll never forget the moment we reached the top of the peak and looked towards the glacier, surrounded by moss and mountains and rolling fog. It was the most beautiful sight I've seen in my whole life. I know it's cliche to say, but I really don't have words to describe it. The only thing I can say is that I couldn't believe such a place existed in real life, and yet there I was, standing in it, and being able to photograph it with confidence thanks to the direction of Jeff. I think I can speak for everyone who attended the workshop, but it really took me out of my comfort zone in not only photographing things I wasn't used to photographing, but also experimenting with different apertures and focal lengths and compositions.
During the morning, the landscape was moody with fog and clouds, which lead to some really interesting photos. By the end of the day everything changed, with the sun coming out, showing the glacier and surrounding areas in all its colorful glory. How cool is it that we get to live in such an amazing place?
I'm so thankful that I had the opportunity to go on this photo trek and learn from Jeff, and cannot wait for the next adventure!
July 25, 2014
You're looking at the best day of my summer, in the second most beautiful place I've ever seen (the first most I'll blog about tomorrow!). This photoshoot was well over a month in the making. At the beginning of summer, Miranda and I got in contact with each other. She's just starting out in modeling, and I'm just starting out shooting with models, so it was a perfect fit. Plus, she is one of the nicest people I've ever met. It was such a blast getting to work with her!
We began the day by getting make up done by makeup artist Gibby (I'll give all the details on everyone when I publish the actual shoot). She was fantastic and knew exactly what I wanted even though I'm the worst at makeup. It was amazing.
Then Miranda, her friend Julia, my awesome assistant Haley, and I all headed out to Independence Mine. I've wanted to go there for a couple years now but never did, simply because I don't like going on adventures by myself--much more fun to share them with others. So this summer, I was going to make a plan to get out there. During a coffee date with Miranda, she said she had always wanted to go there as well, so I knew we had to make it happen! Of course, the day of the shoot it rained the hardest out of the entire summer, but we took the three hour drive anyways. It was a bit misty when we got to the abandoned town, but that only made for a really cool atmosphere. It was as if we had entered a different world. My words and even the photos don't do it justice. You have to go experience it for yourself.
We set up the wardrobe inside one of the houses, quickly scouted out different locations, and got to shooting! It was so so much fun and we got some fantastic photos, and it's really hard for me to work on client work before working on this "for fun" shoot. Because as you can tell, Miranda is insanely gorgeous and I'm dying to start working on them!
This place was beautiful. Everyone who was a part of it were even more beautiful. And I can sometimes hardly believe that this is what I get to do on a regular basis.
Every year our two families get together at our family friend's cabin at Big Lake, and this year was probably the best one yet. It was basically the perfect summer weather, with the sun shining, warm water, and we couldn't resist jumping in the water multiple times. Jet skis, stand up paddle boarding, kayaking, swimming ... yeah, I'm kind of wanting to go back from looking at these photos again.
I also got to play a bit with my brother's underwater iphone case, which is why some of the photos look kind of funny. Water on the lens does weird, awesome things.
