ufo watchtower / gator farm photographer's road trip!

I love crazy.  I do.  If you have a crazy uncle who wants to talk about DIA conspiracy theories, be sure to introduce me, because I'm totally fascinated by things that are crazy/ creepy/ weird/ unbelieveable, whether I personally agree with them or not.  I'm so fascinated by weird, random roadside attractions, too, and one night I was meeting with a group of photographer friends when I may have gotten a little too excited describing the awesome weirdness of Colorado's own UFO watchtower, and the gator farm down the road.  That, combined with my trying to explain ultra-small town life to my friends in "The City" (as we small mountain town people call it, doesn't really matter which city), and we decided they just had to see it all for themselves.What followed was a road trip of epic proportions - I seriously don't think I've ever crammed so much into two days.

We drove through Leadville where I attempted to explain ski jorring, stopped for coffee in my hometown of Buena Vista where our coffee was served by the mayor, and then we walked across the street to visit the old brothel (which apparently is a weird thing to refer to casually), then on to Colorado Gators!  We spent the afternoon cuddling baby gators and making friends with the gator wranglers, then headed to the UFO watchtower, where we put on crazy outfits, took some pictures in the sunset, danced around in their vortex garden at night, camped, woke up, encountered a fellow UFOer who refused to tell us his real name but said, "Some people call me Fez,", and  then went to the Sand Dunes where we were, by far, the most unusually-dressed hikers.  On the way back, I took them to the ghost town of St. Elmo, where we got curious and learned via Wikipedia that St. Elmo was named after a Victorian novel, not a saint, but that St. Elmo himself is actually the patron saint of sailors.  Curious, given that St. Elmo town is in a landlocked state at an elevation of 10,000 feet.  We drove back through the real South Park, knocking off an item from Heather's bucket list- she had never seen a ghost town before, and now she's seen two!  Phew.

Okay, brace yourselves for a gigantic number of images.  First, the gator farm, which is run by nice people with either the least amount of regulation or the best, most subtle sense of humor ever.  Giant tortoises, dogs, and peacocks roam the property freely, and you can pay $100 to take an ALLIGATOR. WRESTLING. CLASS.  Which, no, I have not yet had a chance to do, but yes, I plan on doing in the future.

 A little out of focus, but still fun:

 You could really just reach in and grab this little guy if you wanted to.

Now, the UFO watchtower.  I haven't had any personal experience with actual UFOs, so I can't claim to be a believer, but for some reason I keep ending up at these UFO events...  I don't know.  I think it's the costumes.

 

Self-portrait:

Heather got beamed up! ;)

This shot on the left is so unsettling and slightly creepy and I think it's awesome.

Then, to the Sand Dunes! We planned to shoot for longer, but it got SO.HOT. so quickly that we didn't spend as much times as planned.  Also, we got some pretty awesome looks from the boy scout troop that passed us.

I love these girls!  Be sure to check out their work at http://heathergrayphotography.com/ and http://kelseybigelowphotography.com/.

And I love road trips!  And I love hanging out!  Want to come with me sometime?  I'd be happy to show you around my favorite rural mountain towns, desert destinations, or explore somewhere new.  Just fair warning: I say the word "awesome" too much, you can't take me anywhere in Buena Vista without having to say hi to half the town, I like mimosas in the morning, and the second day of our road trip, I consumed one Rockstar, three Red Bulls, and two americanos without blinking.  So, if that sounds like your kinda party, get in touch!  It'll be awesome.

I grew up in Santa Fe, and I head back a few times a year.  I'm still planning to go this summer, but don't have dates yet.  Anyone wanna come with?  You can check out a few blog posts from previous Santa Fe trips 1. Here 2. Here and 3. Here.  Yay!

seth & jenna (atascadero wedding photography)

My cousin married his lovely bride this weekend at Portola Inn in Atascadero, CA, and it was gorgeous.  I wasn't working working, but it's so weird for me to be a guest at weddings... I don't really know what to do with myself.  I'd probably have to sit on my hands during the ceremony.  YES, I most definitely sat back, relaxed, and enjoyed the wedding, but I also got a few shots in there too :)

My little sister moved overseas almost a year ago, and of course she flew back into the States for like three days before leaving for a totally different overseas location... this time, joined by my little bro.  So. so. jealous.

Love it when my family is all together, even for such a short time :)

My little sister is SO MUCH taller than me, it's hysterical/embarrassing.

My little brother and his girlfriend are pure awesomeness.

Right about now, my brothers and I were sitting around the table...ah... enthusiastically discussing someone who has been less than... ah... supportive of my sister.  None of us have seen her in almost a year, and we were all really glad to be around each other, so we may have been talking a little too loud while discussing our possible treatment of this person.  Which may possibly have lead an eavesdropping groomsman to decide we were a mob family.  Which I may or may not have taken as a compliment.

Then we found a pirate ship playground.  Mom, sorry, but these are definitely going to be the family Christmas card this year, no matter what you say.

Seth & Jenna - so much love to you both.  Congratulations and have SO much fun in Greece! <3

desert gypsy shoot (moab portrait photographer)

Just fair warning... if you hire me to shoot your wedding, there's a solid chance that a year later we'll be friends and you'll blindly follow me into the desert for days on end and we might accidentally stumble upon filming of a Will Smith movie in the middle of nowhere and maybe the night before we're supposed to leave for this epic road trip I'll send you a random Facebook message in the middle of the night suggesting that you bring "some cool clothes or something" and we'll rock out the most awesome desert shoot ever while our guys make banana margaritas in the electric blender they've hooked up to the cigarette lighter outlet in the car.Moab is one of my favorite places in the entire world.  I've been going there for years, several times a year, since high school - by myself, with Zach, with friends - and it totally feels like a second home.  I LOVE the desert so much, and Moab is absolutely one of the most breathtaking, astoundingly beautiful, most surreal places on the planet.  Pictures really don't do this place justice at all, and that's coming from a photographer :)

Anyway, this shoot with Shalisa came with little / no prep and little / no styling :)  It was HOT and we had all been sleeping on the desert floor for a few days so you better have some mad respect for this girl's beauty!  This is the awesome part about my job - I met Nate and Shalisa for the first time when they hired me to shoot their wedding  about a year ago, and now we hang out, and awesome things like this happen.  Who would have known, a year ago :)   I'll probably have to do a separate blog post on the trip itself, because there's just too much goodness going on here.  Love you Shalis!

I'm in Moab usually several times a year -  if you're from the area and want to schedule a shoot, feel free to be in touch.  Or, if you're not from the Moab area but are as in love with it as I am, also feel free to be in touch.  Maybe we can coordinate trips! :)

i'm going to africa!!

I'm so excited to let you guys know that this November, three lovely photographer friends and I are headed to Kenya!  My friends Nicole, Meredith, Lindsay, and I will be working with Friends Vision, a great organization comprised of volunteers from Kenya and around the world, working to make life brighter for kids at their Children's Home.WHAT ARE WE DOING?

We'll be bringing donated digital cameras & computer equipment with us, and teaching the kids basic photography lessons, hoping to open the door for them to our passion,  and give them a potentially marketable skill.  I really want to see these kids energized by the beauty of photography - I remember how exciting it was (and still is!) for me to take that first good shot, and to start to see the world in a new way.  Wouldn't it be awesome if some of these kids grew up to be renowned wedding photographers, or award-winning photojournalists?!?

We'll also be documenting the work that Friends Vision has been doing, through both video and stills, giving them updated images for their website and hopefully a short documentary film as well.  We also hope to shoot individual portraits of the kids for use in their child sponsorship program.  Obviously, we'll also be helping out however we can around the Children's Home, too.

(some of the Friends Vision kiddos)

HOW CAN YOU HELP?

We would be so encouraged by your support!  Here are some of the ways you can help:

- Donate your USED (or new!) DIGITAL CAMERAS for us to take with us to give to the kids.  We're looking for digital cameras in working order with all the necessary parts, if possible (batteries, chargers, cards, card readers, etc.).  It doesn't matter if they're cheap point & shoots or big fancy SLRs - I'm sure the kids will love them!  We're also looking for a few small printers - there are some travel-sized mini-printers that can print straight off of a camera.  We'd love to be able to hand out prints as we shoot.  If we can get our hands on some USED LAPTOPS IN WORKING ORDER, we'll bring those with us, too!

- Donate your FREQUENT FLYER MILES.  If you have accumulated miles that you're not going to use, we'd love to have them!  It may help us get over there a bit more cheaply.  Sign up for an account at points.com, or contact your airline / credit card company... here's some more info about transferring your miles.  If you need my frequent flyer numbers in order to transfer miles, just let me know which airline you'll be transferring from!

- Donate FINANCIALLY.  You can make donations towards my trip at my YouCaring account.    We're each trying to raise $2600 to cover airfare, travel costs, food, and lodging.  Any money raised over our goal amounts will go straight to Friends Vision as a donation, or will be used to purchase any accessories necessary for our donated cameras to be useful to the kids.

- Plan to BUY A FRAMED OR MOUNTED PRINT from me when I get back.  I'll be taking LOTS ( and lots and lots and lots) of pictures, both of the kids and of the scenery, etc, and all proceeds from any Africa print sales will go towards this trip.

- Consider SPONSORING A CHILD through Friends Vision!  If we know who your sponsored child is, we can bring extra letters, etc with us, and make sure to take plenty of portraits of your sponsored child, with you in mind :)

- Join us at a FUNDRAISER EVENT. We have some fun fundraiser ideas planned ... we'll keep you updated on the details as we figure them out!

Thanks so much for your consideration - we're all so excited about this trip, and can't wait to share more details with you soon!

cloe (destination senior portraits / los angeles senior portraits)

I was SO thrilled to shoot Cloe's senior portraits in LA a few weeks ago!  She is an absolutely wonderful person, and just so happens to have a killer sense of style.  We drove / walked / ran / skipped all over the city, and I loved every minute of it :)

Straight out of a magazine!  Seriously.

This is one of my favorites:

Isn't this coat awesome?!?

I LOVE the California light!  We don't seem to get these deep, rich sunset colors here in CO.

Also, in case you haven't seen it, here's Cloe's Senior Cinema video!

[vimeo 37341288 w=400 h=300]

Cloe from Cedar House Cinema on Vimeo.

Cloe - I love you girl!  Thanks for such a fun fun day and an amazing session!