Remember this one?

This afternoon I was backing up some photos on my fancy little blue lego-looking hardrive when I started searching through the archives to look at some of my really early stuff. I came across one of my very first portrait shoots ever and felt like sharing it.

I took this photo of former Oregon State outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury while working at the Oregon State Daily Barometer in 2005. For those of you who don't know, he went on to be the 23rd overall pick by the Boston Red Sox in the 2005 draft and has since made a name for himself by making great diving catches in the outfield and stealing home.


I remember being so incredibly nervous because I had never had the opportunity to take a photo of an athlete and I didn't know what to expect. Looking back I can't think of a single athlete I've shot since who was nicer than Jacoby. He could tell I was nervous and was patient enough to let me try a few different things and although it didn't result in the most compelling photograph, I have to say that it is one of my favorites.

This was a fun time in my life and I'm thankful I was smart enough to hold onto an image that helps me remember it.

Some Summer Stuff...

June, July and August are without a doubt the busiest months of the year here in my small corner of the world. Don't believe me?

Summer Supreme (So Far)...

Well here it is folks. I am LONG overdue for what has unintentionally turned into my monthly posts of photos.

So let's see... Where to start? I suppose I should start by switching gears on the apathetic tone with which this post has already started.

Ok, so my last post was in late May and since then a whole lot of stuff has happened. First of all, on May 31st I turned 25. Amongst the multitude of feelings from the passing of another year I am convinced that 25 not only sounds older than 24 but it undoubtedly FEELS older as well. I was able to celebrate the date with a great group of friends from here in Boise who I've come to know quite well over the past couple of years. The long and short of it: Drinks were drank, stories were told and songs were sang (including a spectacular karaoke rendition of the cult classic "To Be With You" by Mr Big).



June passed by in the blink of an eye with very little excitement falling in front of my camera lens. However, there were a few notable memories from the past couple months including, but not limited to...

A Jonas Brothers concert...


A big hay stack fire...


An appearance by the Budweiser Clydesdale...


Of course some fireworks...



... and a couple other things...



As the days have continued to fall from the calendar I have found myself focusing less and less on the work I've been doing and more and more on the people in my life and the miles under my running shoes.

On June 29th I began a 16-week quest to train for the finishline of my first marathon; the IMT Des Moines Marathon on October 18th. As you can likely imagine it is going to take some work to reach the finish of the 26.2-mile course and after almost two weeks, so far so good! I am up to four runs a week with my longest to-date being 14 miles. I went ahead and bought myself a funky little GPS watch to keep closer track of my progress and I have been pretty pleased with this little wrist-top-computery-doo-dad.

In addition to the birthday celebrations, marathon training and of course work I have found time to...

Travel to the central Idaho mountains...


Have some AMAZING Huckleberry Cheesecake...


See some sand dunes (in Idaho!)...


... and float the Boise River.


So far the summer has been a blast! Hard to believe that it is half over but I am sure I will find a few more adventures before the season starts to change. I just hope I can get another blog update in before then!

As always, thanks for checking in!

Just Pictures For Now

I realize it's been about forever and a day since I've posted any new material. I'll try and follow up with some more words soon. Until then, enjoy these pictures I've taken in the past month or so...

Paintball Fun

On Sunday afternoon I caught wind of a few guys playing paintball out at the Canyon County Fairgrounds and since I didn't have anything on the budget for the day I decided to check it out. I ended making a video, which I thought turned out pretty fun. Take a look!

Some Spring Fun

On Monday I was able to escape out of the office at bit earlier than usual and because it was my Friday I decided to head for the hills for an evening ride. The ride was spectacular. The sun started to set as I began a 6 mile descent along some stellar singletrack, which made for some super long shadows and extremely warm light. I topped off the ride with a cold beer at the car which was a perfect end to a great day.



Afterwards I met up with some folks at the local bowling alley for a few games of discount bowling. A good time was had by all.

Some Recent Happenings

Well it has been almost a month since I last logged an update and in that time a ton of stuff has happened. Some good, some not so good.

So let's start from the top...

The weather is once again warming up and this weekend I reluctantly hung the skis up in the garage where they will sadly stay for the foreseeable future. With the exception of a few fantastic days in Utah, this ski season was, well, lets say marginal. I began to lose interest in early February as I began training for my first half marathon.

Billed as "The Toughest Half Marathon in the Northwest" the Race to Robie Creek features a grueling 9 mile climb which gains almost 2,000 ft of elevation before dropping sharply downhill in the last 4 miles. Training for this race consumed much of my free time and as running became more and more fun for me I started skiing less and less.

So after about eight weeks of training I set out on Saturday to tackle the course alongside about 2,500 other runners and walkers. I had been struggling with a cold for much of the week before the race but by Saturday morning it had completely cleared up and all I wanted to do was run.



I cleared the course in just under two hours which was better than I had hoped to do. The great part about this particular race is that at the finish line free food and beer is provided to participants - which turned out to be a powerful motivator as I began to struggle around mile 10.


Now I am hooked and am looking forward to running in another half soon. Oh and to see some more photos check out my photostream on Flikr.

Another happening worth noting is that tough times have finally hit home at my paper. Like many newspapers across the country, revenues are down and in an attempt to cut costs earlier this month the publisher of the IPT took action and is imposing a one week furlough on all employees as well as a 2.5 hour reduction on all hourly employee's work weeks.

As you can probably imagine, this was tough to take. However, I will say that I am very happy to still have a job, unlike so many journalists across the country.

Beyond the change in workweek (and paycheck) things are by-in-large still the same. I'm still shooting as much if not more than I have been - which is why I have been away from the blog for so long.

So that's where I'm standing right now. I'll try and come back with a more picture-heavy post later in the week.

As always, thanks for checking in!