Medicinal Meandering

     Yesterday was cold.  Sort of.  45 degrees and windy.  I was feeling a little overwhelmed by life and needed a respite.  I donned my mountaineering boots, a pack with some gear, and headed for the mountains.

     As I reached the Park-n-Ride lot at the mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon I saw a multitude of skiers dashing out of their cars, trying to catch the bus that was pulling into the terminal across the lot.  A man in the car next to me hurriedly stripped off his jeans and nearly dove feet first into his bibs, all the while being cackled at by his female companion who was afraid they would miss their ride to the resort.  I casually slipped my pack onto my back, harnessed my camera around my neck, and meandered toward the trail at the east end of the lot.

     I had no real destination or goal to speak of.  Just a desire to smell some clean air.  It's almost medicinal to me to wander in the woods and just smell the air.  I hadn't been out for a hike in a LONG time and one was due.

     As I strolled along the pathway that cut through the scrub oak I could hear voices coming from the surrounding cliffs.  Climbers were out enjoying the first real "break" in the weather.  And why not?  It wasn't a bad day to be on the rock.  It was dry, after all.

     I made my way toward the voices and soon found myself in the area of the Crescent Crack buttress.  Amid cheers from a female voice, and grunting from a male voice, I honed in on the position of a party on a route called Mexican Crack, an unforgiving piece that tests your commitment as a climber and your skills as a rock technician.  I picked out the names "Justin" and "Margo".

     Justin was at work on traversing final 40 feet of the route.  At one point he actually jammed his left hand into the crack so well that it got stuck!  It took him a good minute or two to pull it out again.

Justin works the final traverse on Mexican Crack, 5.10a,

Crescent Crack Buttress, LCC

 After getting his hand stuck (then released), Justin hangs on his

gear and reassesses.

     In the course of watching this party of climbers I had made my way to the top of the route they were on via an adjacent dihedral in an effort to get a shot of their attempt from the top down.  As I stood at the top of the route, however, I quickly realized the precariousness of my position and abandoned my efforts.

     As I made my way back down, I spotted another party on a route called Crack in the Woods.  They were doing a link up between that route and one higher up the next face to the right called Hand Jive.  Truly a couple of classics in the canyon.

A party makes their way up Crack in the Woods (5.9) on their way

toward Hand Jive(5.8), Crescent Crack Buttress, LCC

     Justin had made it to the top of his route by this point.  I made my way over to the belay and took a few shots of Margo making her attempt at the start of the route, a casual stemming move by anyone over 5'8" tall.  For Margo, however, this would prove much more difficult as her short stature caused that she had to nearly do the splits to stem between foot holds.

     After an exhausting effort at the base of the route, Margo had made it past the stemming section and was off and running toward the upper parts of the route.

Margo makes a go of the 5.9 start to Mexican Crack.  After a tumultuous

beginning, she eventually found her way to the upper sections of

the route and blazed through them.

     I wished Justin and Margo well and made my way back down the hill to the bouldering areas hoping to get some shots there.  As I reached the area called The Secret Garden there were a few guys working a problem called Twisted.  Each of them would make an attempt, fall off, give some lousy excuse as to why they couldn't do it, then go on talking about something else.  There was one guy in the group, however, that walked right up to the boulder, grabbed the holds, and pulled himself up and over the top of the problem.  His friends all gave some encouraging cheers then proceeded to make more excuses as to why he could do it and they could not.

An anonymous boulderer attempts Twisted (V6), Secret Garden, LCC

     After a few minutes putzing about the area and not finding any quality photographic opportunities, I headed back to my car.  I had enjoyed being out in the mountains.  It was good to stretch my legs and smell some fresh air again.

     As I walked the trail back to my car I passed a family with a couple of small children presumably doing what I set out to do.  The kids were digging in the dirt on the side of the trail while the rest of the family was chattering about who knows what.  Honestly it didn't matter what they were talking about.  Climbers, boulderers, and hikers alike were all out enjoying the day.

     The snow set in again as I reached my car.  I started it up and turned the wipers on to clear the windshield and was all too aware of the fact that it had been far too long since I last got out.  It won't take that long again.

In the Studio (Session 2)

     After another session in the studio with Cameron, and a few new models, here are the results.  We attempted some different lighting scenarios and had a lot of fun experimenting.  Our models were willing to go with our ideas to create something a little different from the usual portrait set up.


     Special thanks to Mel, Mandi, and Jacky for helping us out with Cameron's run at a scholarship through the Skills USA program.

Jacky is naturally posed here in a conversational position.

Warm lighting with an amber gel over a speedlight illuminating the 

backdrop adds a comfortable feel to this portrait.

 Mandi takes on a contemplative pose in this portrait.

The green gel on the speedlight creates a sense

of "other than present" state of mind for her.

Changing the color of light creates mood in

portraiture.

 Mel was having so much fun during our session with her.

She is posed here in a strong, triangular position lending

power to this portrait while at the same time a sense of

femininity and softness.

 A blue hue to the backdrop allows a coolness to this

portrait of Jacky.  Her eyes are focused of camera as if

she's laughing at something we don't know about.  The camera 

angle is low here offering a sense of grandeur, as if Jacky is

greater than us all.

 Here, Mandi takes on a soft pose haloed by warm lighting.

The camera angle is high and Mandi's face is directly into

the camera's position elongating her neck.  This causes

her to look more slender and offers a more appealing look

than if the camera angle were to be at her head level.

 A casual pose helps the viewer to connect with the

portrait.  Here, Mel supports her body weight on her back arm

and tilts her head toward her shoulder.  Her forward arm lays

across her lap.  Again, a higher camera angle allows a slimming

effect on the model.

 In this portrait I wanted to emphasize the rule of thirds.  Mel's

body position is  also diagonal and linear leading the

viewer's eye directly to her face.  The line from her arm to her shoulder,

complimented by the line created by her hair, also adds to this

effect.  She is offset to the right of the image creating space

in the portrait.  I often like these images printed very large, almost

life size.  The warm splash of light on the backdrop creates an

interesting gradient from light at the bottom to darker at the top.

This is in direct juxtaposition to Mel's coloring which starts dark

with her jeans and gets lighter with her hair creating visual interest.

 Mel is about to go back to brunette and wanted a portrait that

highlighted her hair color.  Here the key light was placed at 45°/45°

with a smaller soft box (about half the size of the one on the key

light) below and in front of the camera position.  I metered from the

smaller light with the key light set two stops higher to create a touch

of rim lighting.  Mel dropped her head backward a bit giving the viewer

a 45° profile of her face from the top of her head.  Again, a warm splash

of color on the backdrop was accomplished with a speedlight and

amber gel placed on the floor directly behind the model's position.

This is a very feminine portrait.

     Overall, this session was fulfilling to me as a photographer and to the models as they were having so much fun posing for Cameron and I.  Having fun in the studio often lends to creativity and coming away with something a bit different than what you may expect.  I hope you enjoy studying these portraits and can use them to fuel your own creative juices!