« return to portfolio home page

Outdoor Life magazine’s latest issue on America’s Top 200 Towns for Sportsmen features my cover and inside spread images of Aspen outdoorsman Harve Hoff casting in the Roaring Fork River in Woody Creek. We scouted many beautiful locations on the river but chose this gorgeous spot at the Blue Skys Estate.

I shot these images with the Canon 24mm tilt-shift lens and tilted the lens at a diagonal to match the fisherman’s fly rod, dropping the rest of the image out of focus. For the cover image, my first assistant Draper reflected light from the right side of the frame.

Cover image details: Canon EOS 1D Mark IV with the 24 mm lens at f/5.6, 1/500 and ISO 400.

I’m excited to post some of the great work that my workshop participants have shared with me from my Canon workshops in Moab. The image above was shot by Joanne Damian at the workshop last fall. Joanne won the Photo of the Year honor for this shot with the Cleveland Photographic Society. Way to go, Joanne!

And from the spring workshop, the talented Dana Underwood shared some outstanding photos with me on his photo blog from the Canon workshop:
Moab with Tyler Stableford: Day 1
Moab with Tyler Stableford: Day 2

Our weekend workshops push students to see light and composition in new ways and also include Lightroom and Photoshop instruction so you can create polished, print-ready images.

I am teaching two more Canon weekend photo workshops this year, August 6-7 in Acadia National Park, Maine and September 24-25 in Aspen, CO. Click here for more information.

I am very honored to learn that my homecoming image is the Grand Prize winner in Digital Photo Pro’s Photo of the Year contest in their latest issue. I took the photo at Colorado’s Buckley Air Force Base of Staff Sergeant Joseph Imeraj (foreground) and Technical Sergeant Daniel Bateman returning to their loved ones from a 60-day tour in Iraq. It was an incredibly emotional event, with 250 airmen coming down the ramp to swarms of cheering families and friends. Over 1,000 people ran to greet the airmen, so I did my best to scramble near the ramp to capture the story of just one or two airmen (all while wiping an incessant flow of tears off my viewfinder). The highlight of the project has been sharing the images with the airmen and their families, and giving them prints for their scrapbooks. I feel very lucky to have witnessed this homecoming, and to see the sacrifices that the military families make during deployments. Many thanks to Major Haley for making my visit possible, and to my 1st asssistant Draper White and imaging specialist Mac Holbert for their help converting the image to a timeless black and white tone in Photoshop.

I took the photo with the Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III camera and the 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM lens at 1/25th sec, f/6.3, ISO 400. I like working with a wide-angle lens as it allows me to capture the foreground action and also to tell a further story with the background. The photo was taken on assignment for 5280 magazine as a feature on F-16 fighter pilots of the 120th Fighter Squadron. Click here to see a video promo from the project.

Cabela’s just released two spring catalogs featuring my cover shots. The workwear cover was taken with the model Wade Livingston at a local log and timber construction company near my hometown of Carbondale, Colorado. For lighting, we angled the model so that the late afternoon sun was hitting him on his left side. My two assistants then reflected light to fill in under Wade’s hard hat and on his right side.

Image details: Canon EOS 1D Mark IV camera with the Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM lens at f/3.2, 1/400 and ISO 100.

The camping cover was taken with the Cathers family at a beautiful location in the Crown area outside of Carbondale. After prepping the scene and waiting for the evening light, we used one Hensel light with a Westcott Octobank softbox to the right of the scene to light the family.

A big thank-you to Bruce Brosnan from Cabela’s for his art direction on the camping cover.

Image details: Canon EOS 1D Mark IV camera with the Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens at f/4, 1/80 and ISO 1600.

The Ritz-Carlton Residences just released the first of their ads from our photo shoot this winter. We photographed several interior scenes of the beautiful Vail residences and shot some skiing images on Vail Mountain for this ad promo. For the skiing shots, we headed out early in the morning to catch first light on the mountain. I’m standing on a ladder to get a higher perspective and my two assistants are using reflectors to cast light on the models.  It was a spectacular morning on Vail Mountain and a beautiful view of the area! Thanks to Emily Curtis and Kate Hudnut for art directing this shoot. I’ll share the other ads as they are released.

Image details: Canon EOS 5D Mark II with the TS-E 17mm f/4 L lens at f/18, 1/50, ISO 200.

I’m excited to offer downloads of my award-winning film The Fall Line for sale on my website. The downloads are available for $9.99 and twenty percent of each sale will be donated to the Wounded Warrior Project. Click here to see a trailer of the film and purchase a download. The Fall Line has screened at film festivals around the country and received several awards including:

• Banff Mountain Film Festival – Selected for the 2011 Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour
• Taos Shortz Film Fest – Honorable Mention, Documentary
• Mammoth Mountain Film Festival – Best Documentary Short
• 5Point Film Festival – Most Inspiring Story
• Official Best of Fest Award
• Spokane International Film Festival
• Durango Independent Film Festival
• Vail Film Festival
• Ski Channel Film Festival
• Boulder Adventure Film Festival
• Mountainfilm in Telluride (screening in May)

I was thrilled that two of my top adventure shots were selected for awards at the Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival photo contest. My shot of the climber Jessa placed second and my Iceland caving image placed third in the sport category. Click here to see the full list of winners.

This caving image is of Mark Jenkins climbing inside the Langjokull Glacier, Iceland’s second largest glacier. Mark is a fellow adventurer and a monthly adventure travel columnist for Outside Magazine – see his writings, including three award-winning books, on his website. These caves are formed by meltwater from the glacier and are extremely rare. They usually only last a year or so before collapsing, hence this cave has long since disappeared. This image was taken with the Canon EOS 1Ds and 15 mm lens at f/4, 1/40 and ISO 200.

The climbing image is of the talented rock climber Jessa at the beautiful cliffs of Independence Pass near Aspen. I shot this image as part of a Canon campaign. This image was taken with the Canon EOS 1Ds Mark III and EF 14mm f/2.8L II USM lens at f/4, 1/500 and ISO 200. I climbed along with Jessa to get the best perspective while my first assistant Draper – not shown in this behind the scenes image – is hanging above Jessa, alternating between reflecting light and using a strobe.

Here are some other shots from the day:

These images illustrate the advantages of using an ultra-wide lens. Not only do the 14mm and 15mm lenses lend a grander perspective to the image, the image looks different than what we normally see with our own eyes, giving the photo a unique viewpoint. These lenses really create breath-taking images and are my go-to lenses for many of my outdoor shots.

5280 magazine received great news about the Wing Men photo essay I shot for their July issue – the photo essay was awarded a Merit Award in Photography by The Society of Publication Designers (SPD). The essay included images from my year-long project on the F-16 fighter pilots of the 140th Wing at the Buckley Air Force base in Aurora, Colorado. Special thanks to Geoff van Dyke, Sarah LaVigne and Steffanie Woodward of 5280 magazine for all of their support and extraordinary work on this project. Please click here to view images from 5280 magazine.

I was very excited to have two images selected as Portrait & People awardees in the Worldwide Photography Gala Awards. This was a great honor as only 2 percent of the images submitted to the contest were selected for awards.

The first image is of a 7-year-old boy named Lalo foraging in a Guatemalan landfill. It is one of my favorite journalistic photos, for the sense of hardship and lost youth that Lalo conveys. Image details: Shot with the Canon EOS 5D Mark II and the Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L IS USM lens at f/8, 1/1000 and ISO 400.

The second image is of a miner at the Marble Quarry in Marble, Colorado. I shot this image as part of an assignment for Aspen Sojourner Magazine. This marble mine produced the marble for the tomb block of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery. Shot with the Canon EOS-IDs Mark II, the Canon 14mm lens and an off-camera Canon 580EX speedlite to the right of the miner at f/2.8, 1/15 at ISO 400.

I have updated my Lightroom workflow outline to include some of the newest settings of Lightroom 3. This outline includes guidelines I use for importing, editing, processing and exporting my images in Lightroom. Please post any questions you have about my Lightroom workflow on my Facebook and Twitter pages.

Click here to download the PDF version of my Lightroom Workflow.

In preparation for my upcoming Photo Plus Expo DSLR workshop I’ve updated my Canon 5DMarkII custom settings outline. Whether you are looking to optimize video or stills on the 5D Mark II, this pdf has everything you need to get your 5D up and running including notes on setting Picture Style and using Lightroom to develop images with specific Picture Style settings as well as more detailed sections on video and audio settings. I also talk about my settings for white balance, color space, speedlites, custom functions and more. As always if you have any questions feel free to post via Facebook or Twitter.

Click here to download the PDF version of my Canon 5D Mark II settings. I hope you find them useful!

The Canon Digital Learning Center has just released a four-part series on the making of my short documentary The Fall Line with sections on developing a story, Canon lenses, lighting and production tools and sound gear. I was very excited to team up with Canon to make this instructional series on shooting video and audio with Canon EOS cameras and lenses. Check out the videos on the Canon Digital Learning Center page by clicking here. Please post any questions you have about video and audio on my Facebook and Twitter pages as I will be providing more in-depth instructions and insights on shooting video with Canon cameras in future posts.

The Huffington Post writer Steven Crandell wrote up this article on my recent presentation at the Annenberg Space for Photography in Los Angeles. The article features clips from my Annenberg talk and my ongoing stills and video projects. Thanks to Steven Crandell for his time and interest in my work!

I am leading three exciting Canon workshops coming up this year for photographers of all levels in beautiful destinations in the West and New England. The first workshop will be coming up in April – see below for details and check out the Canon Digital Learning Center website for information.

My Moab workshop, “Arches National Park and Spectacular Cowboys”, will held on April 9-10. This action-packed workshop is in the heart of Utah’s canyon country. On Saturday we will explore the magnificent landscapes of Arches National Park, finding unique ways to capture the sandstone monoliths. On Sunday we will shoot action scenes and environmental portraits with authentic cowboys; if time permits we will explore a vineyard alongside the Colorado River. I will provide detailed classroom instruction before each shoot, and will share my secrets to capturing the elusive “dramatic moment.” The magnificent Red Cliffs Lodge is our base for the weekend, with a multimedia classroom, a vineyard, restaurant, and cabins alongside the Colorado River.

I will also be teaching a Canon workshop in Acadia National Park – “Acadia National Park: A Seaside Photography Adventure” – on the weekend of August 6-7. This is one of the most beautiful locations on the East Coast — after Saturday morning’s classroom instruction and gear handouts, we will explore coastal landscape images and lighthouse scenes through sunset. Get ready to make true fine art images for your wall! Sunday morning we will spend half a day shooting portraits and action shots of working lobsterman in pictureque Bass Harbor, with instruction emphasis on lighting, composition and getting the most from your models. We return to the classroom Sunday afternoon for Lightroom processing instruction and print making.

The third workshop will be in Aspen on September 24-25, at the height of the high-country foliage season. We will photograph the stunning Maroon Bells mountain range with shimmering yellow aspen trees; and also spend a day shooting cowboys on a cattle ranch. This workshop will be posted soon on the Canon Digital Learning Center website so check back for details soon.

I am honored to be speaking at The Annenberg Space for Photography in Los Angeles on Thursday evening, January 27 for the IRIS Nights Lecture Series. In this Canon-sponsored presentation, I will share behind-the-scenes stories of recent assignments, from exploring rare ice caves to covering the dangerous lives of underground coal miners. I will also screen my latest DSLR film projects, including flying with F-16 fighter pilots. Tickets for this event are available on the Annenberg website starting today, Wednesday, January 19 at 12 p.m. PT. The lectures sell out quickly so make sure to get your ticket early! For more information please click here.