christmas in brigham.

fog

it's winter. fog floats in thick waves and a moisture hangs in the air that slowly creeps underneath all layers of clothes and sticks to the skin even until long after the cold is replaced with the warmth of a cozy room.

shooting swimming. i know there are ways to make it look cool but my photos just look like someone swimming in the water. like mediocre blah...on saturday, i got so distracted shooting other things that i almost forgot to face the pool and get photos for the paper. but then, it's shrunk to a size where they don't need 12 action shots anymore. which is nice. it's made shooting swimming actually fun.

fur

animal rights activists protested mink farming in morgan last week, where the worlds clashed of those whose livelihood depends on the trade and those who believe nothing is more important than preventing pain and killing of animals.

homegrown twilight

back again

for the third time this year i went to germany and caught a few glimpses along this trip that was like most times completely dedicated to the family and soaking up news of a life i left behind there years ago. only this time i was two people, which was so nice.

need or greed?

the first three people to enter this best buy spent thanksgiving on some icy sidewalk. between 2 am thursday and 5 am friday they waited for, uhm, a computer i think. i'd never done the black friday thing but it seems kind of sad to me. i understand if people can't afford to buy things otherwise but the urge to run into a store to get two sets of the same generic coffee maker feels like maybe it's time to re-evaluate our crazy appetite for buying happiness.

quackquack

went duck hunting at farmington bay. the decoys and the glassy water and the men in camou were strange, but kind of cool, somehow.

dear deer

it was near east canyon reservoir where i saw this deer floating across the road...

mason j.

hooks

dan had four hooks pierced into his back and suspended himself on a rope, so they could donate a grave marker for their friend who died of an oxy overdose last year.

schnee

shot a wsu game amid a dancing flurry of flakes where the players fought their way through the crunching powder, where everything slowed down and was quieter, subdued, even the marching band was little more than a croak from afar and the lens kept wanting to focus on the snow and that was my sentiment too, somehow, a nice change from the pure and pulsing action and to be carried away by that beautiful moment and i was happy, under my seven layers of coats.

a year after i followed heather and charles into their new home, we did a story on cheydene hudspeth, a single mother of eight, who also came out of st. annes shelter and found a home. she was the most patient mother i've ever met. has probably seen it all. when one of the little munchkins locked herself in a room and started screaming, cheydene took out her big boots, said "get away from the door and lay on the bed, sweetheart." and kicked in the door. broke nothing but the lock, which was crooked anyway. no need to panic. mom's got things under control. she's talking through the door in the fourth frame, and a daughter watches in the back.

playing it real with dummies

emergency response drill at wsu. if there's a life after pj i want to be a medic.
come storming into the er, sitting atop a gurney, performing cpr...yes. seems like a good calling.

tough as nails

Sarah Kaufmann has won several endurance mountain bike races and placed 2nd in the 24 Hours of Moab, which doubled as the national championships, a couple of weeks ago.
from what i could tell she's also pretty rad...

gym grit

bonita...margarita
the missus prefers a lily-scented bubble bath complete with paw massage and fur scratchies.

rounded glass.
bathing julie in light and with condensation on sunday.

where the wild things are

the bison roundup.

vogelfrei

nothing compares to driving on empty, open roads. back home in germany, every acre of land seems to bear some kind of human foot print. but if i cut all the clutter made for my convenience, entertainment and wellness, if i trim things down to the basics, i feel the most complete and free to breathe.