Photo Safari Noobs

PSN09 Day 5: Day, the last

todd — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 02:38:44 +0000

Our 5th and final day of this illustrious journey. We didn’t have too much time for stops today as the trip that took us 3 days out was only going to take 1 day back. We managed to get a couple stops in though. The desert landscapes of Utah were very different than the mountain landscape shots of Colorado. The fact that we saw both in the same day was a little jarring.

I hope our little journey inspires you to do something similar. It’s good cheap fun and we live in a really big country. There’s tons of places just off the road to stop and photograph. We learned about how to do this sort of thing on this trip and I am definitely looking to put what we learned to good use on PSN: Take 2…wherever that may be.

PSN09 Day 4: Wandering around the Mile High City

todd — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 20:55:48 +0000

Day 4 was the actual conference but I’m not going to talk about that here. The conference was very good followed by an after-party down the street. I had the tallest burger I’ve ever seen and walked a lot of it off by wandering the streets of Downtown Denver

PSN09 Day 3: In which we cross the Rocky Mountains

todd — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 20:28:21 +0000

Day 3 found us braving a trek across the treacherous mountain passes. Well, treacherous is a stretch since the weather was actually pretty mild and we aren’t exactly rocking the wagon train or anything like that.

This picture pretty much sums it up. Trees, mountains, snow…not something we get in Vegas too much

He’s trying for an interesting angle, I’m trying to make sure he doesn’t get hit by a truck

The tiny mountain town of Silverton, CO. I didn’t even know this was on the way but it was very cool and quaint and oddly protected, surrounded by these huge mountains all around it

So much better than “Closed”

We went to the Brown Bear Cafe for lunch and they had one of the best pizzas I’ve ever seen. It tastes -at least- as good as it looks

I love watching the snow blow around like sand. It just seems unnatural though maybe it’s just unintuitive

Our trust steed

Finally we arrive in Downtown Denver and it is time for a beer.

Day 3 – WordCamp Denver

john — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 20:58:42 +0000

Day 3 of Photo Safari was centered around WordCamp Denver. We got up early and took the free mall bus to the downtown drop off point and then walked the 2-3 blocks to the Denver Art Museum. We checked in, said hello to some people we knew and then took our seats to listen to Matt Mullenweg, the creator of WordPress, do his presentation, “State of the Word.” As usual, he dishes out a lot of information about WordPress related stats. As a WordPress junkie, I could listen to him go on all day long.

After the morning session concluded we went to lunch with Micah Baldwin from Lijit and Ben Huh, the guy behind the LOL Cats and Fail Blog. I’ve been a fan on both for quite some time, so it was nice to meet and hang out with him. It didn’t hurt that, like Micah, Ben was a ridiculously cool guy to hang out with.

Some lady, Micah and Austin on the left, Jeana, Andrew and Ben Huh on the right.

After the conference wrapped up we went to the after party for a few hours, had dinner and then walked for a few hours taking photos along the way.

Walking to lunch

Jeana & Austin riding back to their hotel

Steam vents and derailing trains

The Clock Tower at night

Preaching through the bus

I had an awesome time at WordCamp and walking around with Todd and Andrew shooting all evening. I’m sad that the photo safari is coming to an end, but it will also be nice to get back home.

And Back We Go

andrew — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 17:19:56 +0000

Our stay in Denver is over, and it’s time to go back to reality. We just stopped for breakfast, gassed up, and now we’re on the road. We’re still near civilization, so the wireless fills the car with stuff to do while flying along.

Day 2 – Lots of road

john — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 05:20:55 +0000

Friday was another big day on the road. But, this time we had an actual destination. We needed to make it in to Denver where we had already booked hotel rooms. We got an early start and made several stops along the way to take a ton of photos. As we made our way to up the mountains we met with some pretty chilly temperatures. At the coldest point it was a brisk negative 5 with a fair amount of snow on the sides of the road.

One of our stops was in Silverton, Colorado where we took a stroll down main street. Andrew and I split a pizza that, as Andrew said, was “Worth moving here.” I couldn’t agree with him on the idea of moving to a snow covered town that was roughly 10 square blocks in total size, I definitely agree that the pizza was stellar.

Our drive was filled with amazing scenery on all sides. The drive through the mountains was full of twist and turns. Around one of the corners we found a group of people doing ice climbing, which was amazing to watch.

This truck looks like it has been parked here a while. The stove was inside the Brown Bear Cafe where we had lunch.

I have no idea what this structure is. It’s not a bridge. It’s not a mine shaft… I got nothing.

That’s it. More tomorrow.

Welcome to Cold, CO

andrew — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 19:51:18 +0000

We’re apparently making our way over a mountain range, complete with snow and, oh yeah — it’s freezing cold. Those on the driver’s side are really missing out, though: here’s the view from my side of the car.

A brief story regarding Nowhere, AZ

todd — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 16:14:19 +0000

So yesterday on Twitter I post the following tweet

“Getting rickrolled at the Sonic in the middle of effing nowhere,AZ http://bit.ly/14feGc”

Last night, after seeing the tweet, my mom sends me the following e-mail and I just felt I had to share it with everyone. It’s not fair if my sibs and I are the onely ones who know how funny she is.

Referring to your comment in Kayenta. You weren’t in Nowhere, AZ, it is
over by Wikiup. Why, AZ is down by Ajo. There is also a Somewhere,AZ I
think around south of Tucson. Mom

Thanks Ma! I laughed all the way through breakfast after that

Day 1 recap

john — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 15:23:32 +0000

We spent much of the day on the road. But, we threw in plenty of photo stops along the way. Our first stop was at a bridge across the Colorado River. Wanting to find a name to attach to the post, I asked a lady “Pardon me, do you know the name of this bridge?” She says, “No, but that’s the Hoover Dam.” I’m not sure if my jaw dropping made an audible noise or not, but I’m sure she saw it Realizing that there was going to be no polite way to explain that she was a few hundred miles away from the Hoover Dam, I simply thanked her and moved on.

Andrew and Todd cross the bridge.

Next we stopped at an abandoned rest stop. There were a few buildings that were all in bad, bad shape. We happened on the place by chance, and it ended up being a really cool place to shoot.

A light fixture in a place with no roof

We stopped off at Four Corners and took some shots of each of us standing in different states. Todd had wanted us to each dress in character as a native of each state, but we couldn’t figure out what that would be, so we skipped it.

Andrew checking out Four Corners monument, Doug checking out his iPhone

We stopped at some tourist spot with gigantic arrows sticking in the ground as if we missed an attack by 1000 foot Indians. Everything was closed but that didn’t stop us from snapping some shots.

The Blue window frame with a bad view

We ended our day at a pub in Durango, CO. The place was cool, the food was OK and they had one hell of a selection of tequila. Sadly, we didn’t sample any of it. But, apparently the place is pretty tough. So tough they have to bolt their urinals to the wall.

The urinal at the Lost Dog saloon

Stay tuned. More to come.

Half. Half. Whole. Swivel. Hide behind a rock.

doug — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 06:29:27 +0000

First of all, we did not wake up at noon. I was up around 8AM (after falling asleep around 4AM) and Todd was up around 9:30AM. What Hawk fails to mention is that Todd and I did he and Andrew a favor by sharing a room because the two of us snore like grizzly bears. So, they got a good night’s sleep while we kept one another up … sort of. The sacrifices we make for art and our comrades. Yeeeesh!

So, after fueling up our bodies and the Blackbird, we headed for Page, AZ, Four Corners and ultimately Durango, CO. The drive was full of photo opps which were alternately atmospheric and unsettling. Along the way, I broke out the awesome lenses I rented from Pro Photo Rental out of Boulder, CO. Jared really hooked me up with a solid kit which I put to good use today. Photos and additional thought below.

The ride was made shorter by in-vehicle wifi and Kevin Smith: An Evening Harder which, while not as strong as the first DVD, is still pretty damn funny.

Peace,

Doug

PS: 20 Geek Dollars to the person that leaves a comment explaining where this post title comes from!

Blackbird Loaded Down

I should not have dropped that quarter!

Random Chunk of Road

Hawk on the Prowl

Mexican Hat

Red Rock Breaks

Party House on the Res

The Lucky Appaloosa ... Statue