Sorry no pictures

Hey there, sorry there are no pictures. I am having trouble uploading them...I'll try again soon and everything will be better.

Sun Valley and Campfire

Last Friday I worked at the Hailey airport (just a little job, some glass showcases), and while there I thought I should take some pictures of the Sun Valley area. The lady that owns the gift shop in the airport wants me to make some decks of cards with a photo of something in Sun Valley on the back.

I haven’t photographed there very much and so I’m not very familiar with the area and what to shoot. I also don’t really want to make cliché images (unfortunately I think that the cliché pictures of Sun Valley are what she has in mind). Also the light was terrible! Here’s just about the only one that is near what I’m looking for. But it is far from my best work…”I’ve had better.” Any suggestions of what, where and when to shoot in Sun Valley would be a lot of help.

I don’t think the photos I made were very good for the cards, but I did have fun photographing the Cold Springs bridge that is just south of Ketchum. I walked down into the Big Wood River and made some images to stitch together. I got a really cool 360°. It needs some touching up, or a better stitching program, before I make a print, It is 9” x 86” at full size. “IT’S PRETTY BIG!” Some of you have seen my big roll of film that I made of the Big Southern Butte, maybe I should make a series of those rolls of film. I could sell them in pro packs! Would anyone buy them? Here’s 180° of the Cold Springs Bridge image:

Saturday night we went up past Kelly Canyon so I could ride down Wolverine Creek Trail. Jess, the kids and Dave (Jessica’s brother) dropped me off at the Haully’s Gulch trailhead then met me at the bottom with a campfire and marshmallows. This was the same trail I did about a month ago (and wrote about in another post). It wasn’t quite as good. It was much dustier, and I am always a little worried when I ride alone. But I did the 8 miles or so in 50 minutes. Pretty good I think. When I got to the bottom, we all wished that we were camping out, and not just there for a campfire. Maybe in a couple of weeks we’ll do that.

Hopkins Reunion

The whole Terry Hopkins Family

Last weekend (Thursday through Sunday) was our family reunion. This year Jess and I were responsible for organizing it. It was a lot of work, but we had a lot of help from Mom & Dad and well...everyone helped out a lot.

We found a great place that we could all stay at (well almost, Jess and I stayed at her parent's cabin one night) in Island Park. Each family had a room and a bathroom, and there was a lot of common area for the kids to run & play, then to sleep. It was a lot of fun to just visit and catch up.

We floated Big Springs. It was so much fun! If anyone is farmiliar with that section of river, it was very slow, but very appropriate for the younger kids. We had 2 rafts and LOTS of tubes. I got VERY sunburnt! I am still feeling it.

We went to the Playmill Theatre in West Yellowstone and saw Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. I was suprised to see Brian there! One of the last times we were in West Yellowstone we ran into his family. It was a very good play, and if you have not been to the Playmill, you must go! They are very tallented and funny!

Saturday we spent much of the day in Yellowstone park. As were heading there, however, we had a flat on our van and wore through the sidewall. Dad said that he was thankfull for me making things interisting. Never a dull moment I guess.

Tim helping me with the flat.

Yellowstone was fun, and we got some family pictures. I think that this has been the first time in a very long time that we all (37 now) have been together. Who knows when it will happen again. T.J. was the popular one of the bunch, everyone simply had to hold him. Here's his cousin Ben holding him, and Creedance peeking out the back of the stroller. Ben will be on his mission next summer (GO BEN GO!!!).

We really had a wonderfull time with everyone and glad that they could come and play. But with all the activities we did I think that the thing I enjoyed the most was when mom & dad gave the little family history presentation. This year they gave us their history from their marriage up to TJ's birth. They told us what it was like making a living, their struggles and joys, their children's accomplishments and their grandchildren's births. It was so wonderfull. I hope everyone else had as much fun as I did. And if you didn't...too bad!

Kids in Mud

My in-laws are having water problems and the city has been kind enough to give them a fun little mud puddle for their grandkids to play in. It was lots of fun to watch. Not much fun to clean up, that is why I am downstairs writing this post.
We just got back from our Hopkins Reunion. That was so much fun. I will make a much more detailed post regarding that as soon as I sort the images a bit and have more time.

Fluid Ride

The morning sun shining in my eyes. I enter the shade of aspens and pines, and the trail is clear. Winds left, then right then an abrupt drop. I shift my weight back, far back behind my seat. I can feel gravity pulling me forward down the hill. My mind is sharp on this early morning ride, and it needs to be. Rocks, trees and ruts fly by. I have to be alert. A stump on the left, a quick lean to the right...too fast...slow down...my rear tire slides to the side...I am able to correct and continue sailing down the trail. It is a rush! I can feel the adrenaline moving me, quickening my senses, reaching out. It is a peace! I am deep in thought, far from the trail, far from the canyon, and yet all there...Zen. The hum of the tires on the dirt, a continual hum...until...a jump and nothing, just the sound of air redirected through my helmet and past my ears...cooling. Then a solid reconnection with the soil and the tires and the hum continues. Water flowing through pebbles and stones, a large splash and the refreshing cool water on my face legs and arms. It is wonderous how exhilerating and yet calming this morning ride can be. Flowing down the canyon, quickly...swiftly, but calm and rejuvenating...both as with the creek that I follow.

I went for a morning mountain bike ride with Rusty and Chaun on Monday. It has been far too long, and cannot be as long again, it was far too therapeutic to hold off for too long.

Jackson for the day

Yesterday we drove up to Grand Teton Nat. Park for a day hike with Kevin & Tammie and Kevin’s brother, Jim & his family. We hiked up to Taggart Lake, at the base of Nez Perce and Shadow Peak. It was so much fun! I was worried that the kids would have been cranky and tired and terrible to handle. But they were really good. Topher hiked most of it (3.2 miles), and only had to be carried for a little bit. I must have looked funny to other hikers with Creedance in the child carrier on my back and Topher on my shoulders at the same time. We had a cooler with ICE COLD water in the trunk of the car, and boy was it nice to have after the hike, we drank much!

While were in the area, I had to go to a few photo galleries in Jackson. First of course had to be the Oswald, then Images of Nature Galleyr, and the Brookover? (I may have this name wrong--Jon may have to correct me). The Oswald has got to be my favorite, not as much as for decorating the 2nd home in the woods as the other galleries seem to be, but purely to be Fine Art. They were in the process of putting up the Roman Loranc exhibit, too bad it wasn’t up, the images they had leaning against the wall were BEAUTIFUL! In the back of the gallery there is a room that is mostly vintage photographs by artists like Edward Weston (top of my list), Brett Weston, William Henry Jackson (an original print from 1892!), Ansel Adams ($100K for the one print of his—an original printed by him), Cartier-Bresson 4and others. There was also four contemporary still lives of construction paper in natural light by Ion Zupcu. So elegant! Wish I had an extra grand laying around to buy one print. They do not sell reproductions, only original prints by the artist. Beautiful!