Portrait of TJ at 6 Months

Today after work, I made some photographs of TJ (my youngest kid). I noticed that the light coming in our bedroom window was quite nice. I am not sure about this 'coloring' however. I intended to use a chanel mixer layer to convert to b&w, but forgot about another layer above it and ended up with this subtle color. I like it, but worry that it is a bit cliché. Does it look subtle or colorized? Here's a rough b&w to compare.

Does it seem more in line with my other Children Portraits? Now bear in mind that the portraits on my website were made with a 4x5 view camera and this is with a digital SLR...so the depth of field (among other factors) will be vastly different. Obviously there is a difference because color is introduced, but is it an effective difference or just cute and sappy?

Jack-O-Lanterns!

We carved and painted pumpkins tonight with the kids. It was fun. I really like how Jessica's turned out. It makes me laugh. Hers is on the left.


Theo and I are going to the City of Rocks tomarrow to photograph and freeze our butts off. Should be fun. I hope some of the 4x5 images turn out really well. I want to make some kick-a silver prints of them to hang (and sell--I hope).

We thought we were going to be in Salt Lake for TJ's operation on Halloween, because some doh-head in scheduling at Shriner's called and set us up for the 31st, when we aren't suposed to go in for about 6 more months...we thought it was a little early and we were. Kinda ticks us off...but mistakes happen.

Paramount

Friday after work I went climbing with a couple in my ward. It was a lot of fun. When I only climb about once a year, you could imagine what I climb like. But I did lead one (Fly by night 5.8) and top-rope another (Mr Rogers Neighborhood 5.9) at Paramount. It was wierd that when I was leading Fly by night, I got realy scared at the top. This is a climb that I have done many times, both on top rope and on lead. What was my deal. So when we were setting up on Mr Rogers Neighborhood, I didn't feel that I had it in me to take the sharp end. Especially when I saw the 12'-15' run-out. Spencer was great on lead. He flew up the first 2/3 of it, then looked down and said, "Wow! This is really high!" I think it suprised him how fast he got up there. It was a great climb! When I was on it, I could see a couple of thin spots that I would have really puckered if on lead. I'm glad Spencer took it on. It was a blast to get out and get a few climbs in. I need to get out more...wait...snow is about to fly! Spring I guess.

Photos to come as soon as I can get them from Spencer.

Island Park Weekend

Friday night we went to Island Park for the weekend. My in-laws have a cabin up there that is very nice to go to for the weekend. We like to go there General Conference weekend every 6 months. They have satelite tv, so we are able to watch the 4 regular sessions, then go into west Yellowstone (about 10 minutes away) for the Priesthood Session. Jessica's mom likes to go into West Yellowstone and get a room at the Days Inn, just so that they can play at the pool indoor pool and water slide. Usually no one stays in the room, we just swim. That is a lot of fun for the kids (especially in the winter), and isn't too bad of a price during the off season.

The talks given during the sessions were wonderfull...ok, so the ones that I heard. I really enjoyed Saturday and Sunday Afternoon, and especially the priesthood session. They are very inspiring.


In between the conference sessions, we get out and enjoy what is around. Island Park is one of my favorate places to photograph. I love the quaking aspens, how some will be so large and tall, and grow strait, while others will bend and curve. Saturday was beautiful! Sunday however wasn't so much. After the snow flies, I am able to get into some of the backcountry on snow-machine and make some cool images too.

This is just 2 miles from the in-laws' cabin. No, their cabin is not one of these 'modern cabins' advertised by the Sunset Cafe sign. This is at the base of an old ski hill. There are several little one room cabins, a cafe/bar, a shop and the old ski lift. It is all for sale, I thought I heard for $3 million...but that includes the hill!

Another one of my favorate places in IP to photograph. This is the foundation of some building (a little ranch house I would assume, It has been some time sence it had walls and a roof.

Trip to Salt Lake

Last Wednesday we went with TJ to Salt Lake City, TJ had a check-up at Shriner's Hospital. He is still doing well, and we will be going down for his surgery in early spring...just before he turns one. They want to begin before he starts to walk.

It was a lot of fun. We stayed at a much nicer place this time, they even had a pool, so we went for a swim with TJ, he liked it. He even started falling asleep while we swam. After his check-up we went to the LDS art and history museum...very nice, too bad they are in between exhibits, their perminent displays were still up though. We also looked around at a few stores, then came home Thrusday night.

Bank Job

The last 3 days I have been working in Jackson Hole...that was a very long 3 days. We are doing a curtain-wall system in a new bank there. I can't remember if it is the 1st bank of Jackson or Jackson State Bank...or something like that...there's a lot of banks in Jackson, must be a lot of money there. But we got it all closed in, and should only have another day (or maybe 2) of flashing and punch-list stuff. We stayed at the Verginian Motel...crappy beds, thin walls and doors that don't seal tight, didn't sleep very well. Anyway, here's a few pictures, I am very tired and must sleep...after all it isn't Friday yet.

Pocatello Pump Photos

Here's the photos from the Pump. This first one was a night photo that I made Friday. It was about 10 min, lit from the campfire.



This is Kevin and Milton at the pump. I got them to wear t-shirts that I made with a photo of the city of rocks on the back and my logo & website address on the front. It was pretty cool...every time Milton got to the top of a climb he would shout "I climb for TylerHopkins.com!!)


Toph is really getting good at climbing. It makes me so proud to see him do some of these climbs. This first sequence looked pretty tough. It was mostly slopes and a couple thin edges. The second photo, he couldn't quite work out those moves. But it is still cool to see him make the moves.

Pocatello Pump

This weekend was the Pocatello Pump. The Pump is a climbing competition that the ISU outdoor program has put on for the last 25 years, this has been my 3rd year competing I think. It was a blast! OK, so on Saturday the wind and rain was blasting cold, but it was still fun. Considering the weather, I think that I did better than any other year (as far as not burning out too soon). This was the first time that I have competed and not burnt my self out in the first half hour. You have an hour and a half to complete as many climbs as you can, and only get two falls on each climb.

Bla bla bla….anyway I think I did pretty well. I only did 6 climbs, but flashed each one and finished with 52 points. I think that if the weather was more favorable, and I climbed in a heat by myself I could have gotten closer to 70-80 points. But I don’t go to compete. I mean this is usually the only time I get out and climb in a year. I go for the company and the fact that I can climb whatever I want at Ross Park and don’t have to set up (or take down) a top rope or lead.

Jess and the kids came with me for support and a little get away. We were going to camp, but with the cold weather we opted for Motel 6. Not too bad for $40 a night. We still were able to do a little campfire with Kevin and Tammie.

Toph had some fun climbing, and really amazed us with his bouldering skills. If he can make it to the top of anything at Ross Park next summer, we will enter him in the Pump next year. He’s got skills!

The awards party was fun too. Everyone that enters walks away with something. Everyone’s name is drawn out of a hat, and then you go up and pick your prize. This year there were a lot of good things to pick from…2 ropes, several packs, a sweet sleeping bag…and so much more. The first people drawn have best choice of course, but by the end of the night they start throwing everything else out to the crowd. I walked away with a Gerber multi tool, a shirt and a couple of hats.

I got some sweet photos of Toph bouldering! I will get them on another post...I am having a lot of trouble uploading them right now...so sweet photos to come.

What about the partridge?

We spent today cleaning, re-arranging rooms and even planted a tree. Not spring (for spring cleaning) or Arbor Day…go figure. We got a log cleaned, stuff put away into the crawl-space (glad to have it out of the way), and a bunch of stuff to the DI (glad to have that out of our house…we need to do that with even more stuff here). And the best part of the day…we moved TJ into the kids’ room! We have kept him in our room for much longer than the other two kids. But now we have our room to ourselves, not so cramped.



We have wanted to get a tree in the back yard for some shade. Well a week or so ago, dad put in a pear tree and today mentioned that if one of the neighbors had a pear tree too, they would cross-pollinate and grow more fruit (I think). So maybe we should be the neighbor with the other tree? We won’t see the fruit from our tree, as we are outgrowing our little house too fast, but this way we can have some of mom & dad’s pears.

Energy Independence

Ok, so I listen to a radio talk show, and a week or two ago (August 17th) he was talking about the U.S. becoming energy indipendent. Here's a link. Check it out. There is a lot of you who are much smarter than me. Tell me what you think.

http://www.glennbeck.com/audio/free-audio.shtml

Scroll down to "Glenn Beck Program 8/17/06 Hour 2" Glenn interviews David Neeleman, CEO of JetBlue. There is some audio (about 40 minutes) and a few PDFs that I thought were interesting (what I could understand of them).

Just take a look and think of how great it would be to not have to worry about filling up the car anymore.

Eastern Idaho State Fair

Amongst all I have had on my plate I managed to get photos submitted into the Eastern Idaho State Fair this year. I have entered the last two years, as well, in 'advanced amateur.' This year I thought that I would enter in professional...Not necessarily because I am great or anything...But rather because I don't want my prints getting damaged. It is also nice to see them behind glass. I didn't expect to win any ribbons because of the caliber of competition, but I was surprised to find out that I did get a few. As Sally mentioned I got the Superintendent's Award, which ironically has no money attached. I got this ribbon the first year I entered too (I'm 2 for 3!). It makes me feel kind good about my photography! Plus, the premium money covers my entry fee ($35!), and some of the gas it takes to get down there and back. I hope that this exposure will also help get me some recognition.

This is also a testament that yes I am alive (despite the lack of blog postings) and am still working on my photography. I have been putting out resumes and interviewing for some things I hope to get a white collar job soon that I can utilize my crazy mad skills I got from 6 years of college.

I have also been racking my brain watching the training video, reading the 'For dummies' book, and experimenting with Adobe Go Live trying to redesign my website and to fix the little bugs that just bug me. If anyone out there is familiar with Go Live CS2, I could use any tips you have.

Here's one of my newer images that I put in the Fair. I can't remember for sure, but I think that this is one that won a ribbon.


If nothing else...I am still here.

Decisions!

Today we drove to Blackfoot to enter some photographs in the Fair (it starts the 4th and goes through the 9th). I hope I do well there...at least to cover the entry fee. Well while down there I interviewed with a glass shop that is looking for glaziers. It would be more money but a smaller shop and only residential and auto glass (I haven't done auto glass in about 8-10 years). Living expenses are less there, but I hate to move down there only to get laid off in the winter...but the money is more. How can a smaller shop pay more than the larger shop I am at now??? Should I be worried??? Or do I take the plunge and move to the Salt Lake Valley and work for an even larger shop? I would love to photograph full time, but don't see how I could support my family on less than I earn now. I just don't know for sure, and with the family all decisions effect 5 times the people.

Other than that, we are still waiting to hear back on another job...an office job...and just plugging along trying to make ends meet...TRYING!


Wish I still had the bus...wouldn't make anything easier, but I sure would love to go for a cruse.

No more training wheels!

Yesterday, Jessica decided it was time for Christopher's training wheels to come off. I am not quite sure why she thought to take them off, but he was READY! I only had to hold the back of his seat for about 30 seconds and I could tell he was ballancing himself. There isn't a whole lot of room to ride around in our driveway, so we took the kids over to the church parking lot and he did great! He has trouble starting on his own and stopping without crashing. But no skinned knees (as of yet--we know they are coming) or major trauma. It was a neet feeling to see my oldest child ride without training wheels.

Jen & Brant left for Kansas on Monday. We were sad to see them go, but happy for them and the new job and house. Good Luck guys! The kids were sad to be seperated. Our kids loved playing with their kids. Sunday night they played at grandma Waddoups' while we visited. We will surly miss them.

Redfish Lake

Last week was the annual trip to Redfish Lake with the Waddoups family. It was a lot of fun, as it always is. Chris & Becky are so wonderful for putting it together and inviting everyone…I know how much hassle organizing something like this is (and they do it every year!). Jess and the kids went up Tuesday morning and I joined the party Wednesday night after work. We camp, eat food, water ski, hike, play, play and play some more. So much playing has made me very tired this week.

Thank you Becky for the Float Toys!

Much of the time is spent playing at the beach with the kids. We took a little 1-man boat (the label says “one person or 120 lbs.” you’ve got to be kidding me!), the kids really liked that. We could put Toph, Creedance, Callie & Clark all in the boat and pull thm around the swimming area of the beach. They love to play in the water.

I caught some air...OK, so INCHES but I didn't fall! I just wish I could do one ski or a wakeboard, someday.

We also love to camp. Because of our newborn, we were fortunate enough to have a motel room in Stanley for Jess and TJ. I opted to stay in the tent at the lake however. I had Toph and Creedance one night, and then just Toph (Creedance didn’t like that much, but she had too runny of a nose to stay out in the cold).

Each night after I put Toph to bed, Brant and I went down to the beach to photograph. It was a lot of fun to have a photo partner. The moon was giving some really cool lighting. This was my first (successful) experience with night (low light) photography. I shot with my 10D at first (no cable release so rock and tape trick--thanks for the idea Darren!), then on the last night I even got out the 4x5. I hope those turn out good. I didn’t make very many exposures. By 11:30 or 12 the moon went behind the mountains and our light went away with it. I really enjoyed it. The long exposures gave me time to think and reflect on many things, as well as talk with Brant and get to know him better. It was a really fun experience.

Redfish Lake in the Setting Moonlight.

About 15 Minutes at f/8

I liked this shot so much that I came back the next night with my view camera.

Redfish Lake Point Beach and Chris' boat.

Our trips to Redfish are always very fun and very memorable. We are just trying to get back into the swing of things. Still not unpacked, it may be a while because this weekend we are going camping again…so why unpack that stuff?! The kids will miss Redfish, they didn’t want to leave (I somewhat felt the same, but was also ready to go home to my bed).

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!