Pyramid Pass - Unnamed Lake

School started and I already have cabin fever. Holly and I decided to get oughta town with the pups and hit a lake I had camped at a few years ago. It is a no name lake a mile before Pyramid Pass lake in the Swan Range. I will let the photos speak for themselves...

Now how can you take a bad photo with a sky like that?
A lil smoke from forest fires...
Skyler the camp guardian
Schuck - the best friend, guardian and pillow a guy could ask for
Because jumping shots are the cats pajamas
Until our next venture...

Photo Camp

So, to help the photojournalism newbies, a camp was organized to give them a kickstart into the program. 12 new students and about 8 instructors drove to Fort Benton Montana. Each student was assigned a specific story about the small town and they took pictures and audio and put them together with the help of the instructors. We camped in a park and had a great time teaching/learning more about journalism. The students within 48 hours showed immense improvements and I am excited to see how they do in the future! Here are some shots of the group and some foolin around with did with lighting.

The Newbies

The Badass Instructors

Playin with light at 4 am

Welcome to journalism....

Hire Me

Have had a magical combination of down time and fear of the impending job market to create my up to date Resume...Check er out, tell your friends, get me a job come December!!!

Not that Oragel isnt great but I want a real photo published

I am an intern here at Backpacker Magazine. Now this internship is pretty straightforward. I do what needs to be done with all things photo in the Magazine. This does not include shooting or anything out of the office. This is quite the dream job/internship for me so I have been doing all I can to get as much out of being here as I can. I have been gear testing for the editorial department and that has been awesome. The one thing I have not done yet is get a big photo published. Now I have done some gear photos (Oragel, Rugged Maps) but I want a photo photo to get in. To do that I look over the shot requests that gets sent out to our contributing photographers from all over the country, and shoot it myself in my free time. Here are a couple of shots I took recently for a shot request for a hiker with a heavyweekend pack. The section in the magazine is for strengthening your back to have a heavier load and longer hike. I multiple approaches to how to shoot this but here are a few examples. (I had nobody around to do some modeling so I shot someone who I could depend on to have the same scheduale as me...me)

"Be confident that you can carry your pack to and frou..."

This angle is for the ladies...that and my hiked up shirt which nullified this shot :P
"Make it feel like your pack weighs nothing at all"

My Boss liked the shots, gave me some great advice to use while I head out all this week to try and shoot some more! Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Still Ketchin Up

Ok so the boys from lanc held true to their word and came out to visit me in Boulder. They were here for 7 days...They hit Colorado...and they hit it hard...

Day 1 :

They had a redeye flight and said lets do something epic. I suggested we climb a mountain...

Day 2:

we wake up at 1:30 am drive to Rocky Mountain National Park and depart for Longs peak at 3:30 am. This 14, 239 foot mountain boasts a 7 mile approach and is one of the more technical class 3 summits in CO.

Day 3:

Took a much needed chill day and really did nothing of substance till the Rockies game that night.

Day 4:

I had to work but they went hiking all day then I took them out bouldering in the evening

Day 5:

Once again I had to work yet they got to go white water rafting...jerks....then we hit the town

Day 6:

Yet more work for me, but the boys hung round and explored boulder a little more. That night however one of my buddies from Montana was passing through and so was Marks Cuz so we all packed up and off roaded / hiked to lost lake for some camping, and fishing.

Day 7:

While exploring the area the next day we found some old mining relics - old barns, blown up mines, and even machinery that had a date stamp of 1896 on it! We then went for a quick dip in the alpine lake and head home.

It was a kickass week and hope that no matter where we all end up we can continue to do this kinda stuff...Next time come to Montana boys!!

The Ketchup...Catsup...or is it Catch up...

First things first I need to share my experiences this summer. Backpacker Magazine...Still hard to believe I landed an internship with my favorite magazine. I am the photo intern and have been learning a lot about the professional journalism world. I have also been an avid gear tester and have spent the last 2 months backpacking just about every weekend. I am stationed here in Boulder, CO and although I have been enjoying the outdoors here the town is a little much for my liking....I keep getting into trouble without trying, there is a lot more red tape here than in Montana.

Nonetheless 3 of my friends from highschool and my cuz are also out here for the summer and it has been nice to have peeps to hike, camp, fish, and climb with. Enough with these words, words are for suckers and photos tell the real story below are some of my ventures thus far in what I like to call:

"The Adventures of Chris and Schuck Handsome - Boulder Summer 09"

Backpacking has been my weekend activity of choice. Whether with friends or just Schuck, it is nice to get out and wake up outdoors...

Here are some shots from a recent solo Schuck and I did. We shot out of work on Friday July 31st after work and hustled 6 miles, gained 2500 feet to have a campsite on a ridge with panoramas like you wouldn't believe (that is why i took lots of photos!). I was gear testing a Dslr camera holster called the HoldSLR.

To say the least I tested the hell out of this thing. I was determined to get to this alpine lake so Schuck and I, despite constant rain, pushed on. At one point I thought I heard thunder...then we came out of the trees and into a clearing to see that we had just spooked a HUGE heard of Elk and they were booking it up the ridge. It was about 8:30pm when I made camp.

Unfortunately at 8:31pm a huge thunderstorm rolled in. After an hour of hunkering down in a grove (much lower than where the tent was) under ponchos and space blankets we started the climb back up to our site in horizontal rain. I could not see a thing and our campsite was well off the trail. Dogs are amazing animals I will just say that. I released Schuck out of his heel and he led me straight back to the tent (He got a fat meaty bone the next day!!!)

I had managed to keep all my gear dry so falling asleep, despite the wind and rain was easy. I woke up a couple hours later to find Schuck (who takes naps outside in single digit weather) shivering like crazy. He was soaked to the bone and it never crossed my mind that this animal so adept to winters would get cold, but the rain had soaked him to the core. I dried him off with anything dry I had, lined the tent with clothes and wrapped him up in the solar blanket...a Schuck Burrito if you will.

So hiking in the rain for 3 hours and being soaked to the bone may not sound like fun but let me tell you the morning view made it all worth it...

Here is a walk round our campsite...

Facing West

Facing East

Facing Southish

We had quite a night with a beautiful morning. I got up and could not see another person, another tent, a powerline, or a road...perfect...

To blog.

Living out west, although radical - awesome - inspiring - sexy etc, has kept me far from family and friends from the past. I decided I would kick start this sucker and try to be good about updating it with photos and videos. Enjoy:)

A master in the art of living draws no sharp distinction between his work and his play; his labor and his leisure; his mind and his body; his education and his recreation. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence through whatever he is doing, and leaves others to determine whether he is working or playing. To himself, he always appears to be doing both.

-Francois Auguste Rene Chateaubriand