And a shuttle launch is just that – big, loud, and high.  Even from 6.5 miles away (the closest public viewing location) it is an awe-inspiring demonstration of power.  From that distance, the sound didn’t reach us until just before the rocket disappeared into the cloud, but as the roar of the engines came flooding over us the magnitude of what I was witnessing began to sink in – after 30 years of service, the Shuttle Transport System was now to become a relic of the past.

Early on I made the decision to shoot the launch on 4×5 film, knowing full well this thing would happen fast. As it turned out I had plenty of time (hah!) to get 10 hurried shots (8 sheets and two polaroids) before the shuttle disappeared through the clouds in something like 30 seconds:

….and one last one to lighten the mood:

Phew!  Just got back last night from a commercial shoot in France & Switzerland (as well as spending a couple weeks of personal time in Norway, Paris, Andermatt, & Como), which was just the first of three stages on as many continents.  I fly out again Monday morning for stage 2 in Oregon, then stage 3 in Australia after that, which makes this really more of a 4-day layover…

Anyway, a lot needs to get done today and things in the office are a bit crazy, but I have a few minutes while the hard-drives are humming away; so I thought I’d start a short journal of my day and see where it goes.  Menial stuff for sure but hopefully I can make some of it worth your while:

• 10:45p arrived in SLC
• 11p completely crash after traveling for nearly 24 hours

• 4am wide awake from jet-lag (GMT+2 -> GMT -6)
• 4:30 sync MacBookPro documents back to MacPro
• 5 check facebook, or ‘FNN’ (Friend News Network) as I like to think of it / read up a little on the APE blog & some news / get caught up on emails
• 6 start backing-up 2TB G-Raid2 road drive.  Only 451GB to go…
• 6:10 shower
• 6:30 research materials for constructing a location/computer case for my 17″ MBP.  Inspiration is a mix of the portable monitor kits I saw the film-crews wheel around while on location for The Home Depot jobs, and a video posted by Chase Jarvis a few years back.  I have a traveling iMac kit, but it’s too big & heavy for remote and/or mountain locations, and requires external power.  This one will be a lot sleeker & mobile
• 7:15 notice there’s some very nice cirrus clouds outside, which I like to have for my library of background cloud plates. Load up the car with the H3Dii kit and race down the road to Brighton High where I can get a clean horizon
• 7:25 shoot a few dozen plates of clouds at three focal lengths
• 7:45 back in the office / download images / catalogue in Lightroom 3
• 8 backup progress: 300GB to go.  I use a program called Intego-X5 to synchronize my primary A drives with backups B & C.  Simple, cheap, and easy to use
• 8:30 unpack / eat breakfast
• 9 stop by the post office to pick up the month’s mail.  Received 2 Awards of Excellence from Communication Arts for image series appearing in the 2010 Photo Annual!  A super lightweight mountaineering harness (the ‘Couloir’) from Black Diamond also arrived.  Just the thing for quick trips up to Lone Peak or the Tetons, or ski-rappels next winter
• 9:15 work on finishing up the expense reports for Europe trip. After spending nearly a month traveling by planes, trains, rental cars, and aerial trams & shooting in 5 countries, I’ve got hundreds of receipts / transactions to account for.  Expenses are tallied in Numbers, and then summarized in BlinkBid which handles my billing and basic business financials
• 10 phone call with producer to go over production details for the Oregon shoot.  Location permits secured
• 11 booked travel for Australia shoot.  35 days ought to be enough.  Booked it a bit wide since the shoot dates are still being pinned down, and to have some personal shooting/skiing time afterwards in New Zealand.  I do almost all my bookings on Kayak.com which has great dynamic filters and a relatively simple interface

• 12p 2TB backup done.  Run to the bank to swap out hard-drives.  All of my images are backed-up in triplicate, with the 2nd & 3rd copies rotating shifts in my safe-deposit box every two weeks or after jobs, just in case my office gets robbed, struck by lightning, or worse.  Everything is also backed up in triplicate while on location for jobs, only on smaller 250GB FireLite drives.  As at the office, the third drive always stays in a separate room, or with me, in case my hotel room gets sacked while I’m out
• 12:15 phone discussion with ad agency about changes to next week’s shooting schedule & go over the Australia dates
• 12:20 call with my producer regarding changes
• 12:25 call to assistant in Oregon regarding changes
• 12:30p drive downtown
• 1 lunch at the Taqueria Lolita on 9th & 3rd with my friend Paul
• 2 picked up a few things at Pictureline: a Pelican 1550 case for the location kit & a Canon 24mm f/1.4 lens.  Although I shoot on a lot of different formats, both film & digital, the Canon L-series primes are hard to beat for speed, sharpness, and reliability in extreme conditions.  Both me and my 1DsMk3 were completely and repeatedly drenched by ocean waves during a portion of the shoot in France, but the weatherproofed lenses & body thankfully kept the saltwater out (which is why the H3Dii played the role of backup and hid in the watertight pelican case with the 4×5)
• 2:50 call to my parents, let them know I’m still alive
• 3 picked up a few things at REI: new TSA locks for 4×5 case to replace ones damaged in Europe and a better travel pillow (I hope)
• 3:45 another call with my producer
• 3:50 post office again to pick up today’s mail, return home
• 4-7 working in the office on the new location/computer case.  Contents will include a 17″ MacBook Pro, 3x FireWire 250GB hard drives, a 6×8″ Wacom Tablet, cords & adaptors, extra battery, and ambient light shields for easy viewing outside.  Will post some photos when it’s done
• 7:15 respond to stock image request
• 7:30 emails with ad agency & Marianne about licensing additional images from the shoot
• 7:45 keyword & upload a few new images from Switzerland to my stock site
• 8:30 off to see Inception for the second time with some friends.  Hopefully I can stay awake with a mix of serious jet-lag and Hans Zimmer’s musical ambiance (which I love, love love!)
• 11p crash again, and hopefully don’t wake up till 6 or so…

In the meantime, I thought I’d post some images from earlier this week at my girlfriend’s house (in Norway).

While I’ve raced the Powderkeg several times in years past (including a Rec division win my first year!), I’ve always wanted to photograph it. Coming down with a chest cold this year offered a perfect excuse to finally pull out the camera.

As the race covers a lot of terrain, I debated for a few weeks about where to shoot from – thinking I’d photograph the racers as they zoomed by. However, the day before the race it struck me that what I’d really like to do is capture the racers immediately after they finish, in a series of portraits. Luckily my 8×10 holders were already loaded!

Since the finish line was more than a 1/4 mile up the hill, my assistant Kealan and I had to haul about 400lbs of gear up the hill (backdrop, cameras, film, tripod, etc.)

The portraits were mostly shot on 8×10 film, which is somewhat akin to burning $20 bills, with some of the later images shot on my Graflex 4×5 Series D.

Enjoy!

Link to the Portrait Gallery

Finally got around to photographing him this morning, assisted by my friend, Ashton Rogers.  Jim hauled us in on his Polaris, along with two pelican cases of gear and a tripod towing behind in a utility sled.

Jim is an absolute inspiration – he has the enthusiasm and vitality of men a quarter of his age.

We shot a box of Polaroid Type-55 and about 40 sheets of Portra.  Until that all gets processed and scanned, however, the digital shots will have to suffice…