Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Little Prayers on the Wind


I bought this little string of prayer flags from a shop on Pearl Street in Boulder, Colorado a few years ago and on a whim, I packed them for our camping trip at Little Redfish Lake in Idaho. We met Vanessa, Cal and Cal's son Josh there on a warm, end-of-summer day in August, and stayed four nights in the shadow of the rugged Sawtooth Range. We camped, kayaked, boated, swam, wasted a lot of film, told many a story around the campfire, built rock cairns, swapped cameras, stargazed, wandered Ketchum, inhaled a lot of wildfire smoke, and otherwise soaked up every bit of summer sun we could.  But back to the prayer flags. I never knew a $3 Colorado souvenir would bring me so much joy. Or subject matter. And how about that campsite? Isn't it the best? More later...








Sunday, October 14, 2012

Oktoberfest

Oktoberfest! Yet another reason October is the best month of the year. The cool days and chilly nights have taken over the heat of the summer, and leaves of every kind are changing to brilliant reds, yellows, and oranges. And beer and brats become a staple. It's fall, my favorite season.
It's been a few years since we went to Oktoberfest at Snowbird, but our friends Wendy and Troy invited us and we couldn't say no. The drive up the canyon is an event in and of itself. Beautiful golden aspens, red maples, and orange oaks line the road, which snakes up through Little Cottonwood Canyon. Towering granite walls are studded with silvery ropes of water streaming from upper glacial valleys. The icing on the German chocolate cake though is the view from the top of Hidden Peak, which we enjoyed after lunch of bratwurst, sauerkraut, German potato salad, pickles, and garlic fries.
After gorging ourselves on food from the motherland (mine and Troy's anyway), we hopped on the tram and were whisked to 10,992' Hidden Peak, where it was a brisk 52˚. We snapped some pictures and gawked at the views into Little Cottonwood to the north, Heber to the east, Salt Lake City to the west, and Mineral Basin to the south. We hiked down into Mineral Basin so we could walk through the tunnel to the Peruvian Chair, which we rode back down to the resort. My husband and I got more beer, this time a stein of Uinta Black Bier (earlier, we got Rooster's Oktoberfest), and we all enjoyed chocolate-drizzled Belgian waffles on sticks. So good.
Afterward, we drove further up the canyon to Alta and Albion Basin, one of my favorite little places in all of the Wasatch. We took a hike up toward Cecret Lake. I stopped below the lake to waste some Polaroid film, while the others went on to the lake. While I waited, a couple walked by with a remote control 4x4. We chatted for a few minutes and I snapped a photo. I kind of morphed into a 12-year old boy when I saw the Bronco (I think that's what it was). I wanted to play with it! I loved remote control cars when I was a kid. Maybe I should ask Santa for one this year. All in all, we spent about six hours up in the mountains and it was so perfect. Fall is such a wonderful time of the year here, even though Utahans joke that we only have two seasons: summer and winter. But fall has been incredibly lovely this year. And an Oktoberfest day made it even sweeter.

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Maples


Just popping in to share a double exposure from a few weeks ago of the beautiful maple leaves up at our family cabin. I don't remember the leaves ever being so vibrant and long-lasting as they have been this year. 

Wednesday, October 03, 2012

Nature vs. Nature


 


 




I should be running out the door, but instead, I'm sharing these, from the first half of the 12th roll of double exposures from Doubles, an ongoing project of mine and Vanessa's. This is one of my favorite rolls of all. We kind of put the project on hiatus over the summer, between work and vacations and typical summer stuff, but we got together in Idaho in late August for four days of camping, kayaking, photo-making, and just generally fun-having and we decided we needed to get going again. We've got another three rolls to share on the blog, plus two more that are being developed as I type. Check out our blog for more images, or to see some real life framed works, visit Two Creek Coffee House on Main Street in Bountiful, Utah, where 12 of our doubles are proudly displayed.

On another note, I made a Facebook page for my photography! Check it out. Like it. The 25th and 50th likes get a free print! http://www.facebook.com/stephlovespolaroid