Reporter Jay Patrick and I headed to Squilchuck State Park Wednesday morning to do a story on the sledding scene but were turned away at a locked gate. Whomever runs the hill up there should figure out a better way of letting people know when it’s open. From there, we went to Sterling Middle School, always a popular spot.

The easiest picture is the one of people flying off a jump. You just set up below the jump and wait for it to happen.

The one I like the best is of Zach Brown and his daughter sledding into a sled held by his son. I didn’t see it coming but his bad luck was my good luck as they crashed into the sled.

And the best series of photographs was of Mike Brown loading up a sled and the resulting bail off at the end.

You just can’t lose at the Sterling hill and especially under sunshine.

No Comments

I’d seen this on my way to Entiat to make photographs for another story and I was glad that there was still a group of fishermen trying their luck at this spot above Rocky Reach Dam. I was most interested in the tent that Chuck Gallaher had set up as a shelter against the cold weather. But the only time you could see him in the sunlight was when he cast his line out and had to sit on the edge of his chair to clear the tent.

I had made a few attempts at this but looking at my images in the camera or what we call “chimping,” he looked very blue in color and the exposure seemed really strange. It took me a while to realize that I had my camera set to expose for tungsten lighting from my earlier shoot and that was throwing off what I was shooting of Gallaher. I stuck around for one more cast and got this picture with the correct lighting.

I have to admit this wasn’t the only time I’ve messed up in this way but I’ve always found out in time to reshoot and fix my blunders (knock on wood).

No Comments

We were planning a weather story for the day after Christmas, possibly with snow pack numbers so I had photographed an interesting scene of Burch Mountain and was heading home when I came upon Kelly Horner plowing snow.

Now it wasn’t the first person I saw doing this but what made it a photograph was the way the sun illuminated him and the snow. He was backlit by sunlight and the background was dark, with the sky and the house in the shade. If he hadn’t been plowing in the sun, out by the street, it would have been a dull and uninteresting photograph.

No Comments

Yesterday I headed for Leavenworth and to the downhill ski area where they were planning on opening up the runs. I got there too early for the opening - about five hours too early - but thankfully workers were there getting the place ready.

I was shooting photographs of a groomer working on the tubing run when I spotted Jerrid walking along carrying all of these tubes. With Steph’s reaction, I could have left then and there.

But I hung around some, getting pictures of the Bakke ski jump on the hillside, then Steph blowing up tubes. Her head was barely seen through the hole in one of the tubes on the first try, but after watching her blow up a half dozen more tubes, she happened to turn perfectly with the tube and I captured this image.

I conferred with fellow photographer Mike Bonnicksen and he thought the cleaner background of the Michelin Man look was the better read.   

No Comments