Rain or Shine

The world is a beautiful place, rain or shine. It's the contrast that makes it so gorgeous. There is something wonderful, something to be appreciated about the people, places, and things all around us each day. Photography for me is about finding a piece of what is beautiful in my surroundings and exposing it. Here are two recent photos... rain and shine.

Also, this last week I found out that I made PAC (BYU folk dance's performing arts company). I am soooo excited to perform with this group! It's something I've dreamed of doing, but I honestly thought that the opportunity had already passed me by. It will be fun, and I'm sure you'll hear more about it in the months to come.

In the Movie Month of May...

May has been an all consuming month of movie making for me. My short film "Man of the Cloth" has been filming the past couple of weekends, and with some luck we'll finish shooting this Saturday. It's kept me incredibly busy, and has definitely been the most valuable experience of my college education. I love making movies, and I've enjoyed working with some incredible and talented friends and classmates on this one. Actually finishing a film is nothing short of a miracle, no doubt about it.

The movie is about a newly ordained Catholic Priest in an old forgotten mining town. It will be done sometime this summer and playing in festivals internationally starting this next fall.

One of my favorite parts about making this film has been our locations. We filmed some of it in the west desert in Tooele County, but most of the film has been shot on location in Eureka, UT. That's in Juab County about an hour south west of Provo. Eureka is one of those places that you wouldn't want to go back to after a first glance, but if you spend some time there the place grows on you.

Just for fun I've put up a panorama shot of Eureka below. I like combining images to make panoramas, and this is probably the most seamless one I've done yet.

Blossoms and Canyon

April has been a great month for pictures, so I thought I'd share a few more before the month is over. Enjoy some stuff from campus and Rock Canyon!

Parable of the Film Emulsion

I'd like to share a gospel insight that I discovered as a result of photography a little over a year ago.

…have ye spiritually been born of God? Have ye received his image in your countenances? Have ye experienced this mighty change in your hearts? …can you look up, having the image of God engraven upon your countenances? (Alma 5:14,19)

How is it that we can have the image of God engraved upon our countenances?” Perhaps the parable of the film emulsion can help explain it.

Film emulsion is made of millions of light sensitive salts and crystals that react and change to light, and make photography possible. When the light sensitive emulsion of film is exposed to light coming through the camera lens, past the shutter, the image of whatever the camera was “looking at” is “engraved” on the film. The emulsion is extremely sensitive so the camera settings must be very precise to take a clean picture. So it is with us, if we look to Christ his light will shine through and engrave itself on our countenance. We have to be careful not to take our eyes off of Christ and the light of the gospel and “expose ourselves” to harmful influences. When we are looking for solutions to the stresses of life, where do we look? If we want Christ’s image in our countenance it’s not simply enough to look in his general direction. The lens must be adjusted and the focus set. It is easy to miss the mark and lose focus if we don’t give careful attention to our priorities. Even within the frame of the gospel, is Christ the center of our attention, focus, worship, and service? In a world of so much filth hopefully we are especially careful about the images and messages that appear in front of our lens. If we want to keep ourselves spiritually sensitive, we can’t afford to overexpose ourselves to worldly influences or underexpose ourselves to light of the gospel.

Run For Your Camera

The other morning I was walking back from campus after taking a final, and saw something similar to the image above. The sun had recently peaked over the mountains, was backlighting the clouds, and rimming the edge of the mountain. Moments like that don't last long, so as soon as I got to my apartment I grabbed my camera and ran over toward Kiwanis Park to get a clear shot of the mountain. By the time I got there the moment was gone, but it was still picturesque as you can see above.

Sometimes it's nice not to have a camera at my side, because I can't get anywhere fast with one. I always want to capture those moments I see and share them. Often it's better to enjoy what's there for a moment and gone the next, rather than missing the joy of the moment because I was caught up trying to preserve what was always meant to be transitory.

And just for fun here's a picture that I've posted before, but with a couple of filters added to it.

Hello Spring!

It's beginning to look more like spring and less like winter everyday now. Warmer weather means more pictures, because I don't have to risk frostbite on my fingers. Here are a handful of photos from the past week:

Isn't spring beautiful! I'm still looking for a tree with real popcorn though...

An Easter Message

"May we declare ourselves to be more fully disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, not in word only and not in the flush of comfortable times but in deed and in courage and in faith."