Moab

I spent the day today doing team training activities in Moab with a trainer from Germany. I learned a ton about group dynamics and working with people. I also learned a lot about myself. After the training was done, my buddy took me out on the slick rock jeeping. None of the jeep pictures turned out because you really can't see how steep the hills were. I've never done anything like it. Here are a couple of quick images that I took while we were out taking pictures of wild flowers.

Cowgirl Bridal

I've been going back through a lot of pictures trying to pull new ones to update my web site. I found this one from a shoot I did with Mallory. It had just snowed that day so the shoot was chilly and wet. She showed up so happy and excited for the shoot we couldn't help but make some very beautiful images. Mallory was a prime example of how what you bring to the shoot is reflected in the images. You can see more images of Mallory in my bridal gallery.

Tana & Jeff

Tana and Jeff were married yesterday at the sunny Oasis Golf Club in Mesquite, NV. The afternoon ceremony was warm and sunny and the dancing inside was plain hot. Here is a pic of the couple just after the ceremony, one during the first dance and another at the end of the night where Jeff is going for the garter.

Congrats Jeff and Tana!

Today's wedding

Here are a few shots from today's wedding. It's getting late so I haven't gone through them all. Tana and Jeff threw a great party. Maybe tomorrow I'll actually post some of them together. :)

Back in Nevada

It seems I've been in Nevada a lot this year. I think this is the 3rd time this year. (That's a lot for me.) Tonight I spent the evening at a rehearsal dinner for a wedding I'm shooting tomorrow afternoon at the Oasis Golf Club. Look for posts from the wedding in the next couple of days.

My Top 25 Albums In iTunes

And here are my top 25 Albums.

Top 100 Albums
-----------------------------
1. The Mouse & The Mask (Dangerdoom) - 227
2. Stand Still, Look Pretty (The Wreckers) - 177
3. Begin to Hope (Regina Spektor) - 115
4. In Rainbows (Radiohead) - 111
5. El Corazon (Steve Earle) - 66
6. Hang On Little Tomato (Pink Martini) - 60
7. Madvillainy (Madvillain) - 58
8. Palace Cafe (Cris Talley) - 58
9. Time - The Revelator (Gillian Welch) - 47
10. Boxed Set (Disc I) (Led Zeppelin) - 44
11. The Reminder (Feist) - 41
12. POP (U2) - 39
13. Gling-Glo (Bjork Gu›mundsdottir & Trio) - 39
14. Chutes Too Narrow (The Shins) - 38
15. Greatest Hits Live (Fleetwood Mac) - 37
16. Amnesiac (Radiohead) - 36
17. Pablo Honey (Radiohead) - 35
18. Master the Treadmill with Ok Go (Ok Go) - 34
19. Core (Stone Temple Pilots) - 32
20. Dark Side of the Moon (Pink Floyd) - 31
21. The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter (Bonus Track Version) (Josh Ritter) - 31
22. Brass in Berlin (Giovanni Gabrieli) - 30
23. OK Computer (Radiohead) - 29
24. The Bends (Radiohead) - 29
25. Prolonging The Magic (Cake) - 28

Wow, I listen to a lot of Radiohead.

My Top 25 Artists in iTunes

While I'm on the kick of analyzing the music I'm listening to, I figured I'd share the top 25 played artists in my iTunes. This isn't how I'd rank them as far as favorites, but here's the ranking by how much I listen to them.

Top 25 Artists
-----------------------------
1. Radiohead - 262
2. Dangerdoom - 227
3. The Wreckers - 177
4. Regina Spektor - 115
5. Pink Floyd - 106
6. The Police - 101
7. Willie Nelson - 85
8. Led Zeppelin - 79
9. Bob Dylan - 77
10. Counting Crows - 77
11. Steve Earle - 72
12. Beastie Boys - 70
13. U2 - 68
14. The Smiths - 63
15. The Shins - 61
16. Pink Martini - 60
17. Cris Talley - 58
18. Madvillain - 58
19. Dixie Chicks - 52
20. Cake - 50
21. Stone Temple Pilots - 47
22. Gillian Welch - 47
23. Feist - 44
24. The Grateful Dead - 40
25. The Sugarcubes - 40

Not Another Love Song

So after my last post I started thinking about love and the music I listen to. I found all the songs in my iTunes collection that had the word "love" in them. After eliminating the duplicates and the songs the computer picked up mistakenly (like glove) I had a list of 116 songs which represents about 2.6% of my music collection. Kind of interesting. If you want to see the full list you can check it out here.

Love Is All You Need

I've been reading the book Lovemarks:The Future of Brands and thought I'd comment on one of the subjects Kevin Roberts touches on when discussing complex secondary emotions and how it affects business.

LOVE

It's interesting how love is this universal truth each and every one of us understands to one degree or another. It affects everything we do. Roberts outlines the following 6 truths about love:

1. Human beings need love.  Without it they die.
2. Love means more than liking a lot
3. Love is about responding, about delicate, intuitive sensing.
4. Who and what we love create different experiences.
5. Love takes time.
6. Love cannot be commanded or demanded.

As we show love for those whom we are trying to build relationships with, that love will return.  In Love Is The Killer App, Tim Sanders suggests that sharing our intangibles with others is to show them our love.  He says that ultimately, it's not what people think about you, it's how they feel about you.

In business, sharing our love with others will allow you to create relationships with people.  These relationships are really the measure of success in my opinion.  So I guess, all I need is love.

Holi & What I'm Listening To

Here in Spanish Fork we have a Krishna temple on the outside of town. In the spring the hold the Festival of Colors where there is a large gathering of people (seems like mostly BYU students) where they sing, chant, burn a human effigy, and throw powdered dye at each other.

The festival happened a week and half ago and I planned on attending. I even went and picked up more 120 Velvia for my Holga. I wasn't able to make it, however.

So, in this post I'm mixing topics because of a similarity in theme. You have to watch the music video till the end to see it.

Holi: Festival of Colors


Regina Spektor

My Ride on a Kawasaki Vulcan

Today my younger brother, Ben, was over for dinner. After eating he let me take his Kawasaki Vulcan out for a spin around the neighborhood. What a feeling it is riding a motorcycle around. I've not spent any real time on a road bike so getting used to working the clutch and gears and all that took a little getting used to. Oh, and turning is a little weird. You push the side you want to turn to, basically the opposite of the way you ride a bike. Anyway, it was a riot. Here are a couple of pics of me sitting on the bike before the ride.

New Promo Card

My wife is an illustrator. Part of the process of getting work, for her, is sending out promotional work via post cards to all the editors at publishing houses around the country. At her suggestion, I've created this promo card to give to friends, family, and vendors as a pass-along to potential clients. If your interested in keeping a few on hand to pass along to friends, let me know and I'll send you a few.

Thanks to Melinda and Alex for helping me create such an awesome image.

Holga in Paris (Part 2)

Holga in Paris (Part 1)

In January my wife and I spent a week wandering around Paris. You can catch up on our trip by going back to my January archives. Here are a few of the shots I took with my Holga. (Because it takes so freaking long to scan my negs, this post will be broken into a multi-part series.)

New Music - Josh Ritter

A couple of days ago Stacy, from Three Winks Studio, decided she was going to start posting new music she is listening to each week. I thought that was a fun idea. So, I won't be posting one each week like Stacy, but I do want to post a song I just can't stop listening to. I'm a sucker for a simple melody with deep, complex lyrics. Maybe it was all the Bob Dylan we had to analyze in Mr. Olsen's high school english class. Anyway Temptation of Adam, by Josh Ritter, has at the top of the playlist lately. I'm still trying to figure out what it all means.

Enjoy.