Rusty

Rusty, Rexburg, Idaho, September 2006

Is Rusty . . .

A. Playing Dead
B. Drunk from cough syrup
C. Trying to kill a Grasshopper
D. Looking for his lost contact
E. Enjoying the warm sun

And the answer is . . . Tune in next week to find out!

Snakes in Idaho

If you have a thing about snakes, you may not want to read this. I think I have a pretty good tolerance of snakes and I got the willies reading it.

Trust me, it will make your skin crawl. You have been warned.

Idaho in the national news

Enjoy.

One Year

One year ago today was my first day on the job with my current employment. Time flies.

Three reasons . . .

I can think of three reasons . . .

- to fish in the fall
- to protect river habitat
- to promote minimum stream flows for rivers
- to play hookie from work (not that I did)
- to skip that sunday nap
- to not build reservoirs
- to live where I do

First snow

Thursday - 6:08pm, Sept. 21, 2006.

It is snowing. I think Darren said it best. . . .

"That webcam image makes me want to throw up. I'm not ready for the arctic death of winter quite yet."


http://www.wyoroad.info/highway/webcameras/Jackson/TetonPass.jpg

Listening to others

For those that don't want to read all this, here is a nice photo to enjoy.

This is one of the images from the series that I received Honorable mention in the 'College & University - PORTFOLIO' category at the international PIEA-PMA photography competition in 2003.

---

It has been an interesting week. Especially here in the blog-o-sphere world. Nothing I care to revisit again in this forum. So moving forward . . . sort of.

There is one thing I would like to talk about. I just received a comment on my blog that said "like you, I don't really care what anyone says . . . " This comment quickly stood out to me as soon as I read it. Largely because I feel it does not accurately reflect how I feel.

I feel it does matter what others think. I put a great deal into what others think. Especially regarding my art work. But that doesn't mean I don't get annoyed with how somebody treats me or my work.

If I took the attitude that I could really care less what others think about what I am doing, I would be all on my own when it comes to improving upon my work. Or, if I only listened to those that agreed with what I already believed, then I could end up missing opportunities that could allow substantial progress to take place.

One such example occurred to me during grad school. Over those three years I grew a lot in my art work. It is hard to encapsulate the entire three years here. Plus that would cause this blog to go on significantly longer then I think would allow anybody to gain anything useful from it. So I will leave it to one example.

For the first 2 years of grad school, I photographed in black and white. I continually received feedback like "why don't you shoot in color". I resisted and justified my work with about 300 different reasons to why I stayed with black and white. But every justification felt shallow and empty. I felt I was shooting black and white for others' reasons, not my own. I felt I was misguided by those that supported my methods at the time, shooting b&w.

Sure it is easy in hind sight to realize that photographing in color and making large prints were pretty obvious choices to the successful final project. But isn't that just how life goes? (If only I had bought Amazon stock 10 years ago  . . .)

In my bw v. color example if I didn't stay open to outside input I may have never crossed the threshold that lead me to the finished project.

(With my current work, I feel it is kind of the opposite. I feel strongly about the work I do and I am shooting it for myself, yet I feel outside resistance to the work and feel as if outside influences are trying to steer me away from what I really want to do, trying to steer me away rather then helping me navigate my chosen course.)

(Ok, so that got a little long winded and actually is taking me away from the topic I want to talk about.)

I forgot the point I wanted to make . . .

Every person has an opinion. Some may state their opinion blindly while others may bring along credibility with their opinion. Or often times people force an opinion on others when they have no right to do so. In the end what counts is being open to the fact that when you have an opinion that there is always some chance that it could be wrong. So what becomes most important is in how one portrays that opinion to others or how you react to others opinions provided for you.

I know somebody that they feel they 'know'. They said once regarding a project I was involved in that "I know what people think/like, and they won't buy/like that" (I forget the exact wording but you get the point). I had to kind of laugh when they made this statement because I actually liked what they said nobody would like. So obviously they don't know what every person likes. Another example, just recently I had somebody tell me regarding two specific photos, that I cropped wrong or I did something else wrong. As if there was only one way to do it. What really made me chuckle was that I was very intentional in what I did with those images, directly countering what this person was telling me to do differently.

We are always going to face situations such as these so it all depends on how we react I suppose.

So the catalyst to this entire post . . . Another example is in regards to the reaction to some of my latest work. I already commented about it above somewhat. Honestly I am fed up with the joking attitude when it comes to my work. I feel those that feel they joke around about the work don't realize that I am serious in this work. And when people react they way they do, not taking the work seriously, I am offended because I feel they are not taking me seriously. I don't believe in making light comments in any situation. I have always felt this way. Somebody may say they are only joking but there is always a little truth to every joke. (Otherwise what good is the joke?)

I need to be careful here, I realize, as I don't want to come across as bitter or angry or pissed off, well at least too much. (I'll get over it eventually.)

So maybe a better way of going about criticizing someones work . . . Somebody told me a while back something about a specific image that I am very proud of and like a lot. I didn't like what that person told me and I resisted it/disagreed with it. But it wasn't until just the last few months that I have thought back to that image and understood what that person was telling me. And now, funny thing, I agree with their original assessment of the image. It wasn't until I had enough distance to really 'see' what that person was telling me. But because of how the person approached it, I didn't shut off what they had to offer.

I bring in this last example to show that it is important how this person went about telling me what they thought. They didn't get argumentative. They didn't tell me I was wrong. They didn't tell me they were right. They didn't joke around about the image – in a sense belittling the image and indirectly belittling the artist. They simply told me how they felt about the image and that was that. I commend this person for their level of maturity when it comes to such situations.

So why write all this out? I don't know. I guess it just helps me put perspective on things. As with all human relationships, one must walk softly and carry a big stick. :)

I like metaphors. So I'll end with one I just thought up.

When approaching resistance in life (or artwork), sometimes you need to just put your head down, march strongly forward and break through the wall of opposition.

The only down fall, sometimes that resistance causes you to put your head down, march strongly forward and falling off the edge of a cliff.

Successful evening of photographing

Once again Bob invited me to tag along for an evening of photographing. One of his favorite places to photograph is Oxbow Bend. The animals were avoiding the crowds so we looked for other options. We headed for the dam to photograph sunset. The sunset wasn't fabulous but I feel I captured a few nice images. After sunset I requested to spend a little time doing late light photography of the water outlet from the dam. Once again I am quite happy with the result. Enjoy.

Salmon River

As some of you know, I have spent a little time on the river. Two different summers during the last 10 years I spent working as a river guide. Here are a few photos from my summer spent on the Salmon River. The photos are friends that were also river guides.

Threatened Species: Bull Trout

Bull Trout (Salvelinus confluentus), Idaho, September 2006

Bull Trout (Salvelinus confluentus), Idaho, September 2006

---

The following information is borrowed from http://www.fpc.org/bulltrout/bulltrout_home.html

BULL TROUT - Salvelinus confluentus
The Bull Trout is a member of the North American salmon family, which includes salmon, trout, whitefish, char, and grayling, and is one of four species of char native to western North America. On June 10, 1998, the Bull Trout was designated as threatened in the Klamath and Columbia Rivers, and on November 01, 1999 was listed as threatened in the contiguous US under the ESA. A threatened species is defined as one that is considered likely to become endangered within the foreseeable future. Bull Trout depend on very clean, cold water and therefore are a prime indicator of the health of forest ecosystems and watersheds.

Identification:
Bull Trout have a white leading edge on their fins and small, pale yellow to crimson spots against a darker background of olive green to brown on the back fading to white on the belly. Their tail is slightly forked and the dorsal fin lacks spots. They look very much like the anadromous Dolly Varden, but are larger and have a longer and broader head and exist mainly inland.

Life History:
Spawning maturity occurs at four to seven years and they can live 12 years. Unlike salmon, spawning adults survive to spawn again every two or three years. They spawn in fall after the temperature drops below 48 degrees Fahrenheit. The incubation period for their eggs is 4 to 5 months and they hatch in late winter to early spring. They like cold, clean, undisturbed waters. The young eat aquatic insects switching to mainly whitefish, sculpin and other trout as they grow. Bull Trout that live in streams rarely grow to more than 4 pounds, but lake inhabitants can weight above 20 pounds, with the U.S. record Bull Trout weighing in at 33 pounds.

Idaho sunset from nearly 10,000 feet

View from 9,526 feet looking east across the Birch Creek river drainage towards the continental divide and Idaho/Montana border, September 2006.

I love Idaho: I am amazed at what it has to offer.

I was born in this great state and have traveled throughout but still feel there is a lot I have not seen.

With my long weekend off from work we packed up our bags and went on an adventure to discover a new place.

We camped and fished. It was a bit cold at night but the days were great. It was warm and the leaves had just started to turn gold. The fishing was unreal and the scenery was AMAZING. It was a wonderful way to spend my birthday weekend.

Here is the first of many from the trip. I'll post more as I have more time. (Today was another 12 hour day at work)

Enjoy.


Central Idaho (location undisclosed), September 2006