Cliff Top Cabin near Bear Lake

Looking thought my archive today and found a couple gems I though I would share...

This is Karen's cabin near Bear Lake, a beautiful place with an amazing view of Bear Lake from the wrap around deck. Not to mention a nice view of baby hawks in a nest! I love shooting cabins.

Baby Red Tail hawks in the nest...

Moab Trip

Day 1

Near Price, UT I was taking photos in the canyon of a unique rock formation... A few minutes later and a mile down the road we pulled over to read some roadside markers regarding coal mining.  These markers were in view of what appeared to be a coal mine or coal plant.  We read the markers from the car as we were in a hurry and the place was not photogenic.  I looked in the rear view mirror only to see a police car with lights lit up!  I was asked by a nice but professional acting female police officer if I had taken any photos of the coal plant/mine. I replied "no just some images taken of the rock formation a couple miles back", She asked if I had any telephoto lenses with me, to which I replied I had but was using a wide angle lens at them moment for the last shots I had taken a few minutes before. She informed me that it was illegal to shoot photos of coal operation and wanted to see the images on my camera to be sure I indeed had not taken any of the coal plant.  Satisfied with that she called in my concealed pistols serial numbers to check if they might be stolen? The whole experience was no big deal to me, but I was left wondering how it can be illegal to take a photograph!!!  I fully understand that you need model release to sell people pics and a property release in some instances to sell pics of private buildings, but it has never been illegal to take any photograph of any subject for personal use when no sale of the photograph happens! Help me out what am I missing?

I guess you can say this photo trip is eventful already!

The photo below is of a formation near Helper Utah called "Castle Gate".

Day 2

We spent the night at Green River, UT. Next morning we headed out to see Goblin Valley State Park.
The weather was horrible, sand storms, rain and wind.  My mouth and camera filled with gritty sand and stayed that way most the day.  I did brave the nasty weather hiding behind goblins as needed, it was basically useless trying to hide from the sand.  My poor Canon 5D mark III SLR and lenses got a full blown real world test of their dust proofing features. As breaks in the weather allowed I took what photos I could.

These goblin formations varied from an average range of 8 to 15 feet tall. Hundreds littered the valley floor each one a unique shape from any other. Walking through them hours with camera in hand felt a bit like walking through a forest of statues on mars!

The nice thing about Goblin Vally being a Utah State Park is the ability to bring your dog and take them on the trails with you, my dog angel loved it, minus the sand blasting... National Parks crack down on dogs only allowing them on roadways and parking lots, no trails, no buildings, no hiking with dogs!

Natural washes made easy trails that wound randomly through the goblin army.  The Moonscape looked maybe more like a Mars-scape with all the red color, dirt and lack of nearly any vegetation...

I found myself seeing images and animal shapes in many of the formations a bit like an ink blot test I suppose... Some goblins looked more like duck heads, howling wolfs, Christmas trees, various body parts, and even saddles!

Day 3

On first half of the third day we visited Dead Horse Point State Park! This was the park I was most excited to visit and photograph.

The Last half of day three we spend in Canyon Lands National Park, specifically the Island in the Sky area.

more to come.....

Top of Utah Half Marathon 2010

I had the pleasure of photographing the Top of Utah Half Marathon today.

The 13 mile race started in Blacksmith Fork Canyon and the power plant and finished at Zollinger Park in Providence Utah. Zazoosh was there photographing the event as well. The weather was perfect, a bit overcast and a nice cooler but comfortable temps. The races started at 7:00 AM and many front runners crossed the finish line by 9:00 AM with the bulk of the runners crossing later. The race photos of the runner turned out great with many showing a high level of exhaustion and emotion!

Highlight photos will be posted soon here and the complete collection for viewing and purchase will be posted soon on http://www.brackenberger.zenfolio.com/

Brigham City Utah LDS Temple Ground Breaking

The ground breaking for the soon to be built Brigham City Utah LDS Temple was held July 31, 2010. I was able to attend the event and get a couple hundred nice photos of the event. It was a beautiful day and it was nice to attend.

Little Mountain Road Race 2010

Little Mountain Road Race was held in Clarkston Utah on June 26, 2010. This was the Utah State Road Race Championships sponsored by Logan Race Club. The race included 80 mile races down to 10 miles depending on the racers category. The course included a (category defined) number of laps around Little Mountain which lies near Newton Reservoir.

The race is described as a 16 mile circuit race with one major climb (1 mile, 7-10% grade between Trenton and Clarkston) and one minor climb (1mile, 4% grade 1 mile south of Clarkston) with a total elevation gain of -600 feet per lap.

View the photo gallery at: www.brackenberger.zenfolio.com/littlemountain2010

Summerfest Arts Faire 2010

I recently attended Summerfest 2010 in Logan Utah. The event was a great success, I met lots of great people and sold many a framed photograph. Everyone though it was great to see Cache Valley scenic photography available to purchase out of my booth. I got lots a great compliments and saw many a surprised gasp when they saw a favorite photo (usually the wellsville mountain reflections or the winds caves photographs!

An estimated 50, 000 people visited Summerfest were about 150 vendors showed their handmade art peices. Artsist sold a wide variety of hand made wares, paintings, ceramics, photos, jewelry, woodcarvings, leather and metal products.

More photos from Summerfest 2010 can be seen at:

www.brackenberger.zenfolio.com/summerfest2010

TriUtah Cache Valley Classic Triathlon on June 12, 2010 at Hyrum, Utah

June 12, 2010

I covered the recent TriUtah Cache Valley Classic Triathlon 2010, held in Hyrum Utah at Hyrum State Park reservoir. The swim, bike and run had two lengths, the Sprint and the Olympic lengths. The participants numbered nearly 500 strong. I captured nearly 1,700 photos covering the event on my gallery and print ordering site: www.brackenberger.zenfolio.com/cvctriathlon2010

I included a few highlight photos here on my blog! See the rest at the site above!

TriUtah Cache Valley Classic Triathlon photo coverage at http://www.brackenberger.com/ or www.brackenberger.zenfolio.com/cvctriathlon2010