Bear Lake Parade of Homes 2008

A lake view from "The Reserve" out the east facing windows of the "Summit Cabin".

An interior sitting room shot from inside one of the other cabins...

I recently attended the 2008 Bear Lake Parade of Homes. I was impressed with the level of quality of all the homes shown and with the way they were furnished. Several of the homes were selling for over a million dollars and were multiple thousands square feet in size. The rather startling revelation was of how low quality many of the brochures and portfolios photos were, many look like the work of a point and shoot novice. I just can’t figure how people involved in selling homes in the 300,000 to 2 million dollar range don’t invest in more professional caliber photography to help them sell these properties and their construction and design services. I am wonder if they just don’t have anyone in their Rolodex to call in this area, as good quality real estate photographers are rare in the region if that is the problem here is my number (435) 764-6367 ask for Bracken or see my website http://www.brackenberger.com/. The other option might be that the investment in a professional may seem like a luxury rather than a necessity, but I am guessing people buying cabins and vacation homes in Bear Lake aren’t usually locals, and thus will at some point will be shopping and contemplating a purchase while viewing photography in a brochure, on computer or online… what does the quality or lack of quality of your photography say about your personal professionalism and the quality of your company’s products and services? Investing in quality photography is money very well spent.

I have close connections with a regional furniture store and thus have the capability to "stage" an empty home with new furniture for a photography shoot and/or stage it longer term to help sell the property. I work closely with interior designers as need to assure the best possible look and widest customer appeal.

As a real world example I did a shoot for Whisper Creek Log Homes http://www.wclh.com/ that resulted in one of their most used advertising photographs of all time, it is used on their main web page top left first slide, on their main brochure front and center, on their mail out CD, on their company vehicles photo wraps, and on many a banner. This image is hanging poster size on the wall in the CEOs office as well as hanging in the cabin owner’s main home. I hear from the staff that my photograph has directly resulted in several new clients flying in to tour the exact cabin I photographed and my photo has thus resulted in five cabins (million dollar cabins) ordered and counting! How much would a similar photography investment be worth to your business?


Above is my photo which is heavily used by Whisper Creek Log Homes due to its warm home like feeling and perfect composition...

Below is a winter version of the same cabin...

A short review of the Bear Lake Parade of Homes 2008 follows:

As I toured the homes, I noticed the wood and faux wood floors where wonderful as was the stone work inside and out. Granite or its’ look a likes seem to be the major counter top of choice, with a few marble and concrete examples sprinkled in. The oil rubbed bronzed metal finish seemed to dominate the plumbing and electrical fixtures. The wood stairs with no toe kick (that you can see through the back of) is the stair of choice. Paint colors where mostly earthy and inspired by nature, sands, tans, browns, sage greens, rusts, burgundy, and Bear Lake blues. The darker wood stains are gaining ground in the show, although the true standouts where the multicolored woods like hickory, alder and Brazilian cherry with natural color variations showing through a clear coat. The light stains with a darker glaze rubbed over seemed to be found in many homes, I call it the “dirty stain” as it looks a bit like a child rubbed a muddy wet rag over a lightly stained wood and what was left over looks like a dirty “rustic” cabinet door. Metal wall art was to be found a plenty, very much different that the 2007 Bear Lake Home Show where only one standout interior designer “Barbara Hoffman” made full use of metal wall art in cabin #11, it seems she may have started a beautiful trend. As a photographer I was excited to see upscale family beach themed and vacation fun photos on the walls as well as nice children’s portraits in several of the cabins. The upholstery was varied and exciting, much of it was darker earth tones and many pieces incorporated both rustic leather and patterned fabric on the same frame ranging from upscale occasional chairs to more relaxed but quality fancy sectionals. Many homes included home offices, exercise rooms, and the ever popular home theatre rooms. The homes where well worth seeing and relatively easy to find. The staff and builders were eager to show their work and receive feedback. I am excited to see how they try and top themselves next year!

Comments and emails greatly appreciated!

http://www.brackenberger.com/

I Won Second Place in Herald Journal Great Outdoor Photo Contest

This image (Spring Creek -fall-) was entered in the once yearly "Herald Journal Great Outdoor Photo Contest" and it won me second place in the scenic division. I was happy to get such and award and recognition of my work. It was printed in the Sunday August 10, 2008 Herald Journal on a special high quality paper insert. The photo was taken up Logan Canyon last fall. Titled "Spring Creek -fall-" copyright 2007

I was unable to attend the Cache County Fair this year or take some photos there to be judged...as I was too busy to be proactive about it as well as I chose to attend the "Art in the Park" event in Providence that ran at the same time. I have typically ribboned every entry I submitted over the past 10 years (3 photo enteries allowed each year = 3 winner ribbons each year for me), so I gave someone else a chance this year.

I also have a winter version of this same shot and a spring version also.

I have had these printed up at 24"x36" and framed and they look fantastic especially when printed on canvas and framed with a heavy thick rustic frame... They are less than $200 for a framed print and less than $300 for a framed canvas!

I love the 3 season idea as they make a fine series or grouping and I have many other scenics that use the 3 season concept most notably my "Wellsville Mountain Range Reflecting into the Cutler Marsh" series as seen below... These are a framed print at 12"x36" for $150 at the present time.

More of the 3 season concept can be seen at my gallery found inside Edwards Furniture at 1670 South Highway 165 Providence UT...

Comments appreciated!

Bridgerland Phone Book Cover Shoot

This is a text included mock up of the final photo that was selected...

This is the final pick photo before text...

I was commissioned to shoot the 2009 Bridgerland Phone Book cover shot. The Bridgeland Phone Book is in its 26th year of printing and distributes over 75,000 copies each year.

The concept I was given to work within is red vintage hot rod cars with a cache valley icon as a background. This final photo combination tied together the signature color of the Bridgerland Phone Book "Red", with the owners love of the Cache Valley Cruise In and vintage cars, and an iconic Cache Valley Landmark (Utah State University's Old Main Building). I shot several nice images with the vintage cars in various positions on the USU Quad, after narrowing it down to 4 images the phonebook company owners (Tom and Wendy) picked their favorite.

The one minor nitpick of the image was that it was preferred (by the client) to have 6 or 7 cars in the photo, but due to the vertical nature of the phonebook cover and the desire to have the cars prominently up front it wasn't practical to have more than three complete cars. The other issue that bugs me a little is that I prefer to have only one main focal point and this image has two (cars and "A"), but I have to keep telling myself this isn't fine art after all and its going to need strong focal points to compete with all that text anyhow! If I didn't have a client to appease and had all the say and more time, I would have tried a shot from the front of the old main in evening light with just one car...

What I like about the photo is the use of many compositional concepts within one image. I used simple framing at the top of the image with the leaves, which also gave contrast to the forth coming text. I used an angled leading line ie the sidewalk edges to lead the eye into the photo, adding a more 3 dimensional look and feel as well as having a clear foreground (sidewalk) and significant mid ground (the cars) as well as a interesting background (the "A" old main tower) to enhance the sense of depth of the composition. I also used the rule of 3rds once specifically for the placemnt of the red cars in a horizontal sense and once again for the placement of the "A" old main tower in a vertical sense. The biggest mistake rookies make in shooting scenic is not having interesting elements in all their grounds covered ie "fore-", "mid-", and "back-" often a rookies scenic/landscape type pics only have a background and that is about it. I used the angle of the cars and the angle of the cars to enhance depth and add interest, plus lines that are angled, ie not parallel to the photos sides or top add interest and relief to for the eyes.

All in all the final results are great and the client is very happy so, job well done in my book.

A special thanks to Ed Black and the car owners for their valuable time and organizational help!

This image was liked but was passed on as the client felt the cars weren't prominent enough, and the car owners all were wanting that front car spot, and did not like being in the smaller rear 3 or 4 slots...I liked the sense of distance/3D that the angled line of cars gives the image...and it was one of the few ways I could incorporate all 6 cars into the image as that is what the client was hoping for.


What I like about this photo is that by cutting off cars it gives the illusion that there are more cars than are really are. I can easily imagine this as a shot taken during or after an auto show on the quad. Client and car owners didn't like the cars being "cut-off". I like the huge band of the signature color red and the prominence of the cars...


Please leave comments!

Romney Stadium Fireworks

Happy 4th of July! I saw large crowds like I have never seen before (in my 31 years as a Cache Valley resident) filling the areas surrounding Romney Stadium. Families and friends packed every concevable parking spot and many engaged in some creative parking in an effort to get a close parking spot. Nearly every patch of grass and sidewalk that afforded a veiw of the fireworks was filled by dusk. I took a seat on the HYPER field just south of the Spectrum and Romney Stadium and enjoy a spectacular show if a bit shorter than normal show. The crowd near me was really getting into the performance with gasps, ohhhhhs, and awes a plenty.

I included a photo I shot from the hyper field at USU showing the crowds and the amazing fireworks in the background.

Bracken Berger of www.BrackenBergerPhotography.com --photo is copyrighted 2008

Double House Fire in Logan

This fire fighter is dousing a porch fire with a personal drinking water bottle! Keep in mind there are at least 3 water pump trucks and a huge ladder truck all parked within 100 or so feet...Even funnier their was a garden hose with a sprinkler running on the lawn about 8 feet from him and another sprinkler running out on the front lawn too both of which ran constantly during the whole event... The Herald Journal printed the firefighter water bottle picture on page A4 of the July 4th 2008 paper, and included a little blurb it being a possible award winner and about my ability to get great ironic photos and my past photo contributions to the paper.

I am all for low tech and using what you have at hand, and I can only think of one funnier way to douse a fire! If you look close (or click on the image for a closer view) you will notice a stream of water coming from his water bottle and about to make contact with the smoldering porch roof.

The fire happened at 80 North 500 West in Logan on July 2, 2008. It was a 1 alarm fire rumored to have been started by grand children with fireworks... Leading to a burned out car, and car port and part of the house as well as the neighbors back porch... The fire was first detected by passers by when a propane tank that was in the blaze exploded...

The photo below shows a North Logan fire fighter and his co-firefighter spraying a short blast of foam at the fire still smolder away in the back are of the house... I love the intensity of their faces and the back splashing caught in action of the foam fire retardant.


If I get some time I might post a few more from the fire, but these two are my favorite action shots...


On a personal note I love shooting these intense and news worthy events in the community, it makes my heart race, my adrenaline pump and makes me feel alive and like I have something to contribute. Too bad from what I can tell photo journalism is the one of the most competitive photo fields and at the same time one of the very worst paying...


For now my occasional news photo coverage it is a charitable contribution for the community.

To pay the bills I will stick with Weddings, Portraits, Commercial, and Fine Art.

Bear Lake Photo Excursion -summer-

Gopher Snake

Bear Lake Shoreline with fish

Cactus flower near shore
Paris Tabernacle circa 1888

back lit gull in flight

Bear Lake shoreline

I decided to spend my day off taking a Bear Lake photo excursion. I packed up all my gear and headed out about noon. I was hoping for earlier but it just took awhile to get ever thing ready and the prep done. I took my friend and often time photo assistant along. We made the trek through Logan Canyon uneventfully and enjoyed the greenery that looks as if it is starting to think about turning into its dried up summer yellows and browns. Personally I am hoping the green lasts as long as possible.

We arrived at Bear Lake lookout which was packed full of people, surprising for a Tuesday. The traveler were reading the signs, eating a picnics, and snapping photos of the view and of each other. I had to resist offering to shoot some of their photos for them so the couples could be in the photos together. I did however answer some questions for a couple that were asking about local restaurants. I took in the view but left the camera in the bag as the hazy was so thick and ugly that there wasn't any point in taking a photo.

Arriving in Garden City I realized I had forgotten to fill my tank in Logan, a costly mistake! Logan was around $3.89 a gallon and garden city was asking a full $4.25... This is the first time I have ever seen or paid over $4.00 a gallon in my life! We grabbed a corn dog and a blueberry banana shake from Labials for a break and a sugar rush. We scouted out a couple of the galleries and furniture stores for fun, we were treated to tons of over the top cabinish stuff. We planned to circle the entire lake, which was a first in my life experience and shoot anything cool and interesting that we good get to hold still for us in front of the lens. We headed south to the public beach before you hit Lake town. Every time I have gone before it has been abandoned or very nearly so, today it was packed.

I broke out the camera and practiced my speed and dexterity trying to shoot gulls in close quarters flight. Thank goodness I wasn't paying for film as birds in flight are near the hardest things to shoot on the planet. I managed to get a few print worthy picks. After wandering out into the water and looking around I realized why there are so few good photos of Bear Lake and so many poor photos out there. The lake is so huge you can't get any respectable size piece in the frame, when you get down to the water the lake look to be just a thin blue ribbon in the frame if your not careful, and the beach for the most part is down right ugly and boring not to mention the long walk to the water of nothing but mud, sand and if your lucky a few weeds and stagnant mosquito pools. I love Bear Lake but it is a real challenge to shoot at a fine art level. Its size make is hard to get the far mountains sharp and to pop out from the bad haze that compounds itself at that distance. I did manage to incorporate some fish that where swimming in the shallows to add some interest and used a polarizing filter to reduce the waters reflection at least at the closer distances. I also managed to find some mildly interesting shoreline after walking along ways down the beach where there was some rare curves and plants to add some elements of interest to the photos.

After snapping a few photos we waded around enjoying the perfectly cool and refreshing lake water while picking up interesting shells and small rocks. We headed out south around to the east side of the lake, a place I had never been. It was much dryer and less green with more rock and dirt showing along the mountain side. The road was obviously much less traveled that the west side of the lake, with plenty of poorly repaired pot holes. We saw tons of ground squirrels darting across the road but they seemed to shy to photograph... Most of the campsite on the Utah East side of the lake where nearly abandoned and overgrown with weeds and most lacked any reasonable shade, sun baked comes to mind. I was hoping to get a good shot across the lake look at Garden City, but the haze was out of control and blocked all but a basic view of the mountains behind Garden city. We finally found a nice place to pull over for a splash of cold water for our face and feet at an Idaho run campground that was superb. We got some fun shots of a rabbit hanging out on the freshly water and cut lawn under a picnic bench as well as a sweet shot of a blooming cactus with a nice yellow flower (I am used to seeing pink). The lizards were just to fast in the heat to shoot. After try to shoot the shy squirrels and feeding them some old peanuts we were off again. I was disappointed to see that some of the roads on the map that ran through the Bear Lake Marsh where gated off and inaccessible, the map didn't warn about that. I was hoping for some marsh bird photos....darn....As we rounded the top of the lake I decided it was getting too late to shoot for much longer and to run up to Paris Idaho to shoot the beautiful tabernacle there as my Great Great Grandpa William Budge was in charge of building. Upon arrival the light was strong but turning a nice colorful yellow and orange, so I took a few different angles of the building and noted it was built clear back in 1888. The reddish and tan stones where very unusual and interesting. We headed south toward home as the light was about gone, stopping only to shoot a very old homestead looking house with the lake a strip of blue in the background and a hazy mountain range to finish off the background.

Out of light we hit the gas pedal and sped for home where a shower, dinner, and a soft bed all awaited our arrival. Now to mention a hand full cats that were probably missing us by this point.

Spring Birding in Cache Valley

Western Meadow Lark on grass, near the Barrens Audubon Sanctuary Amalga.

Yellow Headed Black Bird doing the splits, near Mendon.

House Sparrow on cat tail stem, near Newton.

Yellow Headed Blackbird Singing with blue pond water in background, at pelican pond near Young Ward.

Short Eared Owl? on look out Near the Barrens Audubon Sanctuary, near Amalga.

Notes and photos from last April....(I am trying to get caught up)

This spring I have been cruising the back roads of Cache Valley Utah trying to get some good bird photos. I have reduced to shooting wildlife and abstracts while I what for the ugly brownness and deadness of early spring to pass. Scenics are what I am excited to shoot as the spring green kicks in and all the flowering happens...but for now closeups hiding the ugly brown sogginess of the wider photo...On the positive side I have a growing collection of bird and wildlife closeup photos :-)

comments are appreciated and please visit my photo website...

http://www.brackenberger.com/

Today I join the world of blogging...

In the spirit of sharing a glimpse of my life with friends, family and fans...I decided to become a blogger.