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/

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.