My First Spiral Jetty Experience

Over the summer, I decided to check out the Spiral Jetty on the Great Salt Lake. My photo professors always said that it was a photographer's dream so I wanted to see what the fuss was all about. I was amazed when I got there. The landscape is unreal: dry yet beautiful, I could've stayed there all day! (though I could've done without the smell and the heat)

There's a great/sad story that goes with this trip (refer to last picture). I was walking around the jetty, taking a bazillion pictures, then I saw something cool in the distance. I started to walk toward it and after about 10 steps, I felt my foot sink into something unearthly. It felt like mud but it was too slimy. It was also really stinky and hot from the sun. I was wearing flip flops (never again!), so I pulled my foot out, but my flip flip was still stuck. I pulled my flip flop out with my hands and put it back on - it was disgusting and hot. I tried walking in a different direction, but my other foot started to sink so I had to tread lightly. I finally found some spots (far and few between, it seemed) where the ground was more sturdy. I FINALLY made it back to my car, but my shoe reeked of whatever crap was in that nasty black stuff - I don't even want to know!! I put my shoe in a plastic bag that was luckily in my car and drove home. I was later told that the black stuff was probably tar (I don't believe them). Even so, next time I'm wearing fishing boots!!

Beautiful!! But proceed at your own risk...

The sky was PERFECT

The damage. Yeah, it was pretty gross...

Hawaiian Adventure

It's been another long while since I've updated this, so here are a couple of recent happenings:

- After 9 months of working as a Graphic Designer at Xi3, I got laid off, along with 2 of my co-workers. It's a blessing in disguise because it's given me the chance to update my portfolio, but I also miss my old co-workers.

- Because of the free time I had, I got to visit my friend in Hawaii!! Oahu, to be exact.

It was my first time outside of the continental US and it was amazing. The people there are so nice and chill (sometime too chill, but I won't get into that now...) Not to mention the scenery was beautiful, which you'll see below. I was so impressed at the turquoise water and how green and alive everything was. It's almost impossible to take an ugly picture there. *almost* There were a lot of really cool-looking trees, too. Oh, and the weather was super bipolar. I thought Utah was bad, but during my first day there, it was sunny, then rained, then was sunny again - all within about 5 minutes. (as seen in the first photo below)

I brought a more compact camera than my huge Nikon D700 so I could carry it around more easily, so the quality of the pictures isn't as good, but for a fraction of the cost, I think it did it's job pretty well.

The trip was so fun. I went on beautiful hikes, learned how to surf, swam in a waterfall, saw a sea turtle while snorkeling, and got to swim in warm ocean water during the winter time. Needless to say, for someone who doesn't get to travel to new places often, it was amazing!! :)

Next stop: Australia and/or New Zealand!! (In like 10 years...)

(TIP: Click on the photos to expand them)

Sugarhouse Park

Yesterday, I decided to explore/photograph a park that is down the street from my house, called Sugarhouse Park. It's pretty big and has lots of cool scenery.

When I first got there, I saw a TON of birds of all different kinds next to the pond. So I parked my car a little ways away from the lake (so I wouldn't scare them) and when I got out, all of the birds immediately flew towards me! I was kind of freaked out (if you have seen "The Birds" by Alfred Hitchcock, you know why.) But I figured they just thought I had food, so I continued to shoot anyway. I'm sad I missed that moment when they were all flying toward me, but I was in a fight for my life (and my camera wasn't ready)! It was really cool photographing these birds because I could get close and they didn't fly away. In fact, to get them to fly, I had to kick snow at them (sorry) to scare them.

The line of ducks (below) were actually somewhat scared of me. They walked up to where I was right as I got back in my car. So I got out again and walked toward them and they froze in a weird cluster. So I got back in my car and they started walking again. Punks. So I had to get creative: I had to roll down my window and shoot from inside my car. I felt silly but it worked!

The last two scenes I stumbled upon while walking around. I didn't apply any color enhancement to the trees; they were just really pretty! Even though it's really cold, I love shooting in the snow!

These ducks seemed confused as to why this bird was joining them

 

Perfect landing

Just so you can see how many birds flew at me. This isn't even half of them!

Shiseido

My latest product shot. This was sooo hard to photograph. It took nearly 4 hours, but the bottle looked so cool that I had to finish. It was a great learning experience, though!

New York

Wow. It's been forever since I last posted on this (well, except for yesterday). My life has been so crazy lately, but now that I have a moment, I'd like to share my adventures (or pictures of them, rather) :)

I spent 7 days in NYC. A beautiful and crazy city. There are all kinds of people there, it was great! I LOVE diversity--I miss it a lot! I don't think I could live there, though, because I don't really like subways and it's way too hectic for me to try to get around on foot. I like chill atmospheres. AND not to mention the weather...every time I walked outside, my hands instantly got damp from the humidity. Don't get me wrong, though. It's an awesome place :)

I love walking everywhere, I wish we could do that more on the west coast. There was SO much to see. NYC (just like a lot of places in New England) has a lot of history and cool buildings. It was amazing to see all of the architecture and culture.

I went with 2 other girls. It was kind of a girls week, I guess. We did a LOT of exploring! Here's part of our list, and we did about 98%, if not ALL (plus some) of these things... (One of the girls did an internship there a few summers ago, so she made this list up, not me, I'm not patient enough haha):

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Yeah, it was a looong week! I was so tired by the end of it, I think I slept for about a day.

People always ask me what my favorite part of the trip was, and I can honestly say that I don't have one. It was all really fun and I loved just taking a break from real life.

Anyway, enough talking! Here are some photos (they're sporadically placed):
P.S. None of these are composited; just color-correction. It was really a beautiful time of year to visit.

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On top of the Empire State Building

View from the Empire State Building

I LOVE the architecture!

Are we in China?

Central Park

Now I feel like I'm in England...I'm confused.

"Tangled" tower?

Yeah, that's not grass... gross.

For all you Beatles fans

John Lennon's Apartment

The piano from Big!!

St Patrick's Cathedral

St Patrick's Cathedral

Since there are a shortage of trees on the street, this is kinda cool

Thought this was funny :)

Yup, I'm a tourist, and I don't know how to use a magnifier thingy!! ;)

The skyline

Don't remember what this was for, but it looked rustic and cool on this cloudy day.

The pier

Gotta have a pic of Lady Liberty

One of the Freedom Towers (under construction, obviously)

9/11 monument, really cool and peaceful

Lone leaf

Seen enough? Good, cause that's all!! (for now)