Archive for November, 2006

Every year around the middle of November, Coeur d Alene gets a huge migration of Bald Eagles to the lake. They come every year for the salmon run and usually stay till mid Jan. For the last 3-5 years I’ve gone out and taken photos of these enormous birds. From the 1000’s of images I have of them I bet I only have 5 to 10 that I really like or show. Well, I went out this morning to go and take some shots and I was very surprised! When I got down to the lake I noticed about 10 to 15 eagles flying and fishing for food. That was the most I have ever seen this time of year. Then as I got out of the truck I began counting again. I counted 35 – 40 bald eagles either flying or sitting in the pine trees. I was thinking to myself, today is going to be a great photo day! But as usual once I start walking to my spot to shoot they all seem to fly away. I did manage to take a couple of shots which I will post below. Come back and check the blog Wednesday afternoon. We are supposed to have blue sky’s which makes for great Eagle pictures. But at the same time means freezing temperatures, probably in the low 10’s and yes that is no joke!


Keep in mind that Bald Eages heads and tail feathers don’t usually turn white until after they are 7 years old. The one on the top left above is probably 6 or just turning 7.
November 27th, 2006
Last weekend I had the pleasure to shoot Sanjay & Heather’s engagement session. This couple is so great and I can’t wait to photograph their wedding on Dec. 23rd in Seattle. We had a blast walking around downtown Seattle and to top it off the weather was great! I don’t say the word “cute” to much but Sanjay, well he was a little nervous in the begining. His reactions after public displays of affection was, or should I say “cute”. HaHa But after awhile he did finally loosen up. Here are a couple shots from the begining of the shoot.


We then decided to go into the public library, the architecture in this library is amazing! I had a short visit in the library because I didnt know we needed a photo pass. But none the less, I did get some great shots with the time that I had.




Then we decided to finish the session towards the market off of Pike Street.



November 27th, 2006
Got to make this quick. Just got my hands on an issue of Alliance Wakeboard magazine’s photo annual. There’s a shot of Chris Craig (one of my buddies) and guess who took it? That’s right…… me! So pumped and I think everyone should go and check it out! Happy Holidays to everyone!

November 22nd, 2006

Well everyone I just finished my most difficult commercial job to date. I do numerous commercial jobs for Range and of their new clients is US Silver. This company came into the Silver valley (kellogg & Wallace, ID) and bought up most of the silver mines in the area. US Silvers main goal is to keep all of their mining companies right here in the great USA. Which is great because it saves lot’s of jobs locally and all across the US.
I won’t get into all the details but I was 4600 ft below ground! Where the humidity is 100% and the temperature with all the equipment is easily over 100 degrees! You can say that when I was done there wasn’t one dry spot on my clothing! I know, its gross but these images and the experience is amazing. These guy’s are hard workers and VERY nice guys. I dont think they make them like this anymore! HaHa
So I’ll explain a little about each image. This guy is drilling HUGE bolts into the rock with what apperas to be a chopped up car bumpers for a washer (for a lack of terms). These bolts along with the chain link fence keep the rock from falling from the ceiling. They also use this drill to create holes so they can blast the ore.

Here are a couple portraits for you.


This is called diamond drilling. These guys are drilling very long holes into the core of the rock. The purpose is to pull out rock cores from this area and determine if they should continue drilling and if so which way. Once they fill a tray of rock cores, the miners bring it to the surface. Then the geologist examine each section of rock cores to determine where the silver, copper or lead is going to be. This is really amazing!

What really amazed me was all the heavy equipment way down in these mines. They bring everything down peice by peice, in these small man lifts. It’ must take them months to get one of these big loaders down the mine. Then they have these huge workshops dug out where they assemble and fix all the heavy equipment. This was the only place where it wasn’t hot!

To finish it off……. a couple of my favorite interior shots.




November 17th, 2006

Folks I want to make an announcement. After two years of trying to become a member of the Wedding Photojournalist Association, they finally allowed me in! Whats great about this association is not anyone can just join, you have to apply and meet all of their strict image and website guidelines. So thank you WPJA.
November 14th, 2006
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