arrrggg! and re-shots

I learned last night that the crate I made to hold my frames had a bit of an accident somewhere on the way to Wyoming. The gallery director called me and said she didn't even know how it held together. This upset me. I built that thing by hand with a good friend who knew what he was doing and we put extra effort into it to make sure nothing would crack or even move. But I guess it must not be that bad because it only cost $80 to repackage. Lessons learned: One: make crate out of light weight, indestructible titanium or carbon-fiber. This way you will just have to spend thousands up front for the crate but there's no way FedEx could deliberately destroy it in transit. Two: have a better than good chance to sell the work and spend nothing for new packaging. I don't know how to do this and I don't think anyone else really has a clue right now either. Anyway, here's some re-shot pics from the trip. I think they're pretty recognizable and I'm glad I got the best shots the first time I went there. I get the first negs back today and should have the rest done next week but I still think it'll be another 10 days or so before I get something scanned.

i'm giving away a secret in this one...

nice ride

My trip out west was made possible by two close patrons that loaned me the use of their 2007 Subaru Impreza all-wheel-drive wagon. In total I tacked on 4340 miles in 9 days and took the car off-road a number of times where I really grew to appreciate its design and engineering. The Impreza hauled over dust-ridden, pebble-filled roads and flattened mountain climbs that took it to 12,029'. The only problem was when I encountered boulders on an "off-road" course in Arches National Park outside Moab, Utah. I decided it was probably not the best idea to test the undercarriage on a quasi off-road AWD car that wasn't mine and that just got brand new performance tires. All an all though, I highly recommend this car and really want one for myself. It got 30 mpg on average and kept cool; the engine temp gauge didn't rise a hair when I drove it 800 miles in over 100 degree weather.

mom's 2007 impreza after 3 days of dust-road driving

rear view

where I decided to turn around

contact

VLA Radio Telescope, middle of nowhere, New Mexico

On the third day into my road trip I decided to take a bit of an unplanned detour. I was in Santa Fe and going to head further west when I said, what the hell, mike. you have to see this. it's perfect for your project... and low and behold it was. I got goose bumps when I saw it come into view. It is the Very Large Array Radio Telescope as seen in the movie Contact (which I've been fond of since I was 13). I was surprised to find out that the scientists do not actually listen for whatever it is they're searching for like in the movie. The movie people just made that up for dramatic effect. I spent a little over a day at this site, a bit more than I planned but the 4x5s I snapped of these babies will be spectacular. I can't wait to get them back.

surf's up

Robert F. Bukaty, AP

I'm interrupting my trip photos for this image from today's news about Hurracaine Bill off the coast of Maine. It'd fit nicely into my project if I could have been there...

monument valley

the view hotel

denver

from red rocks

enjoy now!

canyon kids

no fence.

sketches from the trip

I'll be posting the digital shots from my trip out west over the coming weeks. Although all the sketch shots are digital and aren't 4x5, I'm really glad I was able to make these in between shooting with the 4x5. I haven't worked this quickly in quite some time.