Two Temples and a Holiday {Utah Photography}

I've been having a hard time making it to photograph my monthly temples before it get's black dark the last couple of months. I missed Oquirrh Mountain by about fifteen minutes but oh well, I will prevail! I tried to make interesting images anyway which is why I went more impressionistic (probably not a word) with the above image of the Mt. Timpanogos Temple. I didn't realize I'd done matching panorama shots for both temples until I uploaded these to blogger. Sidenote: both temples also have matching chandeliers {my favorite that I've seen}.


I don't know why I like the above shot so much, I just do. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I am standing right next to the fountain...I really like fountains.

I really like the Oquirrh Mountain Temple. It's cozy, yet splendid.

I finished a wonderful weekend with a fabulous St. Patrick's day. My DH {darling hubby} knows how much I love St. Patty's so he took me to the Celtic Celebration at Peery's Egyptian Theatre. He also knows how much I love that theatre and bagpipes, which were part of the celebration. I am so spoiled! :)

Sixteen Years and Counting! {Utah Fine Art Photography}

Now that Sundance is over I need to catch up a bit. My husband and I celebrated our sixteenth wedding anniversary in January and as the actual date fell during Sundance we went on a mini trip the week before. I have a goal to photograph a temple every month, preferably one I haven't photographed before. So although I know it isn't exactly an exotic locale hubby was kind enough to go with me to Idaho for our anniversary so that I could photograph the Idaho Falls and Rexburg temples.

We're sort of Hotel snobs and especially like fun themed Inns for our anniversary. this year we stayed in a Paris themed room. Paris is one of our favorite cities in the World and it represents travel to me, especially the Eiffel tower. Hubby picked it and made all the arrangements, he's the cutest!

We visited the Idaho Falls Temple first. It is in such a unique location, right on the river. I like the reflection that it cast in the ice at night.



It was so cold I wanted to cry. Ironically the next week it was super warm and rained a ton with lots of subsequent flooding. January is nuts!


We were going to take pictures of the Rexburg temple after we went through a session but when we got there the clouds were so cool that I decided to take pictures then and there. I was glad because when we got out the clouds were boring. It's a lesson that I have to keep learning over and over again. If you see a scene you like and it's at all possible, take a picture then and there. Don't wait!



I have these photos and more on my boutique site. Here are the links

Idaho Falls
http://fineart.illuminephotography.com/idahofalls

Rexburg
http://fineart.illuminephotography.com/rexburg

Twelve Months, Twelve Temples! {Utah Fine Art Photography}

I'm a little scary with resolutions. Once they are written down they are basically set in stone for me and I review my list every day. I was a little nervous to make photographing a different temple every month as one of my New Year's resolutions for 2011. I knew this goal would require travel and though I adore adventures more than I have words to describe you just never know where life will take you in a year.

I decided to photograph the Provo Utah temple in November. November is actually one of my favorite months to photograph in. I love the softer, more muted colors. My little boy came with me. I made sure to have plenty of snacks and Angry Birds on my phone for him to play and he was happy. We like to have adventures together.

It rained almost the entire drive down and I was discouraged, but it stopped just as we got there. The rain turned out to be a blessing because the light was pretty, the colors extra saturated and the clouds were a lovely added element. The rain also added a fun Hollywood effect. It wet-down the road in front of the temple which added a bit of reflection.


Manti was my final temple. I'd wanted to photograph it all year but was daunted by the three plus hour drive. My husband and I planned on driving down and staying overnight but that didn't work out. Todd is a lodging snob and when he looked into Hotels in the area he said that all he could find was a BandB where your rooms were named after LDS Prophets. His words..."I am NOT getting jiggy in the Joseph Smith room." I laughed hysterically and told him I was going to post that on facebook. He promptly threatened me with all sorts of doom and destruction if I did so....don't tell him I posted it on my blog! ;)

Once again my little five-year-old was my adventure buddy. I came prepared with even more snacks and games but he was more interesterd in just chilling on the drive down and sleeping on the drive back. It may have been the inversion. It was extra nasty during that week (Dec. 19th is when we went down) and though I thought it would clear once we got out of Salt Lake it lasted clear to Manti. It was a huge relief to get back to my beautiful Valley where there were clear blue skies. Y'all have my sincere sympathy for having to live with the yucky inversion smog.

We didn't have quite as much fun at the Manti temple as we did at the Provo Temple. There weren't any water fountains for Noah to admire and it was bitter miserable cold. We still had fun. Noah goes to Kindergarten next year and though I never thought I'd be one of THOSE Mom's I am already getting sad at the idea of losing my adventure buddy. We have so much fun.

I did it. Twelve temples in twelve months. I'm humbly proud of fulfilling this resolution. It really was an effort, which of course is the point of resolutions. I have something different in mind for 2012 which I am excited to get started on. The best way to learn and grow is to just get out there and shoot.

Happy Shooting everyone and to all a most Happy New Year!

p.s. There are more photographs of both temples on my Boutique site.

link to the Provo Temple Pictures
http://fineart.illuminephotography.com/provotemple

link to the Manti Temple Pictures
http://fineart.illuminephotography.com/mantitemple

Las Vegas Nevada LDS Temple {Utah Fine Art Photography}

I'm running out of temples to photograph for my monthly project that are near me so when Todd and I went to Las Vegas for Ragnar (so much fun) I was excited to photograph the temple there. The race ended, we took a picture, had a toast, then ran over to the temple (while the other van was showering).

It is a rather unusual temple, I really like the spires and I was fascinated by how interesting the back of the temple was, I think my favorite part was actually the back and of course I love the palm trees.

Trying to look for interesting angles and perspectives, here's the back of the temple from a low angle. I'm pleased with what I got and it was fun, so it's a win!

I took a few more, so if you'd like to see them (or purchase any) here's the link to my online Fine Art Boutique.

http://fineart.illuminephotography.com/lasvegastemple

Oakland CA Temple {Utah Photography}

Last weekend my husband and I made a quick two-day trip to San Fransisco, CA. We left at about 10:30 pm Friday evening after my preview performance (kind of like a final dress rehearsal) of Anything Goes at Centerpoint Legacy Theatre in Centerville, UT. We drove straight through the night with only a one-hour pause at a surprisingly nice rest stop. Our first destination was the Oakland Temple and we arrived around 9:30 am while it was still shrouded in fog. We decided to go through a session before taking any photographs in hopes that the fog would clear. After our session the fog was indeed gone but the sun was blazeingly bright and people were EVERYWHERE. This temple has the most gorgeous landscaping! There are two long rows of palm trees that frame pathways, fountains, and a stream that lead up to the temple. It is stunning! Unfortunately I couldn't get a shot of that without people in it so although I did take pictures I haven't bothered to edit any of them.

I was fascinated by this carving on the temple.

This is my favorite picture. I like the framing of the unique spire by the palm trees. Maybe it's because I don't see palm trees often enough or maybe it's because this was my first real stop and pause view that I had of the temple. Yes, I am standing in the middle of the parking lot to take this shot...people are really nice!

Forced to be on top of things. {Utah Fine Art Photography}

I barely scraped my Temple photo project in last month so this month I repented and got it done in the first few days. I happened to be in Midvale (which is a bit of a drive for me) so I had to photograph the Oquirrh Mountain Temple while I was there. Ironically they were closed for cleaning for a few more days but I'm still happy with what I got...would have liked some clouds though.


Of course if they had been open I probably wouldn't have been able to get this shot as I am standing, with tripod, smack dab in the middle of the road. Good times!

Sidenote: I've had people ask me about ordering prints and I am happy to announce that my online boutique will be up shortly. Right now I am customizing the site and adding pictures. The learning curve to working the site has been a little steeper than I anticipated but it shouldn't be too much longer now. I'm really, really, really excited about it!

Two months in one. {Utah Photography}

I am behind in posting my monthly temple photos. These two are from June and are of the Jordan River Temple. The night's hazard? Rabid swarms of bloodthirsty mosquitos the size of station wagons. Of course my DH stood calmly by completely un-bothered as I tried to take pictures while being the evenings main dish. Humph!

I think I need to take pictures of each temple both during the day and at night. The looks are completely different...maybe that's what I'll do next year.

I barely squeaked this temple in before the end of the month hit. This was literally the last day I could manage and after driving almost two hours I arrived mid-thunderstorm. Normally I wouldn't shoot in those conditions but I had driven forever {felt like} and was out of time, so I draped a chamois cloth around my camera and headed out. The rained slacked up a bit so I wasn't completely soaked and I tried to pretend that even though I could hear thunder there wasn't actually any lightning. It all ended well.


p.s. This is the Mount Timpanogos Temple and it is lovely!

Palmyra Temple {Utah Fine Art Photography}

I traveled to Canada with my husband the second/third week of May. We stayed just across the border on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls. We had a wonderful time. Our first full day there we took advantage of the fact that we were so close to some LDS church history sites. Here are a few pictures of the Palmyra, New York Temple.

I finally got some pictures with tulips.

This is a picture of the temple taken from the Smith farm. I would love to see this later in the season with all the trees green...I wonder what it looks like in the fall?!

Bountiful Temple {Utah Fine Art Photography}

I wanted to photograph the Bountiful Temple for April. I love this temple, it's the one I was married in, and I would LOVE a huge picture of it for my wall. I also wanted the tulips that are so gorgeous there. I kept waiting...and waiting...and waiting. No tulips. I was afraid I would run out of month so this is what I got. I'll have to try again next year. :)

Salt Lake City Temple (Utah Fine Art Photography)

Every once in awhile I have an image that I work on, obsess about, and fret over...for months.
One of my photography goals for this year was to photograph a different LDS temple every month. For March I decided to photograph the Salt Lake temple mainly because I happened to be scouting locations for an upcoming shoot in SLC and figured I would do the "two birds with one stone" thing. Also, gas is expensive. So March 3, 2011 found me with camera in hand staring up at the temple, trying to think of a way to present it in a different and unique way. That. Is. A. Hard. Thing. To. Do. Here is what I came up with.

The photograph above is the reflection of the temple in the reflecting pool. I'm a sucker for reflections, especially at night.

Below is the picture that I've been working on for almost three months. I decided to turn it into a painting. First I took clouds from another picture of well, clouds, and layered them into the sky so that I would have texture to work with and not just a boring mess of blue. I upped the saturation for fun and took it into a program called painter where I applied all the brush strokes by hand with my fantastic Wacom tablet and pen (which I could NOT survive without). Yes, it takes forever but thanks to Hulu I am well entertained and only have to worry about eyestrain and carpal tunnel. I finished and posted it around April 14th but was not happy with it. It kept nagging at me and I would open it up, stare at it, get disgusted and frustrated and close it down.


The sky is just plain boring. I've always loved van Gogh's Starry Night so I decided to try to emulate it a bit ... isn't it so moving?

It took me forever to get up the nerve. Finally I was with my husband on a business trip and I was at the office where he was working. I was trying to watch webinars on Studio Management Software and was so bored I was actually falling asleep so I decided to bite the bullet and try to fix the sky. This is what I came up with and I like it a lot better.

After I came home from my trip I pulled this picture out again and tried painting in stars and the amazing swirls of Starry Night but it just made a mess, so I've decided that I AM NOW DONE with this month and need to get to work pretty darn quick because I am so terribly far behind that it isn't even funny. Ah well, some thing you just shouldn't rush!

Draper Utah Temple (Utah Photography)

For February's project I visited the Draper Utah temple on the way home from a lighting workshop. I think I may want to re-shoot all of my winter temples when the landscapes are a little more aesthetically pleasing. As it was most of my pictures from this day were either boring or had an annoying maintenance contraption in them, grrr. So I'm going with this shot. It isn't your typical temple shot but then I reminded myself that the point of an artistic self-project is total creative freedom and I felt better. I love the sunburst, the near silhouette, and the glint off the angel Moroni.

Logan Temple (Utah Photography)

For January's temple project I photographed the Logan, Utah temple. I'm not particularly pleased on how it turned out. I don't feel like I was particularly creative with this shot. I also wanted snow and it's rather strange to not have much snow in Logan during January. I also need to get a tilt-shift lens if I am going to be shooting architecture from a low angle. Oh well, we shoot and learn! :)

November's Project (Utah Photography)

As I've mentioned before I assign myself a monthly photo project. Actually for 2011 I'm going to be doing something a little different. I'm going to try photographing a different temple every month. I'm not sure exactly how that will work, I imagine that some of the farther away temples may have pictures taken that are less than ideal because I'll have to work with whatever conditions I find, but I'm still excited. This is something that I have been thinking about for several years. My beloved Aunt Carol asked me to think about taking a picture of the Salt Lake Temple because she didn't really like any of the pictures available. This got me looking around and I realized that I too didn't really like any of the pictures I came across. Oh, there are plenty of gorgeous shots but for some reason none "feel" right to me. I hope that doesn't come across as rude, I don't mean it to, I'm just not framing a huge picture for my wall unless it speaks to my heart. Anyway, I decided to start a little early with the Ogden Temple because it will shortly be under construction and I wanted to get a picture of it before it is changed. I'm a little not happy about the whole remodel idea. I understand the reasoning but this is how the Temple has looked my entire life and it's good enough for me.

I figured I should grab a shot of the Tabernacle while I was there. I'm a sucker for berries in snow.


I took this during those few days we had snow before the warm spell melted it all. It was gone the next day. I rather think I lucked out though the skies are bland, that's the main reason I messed with the added textures.

I'm excited and nervous for December's project. I'm hoping to make my first foray into photo fusion. I really, really, really, want it to work out. Those I've talked to recently know where I'm headed and how important it is to me. I've been surprised at the potshots I've taken in the last few months. They almost made me quit, actually I did for about two days. Then I remembered how things that are important and worth the most are darn hard and I snapped out of it. Now I feel like I'm figuratively gritting my teeth and plowing forward. We'll see what happens...I feel like I'm watching the movie of my life and I'm impatient to see what the next scenes bring.