Last weekend I participated in my first ever Ragnar relay race. This one happened to be the Las Vegas Ragnar and can I just say that I am completely hooked. It was honestly one of the best adventures I have ever had in my entire life and I truly don't say that lightly. I've actually thought long and hard as to why this is so because if you know me very well or have read my post about how much I love the book
The Alchemist you will know that my personal treasure involves searching for adventures. I love beyond anything to travel to new places, try new things, meet new people. Well, this experience had a little bit of everything.
I was on a team from my husband's work and I was a little nervous to be around relative strangers in such close quarters and almost intimate circumstances for such an intense time. I was worried about people (and myself) getting ornery after hours upon hours of intense physical effort, not "real" food, and little sleep. I also just really wanted to do a good job for Todd so the people he works with wouldn't think his wife was way lame. :)
We met at Todd's work and caravaned down to Vegas. We did a brilliant thing in renting a house in Vegas. Not only were we all together which made things more fun but we had a place to crash while the other van was running their legs. In other words we were able to sleep, eat "real food", and have a little time out of the van. There was absolutely no crossness and we all felt pretty darn good.
Here is our pre-race safety seminar. You can see how people have some really fun costumes. I was a little bummed that we didn't have fun costumes but being the wife and a first timer I hadn't wanted to push. My delightful van mate Nichole Hardy had felt the same so we are in cahoots for fun outfits for next time. The costumes, team names, decorating of the vehicles really creates a fun festival environment. The energy was simply intoxicating, I was loving every minute of it!
It was so fun to run the race with my husband Todd. I am a musical theatre and photography person, he is a brilliant CEO type, so as far as hobbies go we don't have many that we do together, I loved the chance to share this with him. We had an absolute blast!
This is Jason Hardy, well the back of his head anyway. He definitely had the coolest Ragnar symbol use. People asked to take pictures of his head the entire time.
Isn't this the most beautiful starting locale? We are at Lake Mead, early in the morning (9:30 am start) and it was breathtaking!
Christel was our leg one. She is a delightful person, I am so grateful for the chance to get to know her. I would run with my Van again without hesitating. Incredible, fun, awesome people!!
Pausing to give Christel van support and to paint Todd's hair orange. At our safety meeting we learned that the night before Ragnar officials had been informed that there was to be no support on the first eleven exchanges, so while we could pull over we weren't allowed to cross the street. We spent a lot of time hurling water bottles at each other across the road...lol, good times!
Todd very frequently (he says I shouldn't use absolutes like ALWAYS, lol) gets injured when we go on trips of any sort, and it FREQUENTLY occurs at the beginning of said trip and he is hobbling for the remainder so I wasn't surprised when he bashed his knee and was actually relieved that 1. He had gotten it over with so now we were good and 2. It wasn't so bad so now that he had gotten it over with...we were good. Ironically after the entire race was over he realized he had twisted his ankle so he's been hobbling a bit since then (I think he just wants sympathy, shhhh, don't tell him I said that).
This was at the exchange after leg 25. Those who were there will recognize leg 25 as the brutal running through a dry rocky riverbed for six miles in the dark with no van support at all leg. Poor Christel! Everyone who came through the shoot looked like they had been through the ringer. Anyway, I knew my friend Todd was running Ragnar but I hadn't found him. Then suddenly I found him out in the freezing cold at about 4:30 am. I had to get a picture.
It felt wonderful to check off my legs. It was difficult but not nearly as hard as I thought it would be. I do wish that I had pushed myself harder on my last leg. I wanted so badly to run the WHOLE thing that I was trying to reserve energy. Next time I'll do what I did my second leg. Just tell myself to not hols anything back because I can walk if I have too. Sidenote...I did end up running the WHOLE DARN THING. Yay!!!
Here's my team finishing. I'm crouched on the ground yelling "Just go around me, I want this shot."
View from behind as my team finishes. I don't know what our official time was but it was somewhere around 31 hours. There's a great festive party at the end. I love a spectacle!
Team portrait!
and the toast!
I think what made this such a great experience for me was being a part of something bigger than yourself. Everyone was so nice. You didn't just cheer for yourself, you cheered for everyone. We shared blood, sweat, tears, colored markers, water, and stories. It was beyond wonderful and I WILL be doing it again!!
I love this family and they have had a busy year, note the addition of a brand new son-in-law {I got to photograph the wedding-yay!}. There aren't words for how much I love them and I was thrilled that with how busy they were we were still able to get a family session and Christmas card in. I talked them into a two-sided card this year, change is good right? They were thrilled, I was thrilled, life is good. Happy Holidays everyone!
I love fall and this has been one of my favorite locations to shoot in for about a year, partly because I can have good light for longer than usual and partly because as yet the hordes have not discovered it. This is a wonderful family whom I have known for as long as I can remember. Their youngest son was leaving on a mission four days after these pictures were taken and Saturday Oct. 1, 2011 found us traipsing through the weeds in the dark{ish} at seven am. It was darker than I expected and I was panicking a bit. At the last second I threw my studio lights in the car and when I got there {I like to arrive early and set up} it was pretty darn pitch black and there were mysterious shapes lurking...I admit to being a little apprehensive. I told myself that they were most likely deer and would leave as I got closer, sure enough they were and they did. Curse you Dave Carver for telling me all of your bigfoot stories!!!
You can see here that the sun is coming up over the mountains, the light sure moved fast but we were able to get all that we needed before various members of the family had to rush off to other engagements.
I love this picture. I love his eyes. I always try to take at least one photograph of small children looking up at me because that is the way parents see their children most often and it is a reminder in later years of when they were small. Ironically the family was concerned because this little guy is usually super smiley but he is not a morning person at all. It's still my favorite picture.
This is Joni and she is a sweetheart. I really like this picture of her, I think her wonderful personality shines through.
Beloved Sessions certainly don't have to be of a couple. I have seen some truly beautiful artwork of a parent and child as well as other relationships. It's all about showing the connections between people...I think it would be fun to do a session with a group of really close friends.
I just love how the shot above turned out. The texture of the trees is fantastic. I wanted an almost fairytale look for this one. With all of them I was looking for soft, almost dreamy quality, and a whole lotta love!
I am such a sucker for lens flare but I really try hard not to overdo it!
October 2011 marked the one year anniversary of me earnestly working towards my Master Of Photography degree through Professional Photographers of America (PPA). To earn said degree you have to earn twenty-five merits, thirteen of which MUST be print merits and twelve CAN be service/education merits. It arduous, it's expensive, and it's awesome! I attended this Super Monday workshop sponsored by PPA in order to earn an education merit. It was taught by the amazingly talented Miyo Strong of Busath Studio and Gardens and was titled Weddings that Wow. It was a lot of fun. We worked mainly on lighting and as I am trying to mesh supplementary lighting into my shooting style I found it very beneficial.
Come to find out that our lovely female model is from Eden, it's a small world!
I like to take behind the scenes shots...the mob of photographers makes me giggle. I used this in a montage with one of the couple for my My World shot from that day.
This bride was renewing her vows and she had the COOLEST accessories and tattoos. I'm not showing all the details to save space but they were to die for. Awesome jewelry, awesome hairpiece, awesome dress! I love when people have a strong personal style. Know who you are and LOVE it people!!
So one year down and I have five education/service merits and two print merits. Not bad for a first year....eighteen to go!!
My poor siblings! It has to be annoying sometimes to have a photographer for a sister who is always bugging you about pictures. Luckily this time my sister-in-law Becca got the ball rolling so I feel a lot less naggy. ;) This is my sister Katie and her family, I think this (the photo above) is my favorite of their family that we took that day. I called her when Becca asked me about doing their family because I figured I could do two birds with one stone, so to speak. We had fun! I just wish my other two siblings were around. My sister Leah lives in the land down under but hopefully we will get her and her family here this summer. Photo-op!
The point of this location really is to get the colorful graffiti but I'm a sucker for black and white and I still like the patterns that the paint creates.
My nieces are too, too cute! Riley's magic word was gummies. To see her face here you wouldn't know how un-thrilled with taking pictures she was but say the word gummies and she was all smiles.
So cute!
Awwww, you two are the best!
I love this photo, looking at my nephew Davis (the little guy in the middle) makes me crack up every time. He is a character and then some, what a personality!
I had fun playing with this image in photoshop. Sometimes I just take a picture and run with it. I was playing with color and then I thought, "Hey, why not pop the color in the flower" then "I'll make the skirt match" then "What about her eyes". It's fun to do that sometimes.
Mason is such a sweetie!
This is my favorite of course, I love goofy pics. I think Davis was getting tired and done so we did a sill pic to help get a little more time out of him. I do that a lot when shooting families, it works most all of the time. If I can get the kids to feel like they have a part in what is going on they are more interested in the process and cooperate better.
....aaaaaaand scene! Well, at least until next year...ummm time. ;)
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!
Here is our pre-race safety seminar. You can see how people have some really fun costumes. I was a little bummed that we didn't have fun costumes but being the wife and a first timer I hadn't wanted to push. My delightful van mate Nichole Hardy had felt the same so we are in cahoots for fun outfits for next time. The costumes, team names, decorating of the vehicles really creates a fun festival environment. The energy was simply intoxicating, I was loving every minute of it!
It was so fun to run the race with my husband Todd. I am a musical theatre and photography person, he is a brilliant CEO type, so as far as hobbies go we don't have many that we do together, I loved the chance to share this with him. We had an absolute blast!
This is Jason Hardy, well the back of his head anyway. He definitely had the coolest Ragnar symbol use. People asked to take pictures of his head the entire time.
Isn't this the most beautiful starting locale? We are at Lake Mead, early in the morning (9:30 am start) and it was breathtaking!
Christel was our leg one. She is a delightful person, I am so grateful for the chance to get to know her. I would run with my Van again without hesitating. Incredible, fun, awesome people!!
Pausing to give Christel van support and to paint Todd's hair orange. At our safety meeting we learned that the night before Ragnar officials had been informed that there was to be no support on the first eleven exchanges, so while we could pull over we weren't allowed to cross the street. We spent a lot of time hurling water bottles at each other across the road...lol, good times!
Todd very frequently (he says I shouldn't use absolutes like ALWAYS, lol) gets injured when we go on trips of any sort, and it FREQUENTLY occurs at the beginning of said trip and he is hobbling for the remainder so I wasn't surprised when he bashed his knee and was actually relieved that 1. He had gotten it over with so now we were good and 2. It wasn't so bad so now that he had gotten it over with...we were good. Ironically after the entire race was over he realized he had twisted his ankle so he's been hobbling a bit since then (I think he just wants sympathy, shhhh, don't tell him I said that).
This was at the exchange after leg 25. Those who were there will recognize leg 25 as the brutal running through a dry rocky riverbed for six miles in the dark with no van support at all leg. Poor Christel! Everyone who came through the shoot looked like they had been through the ringer. Anyway, I knew my friend Todd was running Ragnar but I hadn't found him. Then suddenly I found him out in the freezing cold at about 4:30 am. I had to get a picture.
It felt wonderful to check off my legs. It was difficult but not nearly as hard as I thought it would be. I do wish that I had pushed myself harder on my last leg. I wanted so badly to run the WHOLE thing that I was trying to reserve energy. Next time I'll do what I did my second leg. Just tell myself to not hols anything back because I can walk if I have too. Sidenote...I did end up running the WHOLE DARN THING. Yay!!!
Here's my team finishing. I'm crouched on the ground yelling "Just go around me, I want this shot."
View from behind as my team finishes. I don't know what our official time was but it was somewhere around 31 hours. There's a great festive party at the end. I love a spectacle!
Team portrait!
and the toast!
