Diversifying the Portfolio (Again)

Yesterday morning I covered the second annual 4.01K run in downtown Salt Lake. According to the Facebook page, the purpose of the event is to network, build synergy, and to run through Salt Lake City in a suit.

The event starts at the top of Capitol Hill and makes its way down State Street to the Gallivan Center, where the route takes a hard turn to the west. Just past the Farmer's Market, the runners turn north and make their way to the finish at the Gateway fountain.

People running in suits + adults playing in fountains + confused onlookers = good photo op.

Hot Murray Nights

Last Wednesday night I had the chance to spend some time in Murray, shooting a trio of acts down at the Murray Theater.  The lighting was brutal (shooting a 40D at 1600 ISO for concerts is tough enough in well-lit concerts) but I still managed to pick up a few decent shots whenever someone on stage was kind enough to step into a spotlight for me.  Here is a sampler of an evening full of people singing with their eyes closed:

The first act of the night was The Vibrant Sound, a locally-based band that has roots in places like Los Angeles and Hawaii:

The second act of the evening was Champagne Champagne, a hip-hop trio from Seattle, Washington.

The final act of the night was The Flobots from Denver, Colorado:

There was a fourth band scheduled to play, but they had van problems on the road. Such is life when you're on tour, I guess.

Hey Jude

Last week my buddy Randy's brother-in-law was in town with his band for a special charity gig at The State Room in Salt Lake City.  The event was a fundraiser for St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital.  I dropped by with my camera in tow and snagged some shots of Heather's Headache in action, as well as their sweet Marvin Gaye-covering opening act, The Vibrant Sound.

Observe...

Rocking the GC

Last fall I had a great time "covering" the scene in downtown Salt Lake City before General Conference, so last weekend, in spite of the threat of snow, I dragged myself out of bed early on a Saturday morning for a repeat performance.  The sheer numbers of people make the place a photojournalistic gold mine, but the fact that every corner is stocked with street preachers makes it infinitely better.

Here are a few of my favorite shots from Saturday morning:

The Laugh

About a week ago my sister and I took a quick trip to the Gilgal Sculpture Garden, just off 7th East and 500 South in Salt Lake City.  After taking a few shots of the bizarro assortment of LDS doctrine-meets-eccentric-sculptor artifacts, I talked my sister into posing for a few test portraits.  I wanted to see if I could get anything out of my camera's 6 shot-per-second advertised frame rate, so I told her to head-bang a bit.

The shot above is the result.

I was really happy with the sharpness and the energy that comes from her hair flying all over the place, but what I like best about this picture is how perfectly it captures her personality.  Anyone who knows my sister knows she comes with a striking, happy laugh, and in my opinion, this portrait captures that energy perfectly.

A Galaxie Far, Far Away

This vacant building might be familiar to longtime (or not so longtime) residents of Bountiful.  It's planted halfway between Burger King and Barnes and Noble just off the 500 South exit.

For about ten years starting in the mid 1990's, this place was home to the Galaxie Diner, a 1950's throwback restaurant pimped out in chrome and vinyl.  From the summer of 1994 to the fall of 1995, I must have eaten there more than fifty times.

I wasn't in love with the food or anything, though they had some great fries and a jukebox with an assortment of proper 1950's-60's tunes.  Galaxie was a popular destination because it was one of the only places around town that stayed open past 10PM on the weekends that wasn't called Denny's, Village Inn or Dee's.

By the time I got back from my mission, the place had lost most of its luster.  When it first opened, the Galaxie Diner employees would jump up on counters and tables to dance whenever someone put "Greased Lightning" on the jukebox, but by the dawn of the new millennium, a lot of the enthusiasm had waned.  Eventually the place shut down, was reborn briefly as an obligatory Chinese Buffet, then landed in its current state.


The End.

The Rib Master

My roommate John is a computer guy.  He writes software for the military, networks all our TV's to his PC, and fills our house with little robots that do our housework.  And yet his most popular skill is cooking.  On a number of occasions since I moved in last summer, John has prepared vast racks of pork for fortunate gatherings of our friends.

Last weekend John prepared yet another bounty of ribs for our house Super Bowl party, and as he did his work late Saturday night, I pulled out my camera in an attempt to immortalize his signature work: