Speed Skating at the Oval

Yesterday I was able to go to the 2009 US Long Track Speed Skating Championships and OlympicTeam Trials at the Utah Olympic Oval. This event runs from December 26-30, 2009. I hope that I can go back and get some more photographs! All in all it is a fun time to learn more about the sport and try to take better pictures every time!

Christmas Morning

Oh what a beautiful morning!

I woke up early in the morning and the first thing I needed to do is of course start the coffee maker and then take a look outside... Look at what I saw!

This was the first picture I took that morning.

This was a bit later that morning!

Frosty Day

So I woke up this morning and found it had frosted over the ground, trees, and other things! Has anyone ever seen it do something like this? And for those who do not know I do live in Utah and I am used to seeing snow... I just have never seen it act this way!

Those blue blurry things middle of the frame is the Wasatch Mountain Range.

I love how you can see the lens flair just below my name!

Essent ISU World Cup at Utah's Olympic Oval

So on the 11,12,13 Utah's Olympic Oval hosted the Essent ISU World Cup Speed Skating Event! I went and captured these images on the 11th. I had a lot of fun doing so!

Shani Davis

Shani Davis

Shani Davis

Shani Davis broke a world record by eight-tenths of a second on the 1,500 at this event.

Chase Jarvis said, "The dirtiest secret in photography is that you have to take a lot of pictures. There are at least 10 amazing pictures wherever you are right now..."

So I looked up from my desk and saw this...

Tis the season...

My wife has a family tradition every Christmas morning to wake up to the smell of maple rolls... for those of you that have not had the pleasure of such delightful treats, just think of yummy goodness that melts in your mouth. You try so hard to savor every last morsel but before you know it the small piece you said you would have has now multiplied by at least three times... my mouth is now watering just describing this feast of a roll...

Now can you start to imagine what I am talking about? I sure hope so... anyway my wife made these master pieces and well, she is taking them into work tomorrow... this is so not fair... Right now my wife is reminding me that I have to be patient and wait till Christmas before I can dig into one of these bad boys... but that is so not fair smelling those smells that make any normal persons taste buds tingle. Anyways here are some photos I just took tonight!

My wife and I have been doing some reading of different books to help us make good choices in pursuing this new business one of the books that we where suggested to read was Good to Great, by Jim Collins.

A couple of quotes from Good to Great and the Social Sectors that stuck out to me are below.

• "Time and talent can often compensate for lack of money but money cannot ever compensate for lack of the right people"
  
• "True leadership only exists if people follow when they have freedom not to."
• "The moment you think of yourself as great, your slide to mediocrity will have already begun."
• "The more selective the process the more attractive a position becomes- even if volunteer or low pay."
• Are you "... willing to say no thanks to those things that are good, but do not line up with your goals."
• "Greatness is not a function of circumstance. Greatness is largely a matter of conscious choice and discipline."

Hedberg family shoot

When i was in California for my workshop I was able to spend some time with the cousins. I was able to take some photographs of there kids... I love what i was able to capture.

Check out some of my photographs from the workshop.

So I just got back from Los Angeles California, where I attended the Scott Robert Lim Workshop. At the workshop I learned so much about how to create compelling photographs and also a lot about myself. Scott is a great photographer and mentor for anyone who is in a similar situation. I am just starting my own photography business and felt like this workshop was exactly what I needed. At the workshop there were people in all different stages of their career paths as photographers. He strongly pushes people to be educated and always seeking something new. These principals can be applied to photography or to life. I heard from someone that we must always be learning and if we do not learn we start to die… Think about it…