I had plans to climb another mountain today, but the weather forecast called for thunderstorms over the Uintas, so since I decided that being the tallest thing on the top of a mountain with lightning in the area was probably not in my best interests, I slept in this morning instead.

Wouldn’t you know it, the weather today was all but perfect.  Yeah, there were some big puffy clouds about, but otherwise the sky was sunny and blue and the temperature right around 90.  Would have been good hiking weather, but I got too late of a start, and decided to go for a Sunday drive instead.

When my friend Sra moved far away forever, she sent me a selection of guide books she had in her collection detailing Utah.  Since she’s in Oregon now, she felt the Utah books would benefit me far more than her, so they since have come to be in my possession.  These books have been the best gift I’ve received from anyone in a long time.  Not only have they given me a few more target mountains to climb before the year is out, they’ve also brought several wonderful places to my attention that I may have not heard about otherwise.  They are treasured items to me now.

One such new discovery was a stretch of road called the Nebo Loop Scenic Byway.  It’s in the Uinta National Forest, down around the Payson area, and extending into Nephi.  It’s only about 45 minutes from my place, so I decided to check it out.  It’s a great 2 (or so) hour drive through some of the prettiest country in Utah, and it covers a pretty diverse landscape ranging from tree-covered mountains to incredible cliff vistas to red rock formations.  I definitely had a great time with this, and I can’t WAIT to go back soon when all of the leaves start changing to see this place in the Fall.  It will be a thousand times more beautiful then.

This is just one of the many such views to be had.  Looking almost due East over a valley.

Mooooove out of the way, cows.  Photography enthusiast and well-known hamburger eater coming through.

Yonder peak is called Mount Nebo.  It is the tallest mountain in the Wasatch front, and is on my short list of mountains to be climbed.  Probably not this year, but definitely by next.  It is quite daunting, and this picture does not do it justice in any way.  This will be the biggest challenge ever.

One of the coolest places in the loop is “Devil’s Kitchen.”  It’s a series of red rock formations set against a cliff that predates the Wasatch range itself.  Sort of a miniature Bryce canyon.  It’s a pretty stark contrast to everything else around it.

One more shot looking out from Devil’s Kitchen toward the base of Mount Nebo.  An amazingly deep valley (once again, photography simply doesn’t give it the proper scale), and a sight to behold.

As I said, I’m going back in a month or so when Fall is in and all the colors will make this place truly come alive.  Anyone wanna come with?

Well, here we are sweeping away the last few crumbs of 2008.  This has been a pretty routine year for me, because quite frankly, I haven’t accomplished much.  There were a few high points, only a couple of low points, and lots of middle ground.  Here’s a quick review of 2008’s greatest hits, sovknight style.

1.  In January, my continuous employment of ten long years came to a very abrupt end.  I was terminated over the matter of a broken DVD case worth approximately $4.  This, after a decade of faithful service, running multi-million dollar departments and traveling the entire country for a corporate entity who cares little for it’s employees.  In the end though, this was a good thing.

2.  In May, I turned 36 years old.  There’s this sort of unspoken thing with men that says by the time you’re 35, your life should pretty much be on the path it’s destined for, and your career and love life and kids and education should be things you worried about in the past.  By 35, you should have achieved.  Well, I’m behind the curve.  Not only is my life pretty much a complete waste up until this point, but I don’t really have any prospects for the future.  There’s obviously something wrong with me.  This one is in the "bad thing" category.

3.  After seeing a video of a parade I marched in over the summer, I couldn’t help but stare in enraged astonishment at the bloated, disgustingly fat blob of flesh that I had let myself become.  Photographic evidence further supported this realization, and after thinking back on the tight, well-muscled frame I fought so many years to acquire in my late teens, I couldn’t help but feel sickened by my apathy towards my appearance.  To that end, I decided enough was enough.  I adjusted my diet and took up hiking as much as twice a week, and over the course of three months, I lost 25 pounds and gained a lot more energy and vitality.  I will never allow myself to become fat again.  This one is a good thing.

4.  I climbed a mountain!  If you’d have asked me ten years ago if I would ever physically climb a mountain, I’d have told you that it’s "on my list", but wouldn’t realistically expect it to happen.  Well, this past year my friend Sra and I accomplished what a surprising few people do.  We stood on the summit of a mountain, like gods, (it was Mount Olympus, after all) looking down on all that is below.  I am especially proud of this achievement, and I will take it as one of the highest points (pun intended) of the year.  Good thing.

5.  As a result of my unemployment, I decided to actually take time away from work and focus on myself for the first time ever.  I took the entire year off, and I will say, without reservation, that for the FIRST TIME EVER IN MY ENTIRE LIFE, I get enough sleep.  This is no small thing, I am being sincere.  Getting enough sleep on a consistent basis is something that everyone takes for granted, and you seriously don’t know what you’re missing.  This is a good thing.

6.  I finally declared Atheism.  There are those who might think this is sad, but it is not.  I’ve been on the fence for about a decade concerning my stance on religion and God.  I’ve been on one side or the other my entire life and the revelation I received finally, is that only by opening your eyes and your mind will you ever be at peace with your faith.  God is a construct.  It’s a way for people to explain things they can’t understand, and mankind will never reach it’s full potential unless we finally give up on superstition and naiveté and see what is real and true.  If there is such a thing as fate, then let me say that my undefined purpose for moving to Utah was to finally come to grips with faith and religion, and it took moving here and seeing the differences and perversions in what should be constants for me to finally realize it.  It’s all imaginary.  This is my decision, and I have no doubts that it is the correct one.  This is a good thing.

7.  I lost a lot of money this year.  A LOT.  This is because of my decision not to work, and my failures at starting a home-based business.  I went from making roughly $50K per year down to making $0 per year, and my bank accounts suffered for it.  Even so, it’s still only money.  I can always get more.  Sometimes you have to get humble and climb down a few pegs before going back up.  Losing thousands of dollars is a bad thing, but gaining humility and perspective is a good thing.  This one is a wash.

8.  I discovered a passion for photography.  It also appears that I’m fairly good at it, and getting better.  One of the best things about my decision not to work is that I had plenty of free time to discover my passions, and photography was the big one.  It also helps to live where I live.  I like taking pictures, and more than that, I like seeing people’s reactions to my pictures.  This is definitely a good thing about this past year.

9.  Depression kicked my ass this year.  I’ve "suffered" from depression (I hate that term) since I was a teenager, and this past year has been especially difficult.  I’m thankful for some supportive friends that have helped a little, but depression is a personal issue, and despite what you may want to believe, there is no cure.  Not having an income, failing at business opportunities, and failing to see future prospects really wears on the soul.  I’m hoping next year can turn this around, but I’m not betting on it.  We’ll see.  Category:  Bad.

10.  It may seem anti-climatic to end with this one, but it’s a good one.  I found out something about myself this year.  I’m a writer.  Yes, that’s right.  I am damn good at writing.  Of course, there’s always room for improvement, but on the whole, writing, creating, imagining, articulating, and even things like spelling and grammar come incredibly easy to me.  And in truth, they always have.  I know this all sounds like a massive boast, but please forgive me this once.  I found something that I excel at and it makes me feel good.  It’s a single ray of sunshine breaking through the clouds of my psyche, and I intend to exploit it as best I can.  There are exciting things on the horizon in this matter.  I can hardly wait.

Another year down.  2008 was a curious one for me, and overall I can say it was a positive one.  There was good and bad, but there was balance, and that’s one more for the "good" side. 

See you next year.

Collecting fine art or photography can be expensive.  Buying a nice print at a fair or an art gallery can be a very pricey affair, costing several hundred or even thousands of dollars for a beautiful piece of art.  Still, having the satisfaction of seeing something lovely hanging on your wall or in your collection somewhere is worth it.  Art pacifies the soul.

My own photography isn’t quite to the thousands of dollars standard as of yet, but some of my prints are approaching the hundreds of dollars mark.  So I know what you’re thinking: “I can’t afford a print, and I like your pictures, but where can I get as many as thirty prints of your stuff for about a buck a piece, all in convenient book-size form?”  Well friends and faithful readers, wonder no more.

Just Beyond is my first photography book.  It contains sixty pages and thirty of my landscapes (32 if you count the cover and dedication page) and it’s available now in softback for sale through Blurb.com.  The price is $39.95 + shipping, but if you do a Google search for “Blurb promotional codes” you can find coupons for free shipping or even percentages off.  Not a bad deal I think.  I know these print on demand places are a tad on the pricey side, but I’ve done lots of research and careful preparation to assure you get a quality product for your money.  As far as profit is concerned, well… I only get about $5 per book sold, so it’s not really about the money for me.  I just want to get my name out there and see if people like my pictures.

So go on over and check out the little preview of the book.  See if you like it, leave a comment and tell your friends and coworkers about it.  Oh, and maybe you could purchase a copy or two so that I can feed my kids, pay my bills, support my coke habit, travel the world, buy expensive things, get my brand out there for the world to see, and maybe make a name for myself in the world of photography.

Thanks!

Oh, and don’t forget to check out my photo blog at worldsindigital.com for even more photolicious goodness!

A couple of months ago, I got an e-mail from a magazine editor asking permission to use one of my photographs in their publication.  I reported on that here, and the prospect was exciting to me.  It’s not an everyday occurrence that someone notices my stuff, and the fact that they offered to publish it and pay me for it was a delightful bonus.  I couldn’t have been happier.

Of course, like so many things in life, what sounds too good to be true always is.  The Fall edition of the magazine is out, complete with the article that the editor promised, but my picture is nowhere to be seen.  I suppose I should have gotten the clue when two e-mails that I sent were ignored.  You’d think I’d have learned my lesson by now about trusting people, but it appears I haven’t.  Maybe I never will.

There are things that burn me up about it though.  Set aside the fact that I wasn’t published or paid for a second.  That’s fine.  It’s business, and I’m sure they had a reason to stiff me.  Or maybe my e-mails are in a spam filter somewhere, or maybe they got a better deal with someone else.  I certainly hope they didn’t actually pay for the picture they ended up using, because it sucks ass.  Let me show you.

Here is the picture they offered to buy from me:

This is, of course, the Spiral Jetty in northern Utah.  Kinda cool, isn’t it?

Here’s the picture in the magazine:

Isn’t it wonderful, in all of its glory, complete with massive amounts of digital noise, false colors, and bad exposure?

I don’t know who took this picture, because there’s no photographer credit on it at all.  I assume it’s been colored all funky for “artistic interpretation” reasons, but that doesn’t make it a good shot.  I’m not saying my picture is the greatest thing ever, but I honestly believe it’s ten times better than what they went with.  I mean, seriously.  At least I went through the effort of removing any digital noise I found.  Artistic interpretation aside, at least my picture was clean.

So yeah, I’m kinda mad.  I was led to believe that my picture was good enough to be published, good enough to have an impact on someone, and good enough to represent the focus of the article.  In a sense, I was being praised.  That made me happy.  Turns out I was simply being duped.  Maybe in order to actually be published, I need to shit-ify all my pictures more. I don’t know.  I feel a little betrayed I guess.  After all, would it have really been so hard for the editor to shoot me a quick e-mail saying that they decided to go with someone else?  I guess it was just simpler to ignore me.

Whatever.  I don’t need the Wasatch Journal anyway.  I know my pictures are good, and they’re getting better as I learn more and gain experience.  It’s only a matter of time.  I’ll just chalk up another lesson in humility and move on.