October, 2007

Most neighborhoods around here participate in Trunk or Treats. It’s a nice way for the kids to get a lot of candy without a lot of effort. We met in the church parking lot at 5, I took the kids around to all of the cars while Susan handed candy out of our car. By the time we visited all of the cars Susan was out of candy and we headed home. It was a lot of fun and Jacob did a good job saying trick or treat. For the first time in a long time we enjoyed pleasant weather. Here are some photographs.

Kevin, Jacob, and Ethan in their Costumes in front of their Jack-O-Lanterns

Our Trunk at the Trunk or Treat

Trunk or Treating

The Goods

Happy Halloween Everybody. We carved pumpkins Monday night, the kids got to wear their costumes to school and daycare today, and at 5 o’clock we’re meeting in the church parking lot for a trunk or treat. What a day. I’ll post pictures of the kids, the costumes, and the haul from trick or treating later.

I spent a bit of time under a tree trying to photograph falling windmill seed pods. Here are the ones that sort of worked.

Falling Seed Pods, Rexburg, ID 2007

I took another photo walk this morning. I walked up through some older neighborhoods, through some newer neighborhoods, to campus, on main street, and back home. I had a good time and found some fun things. If nothing else, it is good practice for seeing color, compositions, light, and subject matter.

Huge Sale, October 2007

Elegance for Lease, October 2007

Halloween Dress, October 2007

Discarded Paint Swatches, October 2007

Lost Parakeet and Friend, October 2007

Kristi is having surgery tomorrow and won’t be able to eat very well for several days. In order to prepare for her liquid and bland diet Jon, Kristi, Susan and I decided to eat at one of the best places ever, Chiz’s in St. Anthony. I’ve only been there a couple of other times and I always get the same thing, but it’s really good. The Chicken Dinner comes with a salad, Texas Toast, a big plate of fries, and two big deep-fried chicken breasts. Susan, Kristi, and I all got the Chicken Dinner, Jon got the K.C. Steak, which also came with toast, salad, and fries. It also came with a big slab of butter on top. Susan and I only ate about half of our dinner. I was impressed that Jon and Kristi finished theirs.

After dinner we went home and watched “the office”. It was a pretty great night.

Chiz’s, St. Anthony, ID 2007

Jon and Kristi with the KC Steak

Chicken Dinner

I have two students doing an independent study class. The students basically define the class/projects and I advise/teach what they feel they would like/need to learn. The two students wanted to learn some 19th century photo processes and learn to use a view camera. One of the best ways to learn the view camera is to photograph architecture, particularly tall buildings. The only tall buildings we have in these parts are grain silos. So, we went out this afternoon and I helped them photograph a good silo I knew about in Moody. As they were struggling with the view camera I snapped a few photographs of them, the silos, and other stuff. Here they are:

Grain Silo, Moody, ID 2007

Under the Dark Cloth

Silo Detail, Moody, ID 2007

Train Detail, Moody, ID 2007

Discarded Refrigerator Detail, Moody, ID 2007

I used to walk to work and I used to walk around Rexburg and photograph some of the interesting, weird, beautiful, funny, and noteworthy discoveries I made. In fact I even published the book under the title of “Rexburg”. It was self-published and I only made two copies, so you may not have heard of it.

Anyway, my car is in the shop in Idaho Falls, so I was car-less today. On my way to and from work I decided to do some exploring. I remembered why I liked making these photographs and I also remembered why I stopped.

It is really fun to find and photograph these things and digital photography has made it so easy. It’s a totally different way for me to work, which is refreshing. However, I felt like a bit of a creep sneaking around on the fringes of people’s property. I would sneak in and take a quick photograph and hope nobody saw me, or if somebody did see me I hoped they didn’t know me. Anyway, it was fun/uncomfortable and I may have to rekindle these walks/explorations. Here are some of today’s discoveries.

Basketball under Lillies, October 2007

Plastic Bag with Brown Liquid, October 2007

Gate with Shadow, October 2007

Stump with Six Holes, October 2007

Fence with Reflected Light, October 2007

So, I love Grace, Idaho. There are beautiful mountains, the Bear River, potato cellars, and a lot of interesting irrigation/power structures associated with the river. Over the years I’ve made a few photographs of the region and really like the images. Recently, my friend Jon told me they were going to remove one of the dams that I photographed. You can read an article here I finally made it down over the weekend and made some photographs of the removed structures.

Anyway, I’m including before and after photographs, enjoy.

Cove Dam, on the Bear River near Grace, ID 2005

Former Site of Cove Dam, on the Bear River near Grace, ID 2007

Aqueduct below Cove Dam, near Grace, ID 2003

Former Site of Aqueduct below Cove Dam, near Grace, ID 2007

I’ve been out quite a bit trying to get a few more photographs of potato harvest. I’m not sure I’m completely satisfied with my efforts, but harvest is pretty much finished, so I’ll probably have to hit it a bit harder next year. What I am happy with are the interior photographs of the cellars. For most of the year they are usually closed, except for the ones in disrepair. It’s been nice to get some images of potato cellars with potatoes in them. Anyway, here are some recent efforts:

This weekend our Nephew Jared was baptized. We made the drive to Utah to be a part of the festivities. I had wanted to photograph some things in Grace, ID for a while now. Since Grace is sort of (barely) on the way to Salt Lake City. I talked Susan into riding down with her sister Tracie, who lives in Idaho Falls. Apparently it was a pretty stressful ride with Kevin and Ethan fighting the whole way down and then being stuck in traffic for an hour because of construction. I even felt a bit guilty after hearing of the events.

Anyway, I managed to photograph a few potato cellars, a few views of the Bear River, and some views of what used to be a dam and aqueduct. I shot those on 4×5 film, which I developed today. They look good, but I need to scan them before I can post them. It was fun to drive through Grace, Preston, Logan, Sardine Canyon, and Brigham City. I’m amazed/shocked at the growth of Cache Valley since we moved from there in 1996.

We had a fun time at Rose and Dave’s house in Syracuse, UT over the weekend. Jared’s baptism was nice, as was the birthday dinner for Susan’s Dad on Saturday night. Gary, Susan’s brother, managed to get half of the restaurant to sing happy birthday to Keith. It was pretty funny, I don’t think I’d ever seen Keith embarrassed before.

Sunday, feeling a little guilty for making Susan and Tracie ride with all of the children but still wanting to make some more photographs on the way home, I took Kevin with me. He wasn’t that excited about taking 7 hours to get home instead of the 3 hours it normally takes. He was actually in quite a mood and said something that was a little funny, but also hurt my feelings a bit. Susan said something like “hey, it will be fun, Dad’s one of the coolest dads there is”. Kevin’s response was “oh yeah, then why does he watch birds?”. I knew eventually my kids would figure out that I’m not that cool. I just thought it would take them a little longer to figure out.

Anyway, I didn’t find a lot to photograph on the way home until it was near sunset. I’ve been wanting to photograph a diversion dam that I discovered on the Snake River outside of Shelley for some time. I decided to stop and make a few photographs. Here are the results:

Diversion Dam on the Snake River, Shelley, ID 2007

Fishermen, Snake River, Shelley, ID 2007

Backwater at Snake River Diversion Dam, Shelley, ID 2007