Here are a few of my shots from the cattle drive that was held in downtown Billings on Saturday afternoon. Over 70 corriente cattle were driven by area cowboys during the annual NILE Rodeo parade.
photojournalism
The Gazette’s Enjoy section and the Billings Symphony teamed up to put on a Country Idol contest. The contestants performed with the symphony on Sunday, and now people can vote on the videos to see who will get to perform an entire show with the Symphony next season. I shot the portraits and videos. If you’d like to vote you can do so HERE.
Earlier this week I was lucky enough to get assigned to shoot the re-dedication of the Indian Memorial at the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument. They installed the etched granite panels at the monument and it looks fantastic. There was a giant celebration to commemorate the event that also coincided with the 138th anniversary of the battle. You can read Sue Olp’s story about the ceremony here:Ceremony marks completion of Indian Memorial on anniversary of Little Bighorn Battle.
I went on another Big Sky Honor Flight this weekend. This time for the Gazette. It was a ton of work but worth it to see the World War II veterans having a great time. Here are a few of the photos. You can see the rest at the following galleries:
Day 2: http://bit.ly/1m4HWy3
Day 1: http://bit.ly/1rHvQ1j
I had a fun time yesterday shooting a video for a story about the Jeff Bridges and the Governor visiting the YMCA to raise awareness on hunger. You can read Rob Roger’s story here: http://bit.ly/1oL8FBQ
A couple of weeks ago I was camping in the middle of Yellowstone National Park for a story I am working on about Yellowstone Expeditions, a yurt camping company that operates in the park during the winter. When we went skiing in the park, I wasn’t even close to being able to keep up with the retired folks on the trip. I spent the entire day sucking wind, sweating profusely,eating snow to replenish the sweat, and basically struggling to keep up. Yellowstone Expeditions owner, Arden, had to take me on a massive short cut to make sure I was able to finish. By the end of the day, I was exhausted and a bit embarrassed by how bad I had let myself go.
At dinner, Arden told a story about one of his guests who was in his late seventies. Arden was worried that he wasn’t going to be able to handle the rough back country of Yellowstone. Arden asked the guest if he ever worked out.
“I watch two hours of TV a day, the nightly news and Xena Warrior Princess,” the guest said.
This answer did not allay Arden’s fears. Arden asked his guide to keep a very close eye on the guest.
The next day the guest asked if he could break trail. Breaking trail is the very difficult task of skiing first through the powder to create a packed trail in order to facilitate the skiers who follow. The guide leading the expedition reluctantly agreed figuring that he would let the old man break trail for a very short bit and take over once he became fatigued.
The elderly guest bolted through the snow setting a pace while breaking trail that was even hard for the guide to maintain while following on the trail. He broke trail all day that day and every day on his trip.
When Arden heard the news, he approached the guest and asked why he had said that he only watched TV when asked about exercise.
“Because that is how I exercise. I get on my treadmill and go as fast as I can while watching the news and then Xena.”
I tell you this poorly told tale – Arden tells it better than I write it – to explain the whys of my silly workout that I am starting today. I don’t get the nightly news at my house since I don’t get broadcast television, so I am going to ride my wife’s elliptical everyday while watching Xena Warrior Princess on Netflix. I plan on riding it everyday and pushing myself further everyday until I reach the end of the series. At that point, I hope to be able to make it through two 50 minute episodes without stopping and while maintaining a brisk pace. If I can’t manage that by the end of the series then I will start the series over until I can. I don’t imagine that I will like Xena, so I am using this as motivation to reach to my goal. Once I reach my goal, I will allow myself to watch whatever I want while on the elliptical.
I figure that if this workout is good enough to allow a man twice my age to break trail all day, every day for a week, then it should definitely be able to whip me into shape.
As of today, I weigh 219 pounds, the most I have ever weighed in my life. I hope to be 180 by the time I get through the series.
Today, I managed to make it through the first 25 minutes of the episode one. I hope I am not too sore to finish the episode tomorrow.
This week I shot two pretty amazing individuals. The first was Christian Parrish Takes The Gun aka Supaman. Hes a member of the Absalooke (Crow) Nation. He was invited to this years Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade to Fancy Dance on one of the floats. He is also a pretty talented rapper, so I am hoping to get him back in the studio to perform some of his music in the near future. In the video Christian gives describes the origins of Fancy Dance and then demonstrates his skills.
The second is another Wyoming country artist, Doug Balmain, who like fellow Wyoming artist Teka Brock shuns the pop country sounds of Nashville to create more heartfelt and personal music.
These were both shot with a Canon 5d MKIII and a Canon 70D. A GoPro Hero 2 was also used on Doug’s video.
Here is a music video of Christian aka Supaman shot by B.L.A.D.E.
I had a fun time today covering an event at ZooMontana. The zoo’s grizzly bear were given special treats hidden in pumpkins. The highlight was the bears trying to crack open a 760 lbs. pumpkin. Normally at the zoo, you have two fences or a thick sheet of Plexiglas separating the public from the bears which makes shooting them difficult.
The top dog at the zoo, Jeff Ewelt, let me get an angle that only the zookeepers are usually allowed view, which was a shot that allowed for only one fence looking back at the 400 people in attendance for the event. While shooting, Bruno, a 660 pound grizzly, dedided to come and sit in front of me, and pose for a few picture. I carefully slid my lens through the fence and snapped a few very closeups. Bruno was in the shade, so I was tempted to whip out a strobe so the background wouldn’t get as washed out, but thought better than to try something that might irritate a grizzly bear.
One of the Zoo’s volunteers, Ann Curan, was kind enough to send me the shot of shooting Bruno.
You can see all of the pictures and watch the video here: http://bit.ly/1aLMgAz
Today, a grass fire in Shepherd almost got out of control and nearly burnt down someone’s house. The mostly volunteer firefighters and few brave neighbors worked hard to prevent a complete disaster. Here are some of my pictures and a video from the scene. You can read Brett French’s story here: http://bit.ly/13Xuwuf.
I got the opportunity to shoot the Spiral Skies Bellydance troupe, a group of belly dancers who dabble in fire dancing. It was a fun shoot but I was short on time and would love to spend more time shooting them in the future, if they would let me. They are putting on a show here in Billings this weekend. You can view the whole gallery here: http://bit.ly/14RWTNK