The road less traveled

The road less traveled (at 5am anyway)

A magic moose moment

A she-moose at Schwabachers Landing

Seeing double

Two shots of Mount Moran, two different seasons

Early Morning

Just before sunrise

In order to get a sunrise picture at Schwabacher's Landing we had to wake up at 4:30 to drive almost 2 hours. I could complain but I slept in the truck while Matt drove; boyfriends, useful for some things. Of course the weekend we did this it was rainy and there was a lot of cloud cover. However I did get some interesting shots. I like the one above because you can still see the moon and the pink of the sunrise is just visible. Click for more!

Cody Nite Rodeo

A lasso and tie competetor

Kids playing cowboy and cow

Bucking bronco competetor

Having never been to any rodeo I was excited to go to the Cody Rodeo since it's a pretty famous one in the circuit. As usual I was thinking of all of the awesome pictures I'd be able to get and not about what I was actually going to see. Now I'm no extreme animal rights' activist by any means; I oppose vegetarianism because I love eating meat so much. However, the rodeo disturbed me. Maybe I'm not used to farmer/southern/cowboy culture but I didn't like it, especially during the contest when you lasso tie and bind a calf. But I did get some nice shots so I thought I'd share. 

Catch up

Finally updated my website! Check out photos from Utah and Yellowstone at larabrucker.com

Wildlife Watch

Bear sighting near Lamar Valley

You never know when you'll get caught in a jam, be it a bison, an elk, or something more exciting like a bear. By now it's more a nuisance than an excitement to pass a jam, considering most tourists stop to look at bison and female elk like they're not EVERYWHERE in the park. But sometimes you get lucky, like this shot.

Mammoth Hot Springs

The boardwalk around Canary Spring

Lower terraces

On the road again

The Grand Tetons

Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

On Saturday, May 12, Matt and I headed out for Park City to pick up is truck on the way to Yellowstone. Of course the only night we went out in LA was the Friday before. But you only live once and we made it in one piece, c'est la vie. 

We left Sunday for Wyoming/Montana around 1pm, making it to Jackson by evening. We camped that night in Antelope Flats, just outside of the Grand Teton National Park. I experienced my first bison jam, which was exciting and slightly terrifying (they're SO weird). Monday we drove through all of Yellowstone to make it to Mammoth, at the northern entrance of the park. I got my first glimpse of Yellowstone Lake, where I'll be spending my summer at Grant Village. All of it seemed a little surreal, had I really agreed to spend the next 5 months in the wilderness? Yellowstone seemed beautiful and strange, I really couldn't wait to explore.

And now that I'm semi-up to date I'll elaborate more on my time here so far in the next week. Until then!

La La Land

Artsy backstage shot from Mane Stage at Stagecoach 2012.

In between Park City and Yellowstone I spent about 3 weeks at home in LA. It was good to be back for a bit, I got to eat all of my favorite foods, have my mom dote on me, and play tourist with Matt. For the first week I was home the weather was not so typically sunny Los Angeles. But our luck turned around and I got some decent vitamin D while home. With Matt in town I had an excuse to leave the house and explore the city some. I am proud to say I have actually walked the Hollywood Walk of Fame now. We did so much I'm afraid he has no excuse to visit the city again as he's seen it all; hopefully I'm enough of a reason. 

Camp shots

View from our campsite at dusk

One of Caitlin's perfect fires

Calling all angels

The summit of Angels' Landing

View of Zion Canyon from the summit

If you know me, you know hiking is not my thing, especially climbing peaks. However, I was in Zion National Park, I was not not going to climb Angels' Landing. The 5 mile round-trip hike was the most strenuous thing I've done in recent memory. The last mile or so takes you across a sheer cliff with chain guides, with 1000 ft plus drop offs on either side. The view from the top was well worth the effort.

Oops...I did it again

Somewhere off of the Mirror Lake Byway

It's been a while. Oops, got caught up in life and forgot to write about it. It's about mid May now and I'm writing this from Los Angeles; I leave tomorrow for Yellowstone, but more on that later. 

The last month and a half of the ski season was brutal and wonderful all at the same time. Spring Break was pure madness, a different region of the country came each week (it made for some interesting new stereotypes). March actually started out promising with a big storm in the beginning of the month. Sadly, my last true powder day was during that first week. After the storm Park City decided it was summer and the weather turned hot. We did get some new snow but it would quickly melt and freeze with these end-of-days conditions. The slush was interesting to ski on and practically impossible to teach on. But hey, the kids are 6, what do they know?

The art of the fall

"If you want some cool falling pictures, shoot me coming down this"

These were from that first powder day at Deer Valley, thought I'd post something to keep up appearances. I have some more skiing shots to go through and edit, besides that though it's been work, work, Tuesday nights, work. 

Life's a chair

Empire Chairlift

Empire Chairlift

Thought I'd post some chairlift photos I had lying around. Just got off the 10 day Presidents' Day rush, gearing up for 3 weeks of Spring Breaks. Hopefully my third trip to the clinic will cure me of what seems to be a seasonal sickness. 

The Jumpoff: Chris

The photojournalist in me sort of took over the friend in me after this fall. Sorry about it Chris, but the ski tips in the powder make for a nice blooper.

The Jumpoff: Dace

Taken at Brighton a few days after one of our few big storms. That's Dace.

FIS Freestyle

The long way around

Somewhere on Route 191

A few hours of weeding and editing later and it looked like a good trip. It keeps boggling my mind that I live in Utah, I think it's the Mormon factor and the weird alcohol restriction laws. Because if you think about it, this state is pretty awesome with its (usually) world class skiing, beautiful national parks, and seemingly limitless activities to indulge in. Not too shabby.

Grand View Point

Grand View Point Overlook

Island in the Sky

Mesa Arch

Sunrise through Mesa Arch

Woke up in time for the sunrise at Mesa Arch. There were around 7 other photographers during the course of the morning. I always enjoy events like this where it's just a bunch of enthusiasts excited to get an awesome shot. Again, I was bumming for my wide angle, but I'm pretty happy with the above.

Green River Overlook

The desert cliffs became purple in the late sunset

The two day trip kind of became a blend of sunrises and sunsets. After taking what could be my editor's photo under Delicate (I haven't forgotten photo department), it was off to Canyonlands National Park to shoot the sunset at Green River Outlook. I am happy to say my trip to Canyonlands went a lot smoother than Aron Ralston's, I came away with both arms and legs intact.

Delicate Arch

Delicate Arch

Look familiar? It's featured in the design of one of the Utah license plates. Of course my wide angle lens was malfunctioning this trip, so I had to settle for 24mm as my widest. I still got some stuff I liked, but I think I have to go back with my lens now that it seems to be working again (go figure). Lounge-lizarding around Delicate was a great way to spend the afternoon (you really can't go wrong when you have Swedish fish and Fireball).

Partition Arch

View from Partition Arch

Even though it feels like forever ago since I posted, it really hasn't been too long. I guess I just haven't had time for words. But now I have a minute and I'll write some down.

Since Utah's 2012 winter season should be known as "the greatest sham on Earth" due to lack of snow, during my few days off last week I opted not to ski and to explore the state. I think I was on skis every day for a month. Don't get me wrong, it's awesome, but I needed a break. It was off to Arches National Park and Canyonlands National Park. I took a bazillion photos, which I'm still in the process of editing. But here's what I got from the almost sunrise shoot at Partition Arch. 

Nothin' but powda

Fresh tracks off of Buckeye

Woke up to a perfect powder bluebird day on Sunday after the storm. I had never skied anything like these conditions, it was awesome sinking waist-deep into soft Utah-famous powder. I probably looked a fool the whole day but I was having way too much fun to care. 

Let it snow

Kyle Sadelson

Kyle Sadelson

We had our first big storm last Saturday. I had planned to shoot Kyle, a fellow DV instructor, that day. The weather didn't damper our plans and I got these shots. It was definitely nerve wracking taking out my camera in the extreme snow conditions, but it performed!

Skiin' and Shootin'

View from the top of Supreme

Eric on top of Flagstaff Mountain

Me on top of Empire Mountain