A few weeks ago my friend and fellow photographer Hans Hansen and I took a small journey to the El Mirage. We started the day off with the plans to head out early and shoot some photos of the charred land around the Station Fire, but when we tried to access the area they were all closed and guarded by police. So, after that we headed to El Mirage to see what we could find. El Mirage is a dried up lake bed that is pretty much completely flat and smooth. A lot a car time trials are held there. Anyway it was a pretty slow day there so I ended up not even taking the camera out of the bag, but on our way out Hans noticed a giant Joshua Tree and wanted to stop to take some photos. Here’s some photos I found along the way.
My first assignment for the Los Angeles Times was a portrait of Native American basket weavers June Pardue and Carol Emarth-Douglas at the Autry National Center in Los Angeles at The Art of Native American Basketry exhibit. I was a little nervous and I forgot to bring a soft box and an umbrella so they turned out a little shinny, but all in all I really like the photos and the Times editor did too.
Last week I covered my first NBA game in almost two years for the Associated Press. The Los Angeles Clippers hosted the Oklahoma City Thunder. It wasn’t the greatest basketball I’ve ever photographed and the Clippers continued to struggle. I did however learn a lot from the AP staffer that was shooting the game with me. He taught me a great deal on how to be fast while filing and what photos to think about filing first. He also introduced me to code replacement for writing captions. That might be one of the greatest inventions on earth. Thanks for all the help Chris. Here are a few of my favorites from the game, nothing spectacular just a pretty standard game.
Last Friday I covered my first high school football game since being laid-off from the Greeley Tribune for the Los Angeles Times in Westlake Village. The game was Westlake vs. Moorpark and both teams were 9-0 and the winner would decide the Marmonte League champion. Both teams were talented, Westlake was more of a passing team while Moorpark kept it on the ground most of the game. In the end Westlake’s passing game and defense was too much for Moorpark with a final score of 38-14. I wish I would have had more time to shoot some features, but with my deadline I missed the last two minutes of the game and the on field celebration. Shooting this game makes me remember how much I like shooting high school sports though. The athlete’s really care and are so passionate about the game.
Some friends of mine took a little camping trip to the Salton Sea this week. We hit a lot of places in couple of days including the Salton Sea, Salton City, Bombay Beach, Salvation Mountain, Slab City, Mud Pots, and then on our way home we went to Joshua Tree. It was a long hot fun two days. Here are a few of my favorites.
This use to be an Ace Hardware.
Salvation Mountain
Leonard Knight works on his master piece. He said he is just doing God’s work.
Just some new shots from this weeks random activities in LA and Long Beach of some friends.
Juno rests after playing with Axel all day.
Juno wakes Preston up after a long night of drinking.
JD kicks after the bars.
Beckye prepares herself to get some ink done by tattoo artist Amanda Smith during a BBQ.
Preston doing some work on the laptop.
Tim attacking Preston as his hands are tied up in a dark bag while he was loading some 4×5 holders.
Preston inspecting for dust.
Photographer Tim Sutton
Yesterday two of my good friends, Preston Utley and Hans Hansen, and I took a trip to the Getty Center in Los Angeles. We are headed to the Salton Sea for a day on Monday so please check back for the photos.
A couple waits for the tram to pick them up.
Hans rides the tram to the Getty Center from the parking structure.
A couple waits to get off the tram.
Preston and Hans walk up the stairs after looking at the photography room.
Self Portrait
Yawn and stretch.
Architecture through a screen.
Preston found something interesting to photograph.
Tram stop
So I’m finally getting around to updating since I shot the Teva Mountain Games last week in Vail. It was a really great time shooting again with my good friends and great photographers Shane Macomber and Preston Utley. We were the three lucky photographers that got to shoot for the Vail Valley Foundation. I would just like to say that the VVF put on a great event and it ran the smoothest it ever has. Thank you John and Shelley, from the Foundation, for all your hard work.
Day 1: Homestake Creek Race
Random Dogs:
Day 2: Bouldering World Cup Championship, Kayak Freestyle Qualifier, and the Mountain Games Ball
Day 3: Vail Pass Half Marathon, Kayak Freestyle Finals
Day 4: Fly Fishing Tournament, and Mountain Bike Slopestyle
Today I covered the the practice run of the Steep Creek Championship’s before the tomorrow’s start of the Teva Mountain Games. It has been at least four years since I have covered this event and the creek race is one of my favorite’s. I’ll be posting all week with updates on the event so please stop back.
The Jackson family looks over the course.
The Creek
The other night I photographed one of the funniest self assignment’s I have ever done. I was blessed with the opportunity to photograph midgets beating the ever living S&*t out of each other at 3 Kings Tavern in Denver, CO. I would like to thank the Micro Wrestling Federation for allowing me such great access to their athletes and thanks to Jim and Jeff, two of the owners of 3 Kings, for letting me bring my camera’s to the bar . It was a great show to say the least, but it was a really challenging lighting situation. It was hard to capture the midgets flying through air because of how dark the ring was. It was basically lit with two big shop lights from Home Depot. I tried some pan photos, but none of them really worked out. Overall I think I got a good story out of the night. Hope you enjoy the photos. Check my website for the full story in a few days and thanks for looking.
