Steam Train in 3D, composite

A steam train engine, modeled and rendered in Maya. Original render composited in Photoshop.

Compare this image to the real thing from the Teton Valley, in Idaho.

Study in Black and White, Somewhere in Idaho

A well photographed building in northeast Idaho. At one time probably a school house, now just a temptation for folks intent on disregarding the posted No Trespassing sign. Also, it is probably haunted.

Tilt-Shift Park City Downtown Panorama

A detail from a massive tilt-shift panorama of downtown Park City. The photo was taken in 2007 as part of a collection of aerial photography over Salt Lake City, the Wasatch mountains, and Park City. It works well for tilt-shift photography (created in Photoshop, as I have no tilt-shift lens). In tilt-shift photography, depth of field is kept in a very shallow slice through the scene. Additionally, the lens (and plane of focus) can be tilted away from parallel with the film plane. This effectively creates the illusion of miniature photography, as your brain has no real-life correlation with such distortion of depth of field over a large expanse (such as a city) but accepts it fully at the smaller scale. Real (non-photoshop) tilt-shift images also have additional shifts in perspective from tilting the lens away from the film plane, and is often used to shoot tall parallel things, like buildings, from the ground and still maintain the sense of the parallel. Below is the full image, zoom in and explore. Or download the image as jpeg here (2.85 MB).

Fall Panorama Roundup

Fall is panorama time - ok, well, everyday is panorama day - so here are a couple recent big images. The top two are from a recent venture into the McCain/Palin stronghold of southeastern Idaho (on the opening day of deer hunting season, no less). Pictured is Bear Lake, complete with its abnormally blue-green waters, and a (190 megapixel) early morning outside the forest service cabin in Idaho where we stayed.




And just for old time sakes, a panorama at sunset overlooking Flaming Gorge in Utah, taken almost exactly one year ago at th

Men Sawing Lumber

Abstract Photo #5

One in a series that I put together a long time ago, when I did more film and darklab work.  Anymore, such an image would be produced entirely in Photoshop.  Even design work that ought be created at least from "real" elements are more quickly and efficiently made from scratch.  Is this a good thing?  Probably.  I'm no purist.  Here the trick is figuring out how I accomplished the image entirely analogue.     

Completion of the Teton Valley Railroad - 1913

By 1913, the Union Pacific railroad had completed a line from Aston, Idaho to Victor, five years after offering the first "Yellowstone Special" on June 11. 1908. The rail dead-ended in Victor, and steam trains were turned around there on a wye (a triangle shaped junction that allowed a trail to back up and turn around.) Passengers heading to Jackson, Wyoming then took a carriage, or later, a bus, over the Teton pass, which by then was still a difficult, though not impossible, journey. The photo above shows the inaugural train - UP #684 - with a second engine and at least 6 passenger cars, probably somewhere between Driggs and Victor. The photo below, given the position of the boxcar with people standing on it in both photos, is probably taken on the top of a car on the track, either before or after the first train rolled through. The population shown in the photo below most likely represents the sum total of residents in the Driggs/Victor corridor.
More information about the UP Victor line (circa 1965) here.

Young Hunter with Dogs and Coyote

Hopefully more photos like this will follow.  I inherited/took over management of 2500-3000 negative, prints, and positives depicting life in the Teton Valley of Idaho.  Most of the photos focus on Driggs and Victor, Idaho during the turn of the 20th century through the 1950's, although some of the photos are taken from around Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and up towards the Yellowstone National Park area.  Some are identified, many are routine family portraits, but most show a lifestyle (hunting, trains, Native Americans, farming, cowboys) that is quickly disappearing.

This photo shows a young man, in pseudo-Boy Scout garb, just back from hunting with his hounds and one lucky sheep dog.  He has bagged a coyote or a wolf, and the boy strikes a majestic pose, assured in the knowledge that he has help reduce the Teton Valley's biodiversity.