MY STORY

On January 20th 2010 I departed for my Colorado adventure. Final destination is Telluride, CO. My previous employer closed our Boston office on October 31, 2009 and this seemed to be the most opportune time to do something different. My inspirations are two things really. They are both movies. First is "Into the Wild", a movie about a person who leaves his life behind to pursue a life in the Alaskan wilderness and along the way he meets people that shape his life. The second movie is "The Bucket List", a movie about two terminally ill men who escape a cancer ward with a wish list of to-do's before they die. The #1 item on the wish list is "Witness something truly majestic". My adventures are not exactly similar to these movies, but underlying themes and life changing perspectives are. As far as the location, I thank my sister for that. She lived in the beautiful & remote town of Telluride for five years and met Paul there. Their 1997 wedding was in Telluride (Trout Lake). Telluride is nestled in the dramatic Rocky Mountains of Southwest Colorado.

BLOG 101

If you are new to blogs so am I. Here is an intro. The home page http://mycoloradoadventure.blogspot.com/ has all the posts (the write ups) in order and they work so that most recent is at top of the order. i.e. Day 1, my first post/write-up, is on the bottom page of all the posts/write-ups. On the left side of the blog site there is a "Blog Archive" section where you can navigate to pick and choose year, month and then specific daily posts/write-ups. I wanted to share this in the event you are new to blogs.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Day 35 & 36 - 2/23/10 & 2/24/10 - Work









“Pictures help you to form the mental mold” - Robert Collier





Today's blog/post are for day 35 (Tuesday February 23rd) and day 36 (Wednesday February 24th). For these days I can write to you in one blog/post. The reason is because I began work for Elevation Imaging (EI) and both days are similar. I will learn A LOT about photography. Here is your quiz for the day:

2 Questions - Do you know the name of the range in today's picture of the day? Do you know what this range is famous for? Look closely, think thirst and your hint will come momentarily.

EI brought me on as an on mountain photographer. In bullet point fashion, which I thoroughly enjoy writing in, here is a day in the life of a Telluride Ski Resort on mountain photographer:
  • Arrive at work at 8:15 am. Mountain lifts open at 9am.
  • Start checking out equipment for the day. All equipment is numbered to sign out with on the daily check out list. Equipment tangibles are camera, flash, flash power pack (for quicker flash recharge), memory chips, and all batteries and back up batteries for equipment. Oh, also a mallet, sunglasses (for customers) and sales cards. I'll explain those last three below.
  • EI has designated spots (5) for still family, couple, group and single shots. We also do action shots everyday in a designated spot. You spend morning in one spot, then as sunlight plays with the mountain, you move to a second spot.
  • The mallet is for putting together and pounding (PVC piping) the EI sign into the snow. This is the first thing you do when you get to your spot. People see the sign, you and either/or will begin their interest.
  • Depending on the weather (lighting, shadows, glare) the shots are pretty standard. If clear and good light they go in front of a huge mountain range. If snowy, they go in front of trees. If sunny, then the sunglasses come into play. We like to have goggles up for pictures and some people do not have sunglasses with them (especially the children). Sunlight reflects off snow...even more than water intensity wise. That equals....can you guess....squinting. Squinting is as good as selling no pictures. So the shades help. And people are generally receptive to wearing the ones we give them.
  • The EI sales cards are what you give your customer after the shoot. It has directions to our shop (located centrally in the action of Mountain Village), a reference name and date for them to locate their photos. We do this because EI holds onto these digital images for over 2 years. We like people to come in the day of the shoot (and buy) but they can come back next day or even a year later if they need to.
  • We shoot from approx 9:30am to 2:30pm. Then we head to the shop and sell from 3-6pm.
And there you have it. A day in the life of me. As I get into the role more I will tell you a few photo tricks that I learn. The good people of EI are here to support me...or pick on me as the new guy. Either way, I am good to go and looking forward to working with them. Here is your hint:

Hint - The above pictured range is famous for being on a beer bottle. This actually rolls the original 2 questions into a third question now! What's the brand of beer?

So my first two days at EI have been good. There is a lot to learn. One of the quickest things I did learn is the mountain itself and the surrounding mountain ranges that join Telluride in some of the best scenery in the country. Another thing is not only am I viewed as a photographer, but I'm also an ambassador of the mountain. I studied maps, trails, lift names and numbers and now I could probably work for guest services just as well. Here's your answer:

Answer - The mountain is named Wilson Peak and Wilson Peak is the model peak for the Coors Light beer bottle/can. Coors is located in Golden, CO and even the fine people at Coors agree that Wilson Peak is their Coors Light model peak.

And I took that picture above from my gondola ride into my second day of work. It's cool I get to see it everyday. I've learned a lot about pictures. Squinting does not sell. Neither do awkward poses or shots where people look "flat". A picture is flat and owner Bob says it is our job to bring out angles that give depth to the shot. Everything they tell me sinks in and it increases my interest in taking this photography thing to a higher level. Who would have ever thought it?

Good night from Telluride. Hope you all are doing well.



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