Our Christmas Card Shoot

Every year since we have been married we have tried to create

fun christmas cards for the holiday season. We usually do a fun shoot

on one of our travels and use a pic from that, but this last year we

didnt go anywhere too exotic... goblin valley is.... kinda exotic.... but no

christmas card shoot was attempted amidst the goblins. Since training

for and doing our two triathlons this year has been our main focus and

goal I suggested that we try to make our own Nike add for our shot.

Over the years Reece and I have

visited the Spiral Jetty and the surrounding area and

have loved (EVERY TIME) photographing the unique

and ethereal landscape. I thought the long beaches of shallow

water in the Salt Lake would be perfect for our shot so we packed

up our gear to make the drive to our favorite photography spot.

We were racing the sun as it trailed through the sky cause we

wanted that sunset in the background. When we got to the

location I forgot that in October (which is when we did the shoot)

the Salt Lake was low tide. So we started the rush of hauling

our gear across the now exposed lake bed which was basically a salt flat

to built our set at the waters edge. I was trying to shoot pictures while

doing the big haul as well as ever monitoring the position of the sun.

After unloading two loads, I yelled

at Reece to hurry with the last load as the sun was then

quickly setting. He sprinted, dropped the gear, changed on spot, I

set up the lights got in two test shots before we both started posing

for the camera that I was rapidly firing with my remote.

15 min later, it was dark.

Well we did the best we could and I couldnt wait to get the

images back so I could look at them on the big screen. We were

both pretty happy with what we were able to get under such

unpredictable circumstances and a completely experimental set up .

Thanks husband for being willing to get out

and "Just do it" for my random idea for a christmas card, and thank you

Utah for having such an amazingly diverse landscape that provides

endlessly beautiful backdrops.

oh and by the way, after splashing in the water we were both

caked in salt crystals by the end of the shoot. What a funny

feeling....only in salt lake. (maybe the dead sea too but thats

too far away).