Nakusp Road Trip

So the vote seems to be pretty clear so far - most of you want to read about my latest photography adventures, some interest lies in portrait ideas, and one lone soul is curious about equipment technology (I strongly suspect that vote being a fellow photography student). If you haven't voted yet, there's still 4 days before the poll closes, or you can always leave me a comment.

Well, today I've decided to regail you with my latest expedition - a day trip to Nakusp. All that was needed for this perfect day was my car, my camera, my tunes, and a good friend to yak with incessantly. We left from Salmon Arm early and headed over to Revelstoke, down south to the Galena Bay ferry, and further south to Nakusp. We stopped for a two-hour soak in the soothing waters of a hotspring, then relaxed some more at the Middle Earth Cafe (strawbale hippie place with incredible home-made soup). We carried on south to the Needles ferry and headed down the winding road to Vernon and back up to Salmon Arm. We stopped everywhere and took a ton of pictures...here are some of my favourites. I'd be happy to hear what you have to say - good and bad! There are a couple of stiched-together panoramas and an HDR at the end - enjoy :)

Welcome to My World...help me refine my vision

So here's what I'm thinking; blogs are cool. They let you say a lot, and I have a lot to say. I'm a digital photography student at the Centre for Arts and Technology in Kelowna. I'm almost half way through a 12 month program, semester finals are next week along with final project due dates. The motivation for starting such a silly venture at such an impractical moment is that I'm integrating it into one of my final projects. Genius! The project is a company branding package including; logo, tagline, business card, brochure, rack card, stationary set, apparel item, and...drum roll please...website! I used to design websites for a living, so the thought of having free reign over creative direction is very inspiring.

The company is Ivy Mills Photography, liberate your alter ego. I plan to do portraiture for those who wish to communicate something of themselves that is not immediately apparent. I hope to provide people with conversation pieces. The executive who moonlights as an amateur boxer could benefit from an 8X10 sitting on his desk; a professionally lit and captured portrait of himself delivering a knock-out blow. The bubbly constantly happy girl could be photographed with a chainsaw and a dead-serious look on her face; to show her aggressive side - that she's not all sunshine and lollipops. The idea is that people are far more complex than anyone gives them credit for. The depth of a person cannot be fully understood, but I intend to help people to let out their depth and quit conforming to the stereotypical version of themselves.

Where does the blog come in? I want content that is constantly changing on my homepage - a blog feed is the perfect fit. How many times would you visit a website that never changes? I know I'd be like, "wow that's pretty, but there's nothing for me to do here" and I'd be outtie. Sure I might tell a couple of friends, and they might do the same; but imagine if there was something really interesting to capture your attention on the homepage. Some tantalizing tidbit that you could click-through to read. What could that tidbit be? I would love to hear your opinion, and you could very well have a great deal of influence over the direction of this blog. I have a quick poll on the right sidebar with a couple ideas off-the-cuff. If you think of something not listed, please leave it as a comment. Thanks everyone out there!

Peace and love.