This is why I do it!

Photographers have to use so many cliches to advertise and sell their services e.g. “timeless photos”, “picture-perfect memories”, “capturing the moment”, etc. I can say I at least tried to not use any cliches on my homepage or anywhere else on my site. Hopefully I’ve succeeded. Not just because I think cliches are cheesy, but because I think they often come across as insincere, and the last thing I want to do is betray how I really view photography. I see it as having the ability to kindle and rekindle, create and deepen relationships. So for families who get photos every year for Christmas cards, it becomes more than the card. It’s a tradition. Something they do and look forward to as a family. In a recent shoot, it was much more than just another photo session for the client. I’ll let her speak for herself. This is what she wrote in my google review…

“My extended family of 9 vacationed in Estes Park the last two weeks. My mom has advanced Vascular Dementia. My family has visited Estes Park many times over the last 32 years, and we wanted to make sure we captured this memory knowing it’s very well my mom’s last trip to our favorite place. I reached out to Tyson, and immediately I could tell he was the photographer I wanted to work with. He was prompt in response, kind, accommodating of my mom’s and family’s needs and his online gallery was simply breathtaking. His communication through the planning process was great and he chose an absolutely stunning location, while keeping my mom’s physical needs in mind. My entire family adored him and enjoyed our time together. He got our photos back to us in just a few days, and to say they are gorgeous would be an understatement. They are truly beyond what we hoped for and captured exactly what I had in mind. My immediately family is planning a Colorado ski trip in Christmas of ‘25, and we will most certainly be reaching out to Tyson to capture those memories as well! 10000% recommend reaching out to him!”

Married 59 years!

What are the odds? — 60 years and Aurora Borealis

I have always thought that to get good shots of the auroras I’d have to travel to Iceland (which I still want to do). Never did I think I’d be able to wrap up a family shoot in Ft. Collins, CO and then drive a little further north, just south of Laramie WY, to get front row seats.

First of all the family shoot was amazing. It was a 60th wedding anniversary celebration plus a college graduation celebration with a total of 14 people. Amazing people. So glad I got to meet them.

Once that was over, I grabbed a bite and just drove north away from city lights. Didn’t have much of a plan, other than to watch for public access dirt roads that would lead me away from the highway. Turns out, it’s not hard to find that scenario in Wyoming.

Here’s the initial setup I went with…

• Canon 20mm lens

• focused to infinity

• set to continuous shooting mode

• connected my shutter release with it locked

• shutter speed 30 seconds

• pointed camera at north star

This was a good first thought at least. As I bundled up and waited for some aurora action, I eventually started to see some very subtle hints of light pillars. When I first saw them I thought it could be Laramie lights that I just hadn’t noticed earlier. But the more I squinted and stared I began to realize that the pillars were too uniform to be city. So I swung my lens around in that direction. Apparently northern lights don’t necessarily show up due north.

Once I had the camera direction repositioned and balanced, I left the camera to run, snapping a new shot every 30 seconds, while I stayed warm in the truck. While sitting there in my truck researching northern light photography it dawned on me that the light movement at 30 seconds might be too washed out. Similar to photographing a stream of water. Really long exposures of moving water can be really nice, but it can also look completely milky and not show much of the stream’s current.

So, I hopped back out into the cold night and couldn’t believe what I saw. I had to tilt my head back to take it all in. The sky was aglow and mostly green, as far as I could tell with the naked eye. Here is a cell phone shot…

Amazing that my cell phone camera could see much more of the light spectrum than I could detect with the naked eye. I quickly changed the exposure to 10 seconds and re-framed now that I could see where the light show was actually happening.

Here is one of the frames I shot…

Not bad for not having a plan. Had I had a plan, I would have found a stream of water with some nice foliage to position in the foreground, with an epic snow-capped mountain peak illuminated by the moon’s light. Then, I would have done some subtle light painting in the foreground to make it all extra impressive. But, I saw the northern lights. I SAW THE NORTHERN LIGHTS. How cool is that? And how cool is it that I was able to capture them at all? Very, very cool. I’d compare seeing the northern lights in person to going to Machu Picchu for the first time. You’ve heard a lot about it. You know people like it. But you’re still somehow floored by what you’re seeing.

Here is a full sequence of about 50 photos stitched together (with original music/audio by yours truly).

And now for the bow to tie this all together… Photographing the couple that was celebrating their 60th anniversary had a lot of similarities to the aurora borealis:

• When you see a couple who’s been together for 60 years, you know it’s neat, but you can’t see the full story (light spectrum). It’s probably vastly better than you can imagine. For sure, there were ups and downs, but the overall trajectory was clearly UP… you’d have to tilt your head back to see it.

• When you spend time with them (photo shoot), you get to see a little more of the color of the marriage in the way they look at each other, smile, laugh, and are completely comfortable with each other. Their facial expressions dance and weave with each other’s like northern light pillars.

• The heavenly light show is produced by something beyond our ability to conjure up on demand. Building something beautiful (a 60-year-old marriage) doesn’t happen immediately.

So, what are the odds? What are the odds of lining up a family shoot that turned out to be so special, and then to also witness something else incredibly special all in the same evening?

… and then I had my first Buc-ee’s experience on the way home, which was also special in its own “What in the world is even happening right now?” kind of way.

Until next time!

Seasons End

4,488 miles driven

22 days on mountain

140 lift rides

174,780 vertical feet (logged)

Not my biggest season, but big enough. Snowboarding has become a bit more than just a fun hobby that I enjoy. It is that, but it’s also more of a soul-feeding way to disconnect from work and distraction and connect friends, myself through mountain top meditation, with God and with nature. If I’m being honest, the doses of adrenaline probably play a role too in why I keep going back. I’m not typically “thrill seeking” in the sense of pushing the envelope further and further until disaster strikes. I tend to respect the limits. (Not a great time to mention my max speed on a snowboard… 58mph). Nonetheless, adrenaline and dopamine combine when you’re turning over smooth groomers or fresh powder. I always watch for the rollers and side hits to add some spice to the glide. A quick ollie to pop off a couple feet into the air over these features and for a moment I don’t fee like I’m 42 with sore knees. At age 18… sure, push the limits. Launch of massive kickers and see how high and far you can go while pulling off a sick mute grab. If you don’t land it… you get a broken shoulder, wear a sling for 6 weeks, get our of some schoolwork, and you’re back before you know it. At age 42… the recovery isn’t fun.

Before the season wrapped up, I had hoped to make it up to Breckenridge for pond skimming day. I made sure to squeeze in there with my camera to get some shots of the #yolo crowd skimming across freezing cold, slushy water. Not many make it across. A few do. Glad I was able to capture a few glory shots!

Here’s to riding out another season and hoping for many more.