Website and Blog Redesign…

Please be patient with me over the next week or two as the website and blog get an overhaul. Until then you can visit my flickr site, http://www.flickr.com/photos/colbybrown/ to check out all my latest photography work.

Busy Busy Week….

I just wanted to let everyone know that I will be posting my photography work from Utah as soon as I can. I leave for San Francisco on Thursday and I have a photography presentation in Evergreen, CO on Wednesday night so check back on the site next week for some updates.

Arches National Park

I am heading out to Arches National Park in Utah this afternoon for a 4 day photography trip. Check back early next week to see my work…

New Business Cards!!

After a month of procrastinating, I have finally finished designing my new business cards. I have sent them off to the printer and should be back in hand within the week. I hope you enjoy them.

Old Business Card

New Card - FRONT & BACK

New Card -FRONT

New Card - BACK

Give Peace a TRI!!!

In the world we live in, it is easy to get wrapped up in the complexities of every day life. We get caught going through the motions as life seems to just pass us by. But every now and then we are given the opportunity of receiving a wake up call. That event ignites our passions and moves us to do something about it. For me, that movement was “Invisible Children“. Originally started by 3 college students in California, it has now grown into a full on movement that has answered a so called “call to arms” to spread the word about the fight for survival in Northern Uganda. I have been involved with IC for over 3 years now and look forward to doing what I can next year in Uganda. Take a second and watch this video and check out the website to learn more.

Snowshoeing through Rocky Mountain National Park

It is fitting that on the first full offical day as a Colorado resident (I finally applied for my CO drivers licence on the 18th) that I set off to explore Rocky Mountain National Park by snowshoe. My girlfriend, Sarah, my best friend, Jason, and I set out to see what we could find. After a few recent snow storms, RMNP (Rocky Mountain National Park) was covered in snow. The intital plan was to head for Bear Lake, however once we realized that the road leading out there was closed, we imeadiately went to plan B. At nearly 10,000 ft, Bierstadt Lake is one of the many high alltitude lakes throughout RMNP, however it is unique in the fact that the mountain range cutting through the park sits as a backdrop to the lake…creating some incredibly stunning scenery. Enjoy!

Photography Presentation in Evergreen, CO

I have been asked by the Evergreen Camera Club, (http://www.evergreencameraclub.com/) to give a presentation involving my career as a photographer on May 13, 2009.  I will talk about how I became a photographer, what it was like to work for National Geographic and what direction my work is taking me lately. If you are in the neighborhood or are interested in attending, send me an email and I will happily give you directions.

The beauty of Roxborough State Park

Yesterday, Sarah and I had the privilege to explore Roxborough State Park (http://parks.state.co.us/Parks/Roxborough/) which is just south of Denver. The 3,339 acre park hosts dramatic rock formations, plant and wildlife as well as great walking/hiking paths. Most people don’t even realize this gem is there as it is usually shadowed by its bigger brother, “The Garden of the Gods” down near Colorado Springs. If you ever have a chance to explore this amazing state park, be sure to check out the “South Rim Trail” as you won’t be disappointed. Enjoy!

A look back on the past…my first photography job…EVER!

Those that know me personally, know that I am a very reflective person. I enjoy looking back on the past in appreciation of the present moment. It is amazing to think about how many different experiences, moments, relationships, jobs or missed opportunities brought you to where you are today. It should then not be a surprise that I would look back on my first paid photography job ever.

So there I was, sweating in the middle of the small village of Kerewong, Thailand in February of ’07, wondering how I got here. As I ran back and forth, amongst the parade of villagers celebrating Melanie & Teo’s wedding, I laughed at the thought of how this whole thing came about. I had been teaching myself photography for nearly three months while living in Vancouver, BC when I decided on a whim that I had to explore South East Asia. Three days later I had bought myself a one way ticket to Bangkok, Thailand, fully aware that I had no idea what I was doing or how I was going to make things happen.

You see, I knew I was in love with traveling, with exploring the world. I loved to idea of experiencing contrasting ways of life to what I thought I knew. I had started traveling internationally at 17 when I went to Costa Rica for a habitat for humanity type of cause. At the time, I hated it. I was there in the middle of summer…building schools, tearing down houses and building irrigation lines. It was hot….ridiculously hot actually. I remember complaining alot as I sat in the shade, where it was 110 degrees rather then 120. But it was in retrospect that that trip truly opened my eyes to a world outside of my own walls. I enjoyed being out of my comfort zone. I loved the chaos of travel. The excitement is discovering new things. But it wasn’t until I graduated from college and was looking for a new path that I found my love of photography.

Trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life, I sold or gave away most of my things and moved to Vancouver, BC. It was in the woods around Point Roberts that I became fascinated with photography. I bought myself an Canon Rebel xti and picked up just about every book on photography I could find. Bryan Peterson’s “Understanding Exposure” is still the book I recommend to anyone looking to get into photography. After a few months of teaching myself the basics and shooting most of British Columbia, I decided that I needed to explore all that South East Asia had to offer.

So before I knew it, I was waiting to board the plane that was going to take me for an adventure of a life time. Little did I know that I was going to land my first photography job before the plane even landed in Thailand. As the plane took off, I was looking through one of my photography magazines when I started to make small talk with the woman next to me. Her name was Melanie and she was from Jackson Hole, Wyoming. I climber by nature, she had been visiting Ton Sai beach in Thailand, one of the premiere limestone climbing meccas in the world for years. However this past year she had fallen in love with a local Thai, Teo. They were getting married in his village in a month, but she had a problem. She had no photographer, as a friend had backed out at the last minute. It was sometime over the course of the next 15 hours that I managed to get my first paying photography job, to shoot a traditional Thai Buddhist wedding in a remote village in the South of Thailand. As they say…the rest is history.

It was an amazing experience that I will never forget. I want to thank Melanie and Teo for giving me the opportunity to show what I was capable of. My photography work has certainly progressed since that day in February of ’07, but who knows how life would of turned out if things did not work out the way they did. They now have a child together, Railey, who was born on September 2nd of 2008. They currently live in the Seattle area.

The Importance of an effective work flow…

A photographers work flow is one of the most important parts becoming a professional photographer. Some of the big names in the business actually hire people to manage their work flow so that they just spend their time out in the field. As nice as that would be, I am not there just yet…so I continue to perfect my work flow. By definition, even if it is my own definition, a photographers work flow is the journey by which an image travels from the second it is taken too the moment it is sold or in the very least presented in its final form. For my business, I utilize a hand full of programs including Adobe Lightroom 2.3, Photoshop CS4, Photomatix (for HDR work) and Noise Ninja to help cleam up very “noisy” images. My work flow starts in Lightroom and ends in Lightroom. It is a beautiful program that is excellent in its ability to organize an entire catelog and in how it works with other programs.

I will post a work flow blog soon, but for now, the point was that I found a handful of images from my trip to Wyoming with National Geographic last September that should have been included in my gallery. As my work flow continues to progress, situations like these will be less and less likely. Enjoy!