My Happy Place | Montana Photographer
I’ve felt really overwhelmed lately. First and foremost, I lost a friend. So, yeah, I miss him. He and I’d last spoken only right before his passing — he’d called to chat about his Sundance experience. We’d actually planned for about six months last year to partner on several events, but after many, many, MANY hours of conversation and meetings with different venues & sponsors, we ultimately decided in November not to work together because we had differing objectives. No love lost; we just needed each to prioritize our own business goals. So, I was definitely curious to hear how his Sundance had unfolded, knowing how much time, effort, and ambition goes into what he pulled off (although, we’d seen each other several times during the festival, and I’d covered one of his events for Salt Lake magazine). It was a good conversation. We’d agreed to work together next year (which I believe would have been better timing for us) and, also, on a new restaurant he was opening. And I gushed to him with a huge smile on my face, ‘man… you’re living your dream — you’re DOING it — everything you ever set out to do! Who DOES that?!?!’ and then I added, ‘I mean this genuinely and not condescendingly: I’m so proud — crazy proud — of you.’ He never digested compliments or conversation about himself easily, so he said hesitantly, ‘yeah — thanks,’ and then told me he loved me before hanging up. Two days later, I was acutely aware that we’d never speak again, but I keep replaying that conversation. And I mourn. For him. And for what everyone else in the world mourns when you lose someone you knew: both the sadness related to that specific person and all the questions/issues that death in general brings to the forefront.
Sundance was also hard on me. Anyone that’s worked it will know what I’m talking about. It’s a 10 day festival, so that itself is A LOT but it’s also 10 days of events that take place 24 hours a day all over a 20 mile radius at 8000ft altitude in, at times, inclement weather. There’s nowhere to park in town, so parking outside of town and taking shuttle buses is the norm, and our gear is not easy to trek around and you have to plan super far in advance to make sure you get where you need to be on time (or early). I’ll run from a 9am film premiere and red carpet across town to a lounge where I’m fighting the crowds to get in & then stand around and feel stupid for an hour while scanning the room for famous faces (more than half I wouldn’t recognize anyway so I’m following tipsheets to figure out who I should capture) and then across town again to an editorial shoot at my studio which requires 2 hours of set up and over an hour of tear-down for 1 hour shoot and then across town again for a party where I might be meeting a writer or videographer that’s also covering the event with me and I have to be sure to get the proper signage, atmosphere, and personalities in my photos. I come home late at night to a million emails wondering where my photos are (promoters wanting to know if your coverage is live yet; clients waiting to send your images to the media; editors waiting on you to complete their galleries; colleagues hoping for freebies). Don’t get me wrong — it’s a damn thrilling adventure. But it’s just a lot to tackle.
On top of grief and post-Sundance reverie is my day-to-day business management. I’m currently: designing marketing materials for a Foundation (a billboard I designed last month went up around Salt Lake City today!); arranging 2014 wedding client contracts & meetings; completing work for two editorials that will be published sometime this month in different magazines; editing two headshots shoots & one portrait shoot for clients; maintaining my blog; doing taxes & accounting (UGH); and cultivating new work for myself.
Anyway, that’s a taste of Me right now. I love what I do and am so excited about my projects & the way this year is already unfolding. But I get worn down sometimes, and when I do, my solution is thinking about My Happy Place: Montana. I first visited Montana when I was 15 on a Wilderness Ventures trip, and I returned in 2010 after googling “where was The Horse Whisperer filmed” (yes, this is how I determine where I want to travel). Since then, Montana has become synonymous with peace, relaxation, time-out, and a solace that I know I need. So, right now!, I need me a little Montana (and Grand Tetons, which snuck into my edit too). Below constitutes our last visit, and my attempt at being a Montana photographer! 🙂
