Once again I had the opportunity to photograph Alpine Theatre Project's summer Broadway camp. Each year ATP brings in more than ten current and former Broadway performers to work with dozens of middle and high school-aged children from around the Flathead Valley. They work together during an intensive two-plus weeks crafting a show featuring Broadway hits from past and present.
Nothing is more exciting, and a little anxiety-inducing, than when you're hired by another photographer for a job. But it's ultimately always a blast. My colleague Jennifer Vernarsky's husband was turning the big 4-O and was holding a surprise party for him at a Kalispell vacation rental. It was so much fun arriving early to capture some of the custom decorations she'd ordered from Etsy, and getting to hang out with her in-laws while we waited for them to arrive for the big surprise. Of course, I had a piece of the delicious cake from the Crumb Cake Bakery.
The good news, the surprise was a success, and everything went off without a hitch in the plans.
After a one-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I was fortunate to return to Austin to cover the 2021 Formula 1 Aramco United States Grand Prix for my friends at Texas Highways magazine. With a number of health and safety restrictions in place, it was somewhat of a different beast covering the race this year versus the prior five F1 races I've covered in Austin but it provided for some forced creativity throughout the proceedings.
I've addressed this before—this being why someone who often photographs families and weddings would photograph motorsports—and some of it is practicing a genre of photography that is outside my norm, which in the simplest terms helps me fight any burnout I might experience. Variety is the spice of life after all. Secondly, there is value in photographing an event where I have absolutely no control over how things proceed, can't stage anything, and can't get a do-over. And finally, it helps hone my culling and editing, as I need to go through thousands of images more or less as I am taking them, edit my selects, write captions, and turn them over to an editor within 72 hours.
The full photo essay can be found here: "F1 Returns to Texas"
This month I was blessed to have the opportunity to document Alpine Theatre Project's "Operalesque 3"—a sexy combination of opera and burlesque—in the truly unique settings of the Viking Creek Wetland Preserve. As you might imagine with restrictions on indoor performances, the performing arts community here, and everywhere, has been hit particularly hard with no opportunity to perform in the concert halls, performing arts centers, and theaters they're used to.
The Operalesque performances at ATP's Garage were already something unique and special, and beyond anything, I ever expected to be able to experience, particularly in Northwest Montana. The creativity ATP has exhibited with this production bringing it out into nature was an experience I don't think anyone who attended is likely to forget any time soon.
Shoutout to the amazing cast consisting of Glen Seven Allen, Jessica Fishenfeld, Marcy Richardson, Melanie Long, Darren Stokes, and Billy Thompson.
This isn't the first time they've found to make sure that "the show must go on." This past spring the high school production of Mel Brook's "Young Frankenstein" was converted to the individual performers recording their parts on a green screen in isolation, which was then edited into a digital production.
Last week I had the pleasure of covering SXSW for my day job at Texas Highways magazine. This happened to also include the opportunity to cover First Lady Michelle Obama's panel about the Let Girls Learn initiative with Sophia Bush, Missy Elliott, and Diane Warren moderated by Queen Latifah. It was an inspiring panel, made doubly so for me as the father of a little girl who is in such a hurry to grow up into a world that is not always inviting and welcoming to women. #letgirlslearn #62milliongirls
