A Gift for You

Merry Christmas!

Brad and I have been working on a little project.  A photography blog to showcase Brad's best photographs.  It's not completely finished so feel free to give us your suggestions and feedback.  But here it is.

bradpackerphotography.blogspot.com

Enjoy!

* To everyone who got our Christmas email, the link to Brad's blog is wrong.

Zion National Park

Going into summer, we knew we were going to be busy.  The DAT, dental applications, going to Nicaragua, working, attending school, and being put in as Elder's Quorum President doesn't leave much time for much else.  However, we looked at Brad's schedule and found one weekend when he didn't have a test and I could take time off work to go on a little vacation.  We went down to southern Utah to Zion National Park.  We just spent 2 days there, but it was relaxing, gorgeous, and much needed.

Brad and I went on a hike and found a nice little spot to sit and eat our dinner.  We ended up getting surrounded by squirrels.  We had five of them coming within inches of us, trying to get our food.  They kept fighting each other and we were afraid of getting attacked.  They had pictures up everywhere of someone who had been attacked by squirrels and we were not excited at the prospect of being the next billboard.

Sunset at Zion

The next day, we hiked up to the Emerald Pools.  The waterfalls were much cooler than the puddles, I mean pools.

Waterfalls

It was much too hot after that to do any more hiking so we went on a drive on the Mount Carmel Highway.  

Dr. Seuss Rock

It looks a little like this:

And we met this guy on the side of the road.

We also went on a great drive up to Kolob Reservoir.

We didn't go down with many expectations.  Brad had never been to Zion National Park and the last time I went down and actually saw the park was when I was 8.  But for a quick trip with lots to do, photo opportunities galore, and long, peaceful drives, Zion National Park was great.  Arches next?

Smiles for Nicaragua

Nicaragua is an amazing place. While I was there, I felt like I was in a completely different world. Most of the people there live on nothing. Many live in shacks, and for some, that's an overstatement. Some areas are nicer than others, but corrugated tin was common to almost every home. We visited several of these homes and delivered bags of rice, beans, and flour and gave toys and school supplies to the children. These families were so grateful and it was a life changing experience for me to meet them.

The baker's home and bakery

"Thanks for the candy, take our picture"

The village water boy

They won't go fast, but they will go anywhere

Door to the roofless house

Window shutters

Nursery wall

The tree from Endor

HDR Photography

So I'm dabbling with a new photography technique. It's called High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography. I've learned about it from Trey Ratcliff. It requires a lot of post processing and Trey is much better at it than I am. Here is what I've been able to produce so far. What do you think?

Fall Colors

Brad and I took a little drive up the canyon to see the fall colors.  We went up to see Bridal View Falls and Vivian Park.








Brad also got a cool picture of the moon.



I love this time of the year.  I love the vibrant colors of fall leaves.  I love the cool weather. I can't wait till more of the leaves change around our home so we can see them more often.

The new toy for Brad!

This week I got a new lens for my camera, the Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS.

Here are a few of my shots.

I'm a big fan of this lens.

Brad's Best Photos

Brad is a great photographer, and I thought I should share some of his best photos.