on the newsstand

in February i did an editorial assignment for Budget Travel. my first. it hit the newsstand today, and i'm pleased to finally see my name in the gutter. i'm proud of the photos for a couple reasons. they aren't my strongest photos, and in retrospect i played it too safe, but i'm pleased. i fulfilled the assignment, and came away with a better understanding.

the one page story was of a couple form California that came up for the Iditarod. I was to shoot them out on a sled dog ride- they would be taking a mushing class i was told. blurred by visions of me chasing this couple around the snow covered hills North of Anchorage in dog sleds was perfect. i'm in! of course the job changed considerably, or maybe it was just the information that changed, over the coming weeks. a couple revisions later and i was shooting the couple during a dog handling class in a cramped, dirty, parking lot of the Millennium Hotel out by the airport. quintessential Alaska it was not.

i'm not complaining. as nervous as i was, i loved it. i was a one man band, and the resulting pressure felt good. in the end, there are several things i would do differently, but it made me a better photographer.