This past week, it was in Yellowstone Canyon, with DLWS. I’ve been working on this series, ’cause Laurie’s hairstyle is just damn intriguing. First noticed it in Bryce Canyon. It seemed to me that Laurie was sporting her own personal set of hoodoos, right there on top of her head.
It’s always one of the surprises of DLWS, when Laurie shows up, cause her hairstyle terrain tends to vary, you know, depending on her last haircut, and I guess the ambient humidity and whatnot. Shooting her hair keeps me occupied whenever I’m out there stumbling around the outback and can’t find a stump or a rock to photograph effectively. I eventually may publish a book of these…or not.
At the Maine shore…..
Looking to the sea on Cape Cod…..
Deep in the primeval Redwood forest…
This is fun to do, but nowhere near as much fun as being around Laurie, though, who is one of the most decent souls around. She can always be counted on for a laugh, a head tilting, eyebrow knitting malapropism, or a hysterically misremembered movie moment. Seeking to be one of the guys, she’ll occasionally join in the male dominated field of movie dialogue recall. (Most women aren’t great at this diversion. They don’t seem to find purpose in seeing a movie like Predator a dozen times—go figure.) Laurie will attempt to recite tried and true lines that most guys know better than the Lord’s Prayer and they invariably tumble out with her own spin. These are Laurie-isms.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cANNP4ibgM
Somehow, “Joey, have you ever seen a grown man naked?” in her noodle became, “Joey, have you ever been with a woman?”
It’s no laughing matter when Laurie is behind the camera, though. She is a photographer at the top of her game, confidently controlled from the moment of exposure to the moment she cranks a lustrously beautiful print out of the Epson 7800. Her particular passion is photographing bears, often with lenses half her size, which she handles as well as most folks handle a kit lens. She’s also a heckuva teacher. Check out her blog.
When you do, her secret identity reveals. Laurie is—Equipment Lady.com! Who knew? She’s like the Statue of Liberty of used equipment. Give me your tired, slow glass, your wretched, rusted refuse of jobs gone by, those dusty cameras that were once the apple of your eye but no longer have enough pixels to please! She cuts through the Ebay bullshit, spins sales like a Vegas blackjack dealer, and sends you a check. She has, over time, taken a bunch of my garage bound gear and turned it into a couple of mortgage payments.
Left the cold of Yellowstone Park, and scenes like this. Nikon D3, AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8G ED, 8 GB Lexar Professional UDMA 300x CF Cards. And a whole lotta autofocus, cause in the wind blown steam I couldn’t see shit.
It was great fun, and, as always, filled with interesting folks. Had some wonderful moments and some well, interesting conversations. Had one particularly compelling discussion with Jake Peterson, Moose’s son, and already as a young’un just a couple pixels shy of being truly great shooter. Jake walked over whilst we were making our way around a pooped Old Faithful that seemed in need of a shot of Viagra that day and asked if I had ever heard of a phenomenon known as “HAFE.” I allowed as I had not.
High altitude flatulence expulsion was what Jake was referring to. It’s real, you can google it, which I did, and Lord, it was right there on the internet so it must be true. Makes sense, really, when you think about it. Higher altitude, less pressure on the outside, more pressure on the inside, and that’s gotta go somewhere.
Have to say I couldn’t’ shoot a picture after that, cause, well, I’m a little bent even on the best of days, and I started looking around at everybody out there a bit differently. I started to wonder if this effect was kicking in (most of Yellowstone is above 7500 feet) and that might be the reason all their snow suits looked so, you know, puffy. I mean, modern winter wear is high tech stuff—triple stitched, multi-layered, double zipped, fleece lined and gor-tex filled. Sealed up in this garb, you can not only withstand the cold but could easy go space walkin’ and fix the frikkin’ shuttle, fer chrissakes.
So I just started giggling like the distracted numnuts I am, no longer thinking of folks out there as tourists or photogs but as a bunch of little ambulatory dutch ovens, tooting away inside all those layers. Nobody notices cause the geysers smell so bad in the first place.
Just a thought.
Oh well, home again. Next stop for DLWS is Hawaii. Moose Peterson in a grass skirt. Stay tuned, more tk…
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Freakin awesome Joe…I had never heard of the “HAFE” before, but it definitely brought back memories of the last time I was in Denver.
God Bless,
Dewayne
Never mind Yellowstone, I get HAFE every time I travel by plane…and there is no astronaut suit protecting the other passengers…
The human body is a weird and wonderful thing 🙂
I didn’t know Laurie was Equipment Lady. Does she knowingly pose for those photos or do you steal them? Do you have to pay royalties for making money off prints of somebody’s hair….? 😉
The world is divided into two camps the HAFES and the HAFES nots,
phrrrt
Hm excuse me, mungo eats beans
Thanks for the laugh Joe! It’s been too long since I’ve seen Airplane, I’m watching it again tonight thanks to you! One of my best childhood memories was my parents having a massive brainfart and allowing me at 10 years old or so to watch it. Forever ingrained in my mind is the gratuitous boob shot for no apparent reason other than to show a pair of jiggling jugs bouncing across the screen.
They don’t make em like they used to….sigh.
Joe,
Okay, Moose posts two to three posts a day, processing and uploading through the night, with glorious pictures, and you come away with hair and HAFE? Did they leave you outside the half track with a note pinned to your jacket at any time?
Just kidding. It sounds like the trip of a lifetime. As I can see, you are not doing it in 2010, but back on in 2011? Sure wish I could have been there. Yellowstone is a magical place in the summer, and in the winter, it looks otherworldly. It sounds like you had warm weather, so be prepared when you come back home that the ice box is here. Be careful flying, but if we have pilots like there were yesterday, there are no worries, mate.
Great posts.
Bill Bogle, Jr.
http://www.BoglePhoto.com
The most embarrassing part about watching a video with your parents when a sex scene starts is realising that you never knew that they could operate a camcorder… been watching airplane over on youtube thanks,,,
Rich
That’s funny!
hi joe
i’ve only recently discovered your work since i’ve tried to work out nikon cls. really enjoying your blogs and tutorials. it’s great to have a professional out there who is so willing to share, i’m sure you’ve inspired tens of thousands by now.
hope to see you in the uk some day
many thanks
You share a nickname with my dog =0
Joe,
HAFE was first discovered by NASA . If you remember, the first astronauts were thought to be contaminated by space microbes so were kept in quarantine in airstream trailers. It was only later discovered the foul aroma they carried was actually HAFE. Truly a great step for mankind. HAFE in a space helmet is no laughing matter!
Dolph
I’d never been to the top of Mauna Kea before 1998 but it wasn’t HAFE bad. Funny I’d never heard the acronym before! Sure know what it is tho’!
Joe, Your getting better as you get older. How come you were so quiet when we did Moab in 06? I got one “hairy” of you getting Laurie to sit out over the edge of that rock and do yoga for us all. Some days it is not what you shot but who you shot with that makes the days so filled of memories. Keep clicking
Moab Robbie
Classic McNally! I don’t think altitude has a lot to do with it. My wife says I have SLeFE (Sea Level Flatulence Expulsion). Nothing like a good dutch oven!
Moose in a grass skirt….I shudder.
Hope you post some of landscape shots from Yellowstone. You didn’t run into Yogi, did you? (oh wait…that’s Jellystone.)
Joe, I hope to join you all in 2011…i was in Yellowstone just over the weekend 9-12 Jan and just knowing you guys were having so much fun down there in West Yellowstone..well…i was a bit envious …lol…anyway always great to see what you all come outa there with…especially you…there seems to always be a comedic twist…and hope to see you, Moose, and Laurie next time around…..
Joe, i was witness to the Yellerstone Laurie Hair shot. It was a laugh and a half. Now be fair, show the “other” hair shot!
Whats a matter Dillon? C.I.A gotcha pushin to many pencils?
that is all..
Joe,
I bet you have never heard this before but you just ain’t right. Thank god.
And I love Laurie’s hair.
I just finished watching the Nikon CLS video with you and Bob Krist. I think it would be interesting to have Moose P. join you in a shoot with ballerinas. I’m trying to imagine it and it just cracks me up. 😉
Laurie’s hair…nobody else would do that. That’s what makes Joe a true artist.
Keep posting goodinfo.