My Printed Portfolio...

Just found an interesting website, ISSUU.com, that lets you upload and "publish" a PDF... I embedded it in my website HERE and am now doing so on my blog too. This is the most recent update to my printed portfolio, the one I mail to folks I want to work for. I've got some cool shoots coming up in the coming weeks, included the former governor of SC, so this sucker will be updated regularly... but here it is for now. What do you think?

Family First...

The holidays are upon us... in reality today is Tuesday, but in life the workweek is just about over... time for family begins. And so in that spirit I want to introduce you to 3 spectacular families; these are couples who, once they began having children, gave up their normal office dayjobs to turn their homes into workplaces that allowed them to actually be home. While shooting these 3 families I was consistently impressed by the togetherness that they exhibited... they each gave me grand inspiration for my own future. Read the stories at WNC Magazine here.

Meet the Scales (above), Cate and Ben and their kiddos. Cate is an interior designer, and Ben is an attorney and a fantastic musician. They both work from home so that they may be close to their children, and close to each other... The benefits of such a lifestyle are powerful, and let me tell you, the Scales prove it. They treated me to an impromptu bluegrass concert in their living room and they are all quite talented. The picket fence doesn't make it "perfect", they do... perfect.

Meet the Hammonds (above), Mary Ellen, Jim and their son Sidney. Together (yes, Sidney too) they run Milestone Press. They've got terrible jobs! They hike and bike all around the Blue Ridge and Smokey Mountains then write and publish guidebooks. A fantastic family with a fantastic home life. They raise chickens, harvest honey, and have created a perfectly wonderful and envious existence for themselves. Kudos!

Meet Lupe Perez and Monroe Moore (above). As a costume designer for Mars Hill College, Lupe took paternity leave after the adoption of each of his 3 children, but he soon realized that wasn't their perfect solution. Raising kids is in his blood, so in 2007 he began a new career at home as a tailor. A super fantastic and wonderful family, they also have bee hives and one of the best tomato gardens around. The kids were my personal photo assistants, and I've never seen folks laugh so much... Awesome.

Meet Tom Davis, The Brewmaster... Thomas Creek Brewery

Meet Tom Davis... Tom is the brewmaster of Thomas Creek Brewery in Greenville, SC. Let me tell you, it's good beer.

I shot Tom for G Magazine, along with a few other artisans whom I'll highlight in the coming days... Tom got the best time lapse, so he goes first.

I don't like going into portrait sessions blind, without having scouted the locations beforehand, but that is happening more and more regularly... sadly, it's mostly a result of the economy, having to maximize my time by cramming more into less... and that is what happened here. It all works out, I just stress about it a little more. One of the primary reasons I've been loving this whole editorial lit-portrait thing is it's challenge: the process of starting out with only an idea, a box full of toys, and my two eyes, and inventing an image from scratch. I love the method of brainstorming and executing an original idea with story as intent... that is what makes location portraiture fun for me.

Patrick Cavan Brown :: Commercial and Editorial Photographer :: Asheville NC, Greenville SC

The Art Of Fashion...

Who would a' thunk it... Me shooting fashion? Well it happened... and it was a whole lot of fun and didn't turn out half bad.

The shoot was for G Magazine... The editor, Jack Bacot, came to me with the idea of combining fashion and art... in the sense that we'd actually stage the shoot in an art museum. The initial plan was to use the galleries of Bob Jones University... they claim their museum to be "recognized as the finest collection of religious art in America." It is in fact amazing. When asked, they said no... for obvious reasons.

The Greenville County Museum of Art, on the other hand, was willing to assist and absolutely amazing to work with. Mary McCarthy, the media relations director, and her fellow employees were more than helpful. There were some really neat works of art which provided fantastic accompaniment and contrast.

I had some awesome folks backing me up... Mary Ann Sudnick and Taryn Scher styled the whole thing... They were crucial in the selection and pairing of the clothing to the art pieces. Karen West came in from Charlotte for the hair and makeup. These images are as much theirs as they are mine.

Matt Tierney, Paul Mehaffey, Sally Morris, and Jay Vaughn were also more than crucial to the entire project... a big thanks to everyone. You can see the rest of the images and the story here at G's Website.

See more HERE!

New Website!!!

Guess what, folks? I just launched my new website! I did every little ounce of design and coding myself, and I am looking for your feedback... honest critique, please, not just typos. If you hate it, just say so, and tell me what you hate.

Some of the galleries (especially in the world-map area) still need to be updated, and some of the full-screen features aren't working as they should. If you run into any other technical flaws, please holler!

Visit: patrickcavanbrown.com

Commercial, Editorial, Portrait, Documentary Photographer... Asheville NC, Greenville SC, Charlotte NC, Charleston SC, Atlanta GA...

Thanks!!!!!

Meet Angel Cruz...

Meet Angel Cruz...

She is a young lady, early twenties, and has already made a bigger dent in 3rd world malnourishment than most of us will with a lifetime of participation in "...only 30 cents a day..." charities. Angel Cruz spends her days in El Salvador teaching folks how to develop successful community farms.

It was a rainy day, the day we were slated to shoot her portrait. I met Angel at a coffee shop in Burnsville, NC. I had scouted a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) Farm called FireFly Farm; Angel knew the owners and they were gracious enough to allow us to shoot there. I wandered around the grounds looking for an awesome (dry?) place to shoot... what I found was not dry (look closely and you can see the raindrops!). The saving grace of shooting battery-powered small portable strobes (Canon Speedlites), is that they fit inside of ziplock bags. I wrapped my camera in my raincoat, sacrificed my warm dry clothing, asked Angel to stand patiently in the rain, and with 2 kickers and 1 umbrella I had my shot.

Please visit Angel's blog and show your support to a damn cool chica.

Shot for WNC Magazine... read the article here.

No Behind-The-Camera-Timelaps on this one... my G9 was still in the shop awaiting the technician to replace a $200 copper wire... ug.

Meet Brandon Raab...

Meet Brandon Raab...

A few years back Brandon and a friend of his, Dave Elmore, started a non-profit foundation on the island of Routan off the coast of Honduras.... it's called SOL (School of Life) International Foundation. They are working to initiate and support community-based programs designed to promote education and increase the quality of life of kids around the island.

Brandon's been a teacher most of his adult life... so I knew I wanted to shoot him in a school-type setting. A few months back I photographed a kid named Summit Jaffe at Asheville Middle School... Since I had already scouted that classroom location, and the folks there were awesome, I figured I would give it another shot. I brainstormed an idea and ran it by Brandon... he was game. I planned to have him write on the whiteboard as if he'd gotten into trouble, but incorporate the idea of making the world a better place... I came up with the phrase "I will not let life go unlived." Sure, unlived might not be a real word, but it's in our lexicon enough to make sense.

One umbrella and two kickers later, I had my shot.

Note to self, try to remember to turn the time-lapse G9 on before the setup is already 1/2 over...

Patrick Cavan Brown :: Editorial and Commercial Photographer :: Asheville, NC

Meet Doc Hendley...

Meet Doc Hendley... Doc is a very original fellow. How many folks do you know who go from bar tending to digging wells in Darfur? Me, only one: Doc.

In 2003 Doc was inspired by learning of massive water shortages in developing countries... so inspired in fact that he began raising money in the bars in which he worked to donate to non-profits for water-well drilling... long story short, a few years later he had his own non-profit (Wine to Water) and has dug 80 wells in 6 developing countries.

I shot Doc's portrait for the October issue of WNC Magazine (get yours at newstands everywhere!) Wine to Water is based out of Boone, NC, where I shot Doc a month or so ago. I drove out there and scouted locations the morning I was to shoot him... I knew I wanted a seedy bar setting and found the perfect one in Murphy's Pub. Mr. Murphy himself was kind enough to let me shoot there despite no advanced warning. I really wanted a smokey look so I bought a pack of cigarettes and lit all 20 at once... big fail! I was instantly hooked, craved 20 more, and didn't even get the effect I tried for... should have used my fog machine...

Check out the video below!

Visit: winetowater.org and donate your $$!!!

Visit: bobbybarejr.com and buy his music!!! (Borrow Your Cape, Bobby Bare Jr.)

Meet Chef Keith Snow...

Meet Chef Keith Snow... An internet video pioneer in the realm of farm-to-table seasonal cooking, Chef Snow lives out in the hills not too far from me. He's got a small farm, a couple of horses, a raised-bed garden on the side of his house, and a kitchen filled with his children's laughter, good food, and a bunch of Arri hot lights (I used my speedlights).

Chef Snow started with a website HarvestEating.com, and after a few years of being a slave to HTML, he's now gets to live inside Tivos... PBS picked him up for a series starting this fall.

I shot this for the fine folks of WNC Magazine out of Asheville... I'm always grateful when they throw work my way!

It's official... I've been here a year... yee haa!

Meet Michelle Kvanli...

Meet Michelle Kvanli...

It isn't often that you get to shoot one of your best friends for a national magazine (Canoe & Kayak)... and it isn't often that someone deserves it as much as Michelle does.

Michelle is a professional kayaker and one of the most honest, generous, and genuine people on the planet. Her and her husband, Ben Kvanli (1996 Olympian paddler), run a non-profit kayak instruction school in San Marcos, Texas, Red River Racing and KayakInstruction.org. They have introduced thousands of folks to paddling over the years (I have taught many a class with them)... they coach a Jr. Olympic team (awesome kids!!!)... and also run a kayak rehab program for veterans of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.

Michelle has spent much of the past year training and competing around the country, and after recovering from successful shoulder surgery has had her best competition year yet. Michelle placed first in the U.S. open division at the NOC, and took 3rd at the team trials in Durango.

I encourage you read more by clicking on the tear-sheet above, or just head over to KayakInstruction.org and learn to paddle with Michelle in the spring fed 72 degree waters of the San Marcos River.

"Rapid" Profit Loss

I've sold this photo a number of times, and each time I sell it I make less and less $$. This time it was to Rapid Magazine out of Canada... they produce a great product for the whitewater paddling community and have purchased a number of images from me in the past. But what has this wonderful economy and dwindling print market brought us? A rapid depreciation in the amount of cash I can make in the editorial market. Not only was it chump change from this 1/2 page image, but it was in Canadian Dollars... which means after converting it to US Dollars and eating the fee associated, I made about enough money for a cheap dinner (sans the bottle of wine) and a matinee movie for me and mi chica... which we are going to blow watching District 9 and eating egg-rolls at PF Chang's tonight!

BTW... The image was taken on the San Marcos River in San Marcos, Texas... we've got a new whitewater kayaking park there in that spot, but we didn't even make this list! The irony...

Wanna learn to paddle? See my friends Ben and Michelle Kvanli at KayakInstruction.org in San Marcos, Texas.

Meet Summit Jaffe...

Canon 5D - 1/15 sec - F 5.0 - ISO 100 - 17mm

Meet Summit Jaffe... Summit is 13 years old and a musical whiz kid. He's got a real talent for using instruments and computers to create a very cool sound... and he is a very cool kid.

I brainstormed the concept for a few days before getting in touch with Summit and his mom... Asheville Middle School was gracious enough to allow us in for a few hours one morning... it's summer time, so the place was empty. This particular full-bleed single-page layout in the magazine requires the image be 1/2 negative space... I figured the white ceiling of the hallway would be a nice way to make some.

Utilizing my traveling pack of 4 Canon strobes and an 800WS mono-light I threw this one together with the assistance of Summit himself... it's turned out to be one of my faves... though I wish I had rearranged the desktop slightly...

Make sure to read the article published by the awesome folks at WNC Magazine.

Meet the Pearsons...

Meet the Pearsons... Richard and Alison. Richie is one of my best buddies from Brooks and last weekend he married a stunning and magnificent young lady.
In my eyes, most PHOTOGRAPHY IS NOT ART... but Richie is an artist, in the truest sense of the word.
These pics were taken in Charleston a few months back... it rained on us just about the whole weekend, but boy was it fun!

Richie + Alison = Love 4ever

Meet Philip Curry...

Canon 5D - 1/100 - f2.8 - ISO 50 - 100mm Macro

Meet Philip Curry... Owner / founder / president of Astral Buoyancy. If you are a paddler, chances are you own one of his PFDs (Personal Flotation Device)... prior to forming Astral, Philip started Lotus Designs, now owned by Patagonia. Philip is a kayaker and started Lotus out of the frustration of not being able to find a comfortable and maneuverable paddling PFD. He picked up sewing in college and made his first few life jackets by hand. Philip met his wife, Linda, a seamstress, and together they made the first professional samples which he sold at paddling shops. I talked to Philip's mom the other day (she got my number from the magazine and called for a copy of the portrait)... she told me how in the early days even she would cart the jackets around and sell them from the truck of her car. The rest is history now... Lotus, and now Astral, are the biggest and most innovative PFD designers in the business.

This was shot for the great folks at WNC Magazine. They've got me shooting the "Local Seen" segment each month, which I love... there isn't anything much more fun than a conceptual portrait. The Asheville YMCA was kind enough to shut down their pool for an hour in the middle of the day for us. I was only yelled at by one patron, though quite a few were unhappy about not being able to swim in their favorite pool (though there are two pools). I dropped a blue backdrop into the water, used battery operated strobes (stands in the water), underpowered everything to get get a nice shallow depth of field, and got myself nice and wet. Kudos to the YMCA, and to Philip for jumping through hoops with me! Gracias!

On a side note... still no more time-lapses... haven't gotten the G9 fixed yet... but this would have been a good one!

Meet Kimberly Johnson...

Meet Kimberly Johnson... Kim is a freelance journalist specializing in Conflict and Environmental stories. We've only worked together once so far, a feature on CU-ICAR, but the piece came out fantastic... I've been posting tidbits of it now and then... so far here and here... Full story here.

Kim got married a few days ago... this is her bridal portrait. She asked me to shoot it, and despite not having shot a bride in at least 5 years, I jumped at the opportunity to help her out. Kim marches to a different drummer (a better, more talented and creative drummer)... she chose red for her dress, and her Beau chose black overalls... a cool crowd they are. Thankfully, I was able to easily talk Kim into rock-hopping through the Saluda River. A precarious balancing act, slippery rocks, very cold water, one umbrella and two strobes later, we had a really cool shot...

...and I found an awesome pro lab down in Greenville, TNT Color Lab, who did a fantastic job with the printing... it's nice to have good folks around...

Hello, My Name Is... Gabriel Shaffer

Meet Gabriel Shaffer... Gabriel is a mixed media (mostly paint) artist from Asheville, NC. A cool cat, Gabriel's work had the honor of gracing the WNC Magazine cover last month for a neat feature I shot called "On the Verge", highlighting up-and-coming western North Carolina artists. WNC sponsored a fantastic show with these folks... I've already highlighted one previous "On the Verge" artist here on my blog, with more to come.

Check out the Behind-the-Camera-Timelapse below, and the killer layout that Matt Tierney and the great folks at WNC put together.

Music by My Morning Jacket. Buy their songs!!!

Canoe & Kayak Whitewater Magazine... Meet Jerry Jascomb

I was super excited... A few evenings ago I was buying a couple of new bicycle inner-tubes at my local outdoor shop, Sunrift Adventures, when I happened to glance over and notice the new issue of Canoe & Kayak's Whitewater Magazine. They were going to mail me one, but I was compelled to plop down my $6 for the issue immediately because it contained my second assignment for the fabulous paddling publication.

Meet Jerry Jascomb... He's been paddling class 5 whitewater in the southeast for almost 20 years. He's even got a handful of first descents, including the famed Talullah Gorge. C&K asked me to shoot a portrait of him to open up their section titled "Old Man Ripper" about the old-timers who've paddled these rivers longer than just about anyone else.

Our location was the Green River Narrows, the southeast's most famous class 5 steep creek. I hiked in the day before to scout... a 2 mile hike with a killer steep section towards the end. I took the mutts and we picked out 3 spots to stage lit-portraits. The river is dam controlled and water is released only a couple of days per week... thankfully not on this scout day, because I slipped and fell into the river, like a dummy, camera in hand and phone in pocket... the water was low and I was able to float downstream to a point where I could climb out... camera OK (held it above my head), phone dead (and still at the repair shop).

The following day Paul Mehaffey (good buddy and invaluable assistant) and I hiked down into the gorge. Jerry and his buddies paddled down and I met him near the beginning of the hard stuff. I shot a bunch of pics of Jerry paddling, then we set up for portraits while his friends paddled a second round. I used a one light set-up with a Canon Speedlite and a shoot-thru umbrella, but unfortunately it wasn't as simple as it sounds. My Pocket Wizards were on the fritz, and the infra-red Canon trigger wouldn't reach at the distances we were shooting, so I actually had to have Paul manually trigger the strobe when I clicked the shutter... a pain in the ass even though I was shooting a 1/2 second.... I wanted the soft water look, but I couldn't slow the shutter down any more without increasing the F# beyond the limits of my strobe.... so it was just me flailing my arms around and Paul trying desperately to sync... we managed and it worked out well.

The hike out was a bear!!... I quickly learned that it is time to start exercising again (hence the bicycle inner-tubes)...

PocketWizard, if you are listening, I could really use a donation of 6 of your fancy new Flex TT5 Transceivers. Pretty please?

And Canon, I'd love to replace my old busted up Speedlites as well... interested in charity?

Canoe & Kayak Magazine...

I must thank Jeff Moag, Editor Extraordinaire, and rest of the good folks over at Canoe & Kayak Magazine for giving me the honors of my first assignment with their world class publication. I've always wanted to shoot for C&K, as they are tops in their field. They dug the shots (flying commercial with your kayak), and thankfully dropped another shoot in my lap: a portrait of a long-time paddler and holder of some local first descents, including Tallulah Gorge)... those pics are coming soon... just waiting on the June issue)

I snagged a friend (fellow photographer and soon to be fellow paddler) Paul Mehaffey, and we raided the Greenville, SC airport one sunday afternoon. We went gorilla, no permits or permission, and stayed as low-key as we could. After half an hour or so I had to pay a quick visit to the Airport Chief of Police, but he was kind enough to let us continue. I used no strobes, just available light and a tripod. The Greenville-Spartanburg Airport is anything but bustling, so I took multiple exposures of blurry people and layered them up in photoshop... an old-school technique.

Sorry, no time-lapse.

Read the article below...

Meet Dr. Thomas Kurfess... CU-ICAR

As promised, here is the first of the CU-ICAR portraits... and this one has a bonus, a behind-the-camera time-lapse!

Meet Dr. Thomas Kurfess, the Director of the Campbell Graduate Engineering Center at Clemson University's International Center for Automotive Research (CU-ICAR). A super nice guy, he was bound and determined that I make him look cool for his kids... and in my humble opinion, indeed he does look cool!

I don't mind working alone... many of my portraits are simple enough as to where I don't really need an assistant... it always nice to have someone sit in as I set up lights (you'll notice that I am running back and forth shooting myself with the timer), but I kinda like the solitude that a budget sometimes forces me into. This is a 4-light setup... 3 Speedlites up front and an 800-WS monolight back in the room.

Check out the video... the song is "Keep the Car Running" by Arcade Fire.

One Minute, One Speedlite, One Group of Tomorrow's Brains

I saw some posts today on Strobist and on Joe McNally's Blog in regards to a group shot that the awesome Zack Arias of Atlanta made, and it brought to mind a group pic I shot a couple of weeks ago using the same technique... basically one speedlight, multiple exposures, and a late night's worth of photoshop.

These are some of the students of CUICAR, Clemson University's International Center for Automotive Research, and one of ICAR's Research Associates (Frank Webb - in the lab coat). These are the very folks who will be inventing tomorrow's automobiles. The image was created for the opening spread of a story that G Magazine is publishing in their next issue (it's going to the presses today... I hope I don't get in trouble for jumping the gun, but I wanted to jump on the same bandwagon as those posts mentioned above).

I usually would have a made quick time-lapse of the whole shoot using my G9, but it was drizzling and cold that night so I skipped it... big mistake... would have been cool.

This shot was fairly easy, but could not have been done easily without my buddy Paul Mehaffey and his lovely intern Sally Morris. First of all, the concept is about contrasting tomorrow's automotive brains against yesterday's technology... hence the junkyard... besides which junkyards are cool!

- Paul walked around with a Speedlite 580 EXII on a boom (folded lightstand) with a shoot-thru umbrella. The Speedlite was set to 1/2 power, jelled with 3 layers of 1/4 CTO, and connected to a Pocketwizard. I set the white-balance to 5400 to partially neutralize the CTO and turn the ambient even bluer.

- I stood on top of a busted up Isuzu Trooper with my Canon 5D on a tripod, ISO 200, F8 @ 1/2 sec. The lens was a 70-200mm set at 100mm.

- We shot a few different rounds as the light got darker and darker. Each individual was illuminated separately. The trick was getting everyone lit within about a minute, because after the sun goes down things get dark quickly and I wanted to make sure the ambient matched when I merged everything together in Photoshop later.

You can see Paul and Sally in the example frame below... A big THANKS to them, to Johnny at Adams Auto Parts, Gnatt's Uniform Outlet for the lab coat, to the folks who showed up to be photographed, and to G Magazine for letting me push things.

I'll have a series of portraits from CUICAR that I will be posting soon... stay tuned.

Subjects, from left to right: Tamer Yanni, Evan Lowe, Shayne McConomy, Frank Richardson, Frank Webb, Sina Hamsehlouia, and Satyam Vyas.

Holy Smokes! Bird Helmet Cam!!!

Someone emailed this to me, and it has to be shared... amazing! Just wait until the technology gets really good. A Falconer, Jose Luis Ortiz, from who-knows-where, strapped a video camera to his eagle... that's right, HIS EAGLE! I recommend starting the video at around the 5 minute mark... the music gets good and the bird-of-pray starts flying very fast. To see more, click here.

Meet Edwin McCain - Musician

Meet Edwin McCain.... one of Greenville's local music celebrities. He's got a pretty cool recording studio near downtown where we shot these pics one rainy winter morning for G Magazine. I was shopping for cough drops the night before at CVS and heard his song I'll Be on the radio... A humorous fellow... hates his picture taken... not a huge fan of Sarah Palin... has got a cute kid that likes to dance on stage and eat cheetos... was nice enough to sign a copy of the magazine cover for me...

Guest Blogger: Bruce Litton - Video: Tallulah Gorge, Oceania

Guest Blogger: Bruce Litton

Long Trip Report For A Short Trip (subtitle: Confess Thy Swims)
I haven’t done one of these in a while but this trip deserves a report.

THURSDAY – South Sauty Creek (AL) – Matt Taylor and Jerry Fant had paddled this the day before and were raving about it. Matt and I paddled it and it was a fantastic class III-IV creek. Sauty has excellent slots, boofs, technical boulder gardens, etc., but nothing too big. We boat scouted everything except the first waterfall (the put-in rapid) and the Slot rapid. We ended up walking the Slot as it had ugly wood in both slots and the only other option was a boof that landed on rock AND THEN flushed into a pin rock. South Sauty was a great start to the long weekend of paddling.

FRIDAY – Chattooga Section 3 (GA) - We were joined by Patrick Brown from South Carolina (formerly San Marcos) and met up with Charlie Laws at the NOC Chattooga outpost. With recent rains we had high hopes of getting on a creek. The North Fork and West Fork French Broad (NC) were our first choices but they were on the low side and dropping. We thought the Chauga (SC) might be good so we went to look at the gauge nearby, but it was below minimum. We even considered Overflow Creek, but I wasn’t sure I was (or ever will be) up for that so we didn’t make the trip to check the gauge. Originally we had planned to paddle Section 4 but at 2.5’ the level was a bit too high for us mere mortals. Plan B (or C or D) was in effect and that meant Section 3. I had to do a little convincing with Matt as he wanted to go run Killer Fang Falls Of Death Creek or something (he’s young). I told him he HAD to do Section 3 sometime in his life and today was the day. It was a hoot. We did the entire 12 miles in about 3 hours. It was all read and run except for scouts at Dick’s Creek Falls and of course Bull Sluice (VERY IMPRESSIVE at that level – the biggest I had ever run it). It’s a beautiful river with great rapids and it had been over 10 years since I had run all of Sec. 3. It was also great to paddle with Charlie and go to dinner with him afterwards to laugh at all his stories.

SATURDAY – Cheoah (NC) – Matt and a couple of his friends that had joined us (Drew and Harrison) decided to do a BIG double – Tallulah in the morning and Cheoah in the afternoon. I’m too old for that much excitement and needed to do a little shopping at the NOC so Patrick, Jerry and I headed for the Cheoah. At the Nantahala we had a chance to visit with Michelle Kvanli and watch a couple of her Junior Olympic racers run the course at Nantahala Falls (BTW, the weekend before Michelle placed 1st in her slalom race – awesome!). The last time and only time I ran the Cheoah over two years ago the release was 850 CFS, and we took out before the bottom section. Today the release was 1000, and with creek inflow it was estimated to be at 1200. It was HUGE – definitely the biggest, most powerful river I had ever run. None of us knew the lines so we felt our way down boat scouting and were doing pretty well until………. Takeout Rapid (not because it’s at the takeout but because people screw up and choose to take out). On river left I boofed a pourover. Unfortunately on landing I pitoned into a rock and it bounced me right back into the hole. I was stuck side surfing in the hole. I was stable but the hole was deep and sticky, and I was stuck between the hole and the downstream rock that had bounced me into it. I rolled but was still in the hole (much to my chagrin). I tried again to dig myself out but it wasn’t happening so I reluctantly pulled the skirt and bailed. I ended up on a river center rock next to a guy who had swum out of the same hole. His friends roped us both to shore and then the search was on for my boat and paddle. Jerry and I found my paddle (broken) and Patrick found my boat about ¼ mile downstream. I was feeling pretty smug about packing a break-down in the boat until……… I discovered that the center section was no longer in the boat (lesson to you youngsters – when packing a break-down fasten it well in the boat or it will not serve its intended purpose). No injuries, but 1 broken paddle, 1 lost thermos, and 1 useless back up paddle. Jerry had decided to get off the river and as Patrick and I were getting ready to restart Matt, Drew and Harrison pulled up. I borrowed an extra paddle Drew had and they joined us for the rest of the run. Thankfully we now had a guide as Drew knew the river well and we (mostly) followed his lead through massive waves, holes, and pourovers. By then we were concerned about running out of water so we didn’t scout anything, including The Big One (Bear Creek Falls) which I never imagined I would run without scouting (we ran the center line with no mishaps). The river picked up even more in intensity. It was so pushy that constant corrections were needed to stay on course, and as I discovered later Drew was taking us down the “hero” lines. There were no more incidents until…… Yard Sale – the last rapid before the lake. I followed Drew to a big pourover boof over a nasty hole. He had not led me wrong yet so I opted to follow him down this “hero” line rather than take an easier way around (I was tired and should have). Drew hit the boof hard and flipped, but he rolled up out of the hole. I hit the boof not so hard and got sucked back into the hole. So there I was again, side surfing in a big hole. This one was REALLY deep and trying to surf out in either direction was like climbing a slippery mountain – it wasn’t happening. A flip and roll didn’t do it either and I realized pretty quickly that the only way I was getting out was to swim. A friendly NOC raft (that thankfully did not squash me in the hole) helped me get to shore with boat and paddle (which I did hold onto this time). There were just a couple of small drops left and then we hit the lake. What a day! What a river! The swims were unfortunate (my first since my face and hand were cheese-gratered on the Ocoee 2 ½ years ago), but those are just part of the game. We’re all just between swims. It’s only a matter of when.

SUNDAY – Tallulah (GA) - It was time for the Grand Finale. I had wanted to paddle this river ever since they started releases in 1997. Saturday is 500 CFS and it was 700 CFS for us on Sunday. Paddling it were myself, Matt, Patrick, Harrison, and Drew (who would again be our guide). The first (Class V) obstacle at the Tallulah is the put-in – 600 steps into the gorge. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be (but my legs are still feeling it 4 days later). The first rapid (Last Step) is one of the hardest on the river and I completely screwed it up. I missed the line completely and pitoned briefly, went down a large drop, pitoned again, and then rock bashed down a steep slide. Needless to say this was NOT a good start, but I was determined (and the only way out was a walk back up the steps – no way). Next was Tanner’s Launch, which is the biggest auto-boof in history. If you add a stroke to it the boat practically flips over backwards. Next was Oceana. That is the most amazing rapid I had ever seen close up. The explosion of water coming off The Thing can’t be imagined until you’re next to it. I may run it some day, but on this day I elected to take the river right dry line. Maybe if I hadn’t missed the line at the first rapid I would have felt more confident and run it? I don’t know, but when you’re on the river and decide to walk a rapid it is always the right decision for that time and circumstance. Patrick and Harrison did fire it up and had great rides down the left side. The rest of the river was amazing, exhilarating, extraordinary, indescribably beautiful, and……… difficult. For me it was true edge of the seat paddling - flickering between moments of exhilaration and fear. Drew was a great guide and he said later that after we all made it through The Gauntlet (HUGE!!) he knew we would be ok. Also of note for me were Road To Aintry, which has a big slide into a big hole that I got stuck in (here we go again?) but was able to surf out, and Tom’s Brain Buster. On Tom’s Drew told us to just stay right to avoid “bad dreams” to the left. I got eddied out inadvertently, leaked out of the eddy backwards, and ran the bottom, steepest part of the rapid backwards. Another very notable rapid was Lynch’s Wrench. It was one of the few we scouted. It required a big boof off a rock flake to make it over a massive hole/seam/ugly water area. I did not want to surf that hole and thought about walking it, but I went for it and made it. Everyone paddled great. There were a few flips, a few missed lines, and a few scary moments, but no swims and no big problems. The Tallulah is truly an amazing river and despite the Class V put-in and the long lake paddle at the end I will be back to run it again as soon as possible.

What an amazing four days of paddling. It was short but intense. Except for Friday every day was at or over the limit of anything I had ever paddled. I also realized that I can do a trip like this and take off only two days of work (Thursday and Friday) and still get to paddle 4 days. Of course the front end and back end have to be done on little sleep, but it can definitely be done (I was home working by 9am Monday). In addition to the October Ocoee trip I’m going to make this long weekend springtime trip every year if at all possible. Come on and join in. You will not be disappointed.

Finally, I would like to put in a quick plug for American Whitewater. If not for their efforts the Tallulah and the Cheoah would still sit dry, as they did for 80 years. Thanks to AW and other local groups they have scheduled releases that you can plan a trip around. To paddle even one of them is worth the trip. To be able to do both in the same weekend – simply stupendous. If you are not a member of AW don’t hesitate – JOIN NOW! You also get a great magazine out of it.
http://www.americanwhitewater.org/

That’s all (and quite enough). See you on the river.

Bruce

Meet E Ryan Simmons - Metal Worker, Artisit

Meet E Ryan Simmons... A quiet guy and an amazing artist. He told me that he wants viewers of his work to feel empathy... he wants them to feel sorry for his work and about what they see... a very interesting take... something I'd never heard before... and I like it. Inspired by the natural decay of unnatural things, Mr. Simmons sees real beauty and genius in the old painted walls and doorways of Puerto Rico... always a fan of old doorways, I'd have to agree.

Meet Virginia Uldrick - The Governor's School

Part of a series I shot highlighting artistically influential folks of Greenville, SC.... Virginia Uldrick founded the Governor's School of South Carolina, a boarding school for high school Jr's and Sr's specializing in the arts... music, dancing, theatre... an amazing place. I went to a boarding school long ago, so this was was especially cool to me. I believe they might even have a photography course!

UPDATE: I'd forgoten that I'd made a time-lapse of this shoot... I just found it and put it together... kinda fun. Thanks to Paul Mehaffey for his help setting up!