07•12•11 Early mornings and green water... make ya strong!
My good friends own the amazing Sawtooth Hotel in Stanley, Idaho that has been awarded one of the top “Breathtaking Boutique Hotels” in America. They needed a new shot of the hotel for their travel award issue and I needed the excuse to see them and refuel my soul in the fresh mountain air. With the studio cranking and a week long shoot in Oregon around the corner, I snuck out- grabbed my boys, jumped in our truck and jetted over the mountain pass…
The boys are always psyched to assist on shoots and this was a perfect one to involve them in. They thought the evening scout session and lift were great… however, committing to a 5am call time hit a little hard! They were baffled by the waiting game… waiting for light… getting it right… shadows and layering… exposure… lots of questions… lots of quiet stillness… lots of quality.
We were rewarded with a grubbing breakfast at the Stanley Baking Company. The food is incredible, and just what you dream it will be when you’ve been up since 5am thinking about it. (NOTE: people trek an hour over the pass in the summertime just to fill their bellies at the Stanley Baking Co…if you are ever close to within 100 miles it’s worth it!)
Afterwards I took the boys to check out Shot Gun rapid on the raging Salmon River… “after all”, a river guide once told me and I passed the wisdom on to them, “green water makes you strong…”