So this won’t be as exciting as South American photographs and adventures but it’s something new and exciting.

A while back (January 20th, Maggie’s birthday) I talked to the owner of the West St. Wine Bar in Reno about hanging some of my photography in their pub. They agreed and I proceeded to choose five pieces with the theme of  “Love Letter to the Outdoors.” Five photographs representing my love of the outdoors.

Last Thursday we had a bit of a shin-dig “opening.” Thanks to all of you who came out, I really appreciate your support.

Here are the five prints I chose. The black and whites have been printed at 16 x 24 on archival true black and white paper, framed in recycled wood frames, covered with an anti-glare glass, and matted.  The three color images were all printed on acrylic glass at 16 x 23.5

All of these prints are for sale either at the West Street Wine Bar or through me.  Thanks and have a great day.

- Josh

We’re in a short lull between portrait sessions now, so I’m posting some shots from a quick mission I did through Patagonia in early February.

Peter Mehrhof, a childhood friend from Mammoth, came up with the idea to do some Southern Hemisphere summer backpacking down there this February, which is an ideal time for a wedding photographer to travel. Most of the summer is spent shooting weddings around the West Coast, so I figured it would be perfect to spend a few weeks enjoying the South American summer while we were getting pounded with snow in the north.

Turns out it was much more winter-esque down there–we were in snow, rain and never-ending winds for almost the whole trip. I was in this part of Patagonia about five years ago as well, during their winter, and I feel like the weather then was a bit better despite the opposite seasons.

But the weather didn’t stop us from having an epic trip. We flew into Punta Arenas, on the Straight of Magellan, and rented a sweet four-door Hyundai before heading north to Puerto Natales. Natales is the gateway to the Torres del Paine National Park, which you might call Chile’s version of Yosemite. It’s an incredible granite range with several massive monoliths carved out by generations of glacial erosion. Like Yosemite, the park is littered with iconic peaks and rock formations. It’s touristy by Patagonian standards, but we went a few days without seeing more than a handful of people.

We started the mission with a night at Puerto Natales’ Erratic Rock hostel. It’s owned by two brothers from Oregon, and they lead nightly informational talks about trekking in the park. A fire shut down part of the park a few weeks before we got there, and they had the inside scoop on where we could, and couldn’t go, and how that would change the dynamic our chosen route.

We decided to do the Circuit around the entire massif, which was hardly affected by the fire and gave a look at the park from all angles.

Other shorter routes just hit the park’s ubiquitous highlights.  But as I’ve now seen twice, there’s a solid chance that the Cuernos del Paine, Valle de Frances and the Paine Grande  (the park’s version of Half Dome, El Capitan and Yosemite Falls), will likely be enshrouded in clouds for much of the trip. The Circuit was a good way to hedge your bet and see a lot more impressive Patagonian landscapes.

As it would come to be, we were seven days on the trail and the high mountains only appeared a handful of times. The odyssey around the park proved to be worth every grueling step though. Each day, the scenery changed dramatically. From the High Sierra-like Patagonian Steppe to rugged Andean peaks, we hit it all.

The trail kicked my ass. I thought I was in better shape then I was, but the 70-some miles in seven days was humbling. Below is a sample of what I’ve edited thus far. It starts out with some break dancing and BMXing in Punta Arenas, to the approach from Puerto Natales to the Torres del Paine in the Hyundai. From there, we parked the car and started the trek. We spent nights in five different camps; Seron, Lago Dixon, El Paso, Lago Grey, and Los Cuernos. There are shots of guanacos (Southern Andean Alpacas), a fox, various species of birds, and several of shots of Peter on the trail.

On day seven, when it became clear the sun was not going to appear and the wind was never going to let up, we decided to pack it in and hobble back to the car to watch the Super Bowl at Erratic Rock in Puerto Natales. We also went on a mission to see the discovery site of the elusive Milodon-AKA, the Chilean Bear-a-saurus. It was a massive cave where scientists found a pile of bones and got creative with their vision of what must have lived there. It looked like a prehistoric bear-sloth, with an enormous tail. The younger Chilenos visiting the Milodon at the same time ran away in fear, but Peter loved the Milodon and may or may not have bought a Milodon T-Shirt on the way out.

We ran into a Chilean couple, Augustin and Josefina, that we recognized from several different campsites on the Circuit, and finished the trip with a few days with them at a penguin colony north of Punta Arenas, drinking wine overlooking the north end of Tierra del Fuego, and finally putting back Pisco Sours at the Punta Arenas airport as we left the country. Agustin and Josefina are an incredible couple from Santiago that work for an outfit called Un Techo Para mi Pais which builds sustainable and affordable housing for impoverished families across Latin America. Josefina’s brother runs a hostel at a ski resort south of Santiago called Las Trancas, so I have a feeling they haven’t seen the last of us.

That’s it for this week’s off topic, lengthy and meandering blog post. We’re back to the grind soon, with several engagement sessions coming in the next few weeks. Josh is also opening an exhibition of his landscape work in Reno today, and we’ll have more details on that soon. Thanks for reading and check back in soon.

-Brandon

John and Jane are outdoor enthusiasts who are getting married at Mammoth Mountain this spring. For their engagement session we decided to hike to Horsetail Falls off Highway 50 in California (just over the hill from Lake Tahoe). John proposed to Jane at the base of the falls last spring.  This winters snow pack is so dismal we were able to hike to the base of the falls quite easily. They brought their awesome dog Pinkberry and we made an afternoon of hiking along the creek and its many falls.  Such a beautiful walk.

The weather seemed a bit iffy so we came prepared for cold and rain, but much like the rest of this winter it didn’t materialize and we were left with excellent clouds and stunning light followed by a nearly clear sunset and golden light hitting lovers leap. It was great to spend the afternoon getting to know this awesome couple and their dog.  I’m excited to share their wedding day with them.

- Josh

While in Alaska last winter I took some photos of northwest carving artist Greg Arkle and his work. He does amazing carvings on a variety of mediums. He applies techniques used for centuries as well as traditional tools.  So no sandpaper or electric tools, everything is done by hand with intricate and technical movements. It’s amazing to see the transformation of a block of wood into a mask or ladel.  I have two of his pieces hanging on my wall, they add a very nice vibe to the house. Greg is an all around cool guy who fights fires all over the west coast in the summer and carves in the winter.

In other news; Brandon has returned safely from South America and I’m sure has some amazing photos to share with us. I’ll be doing some engagement photos near Lake Tahoe this weekend so look for some of that next week. I was out late last night doing some full moon photography and skiing so stay tuned to my personal blog for some images from that as well as from skiing Shasta.  Thanks,
- Josh

Since I don’t have any new portraits to share I thought I would put up some stock photos I shot this summer.  Mike Linberg and I got a pre-dawn start to the day and headed up to the Little Truckee River above the Boca Reservoir near I-80. Mike is a bit of a nut about fly fishing and is always down to help me make some photos of his hobby.

I usually post these types of shoots on my personal site.  Also, on Valentines day I’ll be hanging some photos at the West Street Wine Bar, so if you’re in the area be sure to check those out.  Have a great day.

- Josh

Last Sunday was a beautiful winter day in Reno, Nevada. The thermometer rose above 50, a few clouds dotted the sky and people were out enjoying themselves.

Ting Hammond had her entire family in town for the weekend so she asked me to make a few photos while they were all together.

With large groups it can be hard to capture photo-journalistic moments so I focused on making traditional family portraits.

Have a great day,
- Josh

I worked with the Hammond family this weekend to make some photos of Ting’s family while they were in Reno visiting. They are a lovely bunch of people and fun to be around, but more about that on Thursday.

Today I have some photos from my personal photography work.  In early December I flew to Phoenix, AZ to visit my dad at his winter home outside the big city. After nearly thirty years of working in Prudhoe Bay Alaska he has finally retired and now spends some of the winter in warmer weather.

Prudhoe Bay is miserably cold in the winter. I just checked and it’s currently -49 F there, without windchill. This has been one of the coldest winters on record in Alaska with temperatures in the interior hovering around -50 F.  Even the Southcentral region of the state which typically has “mild” weather has consistently been below zero. I’m so glad I live in Reno, we don’t have much snow this year but we do have 300 days of sunshine!

So, I went to visit my dad and of course took a camera, I managed to catch a couple of sunsets and have my dad stand still for a few shots of him in the fading sunlight. I hope you enjoy this glimpse into Arizona and my family life, I’ll post some photos from the Hammond family portraits on Thursday. Thanks,

- Josh

The cliche, the photographer doesn’t like to have their picture taken, is quite accurate in my case. Not that I hate it, it’s just kind of uncomfortable and awkward. I can’t stop thinking about all I’ve read, how to position your arms, turn your waist and flattering angles for your face.

Brandon and I needed some professional photos of ourselves for our website so we set up at Caughlin park and made some photos of each other, as well as Maggie, Moose and I.  Caughlin park is a popular place for family photography because of its central location, varied backdrops, shade and ability to still get great evening light.

It turned out to be a pretty fun time thanks to Brandon being chill, plus Maggie and I got some great shots of ourselves to send to our families.  Brandon was kind enough to take an afternoon of his time and shoot these for us, Maggie and I really appreciate it.  Families love photos of those they love.

Have a great weekend, I’ll be back Tuesday with more fun

- Josh

Brandon took over posting for a while as I vacationed and did some personal work.  I’ll be back posting for the next couple of weeks as Brandon takes a break and a trip to South America. Lately my photography work has been personal and commercial work, so I’ll be filling in with some stuff that’s a bit different than our normal portraiture.  We’ve also been busy booking weddings  for next summer, the weekends are filling up.  Thanks to those of you who have graciously recommended us and promoted our work!

It has finally began to snow here in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, as I sit here typing the mountains are filling up and us snow lovers are getting excited to start the long-delayed season. Whenever I go out back-country skiing I take a camera, so be sure to check our facebook page and Josh Hejl photography for some sweet powder shots. Let me know if you would like to see that kind of thing on the blog and I’ll make sure to keep ‘em coming. In the meantime check out a couple of my photos, as well as the scoop on the ski weather at Powdiction.

I recently ordered our first acrylic print from Millers lab.  I had a feeling it was going to be awesome but the clarity and vibrancy of the print really surprised me. The acrylics also come ready to hang with stand-off mounting brackets which help with the translucent effect. The print was from this family session I did with the Hammond Family up on Peavine Mountain just to the north of Reno.  Just a few photos today of the acrylic print, I’ll have another post up on Thursday.  I’m shooting some family photos of the Hammond’s again this weekend, so we’ll get to see their smiling faces up on the blog again soon.

Have a great day,
Josh

Brian and Roanne (AKA Broanne) were looking for a few different looks for their Mammoth engagement pictures, so we decided to do two sessions: One in the fall and one in the winter. Coincidentally, the weather and snow accumulation were just about the same each time. In fact, it was raining and hailing the day we did their first session at Devil’s Postpile and Rainbow Falls.

Nonetheless, they were hoping for a winter wonderland session which we appear to have been about a week to early for. Hopefully we’ll find time to do that later in the year, but for now we’ll settle with some sweet snowboarding action.

We started at the top gondola station, on a monument created for three ski patrollers (Charles Walter Rosenthal, James Juarez and John Scott McAndrews) who were killed in an accident on Mammoth in April of 2006.

Local artist Larry Walker created the monument and it’s an incredible and timeless tribute placed in an awe-inspiring location.

From the monument, which sits above Mammoth’s Climax, we headed down Cornice Bowl for some action shots with the Minarets to the west. The snow is about 97.5-percent man-made up there, but was still pretty good. I grabbed some shots of them shredding down, and then we decided to get out of the wind for a Bloody Mary break at Tusks Bar.

At this point the wind picked up and Chairs 1 and 3 were shut down, forcing us to stick to the lower mountain. We made the best of it on Chairs 2 and 6, and had a great day. They even got to meet Woolly.

That’s it for this week. Thanks a lot, Brian and Roanne, for a fantastic weekend and for the Tupperware gift. It’s much appreciated. We’ll get that Sierra Star-snow shot you’re after next month, because it appears winter has made it to Mammoth.

-Brandon