On Monday friend and fellow photographer Yuri Choufour snapped this image of my daughter Jade and me. If you guess where we were and what we were photographing, you will get a print of the subject. Answer coming next week.

Sunset over the Mauna Kea Volcano © Jay Goodrich

Hawaii in November equals RAIN. Then, more rain. And then, some more rain. What most people don’t understand is that the island of Hawaii has two massive volcanos that rise over thirteen thousand feet bisecting the landmass and thus bisecting the weather.  These peaks are so high that in “man bar speak” they would be classified as fourteeners. Everything grows when men get drunk, come on you should know that by now. These two volcanoes are so massive that they get snow year round. This is great for me as a skier, but even better for me as a photographer. You want unparalleled light, just head directly up to the dividing line and you will find the light that causes a true photography addiction.

During my recent Hawaii workshop with Gavriel Jecan it rained nine out of nine days, and out of those nine days, we only missed a spectacular sunset once. The sea was a bit angry on that particular day and almost the whole island had rain and clouds. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. Always remember though, weather equals drama and drama equals amazing photographs. Well, it’s time for me to board my private jet back to the mainland, re-enter society with the minions, and work harder to make enough money to pay my bills next month. Yes, I was fortunate enough to hitch a ride on a friend’s private jet into and out of Hilo for this journey and man that was an experience. Also remember, that reality can sometimes come crashing down upon you when you least expect it. God it is going to suck flying coach after this trip.

An extended version of this article was published over ten years in a magazine that is no longer in publication. It was actually only the second time I had ever been published in addition to being my second feature article. It still brings back all of those emotions.

Toenails of an Alaskan Brown Bear © Jay Goodrich

Three weeks in Alaska changes a man’s ideals of our world and makes nature an everyday experience in his life.

The peaks rose from the sea, lush and green, and slowly turned snowcapped, white like a frosted cupcake. My jaw was on the floor of the airplane. I looked over at my wife, Heather. She flashed me a grin. I felt extremely lucky. We met each other in a climbing gym; seeking challenge, we found love. We got married at a ski area in the summertime. And now Heather and I were on our way to our honeymoon. Not a honeymoon like most, to go somewhere tropical and sit on a beach and drink fruity drinks all day. Nope, we decided to mountain bike Alaska. The next three weeks of our lives would be the adventure of a lifetime. Falling in love is a great thing.

We met Mike late that afternoon, entering his little shop of river guiding horrors on a whim. It was like Obi-Wan-Kanobi meeting Han Solo for the first time. He was a well-spoken, clean-cut adventurer.

“I’ll take you wherever you want to go, but it’s gonna cost you.”

“Bears.”, Heather replied

“Come back at 9.”

Seal Alaska © Jay Goodrich

He took our fifty bucks and the three of us sped off in his flat-bottom river boat. He hammered the throttle and we flew up Twister Creek at about 50mph

We crouched low in the bushes and didn’t say a word. A yearling Grizzly Cub was interested in us.  He was only half his full grown size, about 700lbs. The mom was in the tall grass, poking her head up a couple of times to make sure we weren’t going to harm the “little” guy. They disappeared into the bushes only to reemerge about fifteen feet from us. Mike, Heather and I all sat there not moving, not talking, just watching. It was amazing to see something that big in the wild. The cub’s paw prints were bigger than my size 12’s. Our trip was full of experiences like this for three weeks.

Whadya Lookin at Punk © Jay Goodrich

Cycling over to Exit Glacier weeks later, I began to get a cramp in my stomach as I realized the trip was just about over.  Heather and I had done things that people only dream of doing.  People always say “someday”. I believe that someday is now. Alaska is so wild, so untouched, that it grabs hold of you. A hold of your emotions, your dreams, and every thought you have ever had. Places that are so different than anything you have ever experienced do that to you. It was grabbing hold of me right now. Down where all your emotions come from, deep inside your soul. I was saddened that the end was approaching faster than I wanted. For the first time in my life I felt free, but freedom sometimes hurts. You are always afraid that it will leave you. I thought about the course my life was taking. The nine-to-fiver to pay the bills, to live that life I always wanted. Success. New York Style. That was the road I was on. But I wanted freedom forever, not just on the weekends. I was going to make it happen; I was going to take a different path.

Brown Bear Tracks in Mud Alaska © Jay Goodrich

I stood there taking photos of Exit Glacier, a glacier receding so fast that twenty years ago it was a quarter of a mile longer. It is amazing how fast this world can change. The shutter released on my camera for the 3000th or so time, and I decided. Screw nine to five, screw professional. It was time to do what I wanted. Pick the career I needed. I did, and at this moment in time photography was where I decided to go. This place, Alaska, changed my life forever. The desk I would now sit behind was my own. Outdoors was going to become a full time job. I have seen all I wanted to see of the “professional world”.

In a place where natural beauty abounds, I found beauty in my own life. I vowed from that day forward to never give up, and to always follow my dreams. I dreamt of Heather and got her. Now it was time to realize the rest of my dreams.

The trip was over. 500 or so cycling miles later we drove out of Seward headed to Anchorage and the big plane ride home. We were quiet, thoughtful. We were going to miss this place, but we were determined to return…

How has immersing yourself in nature changed your life?

And if you want to experience some of this wild for yourself, Jay and legendary photographer Art Wolfe have only 3 spots left in a workshop at the end of July. It could be your time…

A Natural Spring with Mineral Deposits © Jay Goodrich

A long time ago in a galaxy far far away, I was an architect–not a marine biologist. Even further from that point, I was in school to become an architect. My parents figured architecture would be a great major for me because I loved to draft in high school. What my parents didn’t realize, and what most people don’t realize, is that architecture has a closer relationship to fine art painting than it does to engineering or technical drawing. In fact the technical drawings or “blueprints” that most know about, are really the final process of what an architect does. This is where the problem for my parents’ dream of having a son who was an architect ended. The point at which I began studying architecture is the point at which I began to open my mind creatively. I was set to become an artist. Yep, said it, the beret, facial hair, and attitude of an artist. Kind of.

Standing Water Reflection Zion NP © Jay Goodrich

The major focus for an architect is design, to create a space for a human to utilize in some way, shape or form. Think of a painter who is a sculptor too, architecture is just that, creating in a three dimensional world as well as the two dimensional world of a painter. The final building is the sculpture and the drawings are helping your army make that vision a reality. Within the art form of architecture there are as many different styles of creating as there are within the world of painting. There are those who utilize the classical (I have no idea why), those blend the classical with the contemporary, and those who disregard the classical to design the modern. In fact, if you study art and architecture history side by side (something you are required to do for an architecture degree) you quickly see a correlation between what artists were painting and what architects were designing.

Reflections Over Wind Blown Water Zion NP © Jay Goodrich

I was a modernist. In fact, the style of architecture that I absolutely loved was called Deconstructivism. It was the anarchist of architecture at the time. It scoffed at the general rules that were put in place by the architects who came before. Have you ever heard someone say, “form follows function.” Deconstructivists said screw these types of rules, they wanted to create drama through a sort of controlled chaos. The mission was to make a structure look like it was, for lack of a better word–unstructured. Very similar to what Picasso would paint when he went full tilt into cubism. In other words for a young punk rebellious kid, it was exactly what the doctor ordered. “What are you rebelling against? What ya got.”

Canyon Reflections and Shadows Zion NP © Jay Goodrich

There were two guys in my class that were amazing at designing in this style. I only remember their first names at this point–Dan and Mark. Dan was older than most in my class at about 30, Mark was even older at 40. Both of them lived their lives just like they designed–contemporary, well dressed, well read, well spoken, and I hated them as much as I loved them. I wanted to create like they did. Their presentations looked like original Picassos, and their models were built out of steel, aluminum, rusted metal and plexiglass. They could create the coolest looking projects I had ever seen and then defend them until there was no other choice but to give them the “A”. They had all the reasons because their projects grew out of a well thought out theory of why. There wasn’t a misplaced or misthought beam anywhere. You loved their work even if you hated their style. When they presented, the rooms were always full. These guys taught the professors. They created a following throughout the architecture department, and taught me how to create like them. I sought their advice often, listened and remembered anything and everything they told me.

The Heart of Stone Zion NP © Jay Goodrich

It wasn’t long before their inspiration and instruction grew into my own way of thinking. Good, bad or indifferent, I became knowledgable and opinionated. I became the beret wearing attitude without the beret. There you go, I said it again. This meant though that creativity at some point was going to become the driver in this testosterone love triangle and it wouldn’t be long before the new hot chick of photography would grasp me in her clutches and allow me even more free love than I had in school. The mission began as some free love in the woods near my home in Colorado and then grew into completely new way of life. Even to this day though, I have never forgotten my roots and apply all of what I learned in college to my everyday photography life.

Canyon Wall Reflections Zion NP © Jay Goodrich

Now, knowing all this why would I change direction, throw away a life of architecture for a life of photography? Well, I think a place like Zion speaks volumes to the reason. I have morphed my vision of the world from architecture, now to photography. What I loved about architecture is quickly finding its way into my photography no matter where I travel. Zion is a perfect place to let the deconstructivism dog out to stretch its legs. To go against those perfect landscapes that many nature photographers pursue there. This was a time to play with my viewers emotions, to utilize shade and shadow, reflection, color, texture, direction, and design concepts to highlight what Zion can be about, but very few seek out there. This place strong holds a mecca of compositions. A place where I could spend the rest of my life exploring. Of discovering and rediscovering. A life of working on a vision with reason. Go ahead and ask me why, to any of it, I dare you.

The Liquid Bear Zion NP © Jay Goodrich

The Li River of Yang Shao China © Jay Goodrich

Photography began as a monochromatic system. This because of the fact that the technology did not exist to create color images until much later. Looking at the history of photography, many call the early days out as a black and white period, although this is not a true representation of the art form. These types of images don’t necessarily need to contain blacks, whites and tones of grey. There are processing techniques such as cyanotype which produces an image with tones of blue and white or the classic look of the sepia which introduces hues of orange into an image as well. Some of the processes of creating a monochromatic image have histories dating back over 150 years, making a monochromatic image a classical form of photography. Regardless of what era a photograph has been created in, for some reason there is a timeless characteristic to the monochrome style of imagery.

Cormorant Fisherman on the Li River of Yang Shao China © Jay Goodrich

There is a growing trend in photography to head back to its roots of monochrome. I think photographers are discovering how easy it is to work with any type of image in the digital darkroom, thus the final product can be any form of creative expression that one can dream up. Gone are the days of chemical baths and refrigerators worth of varying film types purchased in bulk ready for any occasion. My personal mission is to experiment with most of the images that I capture to get the best and most creative look possible out of all of them. This may include of course monochrome, color, and other more obscure styles such as bleach bypass.

Clouds and Granite in Huang Shan China © Jay Goodrich

As you know, in the past weeks I have been writing about my experiences in China–a trip that challenged most of my emotions and experiences thus far in my short career as a professional photographer. Some of the locations in China have lent themselves to the creation of a series of monochromes. This has in part been because of the gray weather and light-blocking pollution that was a mainstay for most of the seventeen day trip. The other side of coin is that there is an old world history to China. This is a place that has a record dating back thousands of years as compared to the United States’ hundreds. This history just screams black and white to me.

Pines and Granite Huang Shan China © Jay Goodrich

There are other reasons for my monochrome hang up with China. I created my first black and white photograph a couple of years ago in Castle Valley, Utah. The image was a byproduct of a contrasty, hazy scene, but it opened the doors for me to see monochromatic images in a new light, sorry for the play on words. There is a power to black and white. It is a simplification of your composition, simplistic tones to bring your viewer right into the heart of the matter. There is a such a graphic communication of the design elements as well. Lines, textures, shapes, and patterns stand out in a simplified rendering of monochrome. Thus, a perfect opportunity for me to highlight a final and yet an additional side to the country of China.

Spiraling Mists of Yang Shao China © Jay Goodrich

I know there might be some of you out there wondering what the actual method I used to create these images was. Today photographers can create a black and white image with the drag of a slider or the click of a menu option. There are more options than ever before in the monochromatic arena, but I have decided that Nik’s Silver Efex Pro 2 plug-in available for Aperture, Lightroom, and Photoshop is my creative weapon of choice. All of the images in this post were created using it. There is a simplicity to the Nik interface that I just get and within that interface multiple preset options that allow me to easily preview what I am about to convert. They have also created a selection system by which a photographer can add control points to any location on an image that automatically generate masks based on the users pixel selection. This method works almost flawlessly to generate targeted masks in half the time it takes to make selections in Photoshop.

Bamboo Gateway Yang Shao China © Jay Goodrich

Sunset over the Pines of Huang Shan, China © Jay Goodrich

Have you ever wondered why a certain grandparent goes beyond your parent’s ability? I am not criticizing my parents by any means, they are still raising me to this day, even when I think they shouldn’t be. Something happens though when a person takes over the role of a grandparent. It is like they are instilled with a form of wisdom that doesn’t exist prior. It is probably because by the time a family member makes it to the status of “grandparent”, they have seen and experienced so much that there is a level of intelligence that did not exist before. Or something like that, I might be able to offer more insight on this in 30 years.

Tree and Granite Texture Huang Shan, China © Jay Goodrich

My grandmother was born in 1911, she was a first generation American, her parents immigrated to this country through Ellis Island from Austria. She grew up in a house that was a block from where she passed away in Little Falls, New Jersey. I began visiting her by myself almost weekly at the age of 15 when I got my moped license. Yes that is right, a moped, the top speed was supposed to be around 25mph, but my friends and I learned how to customize them to go almost 50. We were the kid versions of Wildhogs, only we dressed in jean jackets that we drew our favorite eighties band logos all over, instead of that modern day yuppie Harley Leather. We were the punks of the road.

Farmer Cultivating Fields Guilin, China © Jay Goodrich

I believe my grandmother enjoyed my visits as much as I did. She would always tell me about how she saw the invention of the light bulb, the automobile, electricity in every home, and even a television in every home. She had see two World Wars, Vietnam, Korea, space travel, even the moon landing. I don’t know how many presidents she was alive for, but she passed at 94, so over 20. Listening to her talk, was almost mind blowing. A history that I will never know or see. Every visit that I had with her, always ended with a bunch of rolled up bills stuffed in my pocket and some quote that I would think about until I saw her again.

Line and Layers Yang Shoa, China © Jay Goodrich

This lasted until she had a severe stroke at 92. She became completely incoherent at this point, mixing all seven of the languages that she spoke, and not really recognizing anyone. It was at this point that I began remembering her for who she was and what her love and life story had meant to me. She once told me as I was leaving after a visit, “The journey is worth the experience.” Then proceed to stuff a hundred dollars worth of twenties in my pocket, “Until next time, have a hamburger or two.” Unfortunately for me there wasn’t a next time. She passed away a few months after my daughter was born. She always told me that she was sticking around so that she could see her first grandkids. Somehow, I truly believe that she did.

The Layers of a Market Yuan Yang, China © Jay Goodrich

Obviously, her words meant a lot to me, they still ring in my head after all these years. There are times when she appears in my dreams, and I have thoughts of her passing through my head during the day. I am not a firm believer in ghosts or the afterlife, however, I often wonder if those dreams and thoughts are my grandmother just letting me know she is still there. Making sure I am experiencing life to its fullest. I thought of her often when I was in China–when the food was bad, the air polluted, the overall way of life so different from my own. The journey is worth the experience. And in the end it was. China, a duality, a cultural overload, abstraction of beauty, so different and so wonderful that I cannot throw the experience out the window and declare it a waste.

A Local in the Mongolian Village Xin Meng, China © Jay Goodrich

It is those journeys that make you grow as a person. You figure out how to find what you are lacking during those 17 days “at sea”. Whether it be an American owned pizza place or a creative bug that needs to be exterminated. You learn to better yourself, your life, your passion, and of course your experience. Thank you gram. Thank you for instilling a bit of wisdom, a bit of history, and a comforting remembrance, when all is thought to be lost.

The Night Fisherman of Yuan Shao, China © Jay Goodrich

Riding a bicycle in Yang Shao, China © Jay Goodrich

Culture. My first thought was that cultural photographs would have to contain people in them, right? You can’t have a culture without people? That’s correct, but does a cultural photograph need to have people in it to be successful? Culture is about customs, art, food, clothing, etc. This very concept is something that would trouble me for hours while on the plane flying to China. I needed to solidify it in my head before landing. My first photos were going to be of a culture that I have never visited before and I did’t want to head out there shooting blanks. I was traveling with Art Wolfe for heaven’s sake. He shoots cultures like I shoot buildings. I can’t look like a chump in front of my friend. A George Costanza line in Seinfeld just kept screaming out to me, “And you call yourself a marine biologist.” Yes, Yes I do call myself a professional photographer. So how and why do you take photographs of culture? Then, how do make those photos successful? Hell, I don’t know. Are you starting to feel my dilemma?

A Cow Parked at the Front Door, Xin Meng, China © Jay Goodrich

It’s only a thirteen hour flight, I can figure it out. Sure, before I knew it that seatbelt sign was on and we were skipping across the surface of Japan, about to touch down in Korea, and I haven’t confidently figured anything out. I hate when that happens. The main reason for my concern was due to the fact that I did not want to copy Art. Yes, I could follow him around take the images he was going to take, and then call those images my own, but if you know me, I argue against those types of photographers every single day. BORING!

Entering the Market Yuang Yang China © Jay Goodrich

Then it came to me as I was waiting to de-plane and a guy right in front of me asked if I was returning home or visiting from Seattle. Now I don’t know why in a million years the movie Sleepless in Seattle would come to mind at this point, especially since I just finished watching The Matrix, Inception, and The American, but it did. And the scene that was right in front of me was when Rob Reiner and Tom Hanks were walking down the street talking about dating, and Reiner was giving him advice about getting back into the game–the line was something like, “No, you do it in your own creative way, tell her you want to look at swatches.” You do it in your own creative way. Ding. My own creative way. Of course, how stupid could I be? I shoot three very different types of photography, if I can pull that off, why not just add another to the mix and see what happens. What’s the worst case scenario…I fail miserably and head into a life of seclusion.

Jay's Garage in China © Jay Goodrich

It’s like a simple recipe really. All you have to do is miss a gram of this or a gram of that for the whole thing to fall apart. Just like the whole Inception script. Oh, great, I thought I would breeze right through this and immediately become a cultural photographer. Like my friend Younes Bounhar writes about me, “he’s a bit of a smart ass.” What if I shoot it like me though? Take everything I know and apply it. I spend countless hours chasing really fast skiers, mountain bikers, runners, hikers, animals, that has to add up to some kind of reflex control. There in became the mission. No portraits, that’s not me. Well mostly no portraits. Never say never, just follow the subjects and the light and see what materializes. From there, be creative. Oh and don’t screw up the controls on the camera. Also, forget the tripod, too much to set up with that thing. Hey, I barely ever use it while shooting action, unless I have the 600mm hand canon out. Free the mind and the soul will follow.

Chickens Ready for Dinner Yuang Yang, China © Jay Goodrich

It all clicked when I visited a market in Yuang Yang. This was a whole new experience for me. I remembered the post that I wrote about my daughter Jade being open to experience and began shooting. Anything and everything. Looking with open eyes, not at what others were shooting, but my surroundings. The smells, the light, the people. Wow, this is what another culture is all about. How fresh is a chicken that you have to kill yourself? Or riding a bike everyday because that is the way to get places. Discovering a garage that looks, well, a lot like mine. Or parking your cow at your front door. And then coming to the reality that most photographers face at some point–no matter how old a culture is, there is going to be a point, maybe not in my lifetime, but in my daughter’s or my son’s, that it declines. Modernism and Westernization always seem to find their way into culture. Maybe because Apple’s marketing is so good that everyone will eventually want the iPad. Or maybe, people can get into reading a magazine on the toilet instead peeing on a tree. Regardless, I think I am to blame too, I go to places off the beaten path with my iPhone, laptop, and digital cameras that are producing 20 megapixel files. I am part of that seed planting machine. Then, the rest quickly becomes history doesn’t it?

A Haircut in the Market Yuang Yang, China © Jay Goodrich

I got my shots though. Too bad for you. And now we’re walking…

Modern Culture Always Invades © Jay Goodrich

Mark Kogelmann Drops into the Powder of Blueberry Chutes © Jay Goodrich

Many of you have been wondering where the heck I have been. It has been how many weeks since my last post? I know, I know, inconsistency is not good for Google, SEO, PPO, CPS, NPS, LLC, INC, and whatever other abbreviations you can come up with. Seriously though, I have been working like a crazy man. 21 days of photographing skiing, 14 days of teaching workshops, and then image mastering–tons of mastering, keywording, descriptions, titles, and headlines. And let’s not forget the proposals for upcoming projects. Days are just flying by, I can’t believe it’s almost April?

I have put together submissions to Patagonia, Powder Magazine, Black Diamond Equipment, and a major calendar company. I taught a workshop with my dear friend Art Wolfe in Seattle on the art of composing images, then I taught two HDR workshops at this year’s NANPA Summit in McAllen, TX, and the whole time in-between working to create the best ski portfolio ever. This is where I need to add a special thank you to all of the athletes who have been working with me–Mark Kogelmann, Owen Dudley, Peder Bottheim, Tyler Hatcher, Nick Marvic, Colin Poff, Pat Tolton, and Ian Burge. The images would be nothing without them. Now, I would also like to thank the Academy…I think it just feels good to complete missions and projects. It’s like adding another notch to the bedpost. Or something like that. Laugh. Oh and there will be a film highlighting all this work sometime this spring, with an interview with ah…me. We are thinking of calling it life | SENTENCES, what do you think?

I have been to Seattle, Texas, Canada, and now as you read this China. Yep, JG Inc. is going international–again, this time crossing the monster pond. If I can sort out an internet connection while there, (which I am hoping I can do) I will post some of the work I am creating while there.

As if that wasn’t enough, l have managed to fill all but 2 of my workshops. China–FULL, The Olympic Peninsula–FULL, Zion–FULL, Lightroom 3–space left, and Alaska–space left. The Alaska trip is being co-lead with Art Wolfe, so why wouldn’t you want to go? I mean it is not everyday that you get to drink really good Tequila and Bourbon with really good photographers. Right? And in the future, I promise to try and enlighten the world at least once a week with something intriguing, if not, it will at least be completely off the wall, humorous, and as misdirected as a Jack Russell Terrier.

Playa del Carmen, Mexico Too © Jay Goodrich

I can’t stop. You understand. Don’t you? As I wrote yesterday on the Outdoor Photographer blog site I am supposed to be on vacation, but the colors where I am staying here in Mexico are in the words of Seinfeld’s Kramer, “Outta Control!” It is a color palette so rich that the raw image files are beyond words. The family just stood behind me staring at the laptop in disbelief. This may be a vacation, but it is also a photographer’s dream come true.

For the last seven nights the sunsets have been so unbelievably colorful that I just have to share some of the images with you. And this ain’t the tequila talking either. Although I can say I am a bit buzzed right now–hey it’s 12 noon somewhere in the world. The colors are so saturated that they don’t even look real. This is just a teaser there will be more to come, I am sure of that. It’s time to sip some more Casa Noble.

Art Wolfe Photography Workshops

Art Wolfe has just announced a new workshop website in which he and a few others will be leading tours and workshops around the world. Click here to have a look. I am one of the five instructors he has selected to help with the mission. Stay tuned for more updates and future plans.