Category Archives: Get to know Brett & Liz

On Monday we were driving home  from Tucson where we shot Alison and Andy’s beautiful wedding. Along the way we decided to stop and photograph some of the many dilapidated and ramshackle buildings that are scattered along the Interstate 8 and 10 in Arizona and California. After passing through the Agricultural station on the border of CA and AZ, we saw a group of old buildings and cars on the right and exited the freeway. Once off the highway the road quickly turned to dirt that seemed to be fine to drive on.  Our borrowed Mini-van was handling it well. Elizabeth seemed a little worried but I thought it would be ok. Everything was going fine and we were getting closer to the buildings when suddenly the road dropped down a little hill and became a sandy wash. I decided to stay on the gas pedal to see if we could get across it to an area of harder dirt.  Unfortunately the further we got down the wash, the deeper the sand became.  I made one tragic mistake and lifted off the gas pedal for a slit second and that was it.  We lost momentum and dug ourselves deeply into the sand. Amazingly we had traveled about 1/2-3/4 of a mile down the wash before getting stuck!  We made three attempts to dig her out as well as airing the tires down to about ten pounds to get some more surface coverage on the sand.  After about two hours of digging and jacking up the car and getting no where we threw in the towel and called a tow truck.  After all it was about 95 degrees out there in the hot sand and Liz and our dog Piglet were beginning to overheat. Thank goodness we had cellular reception.  It also didn’t hurt that we were close to the Border station just on the other side of the fence. After about 15 minutes a 4×4 tow truck showed up and dragged us out in no time.  We made it out safely and learned our lesson by paying what I like to call “the stupid motorist tax, $150 in tow truck fees.  Next time we’re in a van we will be sure to look ahead and watch carefully for any danger ahead… either that or we will just take our truck instead.

Sometimes things come together just the way they are supposed to and you have to love when that happens.  Our Death Valley trip was one of those occasions.  About a month ago, our good friend and fellow photographer, Stewart Marcano, approached us about taking a trip to the desert of southern California.  Another fellow photog, Elliott Crowley, was thinking about doing a “395 Trip.”  What, you might ask, is a “395 Trip?”  For this group it is a trip out highway 395 to the splendid and fascinating world of the desert.

San Diegans and other denizens of Southern California know that one of the highlights of  spring is the desert.  So desolate and blistering hot in the summer, the desert is amazingly beautiful in the spring as it comes into bloom.  One of the best places to see this incredible display of nature is Death Valley.  We discovered our friends Adam and Sara were headed to Death Valley as was a former professor, Christopher Broughton.  For all of us this it was a no brainer.  With little to no thought we added Death Valley to our 395 itinerary.  Over a matter of days a trip what started with just three of us blossomed into a reunion of former teachers and fellow students from Brook’s Institute of Photography.  Sometimes life has a way of bringing us together in the most magical and unplanned ways.

Our trip began at four in the morning with Stewart showing up at our house in La Jolla.  Making sure we had coffee on board (after all four in the morning is four in the morning) we start our race north looking for first light.  Passing through the Mojave Desert we began to get a hint of what was to come.  Flowers in shades of  yellow and  blue covered the desert floor.  We had never seen so many flowers on a dusty, bushy desert landscape.

Our first stop of the day was the old gold mining town of Darwin.  It is a rather unusual place.  The old town and mines are long deserted and spooky.  You know there is no one around but you feel, none the less, that you are being watched.  The newer areas of Darwin, which grew up around the ghost town is just as strange and eery as the older areas. You know people are there but the only place we saw them was at the post office where they waited for their daily supply of Netflix.   Exploring the town and its decrepit buildings and rusting vehicles, we took pictures of what ever attracted us.  Driving trucks with four wheel drive gave us access to some interesting and unusual sites.  But don’t be deterred.  You can enjoy this historic town by using more conventional (paved) roads.

After Darwin we headed to Stovepipe Wells in Death Valley.  We were the first of our motley crew to arrive at what we affectionally referred to as “Base Camp.” It is really a dirt lot camping ground.  Before long “Base Camp” began to fill up so we reserved some spots and waited for our fellow travellers to arrive. It didn’t take long.  Elliot showed up in his gorgeous Airstream and not long after, Adam and Sara showed up and pitched their tent not far from ours.  Once everybody was settled we took off for our first adventure to the Devils Golf course.  If you have never seen it you will understand when you see out pictures.   Do not make the mistake Brett did and wear shoes with thin soles.  These formations are amazingly beautiful but they are also SHARP!!  So take care what you wear on your feet.  Next we headed out on a lovely drive to the Artist’s loop.  We also stopped for a short hike into the hills and found out once again that we were ill prepared for scrambling up rock faces with our equipment.

The next day we awoke before the sun and ventured down the road to capture the Dunes as first light hit them.  We thought we were early but found that our friend, Chris Broughton, had beat us as usual and had already made the hike out.  First light in the dunes of Death Valley is a magical time.  Your really get to see the shape and form of the dunes as that low, raking first light of day breaks across them.  Even if you don’t take your camera with you, you should see this at least once in your life. It is absolutely captivating!

Once the sun is up, you will understand why it is called Death Valley.  The heat of the desert enervates you, stealing all energy and leaving a sweltering lump.  Returning to Basecamp we prepared ourselves for the day ahead.  Heading to Beatty, just inside the Nevada Border, this is a great place for several reasons.  Gas is cheaper by $1.50 to $2.00 and they have a great little store, The Death Valley Nut and Candy Store, where you find an amazing selection of goodies.  After all, what would the desert be without a sugar high?

From there we trekked north on the 95 past a few Brothels and came upon a burned out fuel station which afforded us the opportunity to take some great shots.  Finishing there we rolled on to our next location.  A dry lake bed along the 267 on our way back into the park was calling to us.  The group pulled in and Elliot did a shot for a project he is working on while the rest of us gave him a hand or took pictures of our own.

Back on the road….again.   If you have never been to this incredible place There is a LOT of driving in Death Valley if you want to see anything. We continued down the road and stopped briefly at Scotty’s Castle.  This is a great spot where you can learn some history as well as get some great shots of a cool place.

Back in the cars, we headed for our next stop: The Race Track.  Now for those of you who do not know of the race track, it is a magical and amazing place in Death Valley,  as well as being one of our favorite places to see.  First of all there is a 27 mile washboard road that attacks your kidneys for 45-minutes to 1 1/2 hours depending on the comfort and speed at which you assault them.  Be sure to stop by Teakettle junction in order to admire the many tea pots that adorn the sign.  After another 15 minutes or so of driving you will come around a corner and see the vast expanse of the dry lake-bed, or Playa, that is before you.

The first stop is the grandstand.  This collection of rock juts out from the north eastern side of the lake and is worth an explore.  Once you have explored to your hearts content, we recommend that you drive to the far west side of the lake so you can see where the magic comes from.  This is our favorite part.  The reason this lake is called the Race Track is that boulders are seemingly flung from this side of the lake and dragged all across the playa leaving tracks behind them as they go.  These tracks go in all directions and seem to have no rhyme or reason.  There are many ideas and philosophies as to how they move, but making up your own is far more fun. Brett’s favorite is that aliens are playing a game like marbles and when the rocks disappear, someone has scored a point.  Make up your own, its fun!  The best part is, is that the locations and dragged marks change from year to year.  We have heard of people going out there and only finding one or two rocks on the entire bed after a full day of searching.  Luckily the two times we have been out there we had our pick of many available rocks.  As you will see by the pictures this is a magical and mysterious place and, we can assure you, these are not the last pictures you will see from us and this crazy place.

So as the sun set we scrurried back across the washboard for our almost two hour trip back to ‘Base Camp.” Once we arrived we made a fantastic dinner of Cheesburgers with Bretts Special seasoning mix.  Elliott contributed one of his amazing salads, and the remainder of our veggies.  After the feast some Vodka was poured, a few beers were cracked and a bottle of wine was popped. A perfect ending to a busy day.

Needless to say after the previous two days nobody felt like getting up early the next day. So after breakfast we packed up camp and had a discussion of how to spend the rest of our day. After a short talk Elliot decided to head home because he had a long drive back to Santa Barbara with his Airstream.  The rest of us, (Adam, Sara, Stewart, Liz And Brett) decided that a leasurly drive home stopping at a few of our favorite stops along the 395, were in order.  So we spent the rest of the day driving and stopping wherever we pleased.  We got some great images and found some new sights as well.  One new place we will have to explore more is the sleepy mine town of Randsburg.  This place is half dirt biker heaven for a bar and snacks, and half sleepy old miners town.  This is definitely a place we would love to come back to.  For the adventures it would make a great place to do an engagement shoot.  So if you interested… let us know.

This was an absolutely amazing trip.  Everyone got along famously.  We cooked gourmet dinners on Elliott’s amazing folding grill that was missing a wheel,  we burned marshmallows,  we woke up way too early to hike out for sunrise at the dunes,  and kept our neighbors up with campfires stories, and when the trip was all over we couldn’t wait to do it all again.

Our first stop Darwin CA

 

We were drawn to this cool old water truck.

 

We saw this cool waiting room chair out in the middle of the desert on our way out of Darwin and could not resist stopping to grab a shot of it.

 

Mr Eliot Crowley at the Devils Golf Course

 

Liz out and about on the Devils Golf Course

 

Adam Morris out on the Course

 

Sunrise at the Dunes is a magical time

 

Liz doing what she does best

 

The Dreaded Gas Station in Nevada

 

Brett’s attempt at sexy

 

Liz pauses from shooting to take in all the splendor of the Playa

 

Brett gets down and dirty to get the shot

 

Our trip home on the 395

 

Brett and Adam in the back room of a cafe that is falling apart.

 

We made a pit stop for a photo op. Thanks for the portrait Stew.

 

The desert wildflowers were everywhere on the way home. It would have been a sin if we had not stopped to see them.

 

If they say home is where the heart is, then our home has been in San Diego for quite some time.  After what seemed like a very short year and only giving half of what we really could have been giving to Los Angeles, we came to the realization that it just wasn’t the place for us.  So we packed up our little house (Which is one thing we will miss greatly from LA) and headed down to beautiful, sunny San Diego.  What can we say; the weather is great, the wedding market is blooming, and the town is full of great and interesting people.  We have made some very good friends while we were in Los Angeles and will miss them all greatly.  But not to worry we will be back up there in no time to come visit.  After some searching we have found a fabulous place to hang our hat, and are very excited to announce that we will be opening our first office in the coming months! So if you have some family or friends you think we need to meet in the San Diego area, have them drop us a line so we can take them out for coffee.  We are very excited for this next stage in our lives and cannot wait to get the ball rolling.


This year we spent Valentine’s Day in one of the coldest places Brett and I have ever been, Bemidji Minnesota!  We got really lucky too, it’s usually  negative 20 degrees with intensely cold wind chill.  It got as high as 27 degrees during our stay, which we were told was unseasonably warm!  I have to say that I have never loved my North Face jacket more than on this trip.  It kept me nice and toasty.  Well, it and the other 5 layers I had on. The reason for our adventure to Bemidji at this time of year, was to attend and Photograph our friends’ Tracy and Jake’s Wedding(Pictures coming soon).  Tracy and I have known one another from the age 5, so it was truly one of the most touching moments of my life to be at my long time best-friend’s wedding capturing her most precious moments.   And I have to say you know it’s a good wedding when everyone is still on the dance floor at 1 am and even the DJ is rocking out and singing along.

Brett and I made new friends on this trip (whom we already miss and cant wait to see again) two of which we stayed with, Leah and Troy.  We invaded their home for the weekend, leaving our mass amounts of camera gear all over their upstairs bedroom, playing with their wonderful dogs Joe and Thor, wandering around aimlessly taking pictures of all their horses, and my personal favorite Troy taking us on Mr.Toads wild ride in the front yard, getting the truck stuck in the snowbank and then when we thought all was lost, getting it unstuck.  Leah and Troy were the most amazing hosts.  There was even home made lasagna and garlic bread when we arrived after our 2 hour drive from Fargo.  Leah your amazing!

After all that Leah and Troy had already done for us over the weekend, Leah made my Valentine’s Day perfect by hooking up her 2 draft horses and taking us all out on a sleigh ride through the snow filled woods on their property.  And I have to say Tracy put it perfectly when she described our ride in the woods as reminding her of something out of “The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe”.  I was expecting to spot a lone lamp post at any moment.

Here are some pictures from our amazing Valentine’s Day sleigh ride!

The horses totally snuck a little snack in before getting all their gear on

The horses totally snuck a snack before getting all geared up

 

Brett caught me making friends

 

I love the effect the wind had in this picture kicking up the snow. Although at the time I have to say that I was not a big fan of the bone chilling gusts of wind.

 

Desi and Amanda, looking all cute and bundled

Desi and Amanda looking all cute and bundle.

 

Leah is ready! Lets not keep her waiting.

 

Tracy and I

 

Off we go!

 

Tracy’s horse Kara wanted to come with us. She troted along side the sleigh until she ran out of fence

 

Leah’s dog Joe

 

Joe jumped off the sleigh not realizing how deep the snow was, and immediately tired to get back on. It took him a few tries.

 

Then Jake jumped off.

 

So we decided it was a good time to stop and make snow angels

 

Brett totally missed me making my snow angel! And it was a really good one, you’ll just have to take my word for it.

 

I love my Fargo hat!

 

The end to a great sleigh ride.

 

Thank you, Tracy, Jake, Leah and Troy for a weekend we will never forget.  We cant wait to come back and visit with you in the fall!