Dion Dolva Blog

So in order to learn new techniques with my camera I’ve decided to by some new stuff, well deciding really. I’ve been deciding for a while now on what to get next. Bag, another flash, softbox, better camera, a different lens, etc… the list could go on really. I’ve decided that a softbox is most likely what I want to  get next. That was easy, now which one.  I’m going to bring it with me most places, so portability is nice, but being on a budget like myself price is going to win. I know it’s not probably very sustainable of me to buy cheap crap from china, but I have yet to make money from taking pictures, so I don’t feel to bad if I don’t by “brand name” stuff.  I ran across a softbox on cowboystudio.com, looks like a knockoff of the Lastolite EZYBOX, but at over half the price, looks like it’s the option for me. I was also looking at the 28″ Westscott Apollo (Zach Araias digs these too, from what I can tell), not a bad price for a bigger softbox and might possibly be next on the list of things to buy.  Well I’m going to buy this thing today, probably, at least by the end of the weekend. I’ll post some results when I get the goods.

Throughout the past 6 days, I have been overwhelmed with the response to help save our house.  Leading up to the water, we laid approximately 9000 sandbags and consumed 100 yards of sand.  Our elevation relative to the gage is 35.5′ at the lowest point, meaning a sandbag dike 6.5-7′ tall.  Without question an engineering feat and a long shot.

It’s with regret that I let all of you know we lost the battle last night.  The day started early, pumping water with 1 pump at approximately 3:00 AM.  Flood stage of ~36-36.5′.  Throughout the day, the seepage continued to get worse as the river rose.  Additional pumps were added throughout the day, maxing out at 8 sump pumps running constant.  A 4″ gas pump was brought in to “get ahead” of the water, which sufficed for about 15 minutes.

Throughout the day we attempted to seal up holes, but as expected this is difficult if not impossible.  As the river continued to rise, seeping getting worse, and the knowledge that the crest was still days away, we realized our chances weren’t good.  We decided to make a final push to get everything up as best as we could, and get some things packed for the coming weeks.  About 6:00 last night, with the river just short of 39′ we shut the breaker off and took one last walk through before leaving.

At this point, with all of your help I know we did everything we could.  We weren’t the first to go, and sadly I doubt we will be the last.  Please pass along our thanks to the many friends, family, etc that you personally brought with to help.

Now it’s our turn – if any of you need anything (move out furniture, help in your neighborhood, etc) for the remainder of the fight, please let us know.  I know some of you are behind clay or sandbag levees.

Thank you all,

Chris and Rachel

Headed to Montana this week for a little uncrowded skiing. There’s nobody up there compared to skiing in Colorado, I love it. If my math is right this will be the 22 consecutive year that I’ve been skiing at Big Sky. Being that I’m 32 years old, that’s a fair chunk of my life. As a kid we used to load up the Blazer and take off on a Wed after school, drive all night and hop on the lift first thing in the morning. I’d wait all winter for that trip, building jumps in my front yard, pretending I was dropping cliffs like Scott Schmidt and Glen Plake. I still wait all winter long for our trip, now with my wife and meeting my parents up there. Now instead of building jumps on a little hill in rural Minnesota, I put in some days at Winter Park and Copper mostly.

Some days I find that it’s tough to be inspired to do stuff. Creating new designs or finding new treatments for the same ol’ videos. Or figuring out how to be inspired to go for my long runs on Fridays. Lately I get inspired in the form of the internet. Whether it’s a kick ass photographers blog, finding some cool things on flickr or looking up some old commercials on youtube, somehow, somewhere there is something to inspire me to keep plugging along or put one foot in front of the other. These links have given me inspiration in the past or are currently doing so.

Chase Jarvis – pretty much awesomeness in commercial photography. Keeps his fans up to date with what he’s doing via facebook, twitter or his blog. I’ve found that there are very few people who have a great mix of being business minded as well as keeping they’re creativity in check. Keep up the good work.

Scott Kelby – if you think you know photosop, think again this guy could prolly list off more things in 10 seconds that you don’t know about photoshop than you know about photoshop. He’s also a crazy good photographer, instructor, blogger, author, etc… I ofter wonder if the guy gets to sleep ever.

PSD tuts, AE tuts, Vector tuts, etc.. – get all learned up on your favorite progrums or just look at some pictures and find some inspiration.

swissmiss – designer Tina Roth Eisenberg has a blog that she updates all the time with images, products & designs that basically make you smile.

Backcountry.com – Along with some kickasscrazy deals, they’ve got a blog filled with randomness that will make your day.

Aside from my wife, there aren’t many things that I love more than skiing. One of my favorite times of the year is when the ski magazines publish their photo annuals. Just capturing that perfect turn, air, or whatever captivates me for literally minutes. Here’s just a couple of shots from our outing last weekend. Enjoy. Click on the picture to take a look at some others as well.