Day 191

191/365, originally uploaded by Aaron LaRue.

This is Austin.  

I met him when he was 4 and we've been friends ever since. He's a silly kid who loves leadin' the pack and gettin' wicked, and he's easily the most politically-minded 17 year old I've ever met. We grew up riding razor scooters, biking, motorcycling, wakeboarding, and snowboarding. Pretty much anything our parents would let us get away with. We haven't hit the streets on our scooters in a long time, but we still hit the lakes and the mountains together every year. 

You can see him up front, trudging up the mountain on Day 180. This was when he gave himself the nickname "the powder hound" (I think he's pretty bummed that one didn't stick, too). The snow dumped today (we got that 2-3 and then some) and most of the mountain was closed, so we spent the day messing around at the house. I needed a picture and I kind of felt like doing a portrait/person shot. Austin was down to go out into the blizzardy abyss and I couldn't have asked for a better place to shoot the powder hound himself. 


I only had one flash with me (my 430ex II), so I had to work smart. Even if I had more flashes, I probably wouldn't have used them. The snow was coming down hard and it was really windy so I had to figure out how to waterproof my gear. We shot this on the balcony of the place we're staying at and I was able to shoot through an open door, so my camera was taken care of. For my flash I went all kludge and raided the kitchen, this is what I ended up with:






It's a crap-ton of saran wrap and then I set it in a pie tin. It was sketchy as hell, but it actually worked well and my flash survived. I didn't have a light stand or a willing V.A.L. so we just balanced it on the nearby BBQ. Definitely one of the most improved  set-ups I've had, but you work with what you got. Overall, I'm stoked on the picture. I have some more casual poses, but Austin is generally pretty pumped so I think the thumbs up totally works. 

Taking this picture was nice because it made me do some thinking. It was a nice distraction from the cabin fever, which is slowly creeping in. They're saying it's gonna be -24 degrees with windchill tomorrow, but if the lifts are open I'm going out. I can't take being inside anymore!