This past year has been amazing. Another wonderfully growing year of learning, working hard, being creative, and exploring possibilities.

And as always I cherish my time in the mountains. Even though I worked more this past year than I ever have putting tons of energy into my business and projects, I still found some time to be in the mountains. This time is so special to me and I am so blessed to have such wonderful friends to share these experiences with.

I want to share some of my favorite shots and adventures with you. These will be in order of when I took them so we can see the progression of the year. It has been another amazing year of living and these are some of my highlights. If you have any favorites please leave a comment, I love hearing from you. Hope you Enjoy!

This is my good friend Chris Sharma. He was in town filming for his movie King Lines. Hard to believe it but this was in January up at the Buttermilks. Chris is amazing and is one of the world’s best climbers, not to mention one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet.

This was taken in March at a new favorite local spot. “Red Hill” is about a 3 minute drive from my house and is this really cool little hill (but just big enough) that puts you elevated right in the center of the Owens Valley, one of the deepest Valleys in North America.

This is probably my favorite picture from the year and was taken from Red Hill. I’m probably biased because it looks right down on my neighborhood, my home. I’m just in awe that I get to live here. Dreams do come true!

This was a really cool view I found of Vernal Falls in Yosemite when I climbed over the railing and explored out a little closer to the edge and climbed onto this ledge. It looked right out over the dropping waterfall. Incredible!

This is Sean Jones on the grandest route of his life, “Growing Up” on Half Dome. Sean and I have worked together almost exclusively through the last 7 years capturing images of him on his collection of new routes throughout Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada, and this one got us our First Cover. He is a visionary rock climber and has explored and pioneered new climbing routes in Yosemite and throughout the Sierra Nevada, a world mecca for rock climbing. I’m building Sean a website as we speak so when that goes live in the next few weeks I’ll let you know. You can see more of “Growing Up” HERE.

This is my brotha Ryan chillin in Tuolumne Meadows. Nice spot to kick back.

The ever gorgeous Tuolumne Meadows, one of my favorite places on earth.

This next series is when Ryan and I went out and climbed the north ridge of North Peak and then the north Ridge of Mt Conness in this really cool and long mountain linkup. You can see more HERE.

We climbed straight up the incredible arete on the left hand skyline as the final push to the summit. It was soooo exposed and exhilarating. What a beautiful line!!

Mid summer Sean Jones and I went back to Half Dome when he did his final push to climb his new route “Growing Up” and we got these amazing shots up on the towering 1200 ft headwall thats 1000 feet off the deck. Wow!! You can see more HERE.

Another day at my local Red Hill.

In early September my friends Ryan, Zack, and I went out and climbed an amazing mountain called Bear Creek Spire. This is a really famous peak right in the heart of the Sierra up Rock Creek and we had an incredible day! You can see more HERE.

A few weeks later my friend Lisa and I went and climbed on Mt Humphreys, the towering peak over Bishop. I can see this peak from my yard. You can see more HERE.

A few weeks later Lisa and I went out again up to Mt Emerson. Its incredible to live somewhere where you can just go out around home and be in world class mountain scenery and terrain. I LOVE living where I live here in Bishop, California. You can see more HERE.

A couple days after Emerson I went on a really long hike with my dear friend Kevin Maddrey, a very talented artist and vagabond. We hiked deep into a remote area of the Yosemite high country to a nature art piece Kevin had done earlier in the summer. This area was totally insane it was so beautiful and there wasn’t a soul in sight. You can see more HERE.

My beloved Mono Lake at dusk.

I spent a very reflective Thanksgiving in Tuolumne and Yosemite this year so it was fitting to come across this beautiful scene at sunset. You can see more HERE.

My friend Ryan and I got to go on a hike into the High Sierra all the way in December this year. It was right before the big snows came and was such a treat to be in the high country this time of year. You can see more HERE.

And to finish out here’s a classic Bishop winter sunrise. Its so beautiful here! You can see more HERE.

Hope you’re enjoyed these photos and I hope this New Year brings you much happiness.

Well as we enter into this New Year I wanted to take some time and look back over this past year. Its been quite a journey for me. So much has happened and changed in my life and I have loved being apart of it as it’s all unfolded. This year more than ever in my life have I seen and reaped the benefits from having a vision and intentions, and working hard and having commitment to create that vision. Makes me think of a quote I wrote down that my Dad has pinned up in his office.

“Commitment is what transforms a promise into reality. It is the words that speak boldly of your intentions. And the actions that speak louder than the words. It is making time when there is none. Coming through time after time, year after year. Commitment is the stuff character is made of: the power to change the face of things. It is the daily triumph of integrity over skepticism.”

This was my first year shooting weddings. I wanted to shoot 10 weddings, and thats exactly how may I shot. I wanted my photography business to take off to where I didn’t have to work for anyone else; it did. I wanted to get my first National Magazine Cover; it happened. I wanted to start a music business to make mine and others music available to professional photographers. This awesome project is in the works and will be coming out soon. This is so exciting for me because I’ve dreamed of being able to share my music with others for as long as I can remember.

Its been so cool for me looking back over my favorite shots from 2007 to see how I’ve grown and matured as a photographer. I’d like to share some of my favorite wedding shots from 2007. I’m going to include them in the order that I took them so you can also see my path of growth. I hope this post inspires you to take some time and think about how you’ve grown this year and set some intentions for this coming year. If you have any favs out of the bunch please post a comment so I can know which ones you like. I’ll also be posting my favorite landscape and lifestyle photos from the year later this week so be sure to check back soon!  Also please leave a comment if you have a favorite from the bunch.  I love seeing what images other people love!  Happy New Year!

So this was my first engagement shoot ever! Kate and Larry were awesome and I absolutely love them. You can see the original posts HERE and HERE.

Rebecca and Marcus had an amazing “Day Before Session” where they got dressed up in their wedding attire a few weeks before their wedding. It was so fun and you can see more HERE.

Erica and Josh’s wedding was my first for the year. They’re really good friends and their wedding was so beautiful right on The Merced River. You can see more HERE.

Josie and Nate’s wedding at Convict Lake was very special for me. Josie is one of my best friends and is very dear to me, so it was an honor to capture memories for her and Nate. You can see more HERE.

This next shot is one of my favorite all time shots.

Carylie and Chad’s wedding was stunning. It was my closest wedding this year, about a mile away at my favorite local park. I could have ridden my bike if I didn’t have so much gear. You can see more HERE.

Kate and Larry had a magical wedding at The Grand Valhalla Hall on Lake Tahoe. The entire event and everyone involved were gorgeous. I was blown away and had some awesome creative challenges to deal with. This was my first indoor wedding! It couldn’t have been any better though as the Great Hall was stunning and gave me a beautiful canvas to work with. You can see more HERE. More of my favorite shots came from here than any other wedding.

Jen and Tor had a lovely wedding outside of Yosemite at the Evergreen Lodge near Hetch Hetchy. This place is special for me as I’ve spent a lot of time out at Hetch Hetchy documenting new climbing routes on its towering walls. You can see more HERE.

Brian and Schuyler had an over the top Wedding Weekend on the beautiful coast of Maine at Boothbay Harbor. There were friends and family that flew in from all over the country for an incredible weekend. You can check out more HERE.

Cynthia and Brad had a very special heartfelt wedding in Yosemite. They both met and have lived in Yosemite for years, so it was so special for all their friends and family come to celebrate with them in their home. You can see more HERE.

Claire and Mike also met and fell in love in Yosemite. We got to do a “Day Before Session” before shooting their wedding which really captured their love for each other and for Yosemite. You can see more HERE.

I had an amazing New Years with friends up in Nevada City. I flew in on New Years eve to Reno and then headed over to Nevada City to spend a few days with good friends before coming home to Bishop. What a whirlwind last month of travels its been and I’m soooooo glad to finally be home and settling back in, and getting caught up on my work.

It was amazing though to be with some of my best friends to bring in the new year. On new years day we all took an awesome hike down to this amazing waterfall in the woods behind Erin, Katie, and Joi’s house. Wow!! It was so incredible to be back in nature after a few weeks on the East Coast. As much as I love my family it always feels sooo good to come back to California and to be able to spend time in such beautiful nature with such good friends.

Happy New year everyone!! I hope it brings you much joy, love, and prosperity!

I just got home from an amazing trip back to Maryland to spend time with my family. It was so great to see everyone and this yearly trip is always so special for me. I only get to see my family usually once a year during the holidays. I love them so much and I cherish the time I get to spend with them.

It does feel really good to be home though. I love seeing my family so much but coming home to Bishop is like coming home to heaven for me. I love the mountains and nature so much and feel blessed to be living the life I live.

I also really need to get caught up on some work now. I’m nearly finished editing a wedding I shot at thanksgiving that I really need to finish up but the holidays just engulfed me, especially being with my family. I also need to finish some album designs and spend time on a major recording project I’m working on.

I’m so excited for 2008 and all thats ahead!!! Happy New Year!

It was so great to see and spend time with my Mom! I love her so much and she is so helpful and loving. Here she is with her partner John and a self timer shot with them and my sister. Love you guys sooo much!

Here’s my sister April at my Dad’s house on Christmas and a few other shots from Christmas Day.

We had a really fun game of Cranium that night. I’m really not a big fan of board games but this one was so much fun!

Here my brother Alex entertains us with his comical anecdotes.

Here’s a couple shots from when my Dad went to a friends home studio to lay down some tracks for an album he’s working on.

One night my Dad, Lynn, and I went out to a blues jam that my Dad played in. It was great to see some live music, especially my own Dad rocking it!

I had a really cool opportunity to shoot some images of a super cool art project in inner city Baltimore. My Dad’s good friend Jay Wolf Schlossberg-Cohen, a renowned artist has initiated a wonderful project to help save a school through art and community involvement. He has helped save a school that was going to be closed in inner city Baltimore by getting the community involved and and painting huge murals with the children of the school and other members of the community on the schools inner hallways and walls. This has transformed the environment of the school and helped to bring the community together. Jay oversaw the painting of the murals and made sure it all came together, but the community did much of the painting with him.

My dad and I went down to visit him one day while he was working in the school on their Christmas break. He was looking for ideas on how to hang some huge art banners so we all brainstormed and got some great ideas. It was really cool to see what Jay’s doing and how its making a difference. So inspiring!

When I was in Maryland I went and visited my friend Paul at his studio Sound Force Studios. He’s got a great setup and does really amazing work. Paul’s also going to be an avid contributor to the music site I’m building due out this spring where we’ll be making available high quality music to professional photographers and videographers with a sync license to use with their websites, slideshows, dvd productions and more. Stay tuned as this project is going to have more and more info coming out about it soon.

Enjoy the pics!

And here’s the man himself, Paul Alvaran.