§ Personal Essays / Reflections
Once started as a blog to document my explorations and "departures" from my normal photographic stylings and wanderings, "Departures" now documents my explorations in the world I live in. No longer is "Departures" only about photographic and artistic endeavors, but about adventure, investigation, and even from time to time philosophic ramblings of a restless mind.
Last Friday, after dropping the boys off at school, I headed up to Mantua to photograph. The light was just too magical to just sit at home.
Hot take: Apple Music on iOS and macOS sucks. The iPhone has never really been the best way for me to consume music—and yet, for the past 12+ years, it’s…
This year has been a good one for having some of my photographic work included in a few exhibitions, one of which I consider to be a/the highlight of my…
I’m going to sell the 5×7. Something that only a few months ago I swore I would never do again. I was forever all in on the 5×7 train. I…
Last summer and fall Tommy would ask with a little bit of regularity which was my favorite activity between fly fishing, birding, and photography. I would explain to him in…
I’ve written several posts here on the blog about music that moves me, and a few of those posts deal with the Avett Brothers in some way or another. My…
During the Christmas holiday I printed some photographs for woven pieces, with the intention of working on them then, but instead focused on making some carbon prints and cyanotypes, and…
Back in November, in a “Here’s a Thought” episode of Brooks Jensen’s podcast, he talked about whether a body of work is finished or concluded. He mentioned book trilogies, specifically…
In the canonized account of Joseph Smith’s First Vision of God The Father and Jesus Christ, he tells of entering a grove of trees to pray to ask of God…
In one of the semesters of my junior year of college, I had to take a graphic design course as part of my core art curriculum. We had an adjunct…
I hadn’t intended on publishing this post this soon, and so close to the heels of my last post, but I feel like this one needs to be published sooner…
In mid-October 2023, Gina and I signed up for a health challenge that required us to exercise for a certain amount of time every day. I work a 4-10 schedule,…
I just finished a book by the same title of this blog post, and it’s because of that book that I’m writing this blog post, and why I’ll be posting…
Sorry for the Death Cab for Cutie quote, but I couldn’t resist. If you look at the date of my last post, it’s been more than a year since I’ve…
Photography was something I really enjoyed doing. Now, before you think I’ve lost the enjoyment of it and am calling it quits, keep reading. My path to dedicating so, so…
Podcasts have been a staple in my listening/entertaining/learning habits since This Week in Tech and Diggnation started in 2005. The former continues on, but the latter ended in 2011. I’m…
Every once in a while I ponder what my dream features I would love to see manufacturers build into their cameras or lenses, and I have a few that are…
Tommy periodically comes to me or Gina and asks for our phones to take pictures, and watching him photograph has been very refreshing and educational. Yes, the man with the…
Over the past 13 or so years I’ve had a mild fixation on fire rings. I’ve always been drawn to the way humans interact with and alter their environment, be…
Several years ago now a retired co-worker came into my office with a giant lens, not like any I’d ever seen before. He handed it to me and explained it…
Things have been pretty quiet here this year. Perhaps “dead” would be a better way to put it. In my last post, I broke the news that we bought a…
Letha Wilson’s work is part sculpture, part photography, and I love how each plays just as important a role in her pieces.
Back in March we saw a house for sale in Providence, and after a showing with our realtor, we decided to put an offer on it. We knew the offer…
It’s been far too quiet on this blog. I really need to make it more of a priority, and get back to posting more regularly. It’s easy for me to…
I’ve been on the fence about starting 52 Photographers back up for another volume for a couple of months, and today I decided to do it. In all honesty, I…
In Brooks Jensen’s latest LensWork podcast, Searching versus Finding, he talks about why a photographer would want to go to a National Park to photograph. Here’s my brief response/defense: Why…
The History of Photography has long been one of my favorite subjects. When I was registering for college and needed to declare a major my choice was between some facet…
Well, here we are, over a week into the new year and new decade, and over the past few weeks I’ve been thinking and pondering over what goals I would…
As 2019 draws to a close, I’ve been thinking back on the work I’ve made through the year. We’ve done a fair bit of traveling, with a trip to Twin…
2019 has been a good year for music. The Avett Brothers released their 10th studio album, and Amy Palmer released one of the most raw albums I’ve ever heard. And…
I’ve been a Utah resident for 11 years now (14 total, counting the 3 years I lived in Orem and Salt Lake City from 2005-2008), and in all that time,…
Despite my lack of posts here over the last few months, there hasn’t been a lack of photographs being made. Most of the work I’ve done has been in continuation…
Wow. I didn’t mean to let over two months elapse without posting here. Last weekend we went up to Island Park, and while we were there, we went out to…
I’ve been to all of these places before and photographed them all, but in many ways, though these places are familiar, it feels like I’m coming to these places for…
Sometimes I just need to get away from my normal photographic haunts as a bit of a palette cleanser, so we planned a tip out to Twin Falls, Idaho for…
Something I’ve always known while working on my parks project is that I’d eventually need to include photographs of the playgrounds that exist in these parks. I’ve never done anything…
Let me introduce this post by saying: find some place to be alone for 10 minutes. 10 minutes 14 seconds to be exact. This song, The Ride by Amanda Palmer…
I love music. I know I’m not unique in this aspect, so why bring it up? Why devote a post on my photography blog about my love of music? There…
In my last blog post I wrote about some of the goals I have for 2019, and that I wanted to begin a project I’ve been thinking about for 10…
Here it is mid-February, and I’m just now thinking of and setting goals for myself as an artist for 2019. Actually, I’d set a few of these in early January,…
A few weeks ago I ran a few prints off my Epson P800 that is now a little over two years old, and saw that it left the dreaded “pizza…
Sometimes some of those memories seem more dream than a remembered reality. But I know they happened because I have at least three cohorts that share the same memory, and…
The trees I used to climb are aging. As I mentioned in a previous blog post, one willow is dead. The other is not what it once was. The harsh…
There was one branch I regarded as the “Holy Grail.” I never was brave enough to venture up to that branch, but at least one of my brothers was: Jesse.…
We went to my parents for Thanksgiving in Idaho Falls this year. During the drive up, my thoughts were occupied by memories of the countless hours spent in the backyard…
Today I was thumbing through my library copy of Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder, and came across this list: Fishing Tips for Parents from…
I recently came to know about Oli Kellett through Jeffery Saddoris’s podcast, Process Driven (you can listen to that episode here). Oli is a British street photographer who travels to…
Susan Rankaitis has some beautiful work. She began as a painter, the sciences have been an influence on her work. See more of her work on her website.
I’m reading Beauty in Photography by Robert Adams again. It’s one of my go-tos when I need to figure things out, whether it be where to go with an entire…
Last night I stumbled upon my original Departures Blog that I had hosted on Blogger that I started in 2005. It’s been both good and a little depressing going through…
Several weeks ago I went out to Hyrum Reservoir to photograph, and in addition to my digital camera, I wanted to bring the 5×7 with me. I parked my car,…
I’ve lived in Cache Valley for 10 years now, and I’ve never made an effort to go photograph Hyrum Reservoir. Until tonight. I feel like I’ve got a lot of…
“I love things that are beautiful, clearly seen and highly realized, but I value the realm of mystery even more than the beauty of appearances. Art, it seems to me,…
It’s been far too long since I’ve posted anything here. 2018 has been a busy year so far. Our little boy has been keeping us on our toes. I haven’t…
I began the 52 Photographers Blog circa 2007-2008 as a way to expand my photographic/artistic vocabulary and get to know many more photographers than I already knew and share the…
Back in college, I attended the National Society for Photographic Education conference in Newport, Rhode Island. I don’t remember much about it, except that Frank Gohlke, one of my favorite…
In my last blog post, I said I’ve been out photographing a lot this year. These are all the pieces I’ve been working on that’s kept me busy enough to…
It’s been pretty quiet here on the Departures blog a lot this year. It’s not because I haven’t been photographing. Quite the contrary. I’ve been out quite a lot. And…
A few weeks ago, Gina and I packed up the car and headed up to Idaho for a weekend of camping in Island Park. I’ve already posted one of the…
I’ve been waiting to post this until I had finished the other photographs from a recent family camping trip in Island Park, but my excitement to share this one has…
After about eight hours of work, the piece is complete:
Last weekend I posted some photographs by David Shannon-Lier. I emailed him and asked some questions about the body of work, and he was kind enough to answer. Andy Duncan: How…
Clear back in October, Lenscratch had an article in their Art + Science series on the body of work by David Shannon-Lier titled Of Heaven and Earth. The first image…
Just about everywhere I go to photograph, hike, fish, or camp, there’s always some sort of litter, and almost always, there’s a beer can or bottle to be found. I…
"Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working."
A little while ago LensCulture announced their 2017 Exposure Award winners. Among the superb photographers represented were a pair who, for the last 12 years, have been working collaboratively. Ground…
It’s been a while since I posted here; I’ve tried to post at least once a month beginning in 2016, but I let April slip by. That doesn’t mean I…
The words from this post’s title come from Alfred Stieglitz in describing how he made Winter, Fifth Avenue. I read them this morning in On Photography by Susan Sontag. In the…
The opening weeks of 2017 have been pretty wild, at least where the weather is concerned. We were hit with a few storms back to back, netting us almost two…
We’re almost three weeks into 2017. This new year holds a lot of potential for me as an artist. Two of my photographs have already been in two separate exhibitions,…
Two Thousand Sixteen has been a pretty significant year for me in many ways, the greatest of which was the birth of our baby boy in November. Like I mentioned…
One month and two days ago, Gina and I welcomed our first child into the world, and ever since, life has been pretty upside down. I was finally able to…
The project with the collages continues. Here are some of my latest efforts:
As a photographer, I’ve always tried to show how Man interacts with the Earth. Well, not always. When I first began my formal training, it was my goal to show…
A couple months ago, the Film Shooters Collective Instagram feed featured Nils Karlson. It was “love at first sight.” I tapped through to his feed, and followed him. Ever since,…
In a recent LensWork podcast, Brooks Jensen discussed the values of deadlines. He and a group of photographers have been in China, and six of them participated in a juried…
Back in high school, I made my first pinhole camera. I don’t even remember what I made it out of. Maybe an empty bulk 35mm film can. Then, in college,…
Gina and I recently got to go to Long Beach, California, for a conference that she attended for work. While she was in the conference I got to play around…
Last week I had the opportunity to go to Plymouth, Wisconsin on business for a training for a machine we have where I work. If you don’t know where Plymouth…
At this point in time, I can’t remember how I came across the work of Jake Weigel, but I think I must have been looking for more work similar to…
Two weeks ago my family went to Bear Lake for a few days. Most of the photographs I made while at the lake were the “motion” photographs that I included…
A few months ago, I was out photographing and the wind was blowing too hard to make the photographs I wanted to make; the photographs were blurry from camera shake.…
Last month Gina and I took a trip to Seattle to celebrate our first anniversary. We had so much fun seeing the sights, and playing tourists for several days. Seattle…
I’ve been out quite a bit in the last month gathering photographs for these photo-mosaics I’ve gotten into making, and thought I’d share a few of the pieces I’m working…
Four images of a wheat field while the sun sets with the camera panning in motion with a long exposure.
A few days ago, I published a post on the work of Krista Wortendyke. In it, I explained I first saw her work in an email newsletter, and that it…
About eight or nine years ago, I created a blog titled 52 Photographers, where I would feature one photographer each week of the year. I don’t remember now just how…
I’ve gone out several times over the past weeks, around Benson, and the Cutler Marsh, and I’m feeling like I’m really getting to know the Bear River and Cache Valley…
On Saturday evening we drove out to Benson again so I could photograph. Here are a some of the evening’s fruits:
The day after I went out to the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, which was also Easter Sunday, Gina and I headed up to Grace, Idaho to photograph. It’s only…
A couple weeks ago, I went out to the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, accompanied by my father-in-law while Gina watched the LDS General Women’s Conference broadcast. As I mentioned…
A little over a year ago, Gina and I went on our third date out to the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge west of Brigham City. While driving around after…
Sunday, I was in the mood to go out and photograph after church, so Gina and I loaded the car and headed out. I had in mind to end up…
In my last post, I lamented how I felt I’d turned my back on my photographic education and friends and mentors I made and gained along the way, and I…
Last week, my friend and former photography professor, Darren Clark, nominated me to participate in a Facebook hashtag “campaign,” #challengeonnaturephotography, where, for seven days, you post a nature or landscape…
I have to explain the following image and why it looks the way it does. Our first day in Banff National Park, we went for a walk down to Bow…
Well, it’s been almost six months since Gina and I got married, and it’s been awesome! I’ve meant to post these photographs I made while we honeymooned in Glacier National…
Okay, different may not be the best word. Maybe unexpected is better. I don’t typically post things from my personal life on here. Sure, I share experiences and thoughts from…
Last week I got to go to Seattle for the first time in eight years to see the Avett Brothers in concert. Yeah, I know, Seattle is a long…
The last couple years, me and my dad and brothers have gone fishing up on the Fall River and sometimes the Henry’s Fork, and this year we turned it into…
Last night I headed up Logan Canyon hoping to find a different spot than up Right Hand Fork, but the few places I had in mind (I wanted to stay…
I think last night was the last night I’ll spend in Right Hand Fork Canyon for a little while. I need to spend some time away from it in a…
Wanting to see a different part of the Bear River Range, I decided on hiking the trail up Temple Fork this weekend. But not before spending the night in Right…
While hiking yesterday I had a realization.It was always easy for me to make photographs of the landscape around Idaho Falls and Rexburg and in Island Park. I loved, and…
Today I realized that with all the photographs of Right Hand Fork I’ve got, I have a pretty good start at a project of that canyon itself. For such a…
In a previous blog post, I mentioned I had come up with some ideas for a new photographic project. Then, the working title was “10,000 Steps.” It may still be. Things…
Right Hand Fork Canyon is pretty convenient for a quick overnight car campout. It’s only a few miles up Logan Canyon, and there are a good handful of free campspots.…
When March rolls around every year, I start suffering from cabin fever. And this year was no different. Actually it was a little different. It was different because I had…
My family reunion (the McCann-Winterbottom Reunion, which has been held every year since 1947) was this weekend at Bear Lake. There was a lot of swimming, lounging, sun burn, food,…
It’s been a while since I went out specifically to photograph, but this afternoon a rain storm rolled through the valley and left behind some pretty dramatic clouds and I…
Lately I’ve been wanting to branch out from the still image to the moving picture. I recently got a video camera, and I’ve been toying with time lapse photography. Here’s…
I first thought I’d make this a top ten kind of list, but I couldn’t really think of ten,Mose here are six things that get my goat in the backcountry:6.…
Friday after work I headed up Logan Canyon for a little fishing. The fish either weren’t in that particular stretch of water I fished, or they just weren’t interested in…
Here’s a video to get you stoked for fishing this weekend
Well, it’s over. May is done, and so is the Every Day in May challenge. I’m actually a little relieved. It was fun, but it was also a little annoying…
Grand vistas, good music, family—these are a few things that inspire me.When I hear the words inspire, or inspiration, I think of things that uplift. Uplift me mentally, and spiritually.…
Being an avid back packer, fly fisher, and climber, there are several things on my bucket list. Maybe by writing them down here, I may be held to getting a…
If fishing the Logan River has taught me anything, it’s this: fly fishing can be inconsistent, frustrating, puzzling, but above all, satisfying and rewarding, even when I walk away without…
Some day I hope to be this hard core. Can you imagine Chihuahuas on tenkara?
…or as Red Green puts it, safety forst. Here’s a video of some examples of what not to do while fishing:
The runoff here on the local rivers hasn’t been at all as bad as it was last year. I think it’s about hit its peak, and won’t be long until…
Recently, I’ve been getting into making time lapse videos. Here are my first two attempts from Logan Canyon, which has changed from the dead brown grass and leafless branches to…
Here are a few of my favorite fly fishing videos to entertain you on this fine Saturday evening.
If only fishing were that easy. Then again, the puzzle of fly fishing, and the mind games that you sometimes have to play are things that attract me to…
After the rod, line, and leader, we finally arrive to the fly.One of the earliest records of people using artificial flies to catch fish dates back to around the Meridian…
A good rod can turn over a long leader. A good leader can turn over a small dry fly delicately to convince those picky fish that the bit of thread,…
There’s something beautiful in watching a loop of line with a fly at the end sail through the air. Fly Fisherman by Stefan Feldmann
I love building my own rods. The rod I learned to fish on was one I built myself. It was just some cheap blank my dad got and then set…
I’m kind of at a loss here. I mean, what can I possibly say to adequately pay homage and honor my mother? Besides, maybe, thank you.Thank you for being who…
A month ago my 4Runner broke down (at first we thought it was a bad fuel pump, but it turned out to be a bad timing belt), and being without…
Well, I missed a few days in this challenge. At least as far as posting each day goes.I’ve been busy the past few nights working on replacing the timing belt…
When I first learned to fly fish when I was about 14 or so, though I might have been 13 or 15, I did it without waders. I always wet-waded.…
Sometimes work can be a necessary evil. Don’t get me wrong. I like my job. A lot. I work with great people and I have an awesome boss that’s been…
The Fishermans Prayer: I pray that I may live to fish until my dying day.And when my last cast, I then most humbly pray,When the Lord’s great landing net and…
Fishing. It’s something I need to do. It’s also a want, but, like hiking, slacklining, and backpacking, and to a certain extent, climbing, it’s something I need. I need it…
Hi, I’m Andy and I’m a fly-tie-oholic.Or more accurately, a fly-tying-material-oholic.I love tying flies, probably just as much as I love throwing the things to fish. And I love scouting…
cur·rent \ˈkər-ənt, ˈkə-rənt\ noun1 a : the part of a fluid body (as air or water) moving continuously in a certain direction b : the swiftest part of a stream…
Home is where the heart is. We’ve all heard it. By that definition, I think I have at least half a dozen homes, from Idaho Falls, to Rexburg, to Island…
Chadd VanZanten over at How Small a Trout, the president of the Cache Anglers Trout Unlimited chapter issued a challenge recently to bloggers to post every day in may. So…
Today I finally made it down to the Little Bear River at the very southern end of Cache Valley. I’ve been wanting to make it down there for some fishing…
It’s been a while since I’ve updated the blog. Here are a few images I’ve made over the last few months:
Last weekend I had the opportunity to go to my Home of Island Park Scout Camp and spend three days there with my family. I got to help out at…
Today I went for a drive up Logan Canyon to see how high the river was, and maybe wet my fly line. It didn’t take long to see that 1300…
I was okay with the rain we were getting today, but it soon turned to snow. By the time I got off work, there was a fresh coating of the…
I played around with my bosses macro lens today at work and photographed some of the flies I’ve been tying this winter getting ready for the coming fishing season. These…
Spring is well on its way here in Logan, and Logan Canyon is following closely behind. The Logan River is flowing about a foot higher than it normally is, and…
It snowed a little bit off and on during the weekend here in Logan, bringing us about four inches. Today we got another six.Tonight I was shoveling the driveway, and…
The first fly rod I ever had was one that I built myself about 14 years ago. It was pretty fun and rewarding fishing with a rod I’d built. So,…
This weekend I got to go up to Idaho and see the family, and do some fishing on the Falls River. When my dad, brothers and I all got into…
Lately I’ve been suffering from cabin fever. With decent camping and fishing weather fading, I’ve been trying to get out as much as possible. Friday, I headed up Logan Canyon…
This weekend I went up fishing on the Logan River. The stretch of river I wanted to fish was already taken, so I went downstream a few miles and fished…
This weekend my ward went up to Island Park, and not willing to let the opportunity to go Home again pass by, I had to go up as well. So…
This summer a few of my brothers, and sisters, my mom all worked at Island Park Scout Camp again, and I was able to go spend a week and a…
This weekend I escaped to White Pine Lake in the mountains east of Logan. I think I needed this trip more than I needed the City of Rocks trip last…
This weekend I went to the City of Rocks and met up with my friend Renee for some rock climbing.It was a trip 7 or so years ago to photograph…
This evening I got a bit restless, and my eyes were a little tired from reading, so I headed up Logan Canyon for a leisurely Sunday drive and to see…
Today I headed up Blacksmith Fork Canyon again to do some fishing, but I broke my leader as I was stretching the coils out of it, and I didn’t…
This week I heard through the grapevine that salmon flies were starting to come out up Blacksmith Fork Canyon, so I decided to head up there this evening after work…
Today I went up fishing in Blacksmith Fork Canyon. I’ve only been up that canyon once, and it was a year ago, and I really had no idea what the…
“I fish because I love to; because I love the environs where trout are found, which are invariably beautiful, and hate the environs where crowds of people are found, which…
Yesterday I went fishing up Logan Canyon again. Before I hit the river, I went to the local fly shop to get a few flies I was lacking material for…
Lately I’ve been getting out fishing up on the Logan River after work and on the weekends, and with the change in daylight savings time, it’s made fishing after work…
This afternoon I headed up Logan Canyon to scout out some fishing holes and see if there were any bugs flying around. I managed to find a couple of pools…
So…It’s been what, 6 months? Yeah, I’ve been blogging-lazy. Not much real new or exciting has been going on. Just work and coming home and being lazy. Well, until last…
You’ll notice I change the template on my blog somewhat often. I never really like the “stock” templates you’re given by blogs, webpage developing software, etc… So I decided to…
I apologize (to anyone that happens to even look at this blog) for the lack of photography-relevant posts lately. And for the lack of any kind of posts at all,…
I have officially joined the ranks of the environment-destroying SUV owners.I got the Pathfinder last nite, and I couldn’t be happier. It drives like a dream, and it’ll be excellent…
I went out car shopping today and found a 98 Pathfinder. All the financing stuff should be finished on Monday or Tuesday. I’m real excited to get it. Going through…
So I start a new job on Monday. I’ll still be framing, but I’ll be building log cabins up in Park City for Custom Scandinavian. I can’t wait. It’ll be…
So I’m in my new apartment. I got moved in a week ago, and I’m “borrowing” someone’s wireless. (shh…don’t tell). I’ll have my own in a week though. I’m liking…
I just got the R2400 today, and just ran off my first print and it is gorgeous. Okay, it’s my second print–I forgot to check a certain setting on the…
Well, It’s been a real long while. For those of you who read this, and have wondered “where in the world is he?,” I moved down to Utah a few…
Well, it’s been about three weeks since my last post, so I figured it was about time to put something up. Nothin particularly exciting has happened in the meantime, except…
Well this weekend I went up to Island Park to camp and to photograph. It was a much needed trip; for one, I just needed to get out and camp…
I got one of the rolls of film developed of all the construction photographs I have been making at the jobs/houses I’m framing, and have been gradually getting them scanned…
I finally got a web gallery of my photograms up on my website. So far I only have the images posted, and I’m in the middle of writing a process…
The past little while, I have been slowly getting all of my photograms corrected and fixed to put them up in a gallery on my website (which I hope to…
Well, I finally have some photographs from the construction site to show. I actually remembered to borrow my brother’s digital camera today, after lots of times of forgetting, and made…
Well, it’s been over a week since I last posted anything up here. I’ve meant all week to take my brothers digital camera with me to work to get quick…
Today I started on a new project. The other day, while I was at work, I thought I needed to start making a few photographs of the houses I am…
Hmm…It’s been a week since my last post. I got a new job framing houses, so I’m pretty beat at the end of the day, and I guess posting to…
Monday night some guys from NASA came up to the Idaho Falls Museum to present an award to Nitrocision. My father works there, and the company fabricates liquid nitrogen cutters…
I got Photoshop CS 2 today, and it is one slick program. There have been a few improvements that make working with photographs a lot easier (at least for me).…
The progress on my painting is going pretty slow. I guess I feel a little intimidated by it. Oh well. Here’s a picture of it (see the first photograms I…
While this post won’t really cover anything really new or exciting with my ongoing or potential projects, I have some good news.Yesterday I called Craig Law from Utah State and…
I just got back from camping in Star Valley with a friend’s church activity, and like all my camping trips (and road trips), I got some thinking done.I left on…
Last week I began experimenting with incorporating/mixing painting into the photograms that I have been doing. So far I don’t really have much to show other than a canvas painted…
In April this year, my photo teacher from college, Darren Clark, and two friends Jon Long and Theo Hatch and I all went to a stretch of the North Fork…
These photographs are some that I made in Portland this March when I was there for this years’ Society for Photographic Education National Conference. I have been trying to incorporate…
These were inspired by Jerry Burchfield’s Lumen prints
For the past five months, I have been experimenting with alternative ways of making photographs and art. These alternative methods include pinhole photographs, historical processes, and cameraless imagery, such as…