Jason Blankenship's Blog

The Hills Are Alive

2010-04-01T16:45:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I headed out to the desert and met up with a couple great photographers - Harley Goldman and Michael Gordon. We spent a day in the Mecca Wilderness near Joshua Tree NP and a day down in Anza Borrego. The wind was fairly constant which made the photography challenging but it sure was nice out there. When the usually dry and barren desert comes alive it sure is a sight to behold.

First, a couple more shots from last week in central CA. I don't recall ever seeing a white shooting star before but it sure was pretty.

Tidy tips

Ocotillo in bloom - Anza Borrego

I still have more images from these trips to process and some film yet to be developed. I hope to be able to get out for at least another couple days before the wildflower season ends.

Cheers!
Jason

Spring is in the air

2010-03-25T16:46:00.000-07:00

The spring wildflower bloom is finally starting to show thanks to the massive rainfall California received this winter. Winter has stuck around a little longer than normal so the wildflower season has been a little slow to show, but we are finally starting to see the affects of the rain. April and I headed out last weekend for a quick trip to the Carrizo Plain National Monument and the Cottonwood Canyon areas west of Bakersfield. While there was a nice carpet of yellow on the Carrizo Plain, it still seemed a bit early for peak bloom. However, Cottonwood Canyon was simply spectular.

More to come as the spring bloom progresses. Cheers! Jason

Happy New Year

2010-01-13T16:36:00.001-08:00

April and I took off after Christmas on a roadtrip to Northern AZ and Southern UT. The plan was to hit up a bunch of spots I've been wanting to photograph. Intially we hooked up with Harley Goldman and Laurent Baig for a trip to the Coyote Buttes of the Vermillion Cliffs Wilderness. We knew it was was winter and it would be cold, but boy were we in for a surprise. The first night we saw as low as -3F and the pipes froze in our camper. Also, what a trip to expect red rock, instead to find a vast blanket of snow in the desert. Unfortunately(or fortunately?) all the cliche photo ops and interesting rock formations were covered in snow, making photography difficult. Alas, we did find a little bit of snow free rock, we just had to search to find it.

Harley and Laurent had already been in the area for a few days so they decided to warm their bones and head west for the Mojave National Preserve. April and I decided to take our chances and stay in AZ. So we drove. And drove. And drove some more. Most of the places on my list to photograph were covered in snow, either inaccessible or unrecoginizable. So we kept heading east, trying to find something cool to see or do. Eventually we ended up in Canyon de Chelly, AZ. What an amazing place! We stuck around for a couple days waiting for a break in the weather. It was disappointing we never got a chance to hike down into the canyon but it was still an amazing place.

The weather finally cleared on New Years Eve so we took off for Monument Valley, AZ. Not a place on my list but we were nearby so we figured we had to go check it out. We spent an afternoon and evening exploring and photographing, it was great fun and definitely worth the trip. With the weather and time of year the crowds were extremely light. To cap the day off right, just after sunset we were treated to spectacular blue moon.

We then hit the road for the Grand Canyon. We wanted to enjoy the granduer of the canyon on the first day of 2010. The canyon didn't disappoint.

Happy New Year!
Jason & April

Website Updated

2008-07-29T14:34:00.001-07:00

I finally got around to adding some of my new work to the website. Check it out and let me know what you think!

New Work

More Flowers

2008-04-27T16:55:00.000-07:00

After shows in Tempe and Brentwood I have spent the last 3 weekends shooting. The widlflower bloom in California was just too good to miss. I just got back from the Eastern Sierra where the bush lupine were going strong. I also spent some time near the California Poppy Reserve, Gorman, Cottonwood Canyon and Shell Creek Rd. I'm getting all my Large Format shots professionally scanned so look or an update on my website with some of my best shots. Below are some digital shots just to give you an idea of how good it was!

Art-A-Fair

2008-03-15T12:20:00.000-07:00

I am extremely excited to announce that I have been accepted into the 2008 Laguna Beach Art-A-Fair. The Art-A-Fair runs 7 days a week from June 27 - August 31, 2008. This is by far my most significant show to date and it is a privelege to have been accepted amongst 125 other fabulous artists.

Jason

Upcoming Shows

2008-03-13T19:57:00.000-07:00

I'm in the process of finalizing my 2008 show schedule. Here is my tentative schedule:

Tempe Festival of the Arts - March 28-30 - Confirmed

Brentwood Spring Art Show - April 6 - Confirmed

California Strawberry Festival in Oxnard - May 17-18 - Pending

Temecula Valley Balloon & Wine Festival - June 6-8 - Pending

I have also applied for the Art-A-Fair and Festival of the Arts in Laguna Beach. These shows run all summer! I scored high enough to be accpeted into the Art-A-Fair but I am currently on the waiting list. I made it through the first round of jurying for the Festival of the Arts and I will find out March 22 if I make the final cut.

The shows are great fun. Come down and see me if you get a chance.
Jason

New Website

2008-03-13T19:51:00.000-07:00

Finally! It's been a long time coming but I have finally rolled out the new website. Not everything is up and running yet but the look and feel is there and I already have many new images available. The site is database driven so it's a breeze for me to update new images. The biggest piece missing right now is the online shopping cart that I am developing. I still have a backlog of work that I want to get on the website but it's so easy now to add content it won't be long.

Let me know what you think!
Jason

California Wildflowers

2008-03-11T20:21:00.000-07:00

This past winter was particularly wet for Southern California and we are now enjoying a fabulous wildflower bloom. The past weekend April and I packed up the dog and the camper and headed out to the Desert to check it out for ourselves. The reports I heard had me excited but we were completely blown away by the variety and numbers of flowers blooming. We headed out to the Amboy Crater which is off old route 66, a bit south of the Mojave National Preserve. Unforuantely we didn't have particular great light and it was also extremely windy for much of the weekend. The wind makes it almost impossible to shoot with the large format camera so I don't have much to show for but I did get a few decent images. It is so good right now we will most likely be headed back out somewhere in the desert this coming weekend to hopefully make up for last weekend. Below are a few snaps from the digital camera just to show how remarkable it is out there right now.

Jason