THE COUNTDOWN HAS BEGUN

3 DAYS!!!!!

SKY ART

THE GEM SHOW IS IN 4 DAYS!!!!!! Whew. Now that I got that out…

We have a new line of art. It revolves around what I have been doing lately. That is to say, not so much in the way of nature photography, ‘cuz not much in the way of getting out into nature; but meteorite photography, ‘cuz much in the way of working around space rocks. So the new line is comprised of macro photos of etched iron meteorites, showing the Widmanstatten pattern. This accumulation of hash-marks is unique among iron meteorites. They reflect the growth of the nickel and iron crystals. The thicker the crystals the longer they took to cool. I though they would make great obscure art work.

They are available in notecards and 4 x 6, 5 x 7, 8 x 10, 11 x 14, 16 x 20 and 20 x 30 prints.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cape York

Seymchan

Seymchan

Seymchan

Seymchan

Seymchan



Seymchan

Gibeon

Seymchan

Seymchan

Wabar

Gibeon

METEORITE MEN - THE PREMIER

JANUARY 20th! JANUARY 20th!

We have been waiting with bated breath for this day to arrive. Well, I have at least. The much anticipated premier of the Meteorite Men (http://www.meteoritemen.com/) series is tonight on the Science Channel (9 PM EST, 7 PM in AZ!) I can’t wait. There will be a premier party at the Sky Bar on 4th Avenue, next to Brooklyn Pizza. The party starts at 6 for milling around, drinks, meeting Geoff, etc. There will be food at 6:30 (pizza, of course!) and the premier starts at 7 sharp. Come on down and join us. The show was made possible by lots of hard work put in by a crew of dedicated people

As most of you know I was fortunate to be one of those people. I traveled with the Meteorite Men crew for 4 of the episodes. I was water girl, mechanic (many, many flat tires that normally the guys handled, whew.), medic, tour guide, errand girl, personal shopper (I was in Wal-Mart more times during that 6 weeks than in the past 2 years) meteorite hunter, and best of all – photographer. Over 6 weeks of doing what I love to do with people I like to be around. Doesn’t get much better than that.

Now under the guise of photographer, I shot many, many photos, only a small portion of which have been made available. So today for the Meteorite Men fans who have already perused the photos on the Science Channel, Aerolite, and Meteorite Men web pages and are ready for more, I thought it was time to provide a little behind the scenes for you.

It was quite the experience working on a TV show. The rest of the crew, all veterans, were kind enough to make allowances for the newby on set. (I can’t tell you how many shots I ruined). The camera guys (and gal) never once yelled at me for bumping into them when I was so focused on getting a good photo and I wasn’t paying attention to where they were. Or that I crammed into some of the small shooting spaces that were already packed full of people. Or that when I was supposed to be shooting photos of the hunt, I was taking pictures of the spectacular scenery, or cows, or puppy, or (fill in the blank) And Sonya only had to discipline me once - that I was not allowed to stop the car (I was driving) to shoot photos of the sunset.

It was a wonderful experience and I can’t believe I was able to participate. Now watch the show on Wednesdays for the next 6 weeks and the reruns, so there is a second season and I get to take more photos!

All photos, though taken by me (except of course the ones I am in), are copyright Aerolite Meteorites or LMNO productions.

METEORITE MEN - GOLD BASIN

The Gold Basin location brought back lots of memories. It was there that I hunted with Steve and Geoff for the first time, thanks to our mutual friend, the late Jim Kriegh. It was just after the Tucson gem and mineral show and Jim had invited me to Gold Basin to join him and his hunting partner, Twink Monrad. Geoff and Steve had the same invitation. Though in the company of incredible people who turned out to be good friends, I spent a good deal of my time cussing a blue streak and being generally annoyed. For you see, it was one of my first hunts using a metal detector and I wasn’t finding a thing. I got skunked. They were finding meteorites all around me. Me nada, zip, bupkis. If it weren’t for the generosity of Jim and Twink I would have gone home empty handed. Just goes to show you meteorite hunting is not easy and, like any profession, takes time to become proficient.

Geoff and Steve at my favorite desert artifact.

Steve, on the hunt.

Steve and Geoff, ready for filming.

Geoff and Steve getting ready to sail.

On the water.

We were plagued by flat tires.

Geoff, goofing around before handing over the jack.

The incomparable, Twink Monrad.

You can take the boy out of the punk band but you can't take the punk band out of the boy.

The End.

METEORITE MEN - WEST, TEXAS

I had the distinct pleasure of hunting with Steve and Geoff last February during the West (now Ash Creek) meteorite hunt and returning to the area was high on my list of things I wanted to do. On this return trip, I spent as much time as possible at the Czech Stop bakery, was thrilled to get a second chance to shoot photos of the flocks of black birds and also to enjoy that lush rolling farmland. So different than the deserts of Tucson. It had rained pretty heavily just before we got there and during shooting so we spent quite a bit of time cleaning the stickiest mud ever off clothes, shoes, cars, hands, etc.

The birds.



Grain silos.

Filming with Ruben Garcia and Hopper.

I never ran out of interesting things to shoot photos of.


A wee bit smaller than my dogs, who by this time I was missing quite a bit.

Did I mention the Texas Mud. (Yes, the mud deserves capital letters.) Trying to get Geoff's boots dry before another day in the field.

METEORITE MEN - ODESSA

Filming at Odessa crater in Texas was a great treat. I worked at Meteor Crater in Arizona for a while (way back when) and had always wanted to see the sister site in Texas. I got my wish and more. Lots of special treats, like walking around the rim of the crater and on the private lands outside the monument, for the guys and, by default, me, the photographer who was stuck to them like glue. I’m so surprised I didn’t ruin more video shots.

Grinning like a fool next to Geoff on my first visit to Odessa Crater.

We were in Texas - I had to get a shot of an oil rig.


Getting ready to hunt.


It was hot. Even when the guys weren't doing the digging.

Steve and Geoff hamming it up for me between shooting.

METEORITE MEN - ASU

One of my favorite shooting locations was ASU. I was treated to a tour of the meteorite stores. And all I can say is WOW! I unfortunately left a couple of big piles of drool for the janitors to mop up and ruined a shot when the camera guy slipped. Seriously, I was absolutely amazed at the collection they have. My favorite was the Holbrook featured below.

Does that say 3,576 g?

Geoff enjoying the ASU meteorite collection.

Geoff, Steve and Laurence Garvie (who was a wonderful host and incredibly patient to a photographer with an unending barrage of questions)

It was an arduous shooting schedule which left the guys to grab some down time whenever and where ever they could.

METEORITE MEN - TUCSON

One location we filmed in was the mountains around Tucson. It was hot. Even in September. It was hot. Even in the mountains. It was hot. It took quite a bit of time each day to get into the location. So for all you budding meteorite hunters who are thinking you can match up the hunt location from these photo, nope. Any photo with scenery is from different spots in the mountains where they filmed or the general entrance road, but not one is from the secret location where they were actually hunting. I left those out. Confidentiality and all.

A beautiful Tucson day.

Did I mention it was hot?

Testing the Hydratrek.

Having fun.

Mugging for the camera.

Ready to roll film.

A moment of down time. There weren't many.

The shot not used in the promotional material.

BACKCOUNTRY PHOTOGRAPHY NEWSLETTER JAN 20, 2010

Hello All, You are receiving this email because you have bought something from me, thought of buying something from me, stopped by my booth at a show and chatted, or are friends and family. Please let me know if you wish to be removed from this list. Thanks. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I hope everyone had a great holiday season. I know it has been suspiciously quiet from the Backcountry Photography front and, though not making news, I’ve been keeping myself pretty entertained, mostly with meteorite and gem show related items (and a computer rebuild – thanks Susan).

Anyway - I’m warning you now, this is going to be a meteorite/rock laden photography newsletter. All I have to do now is figure out how to work in the greyhounds and I’ve covered all my passions. (ohhh…see how I just did that?)

So…Here’s what is going on - Gem show in 3 weeks! Meteorite Men premier today! WOO HOO! I can hardly keep myself contained.

There’s so much to tell you about rather than make you read it all here, might I recommend you visit my blogs: http://www.backcountryphotographyaz.blogspot.com/ for all the updates on the latest places to find backcountry photos, the Meteorite Men behind the scenes photography feature, and photos from the trip to the Reid Park Zoo; and http://www.cultofthegreyhound.blogspot.com/ for new photos of the poochies running, getting in trouble, and generally looking really cute.

This newsletter is also intended to invite those of you in Tucson to the premier of the Meteorite Men series tonight at the Sky Bar on 4th Avenue (next to Brooklyn Pizza). 6 PM is the pre-party, 7 PM is the screening. For those of you who can’t make it, watch the Science Channel tonight at 9 EST and 7 MST, and each Wednesday for the next 6 weeks.

And for your free desktop photo…

I struggled today over whether to send a Meteorite Men/Meteorite/Gem Show related photo or the one that I have had on my desktop for the past few weeks. Looks like you are getting the giraffe.

Enjoy.

Suzanne Morrison
Backcountry Photography
http://www.backcountryphotographyaz.blogspot.com/
http://www.backcountryphotographyaz.com/
http://www.cultofthegreyhound.blogspot.com/
backcountry_photos@yahoo.com

WHERE'S BACKCOUNTRY? (Not nearly as catchy as Where's Waldo, hmmmm)

Hi there :) this post is all about where the Backcountry Photography photos can be seen as of late. With links!

I’ve been busy with getting ready for the gem show: working for Geoff Notkin of Aerolite Meteorites and the TV show Meteorite Men, doing the photography for articles written by Lisa Marie in this year’s Tucson EZ Guide, and providing photos for the Denver, Quartzsite and Tucson EZ Guides. (cover and interior pages)

Check out the guides:
http://www.xpopress.com/ez.html

Now up - Backcountry Photography photos on the front page of the Science Channel website! Meteorite Men is about to kick off its first season so promos are on the front page of the Science Channel. http://science.discovery.com/

And, when you go to the Meteorite Men page there are more of my photos. I traveled with the crew on 4 location shoots; Tucson, Odessa, West, and Gold Basin. Most of the photos from those locations were taken by me! Check out the flash banner and photo gallery.
http://science.discovery.com/tv/meteorite-men/

Mr. Meteorite, Ruben Garcia, was on location at the West, Texas Meteorite Men shoot. You can see some of my photos on his website: http://www.mr-meteorite.net/meteoritetvshows.htm. Thanks Ruben for the photo credit.

Also, take a look at Geoff Notkin’s science blog, The Logical Lizard on the Tucson Citizen online newspaper. “Meet the Logical Lizard at Flandrau’s Science Café tonight.”.
http://tucsoncitizen.com/lizard/2010/01/12/meet-the-logical-lizard-at-flandraus-science-cafe-tonight/

And for the biggest surprise in the Backcountry Photography world – I was the videographer for the teaser/interview for Geoff’s speaking engagement for Flandrau Science Café: “From Fallen Stars to Media Stars”.
http://www.uasciencecenter.org/2010/01/08/science-cafe-meteorite-hunters-investigate-the-science-of-rocks-from-space/. Just to answer the question I know you want to ask – yes, that was done in one take; hence the wobbly camera work as my arms started to shake from holding the camera up for so long.

Check out my product photography on Aerolite Meteorite’s site for the new fall Buzzard Coulee. http://www.aerolite.org/specials/buzzard-coulee.htm

Last week I had the distinct pleasure of hanging out with friends I haven’t seen in 2 years. More specifically meeting, for the second time, their 2 year old girl, Ella. (the first time I met her, she just looked up fuzzily from her swaddling clothes). To cap it all off we went to the Tucson zoo (the last time I was there I think I was in swaddling clothes.). Ella’s viewing habits reminded me of my father’s impatience in a museum. Stop, look, and… next exhibit please. I never once dreamed a 2 year old would leave me torn between chasing after her rapidly disappearing backside and trailing Mom and watching the giraffe stretching out to reach the leaves of the mesquite trees overhanging the pen. She displayed a ruthless efficiency and decisiveness in her travels through the zoo that I wish I had when sorting through photos; it would cut down on hours in front of the computer. An added benefit to the speed of the visit was that I had less time to shoot photos, so there were fewer photos to sort through this time. As you can tell by the predominance of the giraffe photos, they were my favorite. All of these are available for note cards and prints.