Orem Library Show and Presentation

Photo taken by a Westmore Elementary School fourth grader.

I have some work on display at the Orem Library and will have a presentation Monday night (the 20th) at 7 pm in the Storytelling Wing. Here's a link for more information: www.marioruiz.com/westmore.html

Panoramic Timpanogos

Drove out to the other side of Utah Lake Thursday late afternoon to catch some great sunlight raking over Timpanogos. This is a photo-stitch of three images using photomerge in Photoshop. IT WAS COLD! I could only shoot a few frames and then go back in the car and warm up. There was a fierce wind that just chilled to the core. But I think it was worth the effort.

Also, I redesigned my website: www.marioruiz.com

Eosinophilic Gastroenteritis

Ten-year-old Ashley Zundel of Orem sits with a carefully rationed supply of EleCare medical formula that the Zundels have collected from donations by pharmacies and private donors for more than a year. Insurance companies will not cover the expense of the formula that costs $30 a can and lasts Ashley only a day. Ashley, who has eosinophilic gastroenteritis, takes the donated formula through a feeding tube above her belly button.

This little girl can't eat anything but the formula she is sitting on. Her family is awesome and lobbying at the state capitol trying to get it so their insurance companies pay for her formula. Here's a link to the story: http://www.heraldextra.com/content/view/301689/17/

For all you other photo nerds out there here's some technical info: I lit this using two Speedlights fired through Canon's STE-2 transmitter. There's one light straight on the boxes and background coming from the left and then one light point up and away from her creating most of the soft light. I balanced the ambient so it was about a stop under exposed then lit the rest. We piled and piled the formula on this table to show just how much formula it takes to feed one girl. I thought it was an overwhelming amount and can't believe the insurance companies won't pay for it.

Mike Lloyd Jr

This is Mike Lloyd Jr, a BYU basketball player who is red shirting this year. This was shot in the Marriott Center with a 50mm lens at f4. I was laying down on the ground to get the angle I wanted with the bleachers. I had our Intern Mark Johnston who is 6'5" hold the light way over Mike's head with a light stand so we can get this angle of light coming right from above (thanks Mark). Mike was fun to work with.

State Wrestling

Photographed the State 4A and 5A high school wrestling finals Friday night. Lots of images, lots of wrestlers and a few good bouts. This one is the 160 pound match between Springville's Sebastian Lucio and Tooele's Monte Schmalhaus. I had a woman who was also photographing approach me and she said that I took a picture of her son at the finals two years ago and that she loved the picture that I took of him in his winning match. She liked the photo so much that she decided to take up photography herself and photograph wrestling. She said she liked my wrestling photos more than anyone else's at the paper (I'm not sure I would agree with her) and that she follows my work in the Herald. I was flattered to meet another fan.

Fancy Nancy

This was a fancy lunch at a local library where children dressed up all fancy and played games. It was really cute and some the kids there were adorable. They didn't have any dress up items for boys so they boys wore tiaras and necklaces and rings too. This boy was NOT enjoying himself and was rather upset to be around so many girls. He was cute.

More UVU

With a view like this how could you NOT like Utah. I love the mountains here. They turn all sorts of colors at different times of year in different light. They light up and are amazing.

With his red cape flying high behind him, 10-year-old Paul Wilson dashes from one corner of his house to the other chasing after a most vile and lethal villain.

Paul is Wonder Boy, and with strength of will he punches at the air with a force that has stopped his enemy in its tracks. With no other power than the will to stay alive and support from friends and family, Wonder Boy is blind, and his enemy is cancer.

Paul, who lives in American Fork, has been in remission from medulloblastoma… Read More:

http://www.heraldextra.com/content/view/295376/999999/

UVU Library

Had to shoot the UVU library for a cover shot of a Magazine the Herald is putting out. I drove around the library for an hour and scoped out several locations and angles. When the light was finally sweet a channel of sunset light raked across the library leaving everything else blue. I raced to a spot I had found earlier, got out of my car and ran up a small hill to get a clear vantage point. I like the light on this one, but we'll run a vertical of another shot.