Happy Pioneer Day - Utah

We celebrated Pioneer Day last night in Bountiful. I took a couple of quick photographs to capture another fun event! We also celebrated Raegan's bday a day late. She always gets fireworks on her birthday!

Raegan happy birthday baby! I can't believe you are six! You are getting so big. Daddy loves you!

Habe~nero Anyone? Urban Fly Fishing

I had a chance to fish with Colby and when the text message came over the phone "Carp?", I was all over it. Colby has some sick skills as both a fly tyer and photographer. His work on the camera has been of envy and he has offered some insights as to how I can better myself behind the lens. It is always a pleasure fishing and shooting with guys that push me to improve. Colby shared a local spot and it was fun to see large city Carp not far from home. Colby had been fishing the spot over the past few days and mentioned that the water level had dropped quite a bit. There wasn't to many tailers and the fishing was ruff. Colby did spot up a beautiful dragon and I fired off about 20 pics in burst. HABENERO, need I say more. It was a beautiful dragon fly with fiery orange and something I had never seen before. I took a couple photos of Colby fishing and then we bounced over to some city ponds to see if there were any fish cruising. Although no fish were landed it was a great time hanging with Colby and taking a few photos.


Make Sure You Click On Photos To Enlarge

Blast From The Past - Fly Fishing Art

The kitchen/upstairs remodel has had me going through some of my favorite images so that I can hang some new art peices in my new library room. Before I had my DSLR and a lens collection, I was shooting on a old 3 mega-pixel HP digi camera. While it was ok for its time, photos would often come out grainy. I have been spending more time post processing some of these older images and I am pleased that they could be cleaned up so I could frame a few. The image to the left was taken a few years ago while Jason Haslem and I were fishing the Green River. We took turns casting and hooking up some beautiful rainbows. I always thought that a the fish would look good as a painting framed. I have also fallen in love with Black & White IR photography. Although many of my images have not been captured using a true IR filter or camera conversion, I have spent countless hours trying to find and capture an IR style that would show through in some of my post process work. I hope you enjoy a few of the peices that have been completed.

Shout Out From The UK - DeeSox

I was pleasantly surprised to get a shout out from David Edwards who runs a fly fishing blog in the UK. http://deesox.blogspot.com/2008/07/photography-and-fishing.html. While I have never been to the UK, I can only hope to visit one day and have the opportunity to both fly fish with David and take a few photos. Be sure to visit his blog

Thanks for the shout David! REPRESENT~

Father & Son's Outing - Small Stream Brookies

This past weekend I had the great pleasure of helping our church members out with a Father & Son's outing. I enjoyed the time in the mountains with my son Ben. We talked and shared stories on our way up to the campground. Spending time with Ben is something I love very much. Ben was excited to go fly fishing. That evening we enjoyed the company of two gentlemen that were Vietnam veterans. They were pilots who courageously flew F-4's in the war. There stories around the campfire gave me chills as I thought about my personal freedoms and all that I love to do in this great land. One of the men was shot down and a POW for 9months. I can't imagine what he and his commrads must of gone through during that time. I am very grateful for their service.



After listening to their stories, Ben and I went to bed. We left the car doors open to the Yukon and watched the stars. Before long it became cold and as I rolled over I could see Ben in a deep sleep. As I watched him sleep I recalled how great it felt when I was a kid and my dad took me on my first father & son's outing. I wish I could bottle up how I felt that night and cap it forever. Being with my son Ben was the ultimate.

My alarm was set for 5:15am. As it went off I got up and tried to wake Benjamin. In a very early and tired voice came the "Dad, can we just sleep for a bit longer?". I smiled and went back to bed. I got up early to help start breakfast on the new Camp Chef three burner stove. It was awesome. It cooked like a champ even if my blueberry pancake skills were not the best. I think all of the gentlemen and their boys appreciated the breakfast and were excited to go off and play in the mountains.


After breakfast, Ben and I decided we would go fish with Brett and his son Jacob who is the same age as Ben. Brett has been a friend of mine now for quite some time. We originally bought our second home in Bountiful from Brett and his wife Jennifer. Although Brett and I have been friends we have rarely fished together.






We decided that we would check out a few spots and after we saw the crowds we decided that they would follow me up to one of the spots I grew up fly fishing when I was 16. After 6 miles of 4 wheel drive conditions I wondered how I ever got my Mercury Marquee up to my favorite little spot. After a fun drive up the rocky path we made it to the flats. We spent the afternoon catching tiny Brook Trout on small flies and the kids had a blast.



I had so much fun. I can't wait to take Ben back up to do more father and son outtings.

~JayMorr

Enter The Dragon - Part 2 In My Quest To Capture Beauty

After taking a closer look at my initial dragon fly photographs, I was stunned to see the amazing color and beauty from these detailed insects. I took a lunch break to capture more of them on my camera.

Dragon flies hovered over the pond. On occasion they would land, resting their wings as they basked in the sun. The wind would blow and their bodies would sway side to side as they rested on a strand of barbwire. I waited patiently.

As I walked back to my car I watched a large carp breach the surface and enhale a dragon fly that had been skimming the waters surface to lay its eggs. It bounced on top of the water and in a split second was gone.

I enjoy getting out whether to fish or just take a few photos. It is refreshing to the soul and time alone can do wonders.

I hope you enjoy Part 2 of Enter The DRAGON.














~JayMorr

Officially Published - Jason Morrison

I was very excited to receive multiple copies of FFF (Fly Fishing Federation) FLYFISHER Magazine in the mail today. I turned the pages to see my Alaskan Wolf photograph making the cover shot for the Alaska Pebble Mine story. Since the release of Summer 2008 issue of FLYFISHER Magazine, I thought I would link the article highlighting my first published photograph. I want to thank Al Beatty for making it possible and for being a great mentor. He has helped me acheive my goal of getting published with both my writing and photography. I am very excited to participate in future fly fishing publications!

~JayMorr

The Dragon

I arrived home from work this week to find a beautiful Dragon resting. I had ripped off about 2 gigs worth of photos before he flew off. I have posted some of my favorites.

Also, I have included some wikipedia information.

A dragonfly is a type of insect belonging to the order Odonata, the suborder Epiprocta or, in the strict sense, the infraorder Anisoptera. It is characterized by large multifaceted eyes, two pairs of strong, transparent wings, and an elongated body. Dragonflies are similar to damselflies, but the adults can be differentiated by the fact that the wings of most dragonflies are held away from,and perpendicular to, the body when at rest.

Dragonflies typically eat mosquitoes, midges, and other small insects like flies, bees, and butterflies. They are therefore valued as predators, since they help control populations of harmful insects.

The adult stage of larger species of dragonfly can last as long as four months.

I hope you enjoy the photos!

~JayMorr

Happy 4th of July Weekend!

I know the 4th has come and gone; but as the weekend draws to its close I thought it would be nice to give a shout out to the men and women in the armed forces. I am grateful for all that you do and for putting your lives at risk so that I may enjoy all of the many freedoms I have.

This weekend was filled with spending time around the pool with my family, fishing with Cheech and painting the kitchen. I managed to snap a few photos and I was excited to have a break through and figure out some IR settings on the 40D.

I hope you all had a wonderful July 4th weekend!


~JayMorr

Frog On The Fly

Cheech: Dude, i'm fish'n friday & saturday. U have a green light.

JayMorr: I'm in!

Cheech: WORD.

So when the text came in, it was a go. 6:00am sharp and the bull frog's were poppin'. A cast to the bank and Kermit was on! Maybe he didn't like the impersonation of the froggy I was throwing?

It didn't take long for the water to explode. Bass were chasin' frogs and the action was HOT! Cheech was crankin his retreives fast and it was almost dejavu from a few weeks past out on the pond. I was shaking my head and hard on myself for leaving the camera bag sitting on the table. I did have my back up - my phone. I busted out the LG Voyager and started snappin'.

The cool morning turned into a hot afternoon and the fishing slowed down a bit as the sun pounded us with it's scortching rays. I started huckin the spin cast and managed to pull a few from the shadows. Cheech has a sweet little setup and switching between fly rod to spin casting was the ticket.

This trip go's down as another great one. I have enjoyed fishing with Cheech. It's all about having a great time and it's refreshing to get out on the water and stick some large mouth. And the Kravers afterwards was filling. Remind me to take a snapshop of the food next time.

RIBBIT!

PS. Sorry Kermit.

~JayMorr