Hang gliding off the Butte

Redmond, Wash. resident Tom Johns is gets a running start to launch himself off the top of Chelan Butte Oct. 12 in Eastern Washington. He said he has been hang gliding for years and has participated in day-long races. Chelan Butte has been an incredibly popular launch point for avid flyers over the years. Gliders take flight off the mountain and gain lift from the thermals coming off the ground, according to Johns' wife Lori Johns. People have been known to catch thermals and wind currents all the way to Oregon, about 150 miles away.



— Christopher

Photojournalist Wins TED Prize

A photographer friend of mine from Western Washington University posted this video to his photo blog recently. World-famous photojournalist James Nachtwey is one of those photojournalists who inspires anyone who seriously wants to become a professional visual journalist. I studied Nachtwey's work as a student and continue to use some of his ideas in my work.

You can also click the title of this entry to see the presentation.



-- Christopher

Lake Chelan for a Weekend

Sorry for the long periods without material. I am not doing as much serious travel as I was last year. Despite recently finding legitimate jobs that we both love, Julie and I have still done some short trips out and about. The hope is to keep material coming. Mostly a photo or two at a time as we travel around our home, beautiful Washington state. Not going to run out of blog postings anytime soon. If you still check this, keep reading and viewing from time to time.

We recently spent the weekend in Chelan, where our family has a condo on the lake. I grew up going to the lake and spending time in town and at Chelan Butte. The drive to eastern Washington from Seattle is magnificent — I've rediscovered the absolute splendor of it after being away in other parts of the world over the past few years. The apples are the best in the world — it is the apple capital of the world, really. Some are the size of your head — almost.


Apples for sale in crates at a small Saturday market in Chelan. Locally grown apples run about $4 for a 5-pound bag. Quite a deal.


Manson, Wash. resident and long-time farmer Juan Laberrigue, 62, smiles as he prepares to close up shop on a late Saturday morning in October. He sells pumpkins and apples on the weekends and has been farming for 40 years.

I recently spent two exhausting days experiencing the beauty and splendor of the North Cascade Mountains. It was my first climb and it was to the summit of Ruth Mountain.

Elevation: 7,100 feet.

The above photo is of the view we (my brother, David, my cousin, Phil, and I) had from our camp. After hiking four miles on a relatively easy forest trail, climbing up a dried-up waterfall trough and traversing a mile or so of snowfields, we found the flattest spot at the top of the snow bank to pitch the tents.

Oh, what a sight. The breathtaking vistas, combined with the satisfaction of much-needed rest, nearly bring an exhausted, relatively out-of-shape climber to tears. It's all worth it when you get to see the sunset and experience the calming silence at this elevation. Below is the view of Mount Shuksan (foreground) and Mount Baker at sunset from teh other side of our camp.


After a rejuvinating night's sleep, we awoke to this, looking northeast from just below the Mount Ruth Summit.



That morning, we summited (above photo) in 18 minutes from camp and then moved on to Icy Peak (below, from Ruth summit), which was another four hours of trekking. We didn't quite make it up the summit — too many vertical snow banks in our way and not the right gear to scale them — but it was still fun refilling our water bottles with pure snow-melt straight from underneath a small glacier.


This rivals my Inca Trail experience as the toughest thing I have done physically, but it was all worth it.



— Christopher

LA BELLA STRADA ART FESTIVAL: AUG. 9-10


Christopher will be participating in the upcoming Allied Arts La Bella Strada Art Show Aug. 9-10 in Bellingham, Wash. The event will feature restaurants from around Bellingham, a chalk art festival and a wide range of professional artists from around the country.


Enjoy the Bite of Bellingham and peruse the plethora of artist tents along Cornwall Avenue (downtown Bellingham). The fastival runs Saturday 10 a.m.-6 p.m. and Sunday 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Be sure to look for Christopher Huber Photography. He will have matted and framed pieces from his travels in Alaska, Washington and Latin America.


Prices are reasonable and the prints are archival quality. If you can't make it to the festival, but would like to see Christopher's work, visit www.chuberphoto.com. High-resolution digital copies of photos are available for $10 each and checkout is easy through PayPal.

We got the chance to spend some time in downtown Seattle a couple of weeks back. It was for my brother's graduation ceremony — he graduated from the University of Washington with a biology degree and they held the commencement on Lake Union. The facility is part of the Center for Wooden Boats. Dozens of privately owned sail boats and large "project" boats are moored next to the building. This photo is of the side panels of the largest boat being restored there: the Wawona. The ship was finished on September 12th 1897 by master shipbuilder Hans Bendixen and was the largest three-masted schooner ever built on the West coast of North America, according to seanet.com. Built for the Dolbeer & Carson Lumber Company of Eureka California, Wawona is 165 feet long with a 36 foot beam and a depth of 12 feet 3 inches.

Below is the porthole of a private boat that is for sale for $140,000. The hull and floor are made of teak.


The Lake Union Wooden Boat Festival, put on by the Center for Wooden Boats, runs this weekend, July 4-6 in Seattle from 10 a.m.-6 p.m.

Living next to a beautiful park is a wonderful thing. At the end of spring, the huge, old trees that line the park blossom and fill the area with color, especially against the (not so common this year) blue sky. Next time you take a stroll through the park, look up and appreciate the change of perspective.

Old fashioned randomness

Pretty random, how I made this picture. It was the only shot I took this way, but with more experimentation, I think some great, rustic medium-format photos could come from this method.

All it takes is your digital camera and an old, cheap and easy-to-find medium-format camera. Compose the shot in the film camera, hold your digital camera in line with the viewfinder and shoot. It may take some tweaking to get your desired style and texture, but should prove to be quite fun, especially when you don't have to shoot with film if you don't want to.


— Christopher

The overlooked details in everyday life

After somewhat of a drought, I have decided to publish photos from everyday experiences, interspersed with recent travel photos when possible.


Just one of those details you might not think are worthy of a photograph or any thought, for that matter. Use your imagination to construct the rest of the image.

— Christopher

Ahh, the market...

Indeed, one of the finer, or at least one of the richest, experiences you can have as a foreigner in Cusco, Peru. Anyone who spends any time in the old Inca capital must forgo the tourist mainstream and slip into the awfully pungent yet eclectic and colorful atmosphere of El Mercado de la Merced, the Merced Market, named for the neighborhood and 14th Century catholic church nearby.


This market is one of, if not the largest open-air markets in the downtown area and is packed full of hundreds of farmers, craftsmen, small Andean women who bring their textiles from the mountains and shaw men selling herbs.

Booth set-ups like these are placed sporadically throughout the maze of raw meat, groceries, juice tubs, soup kitchens and wheels of fresh goat cheese. The vibrant colors are quite eye-catching.





— Christopher