Last Thursday I got up a little early and headed up to Colorow Drive near Red Butte Gardens to meet local photographer Mike Calanan. Mike and I were hiking up to the Living Room so that he could take some pictures of me for his “This is Their Place” blog project. It’s a very cool project he’s working on where he interviews locals about their favorite place in Salt Lake City, Utah and photographs them in “their place”.

We had a great time getting to know each other although chatting became harder as we started gaining elevation and getting out of breath. Despite starting rather early, I was still a sweaty mess when we got to the top (as documented by the sweaty back in this photo).

This was my first time being professionally photographed, and it was a little weird. I need to get more comfortable in front of the camera if my male modeling career is ever going to take off.

The Living Room was awesome as always. Great views even with the slight haze over the valley. After being up there for a few minutes a cool little family came trekking up and we talked to them for a while. Turns out the woman was the Editor in Chief for a local magazine called Wasatch Woman. Her name is Pamela Baumeister. Mike and Pam chatted for a bit and exchanged info. I’m hoping he gets some photo work from it because then I would get the assist points.

Once the photos were done, it was time to head back down and back to reality (work). Normally I like to jog down the trail because it makes for a great trail run. This time I had my laptop with me for a few photos that bordered on cheesy, but I think turned out good.

It was very cool to participate in this project and I was glad I got to meet Mike. I’ve gotten lots of good feedback so far on the photos and had a bunch of people ask me to take them up to the Living Room which I am always glad to do.

Be sure to check out the whole blog post here:
http://thisistheirplace.calanan.com/2008/07/jesse-harding.html