In an attempt to squeeze every last bit out of fall before mud season bogs us down for the year, Kassie and I went backroad exploring through the Uinta National Forest. Fall colors are fading fast, but I did manage to find some amazing light for the above photo. However, after the shutter clicks, there’s still plenty of work to be done to produce a great image, and for that I turn to VSCO film packs. Having been turned on to VSCO originally through the iPhone camera app, I’ve been using the film pack presets to drastically reduce my editing time. Below I walk through my typical workflow and the steps I took to achieve the above image, the original of which can be seen below.

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– Freddie Scott with He Don’t Love You

Before you leave today, press play, sit back, and think about how you’re going to absolutely crush this weekend. Then go buy my new shirt.

Fall was short and sweet this year in Utah. Which may be a sign of good things to come considering the past two years we’ve had back-to-back indian summers that have made for exceptionally poor snowfall totals. So here’s to you Fall.

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If need a good chuckle stray over to the Goldman Sachs Elevator blog and twitter account – @gselevator. Below are few of my personal favorite bits of wisdom extracted from the recent post How To Be A F%#king Man…

• When people don’t invite you to a party, you really shouldn’t go.
 And sometimes even when you are invited, you shouldn’t go.
• Eat brunch with friends at least every other weekend. Leave Rusty and Junior at home.
• Act like you’ve been there before. It doesn’t matter if it’s in the end zone at the Super Bowl or on a private plane.
• No selfies. Aspire to experience photo-worthy moments in the company of a beautiful woman.
• There’s always another level. Just be content knowing that you are still better off than most who have ever lived.
• Piercings are liabilities in fights.
• Buy a tailored suit before you are thirty. Stay that size.
• Measure yourself only against your previous self.
• Take more pictures. With a camera.
• If you are wittier than you are handsome, avoid loud clubs.
• If it’s got velvet ropes and lines, walk away unless you know someone.
• Ignore the boos. They usually come from the cheap seats.
• Don’t ever say, “it is what it is.”

A photo-worthy moment with a beautiful woman from Gooseberry Mesa. For more visit me on Flickr.

I’ve owned a DSLR for the past couple of years, however, with the advances in camera phone technology, I found myself all too often sacrificing image quality for the sake of convenience. The iPhone has been great for rekindling my love for photography, however, I felt it was time to start shooting again with a proper camera, as the image quality just doesn’t stack up. After a little research, I became intrigued with mirrorless micro 4/3’s systems, which have been pioneered by Panasonic and Olympus. I considered several different models including the Fuji X-100 and Panasonic GX7, but when it came down it, the Olympus Pen line was offering exactly what I was after in a camera; an intuitive interface, great image quality, and fast autofocus in a compact, stylish body. After reading great things about the Olympus E-P3, I decided to hold out for it’s successor the E-P5, and have had the last few months to gather some initial impressions.

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…content should shape the design, and not vice-versa. How do we design for the content when often we have little insight as to what the content looks like? This can be equated to trying to piece together a jigsaw puzzle without any reference or image to work from. It can be done, but it’s far from efficient.

Read my full post, Solving for X, on the Fling Digital Think Tank.

Every man should own a custom tailored suit. That’s why, when it came to my big day, the choice between renting some cheesy, ill-fitted tuxedo, or investing in a quality, hand-made suit was a no-brainer. Having read about custom suit makers, Beckett & Robb, on the wonderful cityhomeCollective Blog, I arranged for a fitting.

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I do my best to keep a daily sketchbook/notebook. From time-to-time I’ll go back and revisit earlier pages or books altogether. It’s a great way to see all that you’ve accomplished, as well as have left to do, and much more tangible than a Facebook timeline. With that said, I was browsing though some archives and came across a list of goals I had jotted down for 2013. Seeing as how we’re a little more than half-way through the year, I thought I’d share a status report.

1. Get married – Success. Read more about that here.
2. Use My passport – We traveled through Panama & Colombia on our honeymoon so I can check this off the list until next year. View photos from our travels on Flickr.
3. Start parkcitymountainbike.com – Granted the site has been seriously neglected lately, I did make significant headway. Not to mention the page is ranking first page on Google for all Park City related mountain biking terms (take that Utah Mountain Biking). See it live at Park City Mountain Biking.
4. Compete in at least 3 bike races – The wedding took precedence to this one. Since race season is almost over and I’m quite out of shape from traveling at sea level, this might have to wait ’til next year.
5. Go somewhere / do something new – Admittedly, this goal is a little weak. However, in retrospect I have had many new adventures this year so I’m keeping it on the list.
6. Pursue self-initiated projects – Another weak one. The key to setting and achieving goals is creating concrete terms. In this case, “pursue” seems a bit too ambiguous. A set number of projects or other success metric would have made this a more measurable goal, so I’m leaving it unchecked while I reconsider.
7. Get a motorcycle – Hands down one of the best purchases I’ve ever made.
8. Learn to do a wheelie. – Embarrassing really. At this rate, I’m going to die an old man without being able to properly wheelie on a bicycle.
9. Drink Less / Eat Better – Again, too ambiguous to measure success. Although I have been attempting to limit both drink and meat consumption, so all-in-all I feel I have been working towards a better diet.
10. Take more photos – Ditto.

Five out of ten ain’t bad considering I have a solid 4 and a half months left to check off the rest. Additionally, it gives me the opportunity to rewrite a couple and evaluate where I’m coming up short.

Related: 13 Rules for 2013

As you may know, I recently got hitched, and as with many major life events, ie; graduations, birthdays, etc… people tend to ask you the same question, “Do you feel any different?” Typically the answer is always ‘no,’ however in this instance, I would say ‘yes.’

Never before have I been so aware of my own mortality. And I don’t mean in some morbid or morose, dull married life sitcom sort-of-way. But in a I want to do everything to spend as much time with this person on this planet as I can sort-of-way.

Seems like there’s been an influx of really good trailers recently. Here’s a few flicks I’ve got lined up in my queue to check out once they hit the big screen.

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

Directed by Ben Stiller

Her

Directed by Spike Jonze

American Hustle

Directed by David O. Russell

Frances Ha

Directed by Noah Baumbach

Valhalla

Directed by Sweetgrass Productions