Looking at Zion

A year long documentary project looking at Mormon history and Culture in Utah.

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Where can I order the zine?

Hey man, I'm going to be throwing up a paypal link on my website later tomorrow once I get the proof if everything looks ok. I'll post it up on here again for sure. Thanks man!

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I am super excited to announce that I have FINALLY finished the zine I have been saying I am going to make forever with the help of designer Dustin Davis. I think it came together really nicely and it helped having somebody else make sense of the work i've been making at random for the past year or so. This project is nowhere near done but it was a good process to sit down and sort of take stock of where I'm at. 

Once I sign off on the proof tomorrow, I will start taking orders for these. They are going to be in an edition of 50 and as cheap as I can possibly sell them and break even (12 bucks). First ten orders will get a small print with them as well. 

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Just started a very interesting collaboration with the stylist Katy Knowlton. We are photographing every single item in people's food storage. It is probably the most tedious thing I have ever attempted photographically but I think it is going to turn out really cool and be a unique look at this Mormon tradition.

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LDS General Conference. Twice a year the Mormon Church holds a "General Conference" where thousands and thousands of LDS people descend upon downtown SLC to hear revelations and teaching from their church president who they believe is a living profit. 

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A display of Mormon transcribing the gold plates that, according to the LDS church, Joseph Smith later found in the woods that would become the Book of Mormon.

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Mormon Missionaries pose on a platform for taking pictures in front of the Salt Lake City LDS Temple. Shot for Stern Magazine.

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Mormon boys look at a kiosk in Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah. Shot for Stern Magazine. 

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Temple Square for Stern Magazine. Last month I spent three days shooting for the German magazine Stern for a big story they were doing on why Mormons are so successful in business. It was a great assignment because I got to shoot portraits, reportage and spend an entire day shooting in and around Temple Square in downtown Salt Lake City. I was told to "indulge myself" by the photo editor and indulge I did. By the end of the 8 hour day, I had taken so many tours in temple square, I thought my brain was going to bleed.

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Adam and Eve in the visitor center of the Salt Lake City, LDS Temple. Shot for Stern Magazine, out now. 

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A picture of the traditional Mormon Jesus found on a fire alarm in the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah. Shot for Stern Magazine. Out on newsstands now.

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Mormon Missionaries at the Missionary Training Center shot for Stern Magazine (Germany) out on newsstands now, if you speak german...

Before going out to the place where they will serve their actual mission, missionaries first spend up to three months in a missionary training center learning a language as well as techniques for proselytizing. 

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The Sierra NEvada Mormon Pioneers after marching in the Pioneer Day Parade in Salt Lake City, Utah. 

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A Mormon bride and groom pose with family and wedding party on the steps of the Salt Lake LDS Temple. After the couples come out from the endowment ceremony (where no photography is allowed), they almost always go pose on the steps of the temple for pictures. On any given morning, there will be up to 10 wedding parties milling about the temple grounds waiting to take pictures at specific locations. 

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Two kids in a wedding party at the Salt Lake City LDS temple. 

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Shot a Mormon wedding today as part of the project. "Real" pictures to come.

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Jerry Gardner after the Pioneer Day parade in Salt Lake City, Utah. 

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Jerry Gardner, a 6th generation Mormon dressed as a member from the Mormon Battalion after the Pioneer Day parade in Salt Lake City on July 24th, 2012.