Patrick McDermott | Visual Journalist

At the end of March I decided to take full advantage of the first free 10-day period on my calendar in a long time to travel out west to work on two personal projects. The first brought me back to Spanish Forks, Utah to continue working on a project that looks at the worldwide celebration of the Hindu festival of Holi. The festival this year was absolutely amazing. It was estimated that there was at least 80,000 people in attendance on the day I was there.

After dropping my friend Viv off at the airport I headed to Mammoth Lakes, California to spend the next week covering the 2012 FIS World Criterium Alpine Masters. This event is held annually at different locations around the world, and is considered the World Championships for Masters skiing. Over the week, I met some amazing individuals who are still racing almost as fast as their younger counter parts on the FIS World Cup. Due to the weather I was only able to photograph three days of racing. It was ironic that as a skier I was annoyed every time the weather report called for 8+ inches of snow…

These are some of the frames that I captured using my iPhone during my time in the mountains when I was not using with my normal Nikon gear. More tk…

It was a common theme throughout the day: they were meant to be together. And while this could be said of almost any couple on their wedding day, it was different for Brittany and Nate. Michael Brundige might have put it best…to Nate, unlike all the other girls he had talked about who were simply UNDATEABLE, Brittany was DATEABLE.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for sharing your lives (and amazing families) with me!

Here are a few from the day…more to come soon!

Please note that all photographs are copyrighted by me and may not be reproduced in any form without my prior permission…ie don’t put on Facebook without asking me!!!!

What happens when I am trapped in my car towing a U-Hail trailer as I drive cross-country for the third time in a six month period… well besides the obvious of drinking WAY to much coffee, and I mean Winter Olympics levels of consumption! I get to spend a few days working on my iPhone photo essay that I started during my travels in Asia. So here are a few from the journey that I took at two rest stops while driving through Virginia.