by Patrick J Corley

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...To the River to Play

During days of raging fires that scorch the Sawtooth Mountains, there is a meadow to be found by horseback. Two trail hours from Redfish, you can wade in the stream among meandering bull trout and film honey bees that behave on que. Or you can walk with mountain folk that own no mirrors. They are curators of the Challis National Forest, and so they do live.

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The Cardinal Way

You may have to be from there to understand it and appreciate. You may have to have listened to KMOX for 50 years. You may have to have met friends at the Stan Musial Statue before the game and then again at Ted Drews after the game. And if to the core you have experienced the winning ways of Cardinal baseball in October, then you know why there is The Cardinal Way.

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Load the Bases......and the film

The experience of Major League Baseball shapes lives and legacies. The greatest of these moments are rarely planned. Sure, I saw Bob Gibson face Henry Aaron on July 12, 1974, and I remember that evening and conversation with my grandfather. Now, when photographing our next baseball heroes, I am in search of images that can tell stories to the grandchildren.

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Robert Plant - Black Country Gentleman

"You can't give up something you really believe in for financial reasons. If you die by the roadside - so be it. But at least you know you've tried. Ten minutes in the music scene was the equal of one hundred years outside of it. If I didn't do what I do, I wouldn't be as young as I am. But soon, I'm going to need help crossing the street." Robert Plant

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The Pageantry of Professional Boxing

When the Spinks brothers won Gold Medals for the U.S. Team in 1976, I was 11. I was there for their STL parade down Market Street. In 2003 with my elbows on a ring mat for my first boxing assignment, the very palpable tension of color, personality, pageantry and hope stunned me. I wanted more.

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The Sonoran Desert

The Sonoran Desert is within the Sonoran Floristic Province of the Madrean Region in southwestern North America, part of the Holarctic Kingdom of the Western Hemisphere. The desert contains a variety of unique and endemic plants and animals such as the Carnegiea gigantea and Stenocereus thurberi. It has an area of 260,000 square kilometers. It overlaps areas of The Tonto National Forest. And there in lies the adventure.

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The Elite Athlete

There are plenty of sports in this world where not everyone gets a trophy. Professional boxing, surfing, golf, kickboxing, hockey and swimming require a level of self commitment and focus for which few athletes are willing to prepare and endure. I recently witnessed a swim team where the afternoon training session was 50 sets x 50m of butterfly. I remain humbled.

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Director = Producer = Movie Stills

After having photographed weddings for friends in the 1990s, I knew my eyes and heart were not designed for wedding receptions that featured party pics and covers of "Sweet Caroline". Looking at someone else's wedding photos is a close second to getting your teeth drilled !! So I just go along for the party and let others take the photos.

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Death Valley Celebrating Life

We headed there for the "Super Bloom". The LA Times said it had been 11 years since Death Valley was so full of life. And sure as the sand blows high in April, we landed in Stovepipe Wells located at 36°36′22″N 117°08′47″W. The town came into being in 1906 between Rhyolite and Skidoo was begun Since then, a gritty reminder that God and Evolution met.

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Cowboys, Cowgirls, Witches & Guns

Bull riding is not rodeo. Rodeo is not mounted shooting. A revolver is not a cap gun. If the cowgirls, cowboys and witches agreed on one thing, I suspect it would be their acute awareness of the possibility of a quick exit from this life. But until that time, they seek the opening of the chute, the trigger of the competition, the reigns of their dance partner and the eight second horn.

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Wrestler Wrangling

Directing others to film and photograph can be so much fun.

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Mia Toscana Limone

There are places in this world where neither words nor photos can tell the story. I find Florence, Italy to be such a place. Rarely in such densely populated areas of tourism can you slow down, stop all the doing and become part of the local connectivity. Firenze is my mother's most favorite city in the world. And after Chianti & pastry for sunrise, I now see why.

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L'auberge De Sedona

With certainty, one of the finest compliments I have received as a photographer was when after seeing these images, the locals in Sedona asked the L'auberge representative "Is this real? Was this a real wedding?" Only those of us who were there know for sure. At the time, this was my pinnacle of production meets effortless will and desire to create the extraordinary. It was real. And still is.

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Aeterno salutari nostro Deo

When leaves are falling and you mix the enthusiasm of children, holy incense, trolly cars, grand ballrooms, salsa orchestras, Latin gentlemen, estate homes along with generations of proud families, and a bridesmaid arrives to the lawn with a llama from the Andes, you thank God, ride the pageantry and dogma, and feel blessed for your Nikon 80-200 2.8.

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Simply Portraits

portrait /ˈpɔːtrɪt; -treɪt/ n. 1560s, "a figure, drawn or painted," a back formation from portraiture ordirectly from Middle French portrait, from Old French portret (13c.), noun use of past participle of portraire "to paint, depict" (see portray) Especially of the head and face of a person. My portrait work is grounded in my attempt to feature the subject in a way that is true for them.

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Telluride Blues, Brews, A Holy Ceremony and a White Wolf

When The Chris Robinson Brotherhood caravan rolls into town, remanence of The Dead follow, even Phil Lesh. They stir their jam band caldron near the base of Bridal Veil Falls. Some who have made the trek get married, some are there for the shift of reality, and others ascend to Alta Lakes for a glimpse of the White Wolf and the maiden who cares for her young and Springtime melt.

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With My Horse....of Course

Kiosco and La Angela Divina. The two understand each other. When the Spanish horse is ready for a walk in the foothills, they will ride, explore and even train for the audience of all creatures watching in the desert. For how else could they do this than with each other? Step for step, they share a friendship and a sunset. There is no place they would rather be.

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For the Love of the Game

Big time Little League! As parent, there are few moments that connect vision with the experiential immersion like the countless and fulfilling hours at the youth sports diamonds and fields. I'm blessed beyond measure to have captured spectacular highs and tough lows for families and their generations to come. Enjoy some of my finest legacy moments. Period Certain.

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Hitched in the Hills

The truth is that these images made the cut for my "Portfolio of Fun" because these were fun celebrations and I remain proud of the results we accomplished during these productions. You know my opinion about wedding photos, but I can say with integrity that we always strived for what was NOT the wedding normal. We did not live and die from the business of weddings.

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My Rodeo Cowboy

I once knew a country singer who sang "Don't let me die in Florida". Heck, I would assert you should not raise your children in FL. When our Cowboy was 2 years old, we headed west. Hills, hiking, horses, mountains (oh and heat too). I never imagined he would giggle at being trampled by a sheep. But when he uses his instincts to work young horses in the ring, I know he belongs here.

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If You're Going to San Francisco

Be sure to wear a camera. Polish your shoes, have a tuxedo just in case. With the 500 block of Geary Street as the base, walk the hills, sample the fresh roasted beans, grab a batch of flowers and look for your love at the Golden Gate. The markets are calling and so are the drums during the Chinese New Year. And if you listen closely, you can hear her singing "The Spy" (by Manzerek & Morrison).

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With the Band

Photographing a live show has everything to do with anticipation. I already knew where Ray Charles would enter the stage. I had to anticipate that Lauren Hill could leave the stage at any moment and never return. I connected with Joss Stone stage right, and waited for her to come sing into the lens. And Grace Potter only gives you one solo during White Rabbit,

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Leann Rimes

This was unanticipated. On a tiny stage in a desert hideaway down "Mule Train Rd." (can't make this up), I was given a peak and permission to capture these images of a vulnerable star who was trying to stabilize on many levels. The evening seemed part rehearsal, part getting comfortable on a stage, part regaining confidence in telling stories. No frills, just a mic, a stage and a light.

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Uncle Ted Nugent

Ted Nugent was born in 1948. This makes him about 70 years old !! I was not with my buddy Charlie in 1978 at the Checkerdome, but I can tell you this, in the hundreds of live music shows I have seen, Uncle Ted embodies 2 hours of full-throttle metal, energy, commitment, sobriety and clarity. And if you should happen to have conversations with him, hold on, the lecturer is with intent!!

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My Dad's Side of the Family

I have seen these folks at family weddings, yours and mine. I have encountered these outlaws in life, challenged them at card tables, drank with them until sunrise, I have seen them rob a stage coach and even descend on a kids birthday party to steal a slice of cake with guns slinging. And what intrigues all of us about them is their timeless haunt of our family that came before us.

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Corley Farms

First, you get some acres of corn, rolling hills and bluffs, some streams ponds and fresh water tributaries like the fine rivers in Missouri. Next, you get some guns, cross bows and lots of bales of hay, Then you get some cases of beer, a lawn tractor to manicure a fairway and green (include the pin). Then you gather some Corley's, grab the clubs and swing for the fence !!

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Spanish Class

The Andalusian, is from the Iberian Peninsula, where its ancestors have lived for thousands of years. I have only worked with them in recent years. To me, they are tremendous athletes. Throughout its history, they been known as a war horse, and was prized by the nobility. I prefer to photograph them outside of competition when their personalities are at their most shining.

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