Winter is a great time to get out and see your surroundings. Not a lot of people like to get out and walk in the cold nasty weather. I think it happens to be some of the best time to walk and contemplate things. It's quite, and you end up seeing things without the distractions of the neighborhood, or whatever area you're in. There is a quietness to the winter environment that seems to heighten the senses. Any way I was out a couple of days ago and was noticing how the big picture is made up of lots of little pictures. Snow hanging on some left over leaves on a tree for example made a tree look almost white. But up close there are just little leaves holding a bit of snow. Like delicate hands trying to scoop up and hold the snow, doing its part to clothe the tree in snow. Kind of cool.

It has been a fantastic holiday season and a great start to the New Year for me. I was able to take some time off of work and spend some great time with my wife and kids. I need to figure out how to become independently wealthy so I can just hang out with my family. If anyone has that figured out let me know.

I have been able to use some of that time to catch up on some personal work that I have been shooting. I have been concentrating on what sort of images I can make that draw the view in that are also common, everyday places. I want to evoke a sense of wonder or "wow, were did you take this photo" in the viewer but the image may be something you could see every day but you just don't "see" it.

The image below is of the ground covered in oak leaves. In one day two oak trees dropped all of their leaves and blanketed the whole area with leaves. This image makes people think about shuffling through leaves when they were kids, or making piles of them to jump into. There is a sense of mystery in this photograph too. A little dark, a little "I wonder what is just beyond that tree". This image is of my front yard. A very ordinary suburban front yard like so many people see every day. But when you take the time to see things differently, then the ordinary becomes exciting again.

 It has been a great summer. We have been able to enjoy visitors, lounge on the back yard deck and roast marsh mellows and enjoy the nice mild summer weather. We have had over our normal amount of rain this year by a lot, so things have grown like crazy. The garden was awsome, and we are looking forward to a bumper crop of apples this year too. This has been a summer has also been a summer of criters in the yard for sure. Our dog has scared up so many garter snakes it's not even funny. Not to mention a turtle, and a bunch of toads (the dog hates how those taste). I hope your summer was as nice as mine. Of course I did work too, so I will upload some more images from shoots that happened over the summer but I thought I would just give a little toast to summer 2009.

 It's been a while since I have been able to post some recient shoots so I thought I should get at least one session posted. Matt, Karen and their boys were great to work with. We had a blast just hanging out, chattting, even playing ring around the rosie. Thanks guys, I had a blast.

I always thought that Louisville, Colorado was pretty great place to live (that's where I live). It seems Money Magazine agrees. They have named Louisville the best small town in the U.S. to live. The people here make a great community and it has been a wonderful place to raise our kids. Any way, I thought I would post a shot from one of the local parks here in Lousiville. This one is a sunset shot of Lake Park in the heart of Louisville. I do a lot of family photo sessions here at this park. I'm sure you can see why.

I just wrapped up a corporate event down in Nashville, TN. It was my first time to Nashville and it couldn't have been more fun. One of the most fun times at this event was when the M.C. opened the second day with a T-Shirt Cannon. He was lobbing T-shirts into the crowd to get them ready for another day of meetings. It looked so cool and what a supprise for the blurry eyed people after a night at the Wild Horse Saloon. Once I wrapped the corporate event I got to do some sight seeing around the Nashville area. Places like the Carter House, the Carnton Plantation and the Hermitage. I also had a great time eating at Monells, Pucket's and Jackson's Bar and Bistro. If you get down there you have to try the fried cookie dough at Jackson's.

Oh man, I can't tell you now excited I am about Spring finally being here! Of course the last snow storm here in Colorado was in April so it was Winter right up to the very end. On that last snow storm I had a car accident with my brand new 2009 car! Aaarrgh! Couldn't belive it. Oh well, no one was hurt and the car is repaired so all in all not too bad. One of the cool things of spring is all the young wildlife running around. We have bird nests everywhere with eggs ready to hatch any day and there was this wonderful family of foxes close to the house that I got to photograph. They didn't seem to mind me hanging out every other night watching them. They got pretty use to me being there so I had a blast photographing these little guys. Happy Spring time everyone.

There is nothing that gets my creative juces flowing more than creating images with black and white film. The grain, tones and the way a fiber print looks after it's been processed... it just sings. There is just something magical about a fiber print that can't be matched. Maybe it's just knowing that it was hand made by a person with emotion and artistry instead of a machine print that makes it really stand out. Even seeing a scan of a print on a computer monitor can't come close. You just have to see one to understand. It could be that I love the traditional process so much because it has nothing to do with a computer. I spend way too much time as it is on a computer so spending time in the dark working with my hands and creating the final image is something magical.

With that said I want to start a little project and see where it goes. I am looking for a family that I can photograph with traditional methods. All of the new coffee table type albums are really cool but what happens to the photos when the album corners get wet, or the pages tear? Remeber those portraits your grandparents or maybe parents had with their image composited inside a wine glass? Who thought that was a good idea? I think a lot of the digital things that are happening today will end up like those wine glass images. Just becasue you can doesn't mean you should. The designer in me wants to make a traditional album with modern design principles. Hopefully that will end up to be classic looking album with a modern sensablity.

If you want to work with me on this give me a call or send an email my way. Let's get working on it.

So, in my earlier post I was saying how it was so cold in Florida. The reason I went was to help cover a corporate event that was down there at the Don Cesar Beach Resort. Nice place! Quite a history and even a few ghosts are supposed to haunt the place. Any way it was fun to cover this event and I always love to get business people in action. It is so rare that a business person gets to get on stage so you never know what's going to happen. Sort of like watching a college football game, they could be amazing or a nervouse wreck, you never know. One of the speakers was Joseph Pine (second image down) Co-Author of The Experience Economy, Work is Theatre and Every Business a Stage. Well just from the title of his book you could tell he was gonig to to fun to watch. He was of course. The funniest part of the whole trip was that there were outdoor activites planed for all of the people at this event. Things like deep sea fishing, golf, and sailing. People tried to get out of their activity of choice but since it was already paid for it was manditory to go. Thankfully I picked sailing. It was cold but at least I didn't come back to the hotel green in the face like the deep sea fishing crowd. 

Well, I went to St. Petersburg Beach Florida for a few days on business. Of course, it had to be the coldest 3 days in the last 2 years! Sheesh. While it was a nice balmy 70 degrees in the Denver area it was in the high 40's with high winds in Florida. "Never give up" they say, and "you have to make your own luck" is something I hear too. So I got up early one morning and braved the cold with camera in hand and got some really nice shots, dispite the cold and wind. It just goes to show that the best photos are usually made in the worst weather or most uncomfortable times of the day. When there is no one around, it's a good bet that there are good photos to be found.