Fall Colors '09

One of my favorite places in Colorado is Breckenridge. It's a great town that Lisa and I try to visit at least once a year. We just got home after spending a few days there and got to see the start of Colorado's beautiful Fall Colors. Here are a few pictures I shot when we took a day trip over Independence Pass to Aspen. If you can, I would highly recommend getting up into the mountains either this weekend or the weekend of Sept. 26. It's going to be amazing up there!

Senior Portrait

Last Friday was d-day. Or maybe I should say, "P-Day" - "P" for portrait. As in Senior Portrait.

As an amateur photographer I've been able to capture some pretty cool pictures. Around Memorial Day sister-in-law, Lori asked me if I would be willing to take my niece's senior portrait for her. I accepted and then proceeded to feel my stomach tie itself in knots almost immediately. As a friend so readily pointed out to me, I must've been crazy to accept the assignment. There's a lot of bad that could've resulted from the whole experience – angry parents, a disappointed niece, a family rift. Of course if I pulled it off I'd be rewarded with gratitude from the parents, appreciation from my niece, and the family...well, things would be business as usual with the family.

So here they are...Savannah's Senior Portrait pictures. She hasn't chosen the one she's going to use for her yearbook picture yet but these are a few of what she has to pick from. And, if I may say so myself, I think I did an ok job for my first time as a portrait photographer!

Thunderbirds

Colorado Springs is an awesome place to live for a lot of reasons. One huge benefit is every year the USAF Thunderbirds perform at the United States Air Force Academy graduation. Here are a few photos I took of today's event. Enjoy!

Skies Around the World, Pt. 2

People seemed to appreciate my Skies Around the World post from a few days ago. Here are a few more that I thought you might like. Without further adieu, Skies Around the World, Part 2.

Rift Valley Moon


Otavalo, Ecuador


Another from Frisco, CO


I'd love to hear from you if you enjoyed viewing these.

Skies Around the World

Having the opportunity to travel around the world means I've gotten to see some beautiful scenery. Here's a little collection of photos I've put together to share with you called Skies Around the World.

Uganda Sky


San Diego Sunset


Masai Mara Sunrise


Mt. Kilamanjaro


Frisco, Colorado


I hope you enjoy these as much as I do.

the beginning

Here we go...my first doodle. 

I've been reading people's blogs for a little while...see the list at the right of this page for the people I read the most...and thought it might be time to give it a go myself. I enjoy reading what others are thinking about, what excites them, saddens them, makes them angry, what they believe. On occasion, I get to talk face to face with some of the people I read. OK, maybe it's an email or phone conversation for those that don't live close but I'm fortunate to have more than just a blog relationship with many of them. Someday I hope to be able to cross paths with those who I haven't truly met in person yet. The one thing that all the bloggers on my list have in common is that they are a smart, witty, interesting and well spoken group. They have good things to say and say them eloquently, whether I agree with them or not. It's my hope that I'll be able to join in and live up to their high standards. 

So, what do I have to contribute to the world? I guess we'll find out as we go. I'll try to share things that I feel passionately about: poverty, family & friends, work. I'm sure I'll dive off into things that aren't as significant: movies, music, sports, Apple stuff, cars. I'll probably get up on my soap box every now and then and I hope the people who read my doodles will feel free to disagree with me...I want this to be a place where people can agree to disagree as long as we don't get nasty with each other. Those of you who know me are aware that I can be opinionated...I also hope that I've been able to demonstrate that I will listen to reason. This might be where the first argument starts.

I'd like to use this blogging thing to "expand my horizons" or "spread my wings." (What other cheap clichés can I throw into this?) I've been doing my job - film/video production - for quite a long time. Recently I've started to have doubts about what I'm doing and the contribution I'm actually making to the non-profit where I work. A good friend told me I need to find a hobby or two. This might be one of the outlets for that. I'e also started picking up my camera more frequently. It's a Canon SLR, not a video camera. Using a video camera feels too much like work so I don't even own one. My wife, Lisa and I spent some time in the mountains last week and I took some pictures as we hiked around Breckenridge. Here's one of them. I'll post more and ask for your critique since I'm just getting into the whole photography thing again.

I'll wrap it up for now. Hopefully this will start coming more naturally. I used to write a lot so maybe it'll be like riding a bike and come back to me. I don't know how frequently I'll post. It'll depend on how inspired I get and how much doodling I do in my brain.