The day after Christmas, Central Ohio woke up with amazing and unusual weather that I call: “Frog” (technically I think it’s called Hoar Frost, but Frog sounds cuter to me). It was like Mother Nature gave all photographers her holiday gift one day late.
All photographs shot on Canon Rebel xsi / 55-250mm
So it’s obvious to see that after my last post about the Badlands in September, my website was really neglected for the rest of the year. And that’s probably because of several things:
And so here we are. Over the last 12 years I’ve published 5 different blogs (including this one) and have written the same sentence over and over again that reads similarly as: “Hi Everyone, Sorry I’ve been away so long!” But I’m not writing that this time. The concept and the reasons for blogging has changed over the years so it’s not always the back and forth conversation happening like it used to. That’s what Facebook is for.
However I would still like to keep this site going again. It’s my home base for all my photographs and current information on art exhibits, works in progress, and ambitions. But to start the year 2019 with a bang, I have to close up 2018. There were lots of photographs I hadn’t published here yet in the later part of the year, so without further ado, here they are on digital and film….
All photos shot on iPhone, Canon DSLR, Pentax K1000 35mm
Over the summer this year, I experienced the most unique and breathtaking landscape I had ever witnessed: the Badlands of South Dakota.
It would not be an exaggeration to say that when we first got out of the car to explore the landscape, I started to cry.
The vastness, the silence, the slow wind, the rocky ground and the ceiling of the cottony, white clouds, were almost too much for me to process at first. Because it wasn’t a place just to see with your eyes, but to feel it with your heart. And I also felt very small.
I’ve never been much of a traveler, I think mostly from fear or lack of money. But the long trip to South Dakota changed me. When we left the Badlands on a long stretch of road that seemed to be endless, it struck me right there that there are so many things out there to see, waiting just for me to catch it. The world is beautiful out there and sadly, I think I’ve spent too much time at home. We have such a short time on this earth so going forward I want to try to face the fear and save the money to see as much as I can …
… And to try to be a role model for future explorers and hooligans.
Next: Needles Highway, the second coolest place ever.
Photos: Shot with iPhone 8 and Canon Rebel xsi
I had no idea that last June, when I took a serendipitous drive to a park to take some shots of the sunset, that it would change the course of my work this year. On a whim I submitted this photograph to a juried exhibition late last year and this January I found out that my photograph was selected. Ecstatic that I got in, I also immediately started to take stock of what the heck I was going to do with all these photographs that I take and maybe it just felt like the right time to go full tilt.
Over the years I haven’t done anything with them. Mostly out of a lack of confidence, a lack of time or money to invest, or personal derailments, I’ve never really valued my art. And maybe all it took was one photograph to be discovered or to change my perspective.
Sometimes my passion is writing, sometimes it’s making paper, sometimes it’s crafts, sometimes it’s working with animals, but over the years I have always come back to photography. And there must be a reason for that.
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Locals! Opening Reception for Depth of Field: MetroParks at the MAC is coming soon! Meet me there on Thursday, March 22nd at 6-8pm. There are 40 works in the exhibition.
Even though I’m not a fan of winter I’m a fan of shooting during or after the snow. Yesterday our area was blanketed with about 4-5 inches of snow so the schools were closed and the roads were a little slushy but it’s hard to miss a weather event by not taking at least a few shots. So I drove to a somewhat rural area, about 15-20 miles north of my home to see what I could find.
Desolation was what I was looking for. And I found it. And just when I was done with the desolation and ready to drive back home I came upon the most gorgeous creatures on the side of the road just wanting for me to take their picture. And of course, I obliged.
All photographs shot with a Canon rebel XSI and an iPhone.
I specifically drove 45 minutes to find an old tunnel at a park called Blackhand Gorge – a tunnel made in the early 20th century to be used for an interurban electric train connecting residents between Granville and Zanesville, Ohio. After 3 hours of walking through the trail, we didn’t find any tunnel. It wasn’t until later, researching on the internet, that we were walking through the wrong trail. Oh well. The trip was not a total loss though, because the cold, winter walk was good for the mind and spirit. And at the end of the trail, I met a little creature on our way saying “hello” to us. What a treat!
We will definitely be going again on the RIGHT trail this time.
All photos on Canon rebel XSI and iPhone.
