Friday, December 31, 2010

Photostory Friday: 365 Weeks 51 & 52 (plus a day)

And so it ends...

Day 348


December 17: Just over a week to go -- and this is the only snow to be seen for miles


Day 348


December 18: I just couldn't make myself delete this image.


Day 349

















December 19: Whoops. Again.


Day 350


December 20: Not many Silent Nights around here at this point...


Day 351
(Is it just me, or is the day count seeming a little off?)


December 21: This is the festive cord which attaches the fuzzy white ball to the soft, plushy redness of my Santa Hat.

Hint: If you EVER decide to take a picture every day for a year or two, when you get to the cold, dark winter months, take your picture early in the day, or you will end up just like me -- taking pictures of everything in your living room....


Day 352













December 22: Ok, here's how I look at it -- Two years of daily picture taking, and I've missed roughly a week's worth of pictures.

I'm giving myself a pass.



Day 353
(Yeah, something's wrong here...)


December 23: Very. Angry. Birds.


Day 354


December 24: One last family photo shoot before the big day.

Love those big eyes.


Day 355


December 25: He's eleven but still gets overwhelmed by the big day.

Matt literally stopped talking to me in mid sentence.


Day 356


December 26: Assemble the minions!


Day 357


December 27: If you don't have a carbon monoxide detector, get one. If you have one, change the batteries.

I changed mine Christmas night. Monday afternoon, the alarm went off. Fire trucks came. The gas company came. Emma slammed her finger in the fire engine's door, and got a sweet stuffed bear. And, eventually, we got the ok to come back home.


Day 358


December 28: This is all I see when I look in the living room now.

It's time for it all to come down.


Day 359


December 29: Um.....beauty products?


Day 360


December 30: I love Christmas, but after about December 27, this is the best sight of all.


Day 361
(Whoops. I know today is December 31, I'm not sure where I lost four days, but I'm not going back to find them)


December 31: Two years. I only meant to do one.

This picture is symbolic. You'll notice I'm not behind the camera, and the lens cap is on.

I'm not giving up on photography, I'm just taking a couple of days off.

I'm honestly glad I did this (now that it's over). I'm grateful to so many of you who have followed me on this journey -- though I've been almost completely absent from my blog, except for this weekly journal entry. I'm really looking forward to the new year -- I'm looking forward to coming back here to share more moments and images from my life. I look forward to writing again.

In a day or so, I'll go over the pictures from the last year and marvel at what a life I am truly blessed with.

365...adieu.

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Photostory Friday: 365 Weeks 49 & 50

PhotoStory Friday
Hosted by Cecily and Lolli


Limping toward the finish line...

Day 334


December 3: I swear it's NOT made in Heaven.

This stuff sucked -- but it came in a cool bottle...


Day 335


December 4: Say hello to Maddie. I was her favorite target at the neighborhood Christmas party (I was also a wise man in the live nativity :).

But Maddie didn't want to throw snowballs at me -- she wanted to throw snow boulders at me.

And she did...


Day 336


December 5: A couple of Christmas ornaments.

(And a couple of inadvertent self portraits)


Day 337


December 6: Kinda says it all, doesn't it?


Day 338


December 7: I love Christmas lights.

(maybe not to the extent of, say, Clark Griswold...)

I love turning off all the other lights, and basking beneath the soft warm glow of the Christmas tree.


Day 339


December 8: Dawn + rolled down window + camera + 50 mph = this picture.


Day 340


December 9: "Fun" at the beginning band concert.


Day 341


December 10: Magi...as interpreted by Jim Shore.


Day 342


December 11: Eventually I may photograph every decoration in the living room....


Day 343


December 12: This Sunday afternoon, I was really feeling down. I felt like I hadn't taken a good picture in -- well, it felt like months. So, I determined to get in my car and drive, until something caught my eye.

On my way up the canyon, these gnarly old trees were everywhere.

It's hard to explain to someone else, and I don't know how it is for other photographers, but I feel that everything -- every time, everyplace, every moment -- has a picture locked inside of it.

Like a soul.

I don't always know what I'm going to find, but I always know when I've found it.

I took a hundred pictures of this scene, and eventually, I found it's soul.



Day 344


December 13: Have I ever told you how much I love my son?

Spending the evening with Matthew at the Jazz game, just the two of us (and 18,000 other fans), was a fantastic night.


Day 345


December 14: Day number 345.

Actually, let's call it what it really is: Day 710

I am so ready to be done with this little project.


Day 346


December 15: What it's all about.


Day 347


December 16: Happy Holidays, from all the people I work with.

I wasn't in the picture.

I was in the middle of the road.



Two more weeks.....

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Photostory Friday: 365 Weeks 47 & 48

PhotoStory Friday
Hosted by Cecily and Lolli



Day 320


November 19: Guitar. Again. Burning out. Glad this year is almost over...










Day 321














November 20: Evidently I missed another day. I'm finding it really hard to care at this point. Don't ever commit to taking a picture a day for TWO years.

Ever.




Day 322


November 21: Chris just pawn in Game of Life.


Day 323


November 22: This little polynesian fish hook has been hanging from my rearview mirror for about ten years.

What hangs from your mirror?


Day 324


November 23: Armageddon.

To listen to the news reports, this was going to be a whopper of a storm. People left work early, they invaded the stores for survival supplies. They hoarded gasoline and food. I was prepared to eat one of my children, if necessary.

We got two inches.


Day 325


November 24: No matter what else you've done that day, you can't NOT take a picture of your little angel, asleep on the couch.

That's in the manual folks.


Day 326


November 25: Thanksgiving!

I LOVE Thanksgiving, and it saddens me to see it more and more overlooked each year.

This year, my caramel apple cider was the hit of the holiday. Let me know if you'd like the recipe.


Day 327


November 26: Up close and personal with one of my wife's latest crocheted creations!



Day 328


November 27: The last day of the regular college football season. Rivalry day. The cougars held strong for fifty nine minutes and fifty six seconds, and then....

Four seconds...

Field goal to win it...

BLOCKED!

Great game Utes. Have fun wallowing in the middle of the Pac 12.

I'm not bitter...


Day 329


November 28: Ample reward for shoveling the driveway, and the sidewalk, after the REAL snowstorm.

The one no one told us about.


Day 330


November 29: I love to shoot into the sun, on a crisp winter's morning.


Day 331


November 30: 'Tis the season for Christmas movies! Which ones are your favorite?


Day 332


December 1: Eye see you!

(sigh...is the year over yet?)


Day 333


December 2: Flying my spaceship out of the mouth of an ice monster.

Really.

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Photostory Friday: 365 Week 46

PhotoStory Friday
Hosted by Cecily and Lolli


Day 313


November 12: Some people identify with generals or presidents or great athletes or philosophers or any number of other notable personalities.

Me? I identify with three characters: The Scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz, Charlie Brown and my favorite character all -- Kermit the Frog.


Day 314


November 13: Yeah, we're still working on the family protrait...if we could just learn to smile...


Day 315


November 14: We had a houseguest for most of this week. This is Bella, and she's just as cute as she looks.

My philosophy, when it comes to dogs is the same as my philosophy on babies: they're a LOT more fun, when you can give them back.


Day 316


November 15: A truly rare photograph.

Bigfoot? The Loch Ness Monster? Child's play next to trying to find a sharpened pencil in our house.


Day 317


November 16: This didn't turn out quite the way I imagined it would -- I was envisioning an abstract amalgamation of autumn colors.

Instead, it just looks like potpourri.


Day 318


November 17: Emma crafting a personalized birthday card for my mom.

Incidentally, it was my mom's sixty-FIRST birthday -- not her sixty-SECOND, as I discovered, much to my chagrin.


Day 319


November 18: As if Thursdays are not hectic enough, along comes standard time, and takes away all of my evening light, making it that much more difficult to get a decent picture.

Soooo....when you're driving home, and the sunset is beautiful, and rapidly fading, you stop the first chance you get, and shoot it -- even if you have to shoot through a chain link fence.