Archive for the ‘personal’ Category
Five images On a Sunday In Fort Worth
May 17, 2010Due to a miscommunication, a shoot that I had scheduled for Sunday didn’t go through, so I decided to go shoot some random images, something that I don’t do often enough, and something that I’ve forgotten how fun it could be.
My 2010 Resolutions….
April 1, 2010Okay, this is going to be a list my reso–actually, I’m tired of saying that word, let’s substitute goals. Here is a list of goals that I want to accomplish this year. Not in any particular order. I know that we’re three four months into the year, but I’ve been late with a lot of things in the past; it’s how I rolled:
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I didn’t get a cell phone until 1999, and I never had a pager; if I wasn’t at home you were going to talk to my answering machine
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I didn’t start using digital until 3 years ago, and I bought a old D1X(which was 6 yrs old at that time)
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I waited until age 33 to actually get serious and try to make my dream (photography for a living) a reality, why didn’t I try 10 years ago?
My 2010 Photography goals:
1. Get physical with my imagery – Since these days so much is done digitally, alot of my photos just end up on my hard drive, or on this blog, nothing like the old days, when you had physical results from taking photographs. You took photos,
You ended up with negatives or slides. Some of those ended up in the form of prints
I want to make something physical – maybe put on my own show somewhere; something small, but something where I have an end to go along with the means. Maybe I’ll do a photozine or a book, but something that I can hold in my hand, and in turn hand to someone.
2. Film – A while ago me and my wife were watching Kalifornia, in that movie Michelle Forbes is a photographer, and she spends the movie shooting with a Nikon F3 (I believe) and she asked me if I missed shooting film. Even though I tailed off shooting film seriously over the last 10 years, it took me a little by surprise. I did miss film somewhat, I recently ran a roll of slide film through my F4, I had forgotten how colors pop on slides! So, I’m going to shoot more film this year, I’ve collected enough of it over the past 5 years that I haven’t shot
And I’ve accumulated more than enough film cameras…they need to be shot with.
3. Get project oriented – Come up with some projects that interest me, and then make them happen, not sitting around saying “I wish I could shoot, blah,blah, blah, maybe I’ll get to do that someday…” Why does it have to be someday? And when I start it, finish it. What good is a project that you start, attack with full steam, and then just give up? Even if it doesn’t work out like I envisioned – at least I can say, I finished….
4. Keep a creative journal – this I’ve actually started:
and started: and started: and started
But it would be nice to keep it going, not write a page, or couple of pages, but actually have a book that I can come back to for inspiration. And when I put ideas down in it…actually come back and try some of them
5. Take more personal photos - life moves so fast it seems these days, the only way that we can remember the little details is to write it down, video it, or take pictures. Like these of my wife and my niece decorating Easter cookies.
Something little now, but how are they going to feel about this moment looking back on these pictures in 10 years? 15 years? How am I going to feel?
6. Network – get myself out there to other photographers, become part of the community. It’s how you learn and how you find and create opportunities.
7. And probably the most important thing on this list; getting comfortable with at some point I’m going to have to tell people that I’m a photographer. Saying that phrase is heavy; there’s so much expectation attached to it. You can read the books, take the workshops, the classes, do the TFCD work, do the photo zines, the 365 projects. All that is so you can live it. You can love it, because it’s what you are. The moment you say that phrase, it’s what you do.
Looking forward on 2010…
January 13, 2010I know that it’s been a while since I posted anything – and I don’t want to let this blog just sit here with nothing for the new year posted. I’m prematurely excited for 2010; I’ve had this feeling for the last couple of months that I’m sitting at a crossroads. Both personally and professionally. I have this feeling that something is going to happen for me this year, this is going to be the year for me. I have a couple of posts in the works right now:
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I had a wedding December 26th(yes the day after Christmas), that I shot as a second shooter!
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I’m going to post my new year’s resolutions.
I know, I know (about the resolutions) everybody is making them and posting them on Facebook, Tweeting them, blogging them. But that’s not why I’m doing it. In the past I’ve made resolutions and then not followed through, because there didn’t seem to be accountability. They didn’t seem concrete. They were just words in the January air, they left my mouth and then kept going and going, until they were out of sight and out of mind.
Blogging, just adds a permanence to my thoughts, so that I or anyone can go back to that post and say “See, you said that you were going to do this and you didn’t” You broke your resolutions. I think that because in the past, I just like everyone else, seemed to make resolutions that we all knew in our heart of hearts that we weren’t going to follow through with, we were stretching too far. You know the “I’m going to stop smoking” resolutions – when you’ve been a 3 pack a day smoker for the last 10 years. Or I’m going to run 5 miles everyday, but you really haven’t been exercising on a regular basis. The goal is too big – therefore too easy for you to give up on. I’m going to make some smaller goals that I actually will follow through with, and there by giving me momentum to accomplish something bigger!
Now I know the rule with photographer’s blogs is that we can be serious with our words, but there usually has to be a photo accompanying the words, so here’s a self portrait of me looking serious…or looking toward the near future:

Christmas : By Josh Gaynor…
December 24, 2009While at work today, I got a text message from my friend Josh saying that he had left a present for me on my porch. It. Was. Awesome:
I always love Josh’s birds and other assorted animals that he draws, and I’ve been waiting for this limited edition framed print of Bela!

Thanks!
**I do love Field Notes’ motto: “I’m not writing it down to remember it later, I’m writing it down to remember it now” – something that I’m making a resolution to do next year, with a lot of other things (in an upcoming post)**
Cruzin’ (Cozumel!)
December 10, 2009Sorry! Don’t think that I didn’t remember to post the last port of call of the cruise! Cozumel, Mexico – a land of beautiful blue water (it was really that blue!)



Stephanie loved her fan that she bought, both for the way that she looked when fanning herself, and for the cooling effect. It was hot, not Cayman Islands hot, but still pretty hot!

After the little shopping that we did, we took in lunch at Pancho’s Backyard, a nice little place right close to the port. If you’re ever in Cozumel, I recommend it. We even got a free appetizer coupon from our cruise shopping director (that’s that tiny dish in the upper right corner…small, but can’t complain too much, it was free after all!)

Collecting some sand – taking in the view…

Oh Yeah, can’t forget the towel animal that we got that night!

We enjoyed this experience of traveling on a ship, can’t wait until we are able to do it again!
JerryWorld!
November 24, 2009Saturday night, my good friend Sai sent me this text message: “I got three tickets to the game with your name on one of them!” It took me about .5 secs to respond back that I was in. This is the second Cowboys game I’ve been to, both of them against the hated Redskins. Jerryworld or Jerryland (which ever you prefer) is a massive structure, truly a work of modern engineering art. The game could have been a little better, but we all were happy with the outcome. As Coach Phillips would say “A W is a W”
The massive JerryTron (bow down to its massiveness…), the new hole in the roof, and my collector’s ticket stub, gonna frame that baby!

The View!


Jon, $10 Nachos, Jeff and Sai…

Patrick “Fair Catch” Crayton with the game-tying TD catch.

And some final parting shots…

Crusin’…(Land of Pirates & Stingrays…)
November 19, 2009Leaving out of Jamaica, the next day in the Cayman Islands. They said the temperature was only 90, being from Texas, we could take that right? Wrong! Walking in the hot sun beat us down, when we got back to the ship; we slept for about 3 hours.


B.B.D. was everywhere…



That night, in honor of our visit to the Cayman Islands….what towel animal were we surprised with??

Next up; last port of call – Cozumel!
Crusin’ (Jamaica…)
November 16, 2009We arrived in Jamaica on Wednesday. We had a guided tour arranged for us through our travel agent. We got to do a little shopping, went up into the mountains to dine on some coconut, pear, and some type of bread I can’t remember the name of. Then we had some jerk pork at the Pork Pit(great place with some great atmosphere)

Cubans are Legal in Jamaica!

Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee….that big bag of Jablum would have cost over a hundred dollars over here, only cost us twenty dollars. So we took a bag home along with some cigars…

The Jerk Pork from the Pork Pit…

Rum Cakes!

Okay, we couldn’t figure out what this towel animal was. Even after we bought our towel animal book, we looked all through it and still couldn’t figure out what this was. Any guesses?

Next stop, Land of Pirates and Stingrays!
Crusin’
November 14, 2009Came back from a 7 day cruise…left out of Galveston, sailed to Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, and Cozumel. Took some pictures, gonna break this up into four posts!
Day 1 and 1-ish:

Our stateroom, and some free gifts from our Travel agent Tren-d Travel


The Daily Cruise paper with schedules for the activities, a Map of the ship, and for anyone who’s been on a cruise – a Towel Snake, we got a different towel animal every night and purchased a how to book of our own at the end of the week…

State Fair Time!
October 19, 2009This past Saturday, my wife Stephanie and I made our way out to Fair Park for our annual trip to the State Fair, we had a blast, spent some money, walked around enjoying the weather, which was unusual for us, because when we usually go by ourselves, it’s usually cold or raining, or both! Nope not this year, 72 degrees. Ate some good food, which what the fair is all about! We didn’t eat the Fried Butter though, maybe next year!
pics!











