Journal

I took nearly a year off from creating artwork to focus my efforts on learning more about photography. In a nutshell, this is what I’ve learned so far.

I have a grow light that automatically turns on for me each morning. The light alternates from blue to red, which casts a neon purple glow on everything I shoot (unless I use a flash) which make for some interesting effects.

A little wet and fighting the cold this morning, I ignored work for a few minutes and rushed out to take some snapshots of my pussy willow trees which had just started to bloom.

As a way to help me on my path deeper into macro photography, I brought some moss in from the cold and have been watching and caring for it daily. It’s fascinating stuff to observe.

As I venture down the rabbit hole of macro photography, one of the neatest subjects has been a dead mosquito that I pulled from a web in my basement.

Balancing creativity, production, marketing, and sales on a day-to-day basis is no easy task, and artists who work hard to make a living at their craft deserve some attention and a HUGE amount of respect. And no…I’m not talking about me.

Life seems busier as the season of decay begins to really show up for work on time.

Before the sun, before the birds, before I look down at my phone, I build a fire.

I spied some great water drops nested in a web, but in the shade. So I sat down next to it and waited for the sun to peek through before taking some pictures. After several minutes, I discovered that I wasn’t the only one waiting for the sun.

Some photos taken on a clear blue autumn day.

I’ve struggled in the past with creative blocks and finding ideas on what to create. Overcoming this has not only fundamentally changed how I do art, but how I feel about my art.

A slow and quiet war has been waging between the trees and vines in the woods near my house.

Moonflowers are vining plants with flowers that only open at night (in the early evening), and we got to see her bloom for the first time this week.

You and I were born without choosing to, to parents we did not choose, into bodies we haven’t chosen, into a region of this planet we did not get to choose, during a period of evolutionary history we also did not get to choose. And we were given a name.

My first camera was the Pentax K1000 and I still use it today.

My frogs pose for their final photo shoot before they turn into “frogcicles” (frozen, but alive frogs) for the winter.

Didn’t really have the heart to clean out the gutter after finding this.

Captures in black and white of some of the life and decay of the upcoming season.