Day 50; A Cold Walk Home; A late night walk home after work was a cold one, as another cold front moved through producing snow. While the majority of people in this town complain about it i am thrilled to see so much snow and a real winter for the first time in years.
Day 49; WW1 Mementos; My godfather Mark pictured here has owned his own antique store for close to 30 years. Over that span he has come into contact with many amazing items that he has either shared with me or told me about. This year a man came into his shop and sold Mark his entire great grandfathers World War 1 collection. When asked why he was selling it all the man said was he needed to pay bills and all this was "just stuff". The collection included the soldiers helmet, canteen, medals, 3 bibles he carried and wrote in, a piece of a propeller off of a WW1 fighter plane, his own hand made trench art, a Japanese katana sword and a german helmet. This book though was the personal favorite and something that would make this whole collection appeal to museums and history buffs. It was his very own handmade journal featuring his enlistment and discharge papers, letters to his wife, facts about the planes he was flying in, newspaper articles about the war, food menus where they stopped and ate, prayers, snippets out of books, photography, you name it. Looking through it made you tear up and cherish the lives and freedoms we have thanks to men like him.
Day 48; Dealing Cards; Mom finishes dealing a deck of cards again during our weeky match of spades.
Day 47; Socks out the Window; My friends dog Socks looks out the window in excitement as we venture to a friends house.
Day 46; Sunbather;' Dude basks in sunlight in a small section where his fat ass can fit.
Day 45; Valentines Rose; In the cafe at work the owner always gets fresh flowers for the tables. The roses were a fit for this day.
Day 44; Icy Windows; A photograph featuring a single snow flake on my car window is taken in the driveway. I was curious to why the flake itself had an orange hue to it. Then i figured out it was the light from the outdoor garage light touching it.
Day 43; Asian Nachos; Food photography is hard. I went to photo school with a girl named Nikki who is now an established food photographer and i remember how difficult it was in studio with reflections and color corrections and lighting. I'll feature about one picture a month of food but i am no food photographer yet. I named this picture Asian Nachos because to me it looks like an Asian version of Nachos.
Day 42; Spades; My mom looks at me as i sneak a picture of her as she surveys her hand in the card game spades.
Day 41; Droplet; A drop of water trickles off an icicle outside of the cabin we stayed at. Over the entirety of the weekend a ton of snow and cold weather was sent to the region.
Day 40; Love Day; Alex pictured here on a blanket with champagne ready and snacks poses for a picture before i head outside to photograph a nearby creek. She laughed and told our friends over snapchat how inside by a cozy fire with a robe and champagne is an ideal place to her while she pans the video to me in a freezing ass snow storm photographing and thats my ideal place.
Day 39; Courtney Barnett; I got to see one of my favorite musicians again that weekend when we went and saw Courtney Barnett perform at the Stanley Hotel. I was thrilled i got to bring a camera into the event and was happy with the images, including this one of her looking me dead ass into my soul.
Day 38; Illusion Forest; My friend Forest plasters his hands on the window in this multi exposed image. I had been planning this image for a few weeks and was funny instructing him to cover the window with his hands many times. The nice fella didnt want to dirty the windows up too much to which i replied "Dont worry. The print will be worth it."
Day 36; Bird Watching; Presley watches birds outside of our window.
Day 35; My weekend after a drunken super bowl Sunday brought snow and bitter cold temperatures and beautiful landscapes.
Day 34; Back to the Car; Snow begins to fall as a cold front and winter storm hits the area this Monday. Pictured here are my foot tracks between my tire tracks as i make my way back to my car parked on the side of the road.
Day 33; Super Bowl Blur; This image taken at Mugs where i work shows a blurred state, representing what i remember. Lots of beer, lots of shots and lots of laughs. Thankfully my cat won us 250 dollars on a super bowl square and everyone here was pissed.
Day 32; Izzy's Birthday; On the 1stof February it was my moms dog Izzy's 11th birthday. This dog was around when my dad was alive and is such a sweet girl. Way to be a good girl Izzy.
Day 31; Dave is retired; Dave wanders in late for a drink close to closing time. I hadn't seen Dave in mugs in close to 5 years. I took this picture of him and his hat that says "Im retired...having GOOD times IS MY JOB". Dave said he didn't know where he got the hat. Nice seeing you again Dave. Keep enjoying retirement.
Day 30; Late Night Mercury; To this point on this night i hadn't shot a photo all day and i was now off work and approaching midnight. I drove around town searching til i found this ole classic sitting out by a mechanic shop.
Day 29; Herbed Vinaigrette; At work i photograph my buddy Josh in the process of making salad dressing. This was olive oil meeting red wine vinegar.
Day 28; Inside Dans head; My buddy Dan is the smartest guy i've ever known in my life. He is a genius and a totally out there guy. Dans mind stretches the limits and his personality stretches the line of sense of humor at times, making him the kinda guy that makes philosophical conversations awesome. Any conversation really. Dan is like talking to a real life Rick from Rick and Morty. Im thankful for having had this dude in my life and look forward to his company always.
Day 27; First storm; 27 days into the year and Canon City has its first storm coming in.
Day 26; RIP KOBE; I was on the toilet playing a golf game in the bathroom when Alex opened the door and showed me her text on her phone, it sent a jolt to my brain but i dismissed it. She shrugged and walked away and i looked it up myself. To my disbelief multiple articles no more than 5 minutes old were posted all over Google, all headlined about the death of Kobe Bryant via helicopter crash. Kobe was one of my idols growing up watching my favorite sport, professional basketball. He was one of the greats and someone you admired and someone i hated to hate. I didnt want to hate Kobe because he was awesome. He was a laker though and as a die hard Nuggets fan i had to watch Kobe beat us more often than not. No bigger than the 2009 Western Conference championship series, the fursthest the Nuggets had ever advanced in their franchise history. He was accused of rape in Colorado just a year earlier and when i went to a game the 'boo's' every time he received the ball were deafening. He hung 41 on us that game and took care of business unfortunately. That year the Lakers won a ring against a bad Orlando Magic team and i always said it should of been us. After that i always marveled and was in awe of Kobe Bryant. His competitiveness and will to win was unlike anyones mindset i had ever seen. He did it all on the court and there was no doubt there will ever be another one like him. He basically revived one of the biggest cities in the world by giving them hope and encouragement, something to look forward to that was positive and uplifting. Kobe Bryant was in many ways a cities saviour and all he did was simply work hard at what he loved to do. Over the next several days i read about Kobes personal life and his relationship with his wife, his kids, his friends and his colleagues. It makes the death of him at age 41 much more tragic after reading his regard for the future and his drive to get the best out of his kids. As dominant and amazing he was at a sport he absolutely loved, he would choose family over that in a second if he had to. He leaves this earth as someone i'll never forget and an idol i'll look up to til i die. This picture was taken in the gym that day he had passed.
Day 25; Record cleanup; Pictured here is a splatter paint vinyl record from the band The Mystery Lights. On this night a friend of mine named Gary, gave me a bunch of fancy sleeves for my records to which i began to organize and do a clean up effort. I had to take a picture of this beaut.
Day 24; Deposit; On this day i took this money to the bank. I transferred my change from a jug into a large bowl. A quick guess thought the change would add up to a little over 200 dollars and was pleasantly surprised to see it netted me over 300. Interesting note (no pun intended) When i tried to open this image up in photoshop it wouldn't allow me to even open the picture, thanks to their stance on banknotes being edited. It just pops up a screen telling me i cant edit this picture. It left me with an uncomfortable realization that "They" are watching everything you do.
Day 23; Edie's Embroidery; Pictured here is my friend Edie who does hand stitched embroidery and is awesome at it. Edie's house was so warming and welcoming and her pets helped make the visit so memorable. Here she is pictured in her living room.
Day 22; Cats Etch; Pictured here is the hands of my friend Cat. Her and her husband Tom have their own art studio and they come into mugs every week and every week Cat does a new themed picture on the etch a sketch. The most impressive thing for me, aside from detailed work on an etch a sketch, is the amount of time it takes her to finish her drawings, only around 10 to 15 minutes at most. This weeks image is a advertised image of the upcoming super bowl in Miami.
Day 21; Employee Bowl; Alex tosses a bowling bowl at some pins during the Mugs employee party. Almost no one was sober.
Day 20; The Squiggly thing; Alex and i went on a hike by a nearby creek and i noticed a bush with these furry "squiggly" looking things hanging off the end of some of the bushes twigs. I pulled out my macro lens and went to town. This image is especially relevant because it became the first image in which i photographed and printed on the same day.
Day 19; Jersey Swap; Levi Paxton can only smile in disbelief while resting his face on a cheese head as his Green Bay Packers get smoked in the NFC Championship game against the San Francisco 49ers. Levi's mom sitting next to him is a big 49ers fan who was wearing a Jerry Rice jersey while Levi sported an Aaron Rogers jersey. At one point while down 20-0 in the 2nd quarter i heard Levi ask her "Mom can we trade jerseys??"
Day 18; Bucco Presley; Presley hangs over her cat tower looking down on Dude in the afternoon.
Day 17; Lunch with Lindsey; i meet up with my sister Lindsey and enjoy an afternoon catching up and talking while enjoying a delicious Italian stallion sandwich. I love her very much.
Day 16; Impeachment Trial; An impeachment trial for Donald Trump begins as the country continues to be divided.
Day 15; Eggs; Eggs are about to be cooked for breakfast.
Day 14; 1917; Alex and i go and see the movie 1917, a World War 1 movie that was filmed to be one continuous running shot. The movie was probably the best movie id ever seen in theaters.
Day 13; Presley's interest; Before work i play with my cat Presley who is snuggled in the window pane sun bathing.
Day 12; Dude and Presley; Our cats Dude and Presley post for a white house style photograph.
Day 11; Bo wins a beer; Bo pictured here holding two beers is an avid Kansas City Chiefs fan. On this day the chiefs hosted the Houston Texans in the AFC divisional round and quickly fell behind 24-0. Bo, then made a bold bet that the Chiefs would be winning by halftime. Everyone including myself called him a dumbass but then miraculously, the chiefs stormed back to take a 28-24 halftime lead. I paid my dues on the bet and without Bo knowing i opened up an O'douls non-alcoholic beer. When he took a drink of it he was pissed and asked "What the fuck is this!? Why did you give me a Grandma beer!?"
Day 10; Printer setup; My cat dude offers support as i read instructions on setting up a Canon Pixma-Pro 100 printer i received for christmas. The printer is a pro grade printer and has inspired me to print print print! Its been a blessing and lit a fire under my photographic ass.
Day 9; Rule Burnside; I like to collect cameras, photography related things and records. The record market is unbelievably wide open when it comes to vinyl records anymore. Limited edition releases, foreign country releases and different designed vinyl is all awesome. Before getting ready to prepare a meal i pulled this old record out of the stack. A record by blues artist R.L. Burnside on a limited edition "smoke" vinyl.
Day 8; The Barbershop; Pictured here is my buddy Aaron looking into a mirror after he had just cut my hair. I went to school with Aaron and hes my barber down at Phil's Barber Shop.
Day7; Epsom Salt Bath; After a long week of exercise and work i run an epson salt bath to end the week.
Day 6; Ufa's turn; Pictured here are my friends Ufa and Kris. Kris has been dealing with injuries and has been prescribed pain killers to recover. While on pain killers her son scott gets the dog Ufa to jump on the couch for a picture. Kris immediately demands Ufa to get down while Ufa does her best to ignore her. Moments after this picture Ufa reluctantly gives up her spot on the couch.
Day 5; Presley's ailment; Alex let me know of the discovery of a chewed up peace lily on the same day of our cat Presley throwing up clear liquid. The peace lily is a toxic plant for pets, thankfully for Presley she was alright and only digested a small amount.
Day 4; Word search; Alex looks through a word search on a relaxing Saturday afternoon. NFL football playoffs started this day and so did Alex's laid back weekend.
Day 3; Mike Brodies book arrives; in the early part of the decade around 2012 i discovered a photographer named Mike Brodie. He was a train hopping traveler equipped with a 35mm camera, capturing everything on his journey. It became my favorite body of work over the last decade and i finally bought the book. The book arrived on January 3rd of the new year. Here i am looking through it with a a cup of coffee.
Day 2; Meatball Nirvana; Turkey meatballs bake in the oven late at night, minutes to midnight. Cooking has become a large staple of my life in the last year, remembering recipes from scratch is something i plan to work on extensively.
Day 1; 2020; Back in the day when i thought of 2020 i would think of flying cars, robots doing my laundry and the ability to read minds. Instead...We have beyond meat burgers at Burger King.