As I prepare for a new year, I always take time to look back on my year. I like to look back and compare my images to the memories & thoughts I have in my head. This year I got pretty much what I expected, that being life changes.
Lots of life changes. I am most thankful for my wife and my kids. They are amazing kids that are now teenagers. They turned 16 and somehow passed the drivers test and are driving to their own practices! I can’t believe it. For the first time some health issues impacted closer to home and closer to our immediate family. We are good but it reminded us that life isn’t always predictable, nor easy, and we better live life to the fullest. In that vain, Our busy kids life resulted in less family travel this year. We just had little or no time. For example, Nathan’s (my son) club soccer season ended on a Sunday in July and the very next day he was at tryouts for the following season. Natalie (my daughter) wasn’t even done with club soccer before Marching Band started this year. That’s how it went. There were weeks that I really did not know how Jen and I would get through it nor get our kids to where they needed to be. Of course it all worked out, but let me tell you, it has taken a toll on my fitness, cycling & health. .
But through all of this business, it was my wife, kids, family and friends that got me through those weeks and occasionally trying times. Here are few memories that I simply cherish.
I mentioned my passion, cycling, briefly. I did not get out enough, but I did try to capture a few moments and I had a few incredible memories from 2018. My favorite day on the bike was Landrun down in Oklahoma. I got to the starting line and realized my camera had no SD card. Oh well, it wasn’t meant to be so I put the camera in my jersey pocket and rolled out from the start line. I have no pictures and that turned out to be a true gift. It was a PERFECT day in the country riding bikes. Truly, my favorite day on the bike, but here are a few pictures from other rides.
I also picked up a new hobby, RC crawlers. My friend and Bike Industry big wig Gary Gleason from Wilderness Trail Bikes got me hooked. It’s been fun and gives me a late night hobby to pass time when I hide in my cave for my introverted, regeneration time. I want a 1:1 size vehicle, but will never actually have the time, the space to build, the skill, the patience or the money to build one so I have to settle for the scale version. But it’s been a super fun diversion from life..
But, all was not quite what I expected. There was something a bit different, that being intimate moments in my photography.
Last year I sold all my zoom lenses and shot either a fixed 28, 50 or 90mm lens. Nothing else. No high speed zoom with thousands of soccer images. No spray and pray I get something good. Nope, just a camera I took out at specific moments to capture specific things. Of course, I occasionally snapped some pics just to make sure a memory was captured, but I shot thousands and thousands less images this year and frankly speaking, I am not dis satisfied with my results. Through it all, I find myself drawn to intimate moments. Something I did not expect when I was just shooting images all the time, everywhere, no matter what.
And with that in mind here are a few intimate moments from the year. I still have a lot to learn in this style of photography but I am liking the direction and what I am seeing. These images just make me smile and connect me to the both the people and the land that I love.
So what’s to come in 2019?! Lots of family time. Lots of travel and fun. Hopefully more riding. Hopefully I continue to hone my photography skills. I have trips to Iceland, Ireland and Vietnam just in the first part of 2019. . Jen and I have our 20 year anniversary later in the year and we want to take the kids and head to a quiet, beautiful cabin on Minnesota’s North Shore. I want to ride my bike. I want to take meaningful pictures. I want to laugh more with my family and friends. I want to continue to share my images, words and experiences here.
So thank you for following along. Enjoy the end of 2018 and good luck in 2019!