Absent!

Damn, I've missed my little blog. Being absent sucks. Being absent from my blog sucks even more because this is supposed to be a way I can stay present day to day.

But life or actually work took over the last month and half. I've had more photo shoots than I know what to do with. All of them awesome but all of them on the weekends and then weeknights spent processing.

My "real" job (as in the job that pays the bills), graphic designer for a non-profit, has been insanely busy.

I was in a photography class for a few weeks. That was fun and I learned some great stuff. But I do have to say that learning some technical things seems to have messed up my intuitive mojo for taking photos.

And freelance graphic design projects came back around. But they're fun freelance ... logos! I LOVE doing logos.

Whew!

When I first started this blog, I posted a photo every day for a year. And the most awesome thing about that was spending New Year's Eve with Shawn going back through that year. So once again, it's time to get back on track. I miss this space, I miss taking photos for fun to post here, I miss being present with my life.

These photos were from a little jaunt around Old Town Alexandria about a month ago.

South Dakota

And now for a few more photos from the iPhone. Damn I wish the resolution was better because some of these are just awesome. Captured better than with the BC. But I'm not sure how they will look printed. Most of the time as we were passing by beautiful landscape, we were on the tour bus. And once you're on the bus it doesn't stop til it gets where it's going. So no, hey can we stop here so I can take a few pics! But there were times when we were on a bathroom break and I ran to get a shot or two. We drove through the prairie, the Black Hills and the Badlands. All of it beautiful in it's own way.

Blur!

Wow ... September was a TOTAL blur. And now it's gone. The trip to South Dakota thrown into the mix made it all that much of a blur. It was a work trip for Running Strong for American Indian Youth, one of the non-profits I work for. It was me plus 6 other staff and 30 folks most over 55. We went to two reservations, Pine Ridge and Cheyenne River, a few touristy places like Mt Rushmore and the Mammoth Site, a bunch of Running Strong's programs and a bunch of museums. It was an amazing trip and I met some awesome people, both participants (the older folks) and some native Americans. And I took about 1600 photos. So let's start with the Hipstamatic shots! And it's great to be back!

The pictures include (in order) prairie of South Dakota, tipi, authentic covered wagon which is way, way smaller than you'd think, more prairie land and the wild horse sanctuary, old Ford in Chadron, Nebraska, tipi on Pine Ridge rez, farmer's market stuff and the Wounded Knee memorial.

Here Comes the Sun

Here's the sky yesterday afternoon after 4 days of pretty much non-stop downpours. Just when I would think there's just no way it can rain any more or any harder than it is right now ... it did. Again and again and again. For 4 days. Until it flooded and made getting home Thursday evening a complete debacle. But finally, it stopped and the sun returned. Whew! That sucked!

And I had just two days left for the August break and never posted those pics. Oh well.

Tomorrow I leave for a week long trip to South Dakota. It's work related and I'll be taking photos and video. I'm seriously taking more gear than clothing! I'm a little nervous because it's a great photo opportunity but everything, and I mean EVERYTHING is going to have to be on the fly and winging it. I'm not sure what to expect so this will be interesting.

Anyway, hoping to have an internet connection so I can share a few pics. If not, I'll be back in a week or so.