15 hour layover

On a recent trip for work, guess where I had a 15 hour layover?

Dubai is like Los Vegas...without the debauchery.

And the mall that I visited was 3 times bigger than the one I am used to here at home. And that is just one of the 4 floors.

After 15 days of foreign food (that was good by the way) I was craving something more familiar.

I think the next time I am there I will have to try and find the indoor ski resort. But just walking around and taking in the sites was enough for one evening.

EAA Airshow

I don't think I have been to an airshow since I was in elementary school. So having the "stars align" (and a very gracious wife) landed me at EAA this year. A friend has been trying to get me to go for quite a while, but with 2 young kids we always had other forces pulling us away. Of course I took my camera, but I was really trying to take in the sites first, a discipline I always need to work on.

If you live in the mid-west, and like a good show, EAA is hard to beat...actually some would say it is the best in the world. Not sure the best flying show, but the best display of working airplanes (historic war-birds to modern "homebuilds" and a lot of Experimental Aircraft in between) and amazing culture of flying is definitely world class.  It was like Disneyland for kids with their planes.

great light, darn mosquitoes, and film

Over the weekend I was able to connect with an old fried as we walked the Arboretum and talked photography. But I was torn, I wanted to keep shooting (I don't get out much these days) but I also wanted to run back to the car, I was getting eaten alive. There has to be a reason that God created mosquitoes...other than to test my patience. I understand the existence of ants, spiders, and snakes...but not of mosquitoes. I must be more susceptible to them because John wasn't as bothered. 

These last 2 images have me excited. Not because of these images but because of the FILM images that I took along side them. I am borrowing a friends medium format film camera and I just fired off 2 frames. It totally changes your perspective and I think about my shots more with film. Not just because I only have 15 frames in a roll or I can't see the image to know I got it, but because it actually costs money every time the shutter fires. Though, is a different way, it is a lot more satisfying. Looking forward to the results.

 

Time on Fathers Day

This last Fathers Day, I was awoken by my wife...early. Not because she was awake with a child and wanted company, but because the light was amazing and we had a great layer of fog. (Can I brag for a sec? I love that my wife has learned to recognize great photography light!) Anyway, I texted a friend and we set out to see what we could find. I hesitate to call it a photo walk...but we walked, talked, and took a couple photos.

  

I learned long ago that great light makes a huge difference in image making. And I was reminded again of that...and moody light is even more fun. But, an unexpected lesson was that it takes time to make photos. Something I have not had a lot of lately. Thank you Sarah, for giving me the time to make photos this Fathers Day.

Brothers Wedding

The hardest part about being in your brothers wedding, is not photographing it. Although, I am not saying that I wanted to be the primary photographer, because then I would not be able to enjoy the wedding, but more so that I wanted to photograph it because that is how I sometimes remember things better, or experience them fully. (Yes, I know, my wife also tells me that I need to get over this.)

I was able to grab my camera for a little bit though, especially after the kids were asleep.

Congrats little bro, had a blast and it was an honor to stand next to you. What a way to ring in the new year!