Great Friday night photographing the Hoosier Open -- the first Indoor Track invitational of the season for IU.  What an adrenaline rush shooting these tremendous athletes.  There's so much joy, and heartache, in an amateur sporting event.  I'll forever enter the stadiums, tracks, arenas and fields with deep appreciation when I get the opportunity to photograph these contests.  It's a wonderful feeling to share the shots with the competitors and their families. 

"Life is your art. An open, aware heart is your camera. A oneness with your world is your film. Your bright eyes and easy smile is your museum."

Ansel Adams

Spending this weekend looking at available options for a new photography studio for my business....  It's exciting, and will add a further dimension to what I can offer my clients.

I prefer location-based portrait photography, all things being equal, but have grown to embrace that studio work has its important place, too.  The studio will allow more control over lighting (vs. available lighting outdoors), will give clients a one-stop solution for photography requests, will offer ready-made bathrooms (mirrors!) and space for outfit changes and will help during the winter months, where a lot of folks may not want on-location pictures.  

If you have an idea for a great studio space please let me know.  Right now my appointments have been in Bloomington, but I'd be really interested in all options.  Key is windows, for natural light, though from that starting point I'm awfully flexible.  The older the building, and the more work that'll need to be done, the better -- I absolutely love the aged look in interior and exterior spaces.

I've loved films since my earliest memories.  Growing up in Indiana, winters were a mixture of playing basketball, watching basketball, going to movies in theaters and watching movies on television.  I loved it all.  Still do.

Combining basketball and film, any list of my all-time favorite movies would absolutely include "Hoosiers".  To this day I start crying when Jimmy Chitwood says, "I'll make it, Coach", and I don't stop for the next 20 minutes.  Milan was/is about the size of my home town, and the countryside in winter is identical.  I feel an all-too-rare, deep connection with the entire story.  

I recently drove through Milan, the real-world Hickory.  I'm going back to do a photo-essay on the town, but got some nice images on the first visit, too.  I had chills the entire time I was there, and can't wait to go back. 

Were you to ask the jr. high, high school, college and/or grad school versions of me what I'd most want to "be when I grow up..." I'd have answered 1) "a photographer", 2) "a writer" or 3) "a writer/photographer".

That said, while I'm photographing South-Central Indiana people, places and things every day, I'm sure all-too-often delinquent in posting to this blog.  And I absolutely love writing.  Hhhhmmmm....  Not sure why sitting down for a few minutes to jot my updates isn't more second-nature (yet).

Anyway....

What has been second-nature is photographing our little piece of the world.  This is the world's best career, and I wouldn't trade it for any other (and, if I traded it for writing novels, it appears I'd never get them completed...).  Each day I'm visiting new places.  Each day I get to meet new people.  Each day I drive, walk, ride, run, paddle and I get to pass (and stop to look at) new things.  When you're doing what you most love, in the place you most love, surrounded by interesting people, then life is, as I've written before, extraordinarily rich.  

I've only got a few days (hours, in many cases) open before Christmas.  Call me if you'd like to schedule a session.  Recently I've been photographing a lot of folks in their own homes and/or on their outside property.  I'll happily come to your location, if that's your choice.  That means a minimal time commitment and minimal financial investment for you, and, in return, you'll receive gorgeous photographs that you and your family will appreciate for decades.  

What a whirlwind two weeks....  Feels like I've not sat still for an hour.  My photography business is an 80-hour-a-week experience, and I wouldn't want it any other way.  I've had assignments recently for portraits, sporting events, wildlife outings, corporate outings, home/acreage photography and pets.  I continue to meet amazing folks, and I get to photograph amazing people, places and things each day. 

Squeezed in a quick trip to New York City this weekend, as well, and, true to my rural roots and preferences, spent nearly the entire trip in one park or another in Manhattan.  The fall foliage was beautiful and the temperatures were ideal.  While there, however, I missed fields, lakes and big skies.

I've got numerous portrait bookings for the coming two months, as Christmas approaches, so please contact me as quickly as possible if you'd like a present for yourself, your family or your friends.  I'm going to be running a special on pet photography for Christmas, too, so check my Facebook page for upcoming details.

Now back to work....  Or does updating a blog include being at work already? 

Honored to have been asked to shoot the site launch party for Bloomington's newest microbrewery - Switchyard Brewing - and had a great time photographing the event.  Party was Tuesday and the 200 closest friends of the owners were asked to attend the invitation-only event, where six of Switchyard's new beers were offered for taste-testing.

Give Switchyard Brewing a "Like" on Facebook, and/or visit their web page to keep a tab on their progress for the new building (http://www.switchyardbrewing.com/).  They'll be a cornerstone for the new Switchyard Park that's  being built in Bloomington.

My wife gave me a new edition of "Walden" for my birthday recently, and wrote on the inside cover "So happy that you've found your Walden...."

It's absolutely true that I have (found my Walden) and I think often, alone on a pumpkin, of sorts, that Lake Monroe and South-Central Indiana is my spiritual home.  This is where I'm from and was always destined to return.  It's better than I even imagined, being back.  When the heart and soul and body are in the same place -- the right place -- life is a wonderful adventure.

Listening to Van Morrison's "Madame George" and feeling its power as I type.  This past few weeks has been incredible.  It's been wonderful meeting and working with amazing people, exploring/enjoying new places and photographing all along the way. 

Music and photography have so much in common.  I hear Van Morrison, Sufjan Stevens, Josh Ritter, Sigur Ros, Wilco, R.E.M. and so many other hugely influential musicians as I quietly work.  There's a powerful mood, a chemistry, a connection that both art forms share.  I'm always trying to honor the subjects I photograph, much as, say, a songwriter attempts to reach deep into himself to share something personal and intimate.  Songwriters often say the meaning is in the feeling, and I would say the same of photography.

Call me to schedule an autumn portrait sitting, a day exploring Southern Indiana landscapes/wildlife or to preserve memories from an important sporting event.....   I'll look forward to talking with you and providing you with beautiful, unique, natural and memorable images. 

What a fun niche....  My new business has been attracting a lot of kayak/wildlife fans, and we've been paddling and exploring and photographing so much beauty throughout the area.  Lake Monroe is a wonder of visual and sensory gifts.  The early mornings are breathtaking with the sun and fog dancing in harmony and sharp-light perfection.  The evenings are spectacular with vast, wide-open sunsets blanketing the water, trees and limestone with perfect orange magic-hour light.

Call me to schedule a kayak/photography trip (I can supply you a kayak, if you'd like), a portrait or to cover your upcoming sporting events.....  I'll look forward to meeting you.