year in pictures [2018]

year fourteen for the [year in pictures] post.


every year i’ve done this post, i’ve been able to come up with a theme that seems to encompasses the entire year.  sometimes it’s very apparent, other years it takes a while to discover.  this year was the latter.  i’ve stared at these ten pictures the last four weeks trying to figure out what binds them together; what’s the common thread weaving itself around each one? 

i think i might have figured it out with just a couple of days in january to spare….

in this social media world we live in, where you scroll through pages and pages of pictures of people showing you what they’re up to, it's easy to fall into a “grass is greener on other side” mentality.  even when you post a picture yourself it can give you anxiety wondering, “how many people will think what i’m doing is cool?”  as cliche as it sounds, the grass isn't greener on the other side, it’s greener where you water it.  

that’s what 2018 was for me; realizing that putting time and effort into your situation and the relationships around you are really what’s most rewarding; basically [watering your lawn]. now i understand the irony of saying all this on a blog post where i’m basically showing you pictures of what i was up to last year, but believe me…. this is just me looking back and appreciating what i've [watered.]

after moving away from my friends and family three years ago, to a city i had never been to before, nearly all my relationships were new.  with the perspective of time, i’m able to look back and see how those early interactions have grown into true friendships.  as a newly married man, i can also see how that rings true with my relationship with my wife.  if marriage has taught me one thing, it’s that i’m no lawn care professional.  hell, sometimes i wonder how was even lucky enough to acquire a lawn.  although there’s a lot to learn, i feel i do know one thing, and that is, even a little bit of water makes the grass greener.  also....don’t shit on the lawn…that’s a big one too.  i also know how important it is to take care of relationships with friends and family [back home] and how i need to keep those lawns [watered] with phone calls, texts and face time chats.


like i said before, this post and the following photos are just a look back at my life and appreciating the time and effort i’ve put into the last three years living in maine and enjoying the product.  i know all of you out there have your own wonderful lawns you’re taking care of as well.  this neighborhood called life we all find ourselves living in really is better when we can all sit back with a beer and enjoy a nicely maintained and watered lawn…and trying not to get too terribly mad when you find shit in it.

that being said…. here is my [watered lawns] of 2018

 ice_friends_1.20.18

 i've made a lot of good friends here in maine and they're all very active people that do maine things.  you meet someone, you hang out with them a few times, you become acquaintances, then you become friends and pretty soon your freezing your ass off with them in the middle of a frozen lake.
[frozen lawn]

 

 snowy_steps_3.8.18

 i hate the winter. 

let me rephrase that; i hate the winter when it lasts into april, which is what it does here in the northeast.  as awful as it is and as tiring as it can be to deal with it, one day you walk to work and look up and admire how the snow is falling on a historic building, and it almost makes it all worth it. 

[snowy lawn]

bowling_team_3.28.18

three years ago i joined an architecture board. during that time i got to know several of the people on it.  in january of last year, a few of them asked me to join a bowling league they were on.  not only did this help make the winter months a little more bearable, but it also turned acquaintances into true friends. 

[lawn league]

hunting_5.18.18

my wife and i spent most of 2018 looking for a house.  weekends were filled with going to open houses and setting up showings with our realtor. it's been a long, boring and sometimes stressful process.  it's also created many high energy discussions between my wife and i, but in the end,  there's no one else i'd rather go through all that with. hopefully we'll find a home in 2019.

[my own lawn]

under_the_falls_5.31.18

my wife and i took our honeymoon to jamacia almost a year after we got married.  one of the many activities we tried was climbing up dunns river falls.  between, the water, the rocks, the climbing, me helping her and her helping me, it almost felt like marriage counseling.  we were there for each other and had a blast doing it.  it was one of my favorite memories of the trip.  with all the stress we had with the house shopping, spending a couple hours climbing up a waterfall, with our only goal being not to slip and fall, was as priceless as it was enjoyable.

[waterfall lawn]

 time_to_sketch_6.5.18

sometimes you have to take a little time for yourself too.  while on our honeymoon i found time to draw in my sketch book, which is one of my favorite things to do.  although it's not a picture, this sketch sums up how relaxed i was during our trip.
[lawn relaxation]

 casco_sunset_7.21.18

sometimes i still can believe i live here.  this statement has a different tone when said in the summer.  witnessing a summer sunset from peaks island was one of my favorite moments of the summer.
[lawn sunset]

glass_house_8.24.18

sometimes i forget i'm in the northeast.  several places i studied in school that were thousands of miles away when i first read about them, are only a few hours away from me now.  with the glass house only being four hours away, there was no way i wasn't going to visit it.  also, introducing my in-laws to mid century modernism was a memorable and fun experience.

[minimalist lawn]

 boothbay_with_the_fam_9.7.18

i miss my parents...a lot.  it meant the world to me they drove from kansas to maine to spend seven wonderful days with my wife and i.  i was also able to show them my favorite spot in maine, boothbay harbor.  if absence makes the heart grow fonder, my heart is full of "fond" for these two...
[family lawn]

date_night_11.16.18

the last few months of the year, my wife and i went on a mission to find the best ice cold dirty martini in the city of portland.  every friday night, we'd hit up a different bar looking for the elusive cocktail.  the goal was to find the best martini, but what i really enjoyed was quality time with my best friend.  this picture was taken one night as we waited on our martini's.  not as exotic or exciting as a honeymoon, but little adventures like this seem to help create a healthy relationship.
[date night lawn]

sunset [peaks]

i don't normally enjoy or take pictures of sunsets.  one reason is because everyone AND their dog takes sunset photos; they're horribly unoriginal.  another reason is because, i've rarely seen a picture of a sunset that does the actual scene justice.

all that being said; here is a sunset photo i took. 

i along with about 30 other people...and a couple dogs, took a picture in that moment and yes, it does a poor job representing what we all actually saw, but it still represents a great summer night with friends...and that is priceless.

maine vougue

i'll be honest, sometimes maine pisses me off.  the entire state photographs well.  it's like one of those lucky people who take great photos in any situation or outfit.

keep in mind this is coming from a guy born and raised in kansas.  a beautiful state in it's own right, but a state that makes you work for a great pic of her.  kansas has the ability to take breathtaking photos, but you usually need some dramatic lighting such as one of its world famous sunsets. kansas also has to be wearing a good season, usually looking best in late summer or autumn, but also dangerously beautiful in a late spring storm attire.  kansas is minimalistic, she forces you to focus on other items such as composition, texture or contrast. in the right photographer hands, kansas can be absolutely stunning.

now take maine, strutting down the runway all confident with her rocky seaside coastline, lighthouses, endless foliage, mountain vistas, wildlife, ocean views and cobble stone streets running through quaint historic new england villages.  she looks great in all kinds of light and seasons.  maine is the type of state that can be photographed unaware by the paparazzi wearing sweatpants and bean boots, stuffing her face with a lobster roll and still look gorgeous.

what got me started on this rant was a photograph i took recently of the pemiquid point lighthouse.  i walked down the coast, pointed my camera back to the lighthouse and got a beautiful shot.  as happy as i was with the picture, i'm very aware that a drunk monkey could have captured the same thing.  maine is gorgeous, that's all there is to it.

as much as i enjoy trying to capture maine in different and unique ways, i'll admit, sometimes i miss trying to make that little sunflower leaning against the wall look beautiful.

two gorgeous states with their beauty captured in different ways.

[equinox] girls

for the past few years i've hyped up wichitahenge, a play off manhattanhenge.  which is the phenomenon where the setting sun perfectly aligns with the grid of manhattan, new york.  granted the streets of manhattan are skewed causing this to happen on a very specific date, so wichita's version isn't as unique, falling exactly on the equinox, but it's still really cool to see.  the last few years i've photographed this event and invited other people to do so as well. although after three years of hoping to see crowds of people downtown with cameras in hand, this year i heard regina george's voice in my head saying,

"stop trying to make "wichitahenge" happen, it's not going to happen."

although there aren't mobs of people trying to get the perfect witchtahenge shot, there are a few pics from other photographers out there.

here's one from my friend brad ruder:

another from leslley anne scotte i found online:

maybe in a few years it'll take off.  as for now, this yearly quest, is just a simple reminder, summer is over. it's time for fall.

it's a small [pool] after all

so i had some friends in town this weekend.

by a very fortunate and gracious chain of events i was able to get us invited to a pool party by a host i had recently been aquatinted with.  thankfully my friends are always up for any adventure and ironically they had packed their swimsuits.

we were social, and quickly made chit chat with wonderful, but complete strangers.  than a guest entered the party and my friend was shocked.  it was his old college roommate, who he hadn't seen in years.  as they chatted and discussed how each other had been invited, it was discovered many of these people weren't strangers at all.  we found that several of the party guests had actually been at a college party my friend had hosted a decade ago.

it really is a small world.

[wichita]henge

new york has this phenomenon called [manhattanhenge].  it's the time of the year when the setting sun perfectly aligns with the the grids of manhattan, allowing the sunset to be seen perfectly in between the skyscrapers.  for new yorkers this happens twice a year, may 31st and july 12th and produces some very cool shots of the city.

wanting to try and capture [wichitahenge], i realized first i'd have to figure out when exactly the setting sun aligned with the direction of the our street grid. embarrassingly, it took longer than it should have to realize our grid runs perfectly east and west which means the sun should align on the equinoxes, march 21 and september 22, exactly  like it's namesake [stonehenge].  it's manhattan's slightly skewed grid system that gives them two unique dates.

i looked up the time of the sunset and searched out downtown wichita's most "canyon-like" street.  there weren't the hoards of people you'd find in manhattan, but to my surprise there were a couple other people taking pictures.  once i found my spot i waited for the shot.  i've never watched the sunset downtown but was really surprised how fast it happens.  having it framed between two buildings and a pedestrian bridge puts a new perspective on it.  dodging a few cars, i was able to get a shot looking due west at the sun set.

i don't know if [wichitahenge] will ever be as big a [manhattanhenge] but if you're curious, no need to search the internet and find when it happens, our east and west streets makes it pretty simple.