christine [a material girl?]

well, the time finally came to get rid of my truck, it was a hard thing to do. the fact that it was hard to do, upsets me a bit.

you see...i do my best to not be a materialistic person. i really believe money and the possessions it can buy, will never bring you happiness, and those who think it can, have their priorities out of wack. although i'm very thankful for everything i've ever been given or earned, i'd like to think it could all be taken away tomorrow, and i'd still be happy with the love of my family and friends. why then, did i have such a hard time letting go of my truck? mechanically, it was time. for the past year, it would sputter at stop lights, the radio had quit working, and the blinkers on the drivers side no longer worked. any left turn would require me to roll down the window and signal with my arm, which i'm not sure is entirely legal.

however, with all its flaws, i still loved it. getting behind the wheel, i was proud. i had bought it with years of mowing lawns, baby sitting, trimming trees, painting, and cleaning windows. in high school, not only did it brave the mud when my buddies and i went camping, but it also ushered me to my first date. it was the car that drove me away from my childhood home and towards a whole new era in my life, college. there, it earned me many free pizza's and beers from friends who needed items moved. it also did what any college car should, take road trips. long trips, filled with great conversations and ridiculous roadside attractions. following graduation, it slowly became less reliable. with each piece that fell off or stopped working, it's travel radius shrunk, but not before returning me to my high school reunion.

i ran across a quote once that stated,

"anything you cannot relinquish when it has outlived its usefulness possesses you, and in this materialistic age a great many of us are possessed by our possessions."

without a doubt, my truck had more than served it's usefulness; it was time for it to go. i took it for one last country drive and snapped a few final pictures. walking around, focusing it's faded frame in my view finder, i realized, i wasn't going to miss my truck because of what it was, rather, i was going to miss it because of the all the memories it had created for me...and i still have those...

...with that, i say, "goodbye christine, thanks for the memories"

frontier[photographer]

every time i shoot with film, i think of daniel boone....

i was told a story when i was a kid about daniel boone. when daniel was young and growing up in the american frontier, his father wanted to teach him how to shoot and hunt. to do this, he would only give his son one bullet per day, and send him out into the wild. with only one shot, young daniel would have to be very conscious of how he spent it. if he took a shot he couldn't make, the bullet was wasted, as well as the day. he learned quickly to wait until all the conditions were perfect before taking the shot.

here are a few shots from my "trigger happy" outing the other day.

the year in pictures [2009]

year five for the [year in pictures] post.

what a wild year 2009 ended up being. for the past three years, life has been fairly simple. get up, go to work, put 40 hours in, relax and enjoy the weekend. it's amazing how deleting one piece of that formula changes everything. like it did with a lot of people, the economy slapped me in the face this year. although slaps can hurt and sting a bit, they can also be an awakening. if 2008 was a very [internal] year for me, 2009 was the complete opposite. not only was i able to expand my view on the world by traveling more than i ever have, but by reading and studying, my thoughts on my professional and personal goals were questioned, explored, changed, and strengthened. here are a few pictures representing the "sting" and "awakening" during the past year.

up in the air_1.22.09

last january i attended the kansas aviation museum's open house. i took this shot because i liked the way the silhouette of the plane looked in the light. i would have never guessed this would have made the top ten photos of the year, but after going through my albums, reminiscing on the past, this photo, with it's setting sun mixed with the idea of travel seemed to be the perfect foreshadowing of the year to come.

shelved_3.31.09

last march a group of local photographers were allowed to photograph the inside of an old player piano building before it was cleared out. decades of piano repair had created five overstuffed stories of objects, gadgets, and things...basically a photographers dream. walking around, taking pictures, there was something exciting and depressing about the whole experience. a building that had served it's purpose for years, filled with it's tools of the trade, being cleared out for something new. change always brings about that feeling.

laidoff_4.1.09

the very next day, i was laid off. that exciting/depressing feeling hit me again. i boxed up my "tools of the trade" and headed home, unsure of what might lie ahead.

the artists_4.13.09

not long after i was laid off, i was enjoying a few drinks with friends. that night, a couple sat next to me. before too long we struck up a conversation. the couple ended up being mark and beth, traveling artists from wisconsin. they had booked their art in galleries across the mid-west, and were on the road, following their art, eventually to end up in austin. naturally we talked about art, and architecture, but that led to deeper discussions about following one's passion, no matter what the sacrifice. after last call, they left, and although we'll probably never cross paths again, the discussion we had was the most perfect and inspiring, i could have had at that point in my life, and gave me a new sense of direction. they will forever be my muses of 2009.

friends_5.25.09

in may i, along with most of my college friends, traveled up to portland to witness the wedding of one of our buddies. although most of us were unemployed, it didn't stop us from enjoying the city. the days were filled with late brunches, coffee, and beer. it had been three years since were were all in seaton hall, working late nights, and that weekend proved, nothing had changed.

hazards of love_5.27.09

what year wouldn't be complete without a decemberists concert. in may, i was able to see them play the entire "hazards of love" album non-stop, from beginning to end. always a wonderful and beautiful time.

vivienda moderna_5.28.09

for two months this year i worked construction in kansas city. my wonderful and gracious friends eric and lauren, offered me a job helping them finish one of their projects. although this did give me a chance to get out from behind the drafting desk and get my hands dirty, what i really enjoyed was strengthening my friendship with these two.....living and working with someone seven days a week for two months tends to do that.

real life fiction_6.2.09

this year i started reading "on the road", agian, but this time i was bound and determined to finish it. while in the process of reading it, i took a trip to denver. not only is denver mentioned several times in the book, but specific address are given. finding an online guide, i spent the better part of a day visiting a few places mentioned in the book. the above picture is of a bar neal cassody, the real life dean moriarty, use to frequent. soon after this trip, i finished the book.

study hall_7.14.09

wanting to use the free time i had been given with my unemployment wisely, i started studying for my architecture exams. along with a lot of reading and test taking came a lot of iced coffee which, through the course of the summer, i was able to perfect.

bubble girl_10.2.09

one of the last trips i took this year was to the austin city limits music festival. i was able to snap a picture of this girl mid way through one of her spins. her "hippy-ish" look adds to the delight of this photo, but i just really enjoyed her care free, no worries attitude, and i was glad to capture a bit of that feeling on film.