Halloween

H-A-Double L-O-W-Double E-N

That was the song we learned when we were six or seven in school. I still recite the song every time I spell the word. Maybe because I am a terrible speller (which I am.) Or maybe because it is simply fun.

When I was a kid my dad used to hand make costumes. Once he made me a racoon suit. I think I still have the tail or the hat or something stripy.

Once I was a half boy/half girl. That was silly.

One year I was Alfalfa from The Little Rascals. Anyone who knows me knows I have curly hair. Now making curly hair stand straight is no easy feat. Only one recipe would work. It was grandmas idea. Mayonnaise. Worked like a charm.

Then followed several years of fake skin, fake blood, fake scars, and simply bad special effects. These were the three or four years where I had to come up with a costume. Any costume. Just to look cool. Well...really just to extend my Trick-or-Treat years to get more candy. And to look cool. I think it worked. These were the fun years. I really had a good time with the holiday during these years.

Soon after, the whole idea of costumes came to an end. Halloween simply became a day to party. Hell, we even had an excuse to show up late to class. We could stay out late and smoke by the market. If times (and weather) allowed...we would toilet paper someone's house.

Then college came and the idea of wearing a costume suddenly became cool again. It was as if we were old enough that the memories of childhood were ancient. Looking back, I think the freedom of college just made us act like kids. I would go all year without any plans of having a plan. Then three hours before night fall on Halloween I would scramble to put together something. Anything would suffice at this point.

I think two years ago I was Peter Pan. With a cheesy, and frankly, creepy mustache. I even wore tights.

Today I photographed kids being kids. In costumes and sugared up. It was surprisingly wonderful. They were little Halloweenies. It was cute.

I also took pictures of a race. The Halloween Hustle. Pretty lame. I think 100 people ran the three miles. And it was cold. Only a few had costumes. There was one guy painted as a skeleton. Oddly enough he was a bleeding skeleton. But a skeleton none the less.

On my way home I stopped for a burrito near the university. The students were out in full force. For some reason, and I could never figure this out even when I was in school, Halloween seems to simply be an excuse for many girls to wear nothing. A slutty maid. A slutty nurse. A slutty...slut. It always struck me as weird.

Smiles & Other Thoughts

I recently had a beer with an old friend. We talked about life, relationships, love, family, and other such familiarities. It was great. It was nostalgic. I sometimes loose sight of why nostalgia is so sweet. Certainly this happens when I have been in my home town for too long. Whenever things become regular, my desire to think back, to remember, disappears or at least lessens.

Now one would think that this is not such a bad thing. Not being able to think back should imply that one is thinking or moving forward. Sometimes this is true. But sometimes, reflection will inspire a creative drive that empowers my ability to overcome past failures or recreate past pleasures. Often when I have trouble reflecting I become stagnant. I wait. I plan. I make excuses.

Nostalgia reminds me not only why I take pictures...but HOW I take pictures. The best pictures - whether they be of a flower, a toy truck, or a dying child - are great because they brew emotion. Nostalgia does the same thing. Being able to think back to past emotions help develop new visions. New visions of old emotions.

So... I apologize if you are victim to my relentless attempts to discuss, remember, and reflect on the past. I know, it gets old. But I like it. It makes me smile and helps push that smile into future thoughts.

Rockies Make World Series...Then Lose

The World Series. To many it is the ultimate in sport. After all, the name implies that it is THE series in the world.

I always played baseball as a kid. In fact I played through high school. I made All-Stars once (the year my dad was coach.) I even went to the first ever Rockies game, and saw Eric Young lead off with a home run. So...you would imagine that I am quite the fan. Well...I'm really not. I mean, I too was caught up with the post season excitement, but honestly, since high school realities lead me away from sports I have not been too much a fan. I still like to watch the games with my dad sometimes - yes we have those bonding moments - but that is really the extent of my excitement.

Certainly more exciting was the fact that I got work from the Rockies unimaginable winning streak. I was booked for two weeks straight. It was great. It was great until the Rockies managed to screw up the excitement with a gross blunder with ticket sales that sidetracked the news from fun to, well, news. Online sales only. What ever happened to camping out outside for three days for tickets. That was fun. That made even loosing worth it. I guess we will leave that to real teams and real ballparks...like the Boston Red Sox and Fenway Park.

I didn't get to shoot any game action, which was fine by me. Only fans. So...enjoy.

Afternoon Light

I have been super busy at work lately. It has been great to finally have assignments and make some pictures again. At the same time...I find that I am needing a story. Hopefully I will start another one soon.

I find that I always take pictures of birds when they fly over. I have always wanted to fly. Maybe in my next life I will. I heard these ducks quacking from off in the distance. I figured, why not?

The other shot is a building with some sweet afternoon light in Denver.

That's it for now.

A Failed Rant

I just finished a huge rant about another bogus report from newspaper land. But I erased it just before publication. Better to not bore you anyway with my silly bitterness.

I do have fun snaps from last night's time spent at Herman's Hideaway in Denver, Colorado. It was a stubbornly hard shoot due to a gross lack of light.

Cool bar with even cooler people. I'd like to spend more time talking to some of the old employees like Carol Weyle. Carol, who began working at the bar over twenty years ago, now sits in the coat check room memorizing her bible study book and warming her hands next to an old ratty heater. While Carol is against the war, she has four sons who are in the military. Her youngest, age 30, left his job at the bar to join the Marines. He just left for Iraq.

While Herman has passed on, I believe in 1996, the bar still rocks. There is always a different sound. Some nights Latin jazz, some nights reggae, some nights hip-hop. The bar, located on South Broadway away from downtown and the posh clubs in LoDo, is a traditional dive bar with a crowd from all social networks. I hear the place has been expanded twice and still barely holds the crowd. I see too many shitty bars that have a very uncomfortable feel and energy. The Hideaway still has that family vibe. I dig it.

I hope to see, or at least hear of it, making 50 years.

New York & About

I just spent an amazing eleven days in NY.

After two years, I got accepted to the 20th Anniversary of the Eddie Adams Workshop (regardless of my photography, I think I finally got a good recommendation.) The workshop was great. I met many people...some good contacts...some good friends. The speakers and faculty really did inspire great photography. You could tell that they were not there because they had to be...but because they truly wanted to. This certainly is the reason the workshop is so powerful. I hope to see it reach the 40th Anniversary.

While I never had the opportunity to meet Eddie Adams, his influence on the photo world is obvious. Each and every person who knew him released a glowing aura when remembering the man. During his traditional ceremony to remember the six photojournalists killed in Vietnam his son August placed Eddie's hat on a slab of stone in his remembrance. I couldn't help but stare at the hat and feel his energy release. Powerful to say the least.

I spent half my time in upstate New York near Liberty and the other half in Brooklyn. Man are those kids hip. I knew it was coming...but still it was a shock. I certainly need to buy some tighter pants if I plan to move there (which I am not.)

Anyway, these are photos from the trip.