shapes.

if you've seen these before i'm sorry, but i don't think you have. i've been rummaging lately and these are a few i like that flew under the radar. i'm pretty sure they were all shot pre-blog days.

second thoughts.

on second thought i think i might like seeing the surrounding doorway in this frame better than the second one. maybe i'm wrong though.

lunch break photo shoot.

yesterday, as i stood admiring a freshly tarred roof eric and i were working on, my phone rang and with tar covered hands i reluctantly answered covering my phone in a sticky black mess. the voice on the other end was that of rich kirby, one of the premiere old time musicians in the country, and coincidentally my boss' dad. he said, "you take pictures don't you." i replied, "yep". he followed with think you could shoot some pictures for me. i said, "sure of what". he replied simply, "me". and that was all. we met on his lunch break today and made a few pictures. he is incredibly humble and somewhat shy, but in the end i got to hear some great music (he played throughout the whole shoot) and i hope he likes at least a few of the frames.

over the hills we go, laughing all the way.

the leaves have all gone from the trees, and in just a few short weeks since nearly rolling down the mountain in my car, amelia, maysie, and i, joined by brett r., lora, and joe, sought to conquer the same hill that proved too much for me in round one. round two was a beat down of 6 on one, us vs. the mountain, and armed with two pinkish saucer sleds properly labeled sno snakes and a nameless green toboggan we prevailed. the record now stands at 1 and 1, both good times.

other side of the press.

today i drove for a total of 7 hours and shot pictures of two press conferences for a total of about 45 minutes. it was good to be back in west virginia and working on the project with chad and the folks from coal river.

pesky wabbit.

cheers to the one that didn't get away. well there were actually two i think and they tasted damn good, but the kale left my friends erik and daniel fleeing the room today as we pulled carpet. here's to small game animals and the people who know how to cook them. cheers!

separation anxiety.

i haven't shot a picture in over a week. these were a couple of the last ones. took a ride to the top of the mountain with amelia and maysie to see the early snowfall and clear my head. wound up nearly killing us all and stuck in a ditch. not the best for clearing your head. in the end everything was fine as frog hair.

run, shoot, run, shoot.

this past week felt like track and field day rotating from the standing broad jump to the V sit reach to the 50 yard dash. instead of spending time stretching i spent time in the car on my way to hazard to see what hillary had to say. politicians really do start to look ragged after years of persuading people to agree with them. the following day i found out that a local oil company had dumped petroleum near the north fork of the kentucky river, whitesburg's water supply, and it had begun to leech into the river. i made some pictures and phoned the paper again. the next day was one of america's most historical days and the most uplifting and hopeful political day of my life in which i voted for our country's first african american president and struggled to make pictures getting turned away at every venture. after speaking to the county clerk and a phone call to frankfort i was falsely informed that i could only make pictures of voters from the neck down. i considered it a loss and settled with making pictures of a low rider instead. and somewhere in there i was invaded by party people in masks. breathe.

hiatus - [hahy-ey-tuhs].

a pause or gap in a sequence, series, or process.
this is what i got as of late.

horses, a boars head, and a bit of texas in the bluegrass.

after having breakfast at the P.M.G. natasha invited me to tag along and see where she grew up and the oldest strip mine in letcher county. i accepted the invitation because she's always talking about how blackey is the coolest place and how anyone who grew up on "the seven" is the shit, i had to see for myself. after arriving in her home hollow, we traded out the civic for her cousins enormous 4X4 Dodge to head up the mountain to one of her favorite places, where the power lines are. when we got to the top it looked like we had crossed state lines from kentucky to texas and tasha said that it looked as such. i imagine that this place would be the poster child for "reclaimed" land. tall dry grasses, grazing cattle and horses, an surprisingly what looked like trees or big bushes maybe. well these are some of the photos from the trip. there is a bit of humor at the end of the post, but you have to look for it. thanks tasha for leading me down the seven and showing me where you grew up.

tag! you're it.

put two photographers armed with cameras together and what follows is what i imagine looks like a ridiculous game of tag. imagine watching from afar two people in all sorts of awkward positions taking photos of each other. yes photo friends, we all look that stupid. i'm sure krista and i looked silly as we hiked along raven's rock this past weekend.