absence.

they say that it makes the heart grow fonder, and from experience i know that it does, but in blogger land, absence just makes your friends get grumpy and demanding, and rightfully so. sorry i've been truant for a week or so. a lot can happen in a week, or a weekend even. these are a collection of pictures from this past weekend. for starters a bunch of kids from the local high school showcased their talents, but these kids were not normally talented. this was a full on production with flamboyant makeup and wireless mics and a full backstage crew. on friday the light was bangin', kevin took pictures of me (his is the purdy one of me against the wall) while waiting for the "mammoth" which lived up to its name and proved to be too much for ol' kevin to handle, i came close to, without lifting any, weights, and finally buford's friends john and vince came to town for a weekend of good stories, plenty of beer, and the best smoked meats i've ever tasted. thank you ryan for the leftover wood from your house, vince for the smoking/cooking skills, and john for the endless yarns. and thanks to all of you who check this piece out from time to time.
(to those who've asked about my amazing lighting skills in the photo below, truth is that's just what mom's nature gave me. it's window light coming through the windshield of his rig. it's nice when the old girl throws you a bone every now and again.)

truckin.

i hung out with alan corbett for a little while yesterday to make a portrait. alan recently wrote a short book about some of his journey's over the past 17 years. He's logged over 3,000,000 miles in those years. that makes my nine hour journey to kentucky today seem like chump change.

life.

i think this could have been the only 100% i ever got while at western, and its a damn self portrait. as you might be able to tell from recent posts, i've been rummaging. it's interesting to me how a lot of the feelings and thoughts i'm having now are the same ones that inspired this photo at the time. i was nearing graduation and i felt kind of lost, like life was weighing down on me and i was at its mercy. things worked out okay then and i think they will again.

ode to sara.

this is my very good friend sara aka ponygirl. she was feeling a little left out so sara this one is for you.

continuance.

more a.c.p. jams.

you down with a.c.p...... yeah you know me.

The Appalachian Cultural Project was the brain child of my dear friend chad stevens (he's the one in the first photo). the workshop has been going strong for the past six years. these are a small handful of the founding members who helped to create such a special experience. thanks for all the fun times.
www.acpworkshop.org

media daze.

so lately i've been to a couple of media day events which we normally try to avoid, but for whatever reason i've found myself amongst the local tv guys and that one radio guy who shows up for everything. i suggest if you find yourself in such a position, a lame one at that, you at least have fun after feeding the beast. here are a few images. the first two are from a media day event about a new office building. literally a sea of cubicles and nothing more. the flowers were the only thing breaking up the countless rows of prefabricated squares. the last picture is from the media day for our local professional tennis tournament going on this week. the lady on the left is 37 years old and holds the world record for the fastest serve by a woman. 130mph. and if you were wondering, that first guy is giving me, what i like to call the you bastard photographer making me look funny face.

year of the rat.

visited a chinese new year celebration at a local high school tonight and found out that this is the year of the rat. wikipedia says: the rat is associated with aggression, wealth, charm, and order, yet also associated with death, war, the occult, pestilence, and atrocities. i guess that means that this stands to be a pretty damn good year or a monumentally bad one. we shall see.

designer?

so r-dub and i have been working on a couple of little things we like to call illustrations. and we've been poppin the roids to bulk up our design muscles. it seems lately i've spent more time with a paint brush in my hand than a camera and stuff like this is what comes out. the first was for a story we're doing on how the crappy economy has effected church offerings. surprise surprise, midlands offerings have actually seen an increase. yes, we live in a bubble. the second is for a story about how people cope and mourn after losing a pet.
p.s. those are whole pages if you were wondering. you know how we do.