I know it's been a long time since I've posted.  My laptop is in the shop for repairs.  I finally pulled out my old one.  It's screen is held together with clips and duct tape, the hinges are broken so it has to be propped just right, vertical lines randomly appear on screen, and it's SLOW.  Despite all of that I had to honor the first snow of the season.  It's late in coming this year but that doesn't diminish the beauty. It's been a slow steady snow and is still coming down.  Happy winter everyone!  Time to embrace it.

I'm so excited to share this!!  My first ever book of photography.  A collection of photos I've taken through the seasons in Madison WI.  It's for sale through Blurb. 
It was a fun project from start to finish.  I have to say though, that it's an odd and thrilling thing to see my work in a book.  Thanks to everyone who helped me make this happen.

For some time now I've been interested in graffiti.  Maybe it's the unexpected personal in impersonal places or the colorful graphic nature of the art.  Either way, Madison has a few interesting examples.

What a great late summer day.  Perfect here in the north. Bright, sunny, and 73.  And very yellow.  My neighbors shared some of their golden tomatoes.  Delicious.  I also made two batches of ice cream.  An annual favorite - bright, tangy sea buckthorn berry sorbet and new flavor - mango lassi fro yo.  All in my yellow kitchen. 

Thanks San Pasqual, it was nice day.

I've been eyeing the trains on my daily commute; noticing interesting colors and patterns. This weekend I got my chance to explore the train yard.  It looks like most of the train cars have seen better days.  But they're hanging on.  Tough, scrappy and hard working, but with a beauty not to be overlooked.

It was just me and the pigeons out there and there were a lot of pigeons.

As I was preparing for my photo show, my sister recommended that I take look at the work of Saul Leiter.  Wow!  I loved it instantly and can't help noticing how much we are attracted to similar images.

I'm eager to learn more about him and his work.  Here are a few I've found so far.

To see more work from Saul Leiter, you can go to his portfolio on In-Public.

I have a new showing this March and April at Ancora Coffee on University Avenue. Some photography this time.  I'm still one-handed so a group of friends pitched in and helped me set up. 

Ancora has the best coffee in town,so stop by and grab a cup and check out my photos if you're in town.

Winter was a long time coming this year.  It was mild and pleasant through most of 2015.  But now it's here and it's come with the name, Polar Vortex.

They say a Polar Vortex is a large pocket of frigid air that typically stays put over the North Pole in winter. When it drifts south and settles over Canada and the northern Plains, as it has the last few winters and will this week, it can make things feel, well, Arctic, for extended stretches of time.

Well, late present from Santa Claus or not, it's finally frozen the lakes.  I've been waiting for a chance to go out and look at the newly formed ice.  It was 0 degrees with a good wind blowing.  I didn't really mind the cold too much until I had to take my gloves off.  That's when I felt how cold it really was.  I hope the pictures convey some of that feeling.

I'm not sure you can tell just how clear the ice was when standing on it.  It felt like it shouldn't be solid, but it was.  A very interesting experience.

It was nice to get back into the woods this weekend.  I took a long walk and it was clear that the seasons are changing.  Hanging somewhere between summer and fall.  We've had rain and cooler temperatures and some trees are dropping their leaves early.  The result?  Mushrooms!  The woods were full of them.

Last week I took some time to go back to the ocean.  It had been too long since I played in the salt water and listened to the sound of the waves breaking on shore.  I've enjoyed our lakes here, but it's not the same.  I was fortunate to get a very warm week so late in the season.  The water was warm and so was the sun.  Perfect!  One day even had a storm roll in.  I'm not sure my photos do it justice though.  It's hard to capture the feeling of it - the clouds were large and crept in closer and closer, lower and lower, the wind blew hard and the sky and beach turned dark.  Rain and lightening too.  The next morning was a chance to walk the beach looking at what was washed ashore by the storm.

I hope it won't be so long till I get back again.