365 Photos: Week 33 The New Year

January 1-7, 2013

The New Year got off to a quiet start. I have to admit, keeping up with the 365 Photo Project during week 33 became more a burden than a joy. Nearly all the images this week were taken at home in the later hours of the day. I don’t know why. Part of it could be the novelty of taking a picture a day has worn off a bit. But also, the cold weather, and the long dark days make it harder to get excited about taking a picture.

Although these images are dark, they do speak to my need for light in this dark time of year.

The first image of the week, the stairs, was taken after I had gotten into bed and remembered I needed to still get a shot. I shot this with my iPhone.

We spent the whole day watching movies and TV shows. That is our New Year’s tradition. Taking a picture was not a high priority for me.

It took us a while to get the tree down after the holidays. After the first, if the tree is still up, we don’t turn the lights on.

This was the sad Christmas tree as it was in January.

Thursday was another desperation shot. We got a NEST thermostat for Christmas. It’s awesome!

So it was new in the house, and I took a picture of that.  Again, this was not my week to be inspired.

The next shot is of a piece of artwork in our home.

It’s actually quite a lovely piece.  But again, you see I am shooting around the house.  Inspiration was still eluding me.

The wine bottle with Christmas lights was next.  At this point, I was also beginning to wonder if I will be able to even do this.

I was trying to find anything of interest to shoot.

Then there was the candle on Sunday.

I had read an article about surrounding yourself with pleasant smells for the new year. I found this mint peppercorn candle and liked it.  Shot with the 50mm lens, I am still working to get a sense of shooting in low light.

Finally, I shot outdoors for Monday.

The light was starting to come back here in Anchorage, and beautiful golden light of the sunset really was hitting the parking garage.  I didn’t do it justice with the iPhone.

Next week is New York City!

365 Photos: Week 32 Post Christmas / Pre-New Year

December 25-31, 2012

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Week 32 of the 365 Photo Project started on Christmas Day.

The holidays are a time when I take lots of family pictures.  However, since I’ve been doing this photo a day project, I feel like I’ve been taking fewer pictures of my family. I do feel the pictures I am taking are much better.

The first picture of the week was of my brother and his son (both named Chris) and a big present.

The present was actually from me and Evan to my brother and his wife.  I love the look of the little guy as he hold the gift.  Nothing like the smile of a six-year old on Christmas morning.

I went with two pictures this day because the photo below is a years long Christmas tradition.

I used the tripod to get the shot and set it all up, so it is a picture I took even though I am in it.  No one knows for sure how the tradition began, but it is believed my dad started it over 30 years ago.  I have many of the pictures going back to when I was in grade school.  I think I am going to post them all in a future post.  Anyone who is at Christmas dinner at my aunt’s house is in the picture.  The people change each year.  Sometimes there is just family.  Often there are friends over who get in the shot too.  I love this tradition.

The day after Christmas is a funny day.  After the build up to Christmas, the day after is always a weird day.  I had read an article about shooting Christmas lights, so I decided to try some of the techniques. This is a spruce tree outside my parents’ condo in Fairbanks, Alaska.  The morning was crisp and pretty clear.  I shot this around 9:30 in the morning before the sun came up.

I like the effect of the tree lights and the slowly lightening sky.

Thursday saw us getting on a plane and heading home.  This was shot right before noon.

Again, notice how low the sun is on the horizon.  The mountain range in the back is the Alaska range.

Friday we went to see the production of STOMP that was in town.  What a great show.  I got this shot backstage.

STOMP is such an inventive show.  This can full of brooms was backstage, and I thought it looked cool.  I wish I’d had my good camera and not my iPhone.

Saturday began the work toward the New Year’s Eve dinner with friends.  Here Evan uses the mortar and pestle to grind peppercorns.

And what is New Year’s without black-eyed peas?

Evan prepared them from scratch and had these soaking for a couple of days so we could enjoy them on New Years day.

On New Year’s Eve we had a group of friends to dinner and this was the dessert Evan made.

It was a Raspberry Mousse torte or something.  It was so freaking good.’

And this brings 2012 to a close.

365 Photos: Week 29 Coming Home From Costa Rica

December 4-10, 2012

Week 29 of the 365 Photo Project saw us on the downside of our Costa Rica Vacation.  We were at the Four Seasons Costa Rica trying to cram in as much as possible.  Tuesday saw us horseback riding, rappelling down a waterfall, and tubing down a river.  I caught this shot of Evan as he merrily floated down the river.

It was about this time, I was very glad we bought the water proof  Canon D10.  While it wasn’t cheap, it wasn’t so expensive I was worried about losing it.  And it performed nicely in some more wild and wet conditions.  The trip down the river lasted about 45 minutes and saw periods of calm and whitewater.  It was much fun.

One of the nice things about being out of the United States for part of December was no Christmas in your face 24/7.  There were hints of Christmas here and there, but no major commercial force trying to make you remember it.  Occasionally, you would find a wreath or something, and I wanted an image of that.

The young guy in the photo was Brayan who was lovely.  Later he would be serving us beer in the pool.

Howler monkeys were around the grounds of the Four Seasons.  One afternoon, they appeared and made quite a sight.

I might have been self-indulgent here with two pictures, but c’mon.  There’s a baby monkey!

The last morning in Costa Rica, we were up early for one final snorkel.  The water was very cloudy that morning, so not many underwater photos.

I got this one of Evan as we tried to take in every last minute of our final day.

I also wanted to get one picture of a Christmas tree in Costa Rica.

This one was actually quite pretty.  I like the purple and gold theme.  Were it not for the Four Seasons, I would not have known Christmas was nigh.

The travel home took something like 17 hours.  It was a long grueling flight home.  We made it.  I wasn’t done with my pura vida vibe yet, so I took a picture of our souvenir–a blue butterfly.

I was trying to get it so you could see the snow and how far we had come from Costa Rica.

That first weekend home, we immediately began preparing for the holidays.  Evan went to work making cookies from the Momofuk Milk Bar Cookbook.  He made corn cookies, compost cookies, and the chocolate marshmallow one.  They were so freakin’ good.

The process to make the cookies did take three days.  Above is day 2 progress.  Below is day 3–the final product.

We ended up giving them away as gifts to friends and family.

On Monday we got the Christmas tree up!

This was what lead me to my week 30 theme of Christmas Trees.

365 Photos: Week 30 The Week I shot Christmas Trees

December 11-17, 2012

With Christmas on the way, I decided to use the Christmas Tree theme for a week of 365 Photo Project. I’m working hard to get in the Christmas spirit. Also, for those of you following at home, I have skipped over a few weeks to get this week’s photo blog into the mix. I will go back and fill in. At the rate I am going to play catch up, I would be posting Christmas trees in January or February, and there is nothing more depressing that Christmas Trees in mid-January.

This time of year, there are Christmas trees everywhere. I do enjoy seeing the different takes on the holiday symbol. White lights are colored, or even single color non-white.  Is the tree themed with colors?  Are the decorations eclectic or simple? Tinsel? Garland? Both? Popcorn and cranberry garland?  Candy canes? There is a crazy amount of choice.  One thing you just don’t see much anymore is lit candles on a Christmas tree.

Growing up, we had real trees for awhile.  We would trek down to the Kiwana’s Tree sale at the Fairgrounds in Fairbanks, Alaska.  We would be bundled up and amble through the aisles of trees trying to find the right one.  Once selected, it would be wrapped in paper, and we would whisk it home quickly.  The tree couldn’t freeze because it would cause the needles to drop.

Once home, my parents would get it into its stand and unwrap it.  The WORST part was having to wait for the tree to fall.  I never understood this.  We were going to hang ornaments on it which would help it fall, but we always had to wait a day.  To be honest, I still don’t understand this.  But the smell was worth it.  There is nothing like the smell of a fresh pine tree in your home.

Then my mom would dig out the box of lights and we would go through each one looking for burned out ones. She would string the lights.  Not my dad.  Ever.  In fact, I don’t recall my dad ever hanging a single decoration on the tree. I guess it wasn’t his thing.

Eventually, the post Christmas mess of needles through the house gave way to artificial trees. They’re still nice, but don’t conjure up those memories of being bundled up to shop in a cold warehouse for the perfect tree.

As I shot this week, and because I was never sure where I would see a tree, I was shooting with my iPhone at times.  I still love the Gorilla Cam app.  The first tree was taken at the coffee shop in downtown Anchorage.  This is a pretty standard Christmas Tree.

The next tree is our tree. You can see we are pretty standard.

I am a multi-color guy. The ornaments are ones from when I was a kid. My mom used to buy one for us each year. I have a large number of Frosty Friends ornaments, that involve ice, an eskimo and some arctic animal. We have a rather eclectic group of ornaments from a glass pickle to a bird house from 1979, some hand crafted German piece to a Snoopy and Charlie Brown that my mom bought on a trip to New York City at Christmas time.

Part of the tradition of me and Evan putting up our tree is to argue whether or not the garland goes on before or after the ornaments. I’ve long since given up. I’m a garland goes last guy. Evan is a garland first guy. I love the tree topper which is a hat you might see on a snowman.  It’s very fun.  I do like how our tree looks in our living room window.

Since I seem to frequent coffee shops, the shot on December 13 is from another one.  I liked the little animals, so I went for detail instead of the full tree.

On Friday the 14th, my staff had the office Christmas party.  One of my crafty staff created this beautiful lit palm tree style Christmas tree outfitted with pink flamingo lights.

I really liked this Christmas Tree.  It is sitting in our office and might even hang out all year.  It would not be what I would consider a sad tree to have around in mid-January.

Saturday’s Christmas tree was taken at the family Christmas party at Uncle Buster and Aunt Cheryl’s.

We did the typical dirty Christmas gift exchange and generally had a fun time with the family.

Sunday’s Christmas tree was found in the parking lot of Fred Meyer.

Because winter being so dry up here in Alaska, you don’t often see this sight with a car and a tree.  It’s not good to let your Christmas tree freeze because the needles will fall off almost immediately. You will notice this is the only real tree of the bunch I took. In fact, come to think of it, I haven’t seen a real tree at all this month.

In Alaska, if you do have a Christmas tree, it is from out of state. Some brave souls do believe you can go out and cut a spruce tree. Usually, it’s a black spruce, which is the epitome of a Charlie Brown Christmas tree.  Have a look at what I mean.

The last tree is our second tree.  We got this tree about three years ago or so.  It’s a nice accompaniment to the main tree in the living room.

So that is this week’s post for the 365 Photo Project.  I do have one more photo for the week.  It was out of theme, but this week saw 12/12/12 and I got one more photo at a prime moment.

I can’t say it is a particularly compelling image, but I like that I caught this moment that won’t happen for another 100 years.

Today, as I write this is the end of the world.  I think 12/12/12 at 12:12 was more exciting, frankly.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.