One Year Gone

Today is exactly one year since I had this portrait made that sent me on this little adventure of the body and soul.

On one hand, it seems like much less time than that, but on the other it somehow seems to be the distant past now. The good news is that things are getting better since my last posting in February. My visits to Dr Z seem to have helped with the depression/anxiety/insomnia train. I think a big part of it was learning about these issues and how to deal with them. It's not over yet, but the frequency and intensity of the anxiety episodes has decreased. I'm also having fewer sleepless nights. Carol has been coming with me to some of my recent visits with Dr Z and I think it's been good for her (and me) to talk about how my surgery and recovery has affected her. I'm now seeing Dr Z every other week and I think soon we'll go to once a month. Also, my "Day Job" employer has granted me permission to work from home one day a week (Mondays) which helps lessen the pressure and anxiety in my life and now I look forward to Monday morning rather than dreading it. I have to say I really appreciate the support I've gotten from the people I work with, especially my direct supervisor. She's been nothing but helpful throughout this journey.

One of the real signs that I'm getting better is that I am once again making photographs with abandon. I'm getting out to shoot at every opportunity and making lots of new work. A few days ago I made this self portrait at Bridal Veil Falls located on Highway 50 on the way to Tahoe. I have photographed this waterfall many times over the years, but this was the first time with me in it. It's a time exposure of about a minute, during which I stood there for about half the time which made me blend in with the water quite nicely.

Click on the picture so you can see a bigger version of it. The shirt says "I Can Stand My Own Ground"; lyrics from a song by one of my favorite bands, Rise Against. This seems like an appropriate message of late as I am now finally feeling pretty good most of the time and back doing the things I love to do. At this point, I don't think I can ask for much more than that.

In a couple of weeks I will be teaching a workshop here in Placerville, then in June I'll be heading to Montana to teach for a week at The Photographer's Formulary. I'm finally looking forward to traveling again, after doing all I could to avoid it for a while. All signs that things are looking up. Life is mostly back to what I'd call "normal". In fact, I'm wondering if I should keep up this blog in the future. Perhaps it has run it's course. Let me know what you think. Maybe I'll morph it back into what it was originally intended - an outlet for my creative life. With that in mind, here are some more new photographs taken over the last couple of months:

Raley's Parking Lot

Pacific House, CA

Apple Hill

Rancho Seco

High Water in Sacramento

High Water in Sacramento

Tells Creek

Folsom

Sly Park Lake

In March I was lucky enough to have four of my best friends on the planet come to California for a long weekend of photography and mayhem in Yosemite.

Bill Schwab, Ike Eisenlord, Me, Clay Harmon and Matt Magruder

These guys are all fantastic photographers and just a hoot to hang out with. Sarah has dubbed us the Nerd Herd and we wear it with pride. I am lucky to have each of these guys in my life. Man, did we have a good time! And the weather was great. There's nothing like Yosemite with snow on the ground. There was enough rain and mist to make the photography great, but not enough to make photographing miserable.

Gates of the Valley

El Capitan

Merced River

Cliffs I Can't Remember the Name Of

Bridalveil Falls

The Ride Home - Highway 49

So I guess that's it for now and maybe this will be the pattern for the future. More pictures and less words. Thanks again for following along and all the good thoughts and vibes along the way. I've said this many times before, but it helps more than I can explain.

I am still a lucky man.

Another Great Sunset from Our Deck

Carol's Tulips in the Front Yard