This post is mostly personal for me. Tomorrow I close on my studio, I will no longer own my building and will soon be moving to another location. Although I’m happy and anxious for the move, I can’t help but have a bit of an attachment to the studio I put so much time into. When I moved into this building, it definitely needed some TLC. I have put lots of blood, sweat and tears into this place, and I mean blood, sweat and tears. But I must look forward and make my new place my new happy place, and I know it will be. For now, I’m packing, cleaning and moving.

I came across this really small spider web on my deck steps today. There is nothing more creepy than running through a spider web, but they are such intricate pieces of work. Nature sure is amazing.

I’m titling this photo “JackAss – Sock Monkey Style”. Since I couldn’t take them to the State Fair tonight, I decided to let them have their own thrill ride down the ramp. No torn threads or ripped seams, so all ended well.

I wish I would have caught this shot just a few minutes before I did. The sky started dropping huge drops of rain with the sun still shining. The drops were hitting our deck table and making a big splash. Of course by the time I grabbed my camera it wasn’t quite as dramatic. With the sun shining I was able to use a very fast shutter speed. I love when it rains while it’s still sunny, it always seems like it shouldn’t be possible.

I really love watching survivor type shows on TV. One of my favorites is Survivorman, and I just finished watching The Alaska Experiment on Netflix. One thing those shows has taught me is that fire is one of the most important things to have when surviving somewhere. Think about what fire brings…warmth, light, safety, not to mention cooking food and boiling water. Fire needs fuel, and in most cases that fuel is wood. While looking around for my shot of the day, I spotted our little stash of wood for our fireplace and was reminded of how important our wood could really be in a bad situation.

You know, I had all day to create my photo of the day, but I wait until the last minute. Now I’ve got to get to the fair and get ready for the concert tonight. So todays contribution to my 365 photos of 2010 will be a bit meager. I titled it Pre Concert Necessities, but I can almost guarantee that we will not be eating the ranch dressing or the breadsticks before the concert.

I had another quick day trip, so spent a good portion of my day in the car. On my way back I took a different route to avoid the ridiculous detour I endured on the way there, and to look at something different. As I’m driving back I’m wondering what I will photograph for my shot of the day, then I remembered this spot. I couldn’t quite remember where it was at, so it was something to keep my mind occupied on the last portion of my trip. These colorful buildings have always intrigued me. They are just off the highway and just seem out of place. I figure I better photograph it before they are torn down or something. It’s already happened a few times where I photograph something and then it disappears for good.

Not much creativity tonight, I had one heck of a busy day. My day ended with band practice, so this is a shot from our pad. Goodnight!

I lost a very dear friend back in 2003. He was a friend from the mid 1980’s, he was the drummer in my band, he was a groomsman  in my wedding, and more than anything else, he was an inspiration to me. It’s hard to believe that its already been 7 years since he left us. I miss his laugh, sense of humor, deep conversations and the fishing. What I don’t miss is all that he had to endure. I have a special place on my living room wall dedicated to him displaying his last pair of drum sticks and a couple band photos. Thanks for being a huge part in my life Brian.

I had to photograph a crane today, so I took an extra photo for my project 365 at the same time. I processed it with an extreme HDR type effect just for added impact. It was kind of a boring shot, but the punch of color and texture from the processing makes it more interesting to me.