I’ve Been…

Slowing Down…

That’s what I’m learning to do… At least a bit.
After living my entire life CONSTANTLY on the move,
rushing from city to city, experience to experience, I’m changing…

Slowing things down more and more every day, removing some of
my expectations and needs for rapid development, intense change.

I’m slowly beginning to understand the beauty of HOME.
The completion of satisfaction… And the joy of subtle discovery.

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But hey, you’re here for the pictures, aren’t you?
Without further ado:

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As always, I’ve been “up to” a lot…
Even despite my new, “slower” perspective .

Last week, I took a quick trip to Colorado to visit with Joel Comm
to work on his branding a bit, and gather some of his big picture,
“genius” perspective on my business.

After a couple of days spent hanging out with Joel and his staff, I set
off with a very old friend to see his older brother, and then venture
down to some of my very favorite places in the country…

On the way to see Dawson’s brother in Fort Collins we stopped by
a small reservoir to capture the stunning sunset… It was cold (my
fingers are still thawing a week and a half later), but TOTALLY worth it!

Dawson Swan…

After a triumphant reunion with Travis (Dawson’s older brother)
and his lovely wife (whom I’d never met.. It’d been 7+ years since
the last time we’d all been together!), Dawson and I headed South
toward Evergreen… Aka Paradise.

Along the way, we took a very different route… One that took us
high above the city of Denver with a perfect view of the sprawl…
It was sub-zero with the windchill (40+mph) but it was just too
gorgeous to pass up shooting a few long exposures.

“More Than A Mile High”

*Large Version Here*
[Click that... You'll be glad you did]

The next morning, I awoke feeling the most intense peace, and pleasure…
Filled with the precious experience of home, I always experience when I’m
in Evergreen… Which of course immediately inspired me to start researching
Real Estate listings in the area… Lord willing, I’ll own some property there
in the near future

Dawson finally talked me into ending my ecstasy induced MLS and craigslist
searching, by showing me THIS LINK and promising me a day filled with snow
storms and incredible photo opportunities. Of course, this California boy was stoked

The normal travel time from Evergreen to Colorado Springs is
about 90 minutes… OUR trip took over 6 hours. What follows, explains why…

Snow… “And Lots of It!”

I promised Dawson he could play with my lenses and gear…
I think he fell in love

(He put on a jacket shortly after the previous photo was taken, haha)

One of my favorites…

*Large Version Here*

Winter Wonderland….

*Large Version Here*
I’m not sure why I love the last photo so much, but I really… REALLY do.

Perspective…

My God IS an Awesome God.

Alas… The Clouds.

I wish you could have seen it with us… So breathtaking.

This next photo is a technical marvel…  297.6 megapixels of stitched, RAW
amazingness… It nearly killed my computer to stitch and process.

It took over 5 hours for the computer to catch up with the stitch alone and
more than 35 gigabytes of cache to complete… Never have I EVER attempted
something of such magnitude… But as it stands, I can easily print this image
8′ long or more with absolutely no loss… I can’t wait to try it!!

SO… Here goes… I have a bunch of different tints and feels, but this is the
fairly “straight” look… As such, I think it has it’s own raw appeal

Incredible.

*See The Extra Large Version Here*

As the hours wore on, I captured another massive stitch… And a plethora
of other beautiful images… But this is long enough for tonight and I have
other, similarly fabulous adventures to share

I’d love to have you check out Dawson’s photos from the adventure as
well though, he’s done some incredible work and is really growing his
style extremely rapidly!

His blog links are available here:
Day One - Day Two

Goodnight all… I have missed you