My brother gave me these little fellas and they watch over me as I catch up with things at my desk.

Sidenote: I went down a rabbit hole to find out what smurfing meant and the most interesting
version was the bank industry jargon that is a way to launder money.

A little sprig packed inside the Balsam Fir Field Notes Gift Sets I ordered.
Nice touch Coudal/Draplin.
Nice touch indeed!

LEFT: A sign outside a Cracker Barrel
RIGHT: Muffins, Guardian of Time

Yet another pair of photos pulled from the phone.
The day was largely spent on the road catching up and watching the midwest roll by.

Upon arrival to our destination I was instructed to open a large wrapped gift on the guest bed.
Inside was the fantastic clock you see above.
A beauty all its own, but even more special because of where it once called home.

Tom told his brother that I was a bit obsessed with New Belgium brews, which you can’t buy in these parts.
On his way up for the holidays Jeff brought up a few cases for me and my gratitude is great.
Extremely great.

Thank ya Jeff. You’ve made a grown man happy.

Dear Album that I update much delayed,

Yes, I made a photo every day in 2009… I just haven’t gotten to posting them.

I’m on it!

This one? I got up early on Christmas Day because I didn’t like the horizontal image I had selected
as a framed gift for my mom. And though this one is cropped from its vertical splendor, and blurry—it means something to me.

As for the blur, it was terribly windy that morning—and I fiddled with the color just a little to go with my mom’s decor
that is very warm and zen. She loves nature so I figured this was a fine image to hang in her home. It’s a gallery that place.
She’s always moving things around and switching up the curiosities and artwork.

I spent the rest of the day with her and my brother, catching a double feature and lamenting the concession stand lunch
we had between shows and the absence of the other two siblings.

Overall? A most excellent holiday filled with love and warmth and a little bit of blur.

A package with Stephen Shore’s Uncommon Places book arrived.
I am enamored.
A quick image search and you might see why I dig it so.

From his artist statement from this work, “A picture happens when something inside connects, an experience that changes as the photographer does.” That’s adequately vague and spot on in complexity.

Thanks Chris & Dan for the unexpected delight in the mailbox.

My friends got me this little fella 3 years ago and I always grin every time I unpack it from Christmas storage.

Bonus link: See how crappy my old video camera was back then and view this little USB-powered fella in action.

In my determination to only post images taken from the day, in order, I find myself stubbornly behind.
Fret not. That car wreck was more of an inconvenience than anything major.
There will be documentation of it soon enough.

For now, I present my favorite camera strap I’ve ever owned.
Sure, there might be more functional ones, but this one makes me (and almost everyone else) smile.
It’s made by these folks called Souldier.
(and yes, I mentioned it in our gift guide at the studio, but I never got around to putting this image in that post)