Networking friend Jennifer has been coming to the JCP Home Studio which doubles as a workout space the past couple of Fridays for a dose of Insanity Max 30 with me and Jessica. After one such workout, I setup a few lights to have fun with some fitness photos. They each picked up a dumbbell and showed their strength!
Read MoreThose that know me, know that I love cars, well, special cars. Not all have to be as special as my beloved Aston Martin Vanquish (some day!), but even just the ability to go anywhere, do anything is enough. Getting serious speed in a car is not that affordable, especially for newer models. However, getting serious offroad ability is. When I traded in my faithful and much loved Mazda3 sedan in March for the Jeep Renegade Trailhawk you see here, I was giving up great, affordable on road driving dynamics for the ability to drive offroad anywhere a stock vehicle could.
Read MoreI imagined being able to find places totally not on the agenda during a recent 5-day whirlwind Western Road Trip with eldest friend Terry and his wife, Beth, visiting from Florida, and of course also with Jessica, her dog Artie, and my beloved puppy Kiki. Mexican Hat rock formation was one such place. This day Jessica and our dogs got up at 5:15am to see the sunrise in Monument Valley, then we all reconvened and visited Forrest Gump Point and then Goosenecks State Park. Seeing a sign for Mexican Hat and having time, and a Jeep Renegade Trailhawk, we turned down an unknown dirt road and started exploring.
Read MoreBack on a rural land photography assignment for Hemingway Land Company in remote northwest Rio Rancho, New Mexico, I had to wait out a deluge, hail, and lightning to get these photos! A lot can happen in 30 miles in the evening during the monsoon season in New Mexico, and that was certainly the case as I left Albuquerque in mostly sunny skies only to end up surrounded by dark clouds in all directions in Rio Rancho. I got a few quick photos, then the rain came and I took cover inside my Jeep Renegade Trailhawk. In the middle of the rain I saw in my rearview mirror a lone rider on horseback. I could not tell who liked it least being caught in the rain, man or horse!
Read MoreYelp ABQ along with the Hispano Chamber of Commerce have been putting on a series of events this summer called Go Behind the Dream featuring immigrant owned businesses from around Albuquerque, New Mexico. I was somewhat familiar with the story of Tahir Gauba and how he built up Donut Mart in ABQ, but through this event I really learned his family's story of moving from Pakistan and becoming a strong member of the community halfway across the world. I lived abroad for 9 years in Asia, but always knew some day I would return to the U.S. When you find some place that feels right, you can call it home permanently though!
Read MoreGoing to a car show for the first time, you never really know what to expect with regard to how many cars, how cool of cars, and even what kinds of cars. I was pleasantly surprised by a recent small car show I went to in Rio Rancho, New Mexico. A good number of classic cars many of which had very interesting interiors. With my new Tamron 90mm f/2.8 Macro SP lens on my Nikon D750 exclusively while at this car show, I decided to make the theme of my shots the cool classic car interiors, with a few detail shots here and there. Check out the sense of humor of a 1966 Mustang owner with what passes for an "airbag" in his classic car!
Read MoreI have been to many places around the world, some considered wonders of the world, like Angkor Wat in Cambodia, some hard to reach, like the jungles in Borneo, as well as famous wonders in the U.S. like the Grand Canyon and Yosemite. Monument Valley in Utah ranks up there with the most wondrous places I have seen. I bookended my time at Monument Valley first with a sunset visit, then the next morning at 6am with a sunrise explore. The photos you see here are all from that very early even-pre-sunset time in Monument Valley. So early, no one was at the gate to even pay to enter! No one else had yet driven into the valley that morning. I had the view of the two Mittens and Merrick Butte all to myself for awhile.
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