there is a pleasure in the pathless woods,

there is a rapture on the lonely shore,

there is society, where none intrudes,

by the deep sea, and music in its roar:

i love not man the less, but nature more,

from these our interviews, in which I steal

from all I may be, or have been before,

to mingle with the Universe, and feel

what i can never express, yet can not all conceal.

~lord byron

this poem found me last night, two glasses of wine in the belly, and under my covers. it excited me, reminding me of my experiences with nature in solitude - the joy of seeing the earth's face in a new light, the hopes of visiting it's mysterious terrains, and the thrill of exploring plummiting deapths and comforting burrows.

durring my walks in colorado i saw the earth asleep, in a quiet white slumber. i walked down roads and paths leaving a trail that was soon covered by freshly fallen snow. i stood as still as i could in the vast whiteness, under towering pines - naked as a skeleton, and i was careful to not make a move, but my stiltedness was no match for the frozen nature that surrounded me. it moved me. i wanted to know this feeling forever, so i took 1000 pictures of everything i could see...

and still it wasn't enough.

Yashica A Model. 6x6 120vc Kodak Film. Low Light - Heavy Snow.

starting over

if you have followed your way to this blog through the photos on my flickr site, then you are probably aware that i recently deleted everything on my flickr, everything except for this one photo.

yes... all 954 photos... gone.

there isn't a grand explanation of why. it's just sort of a feeling i've had for a while.

it's time to start over.

time to follow after newer ideas and dreams.

it's the beginning of everything for me all over again.

it's exciting and refreshing and to be honest incredibly relieving to not have to look at all of those photos from the past.

there is so much white blankness to fill in, and to inspire with color, shadows, and light.

2009. the year of new beginnings. hear i come.

Yashica A Model. 6x6 120vc Kodak Film. Backlight.

remember when

remember when poptarts were a delicacy
and sleeping in was terrible?
remember alf and bikes with no kick stands?
remember the hightops you always wanted
and waiting to record your favorite radio song on a blank tape?
remember the scary big kids and wanting to be just like them?

remember notes from your secret crush, folded up like origami?
remember walkie talkies and tree forts?

remember playing in the rain and skinny dipping in swimming pools?

remember classroom pizza parties and making your mom cards?

i do. painfully.

i see my little brother cody and i remember all of those things. i am instantly transported ....

i remember racing michelle parrell to the movie theater to see roger rabbit, and falling off my bicycle and cutting my knee. i remember crying till my dad came and was very mad and drove us home because those roads were off limits for kids. i remember being sad because roger rabbit was my favorite movie, even though i hadn't seen it yet. i remember putting peroxide on my cut and how bad it stung, but then i blew on it like my dad said to and it didn't hurt that bad anymore. i remember my dad saying if i was good and did my chorse he would take me to see roger rabbit and i was happy. i remember thinking i had the best dad in the world and squeezing his hand till he squeezed back harder.

i remember.

another year remembering him here.
happy new years.

Polaroid Sx70. Artistic Time Zero. ND Filter. Long Exposure.

...

Lover of things,

won't you agree

how the winter could bring

the darkest spring?

With hell on your face,

dirt on the walls

in the back of the place,

you grew and complained.

Brother of three,

won't you believe,

that the ones in between,

are the ones that are blamed.

Of fickle faith,

cynics that seethe,

how their love is cursed,

makes you cursed to believe.

It's like marrow without bone.

To live in a land with no home.

Where your love is the darkest seed.

And there it crawls with the curs in the weeds.

Where had you been?

Not in the street, not in the yard.

Only once, I'll call off the dogs,

if you call off your guard.

Where had you gone?

Polaroid Sx70. Artistic Time Zero. ND Filter.

up here it's like