Just ended a fun little chat with my old roommate. And it reminded me that she wants me to keep this thing updated, so here goes...

A few nights ago, I was home alone and feeling like I needed to go do something. Since the apartment is just a few blocks away from the Central States Fairgrounds, I loaded up my camera gear (which, really, is just a small bag and a tripod, but I feel all awesome saying "camera gear.") and walked over to the fair.

It was a fun little time I had there. Sadly, my battery died after about an hour, so I didn't get as many shots as I was wanting. But now the carnival rides and deep-fried foods and laughing children have left the fairgrounds, so I'll just have to wait until next summer for more fair photos. It felt good to get out there and start shooting again.

I'm heading home this weekend and I could not be more excited for it. Friday night I get to see my baby brother play football. (I say baby brother, but the kid is a Junior in high school....) Then on Saturday, my very first and best friend of my whole life is getting married! He and his wife-to-be asked me to shoot some candid photos at the wedding and reception, so I'm definitely looking forward to that. And THEN at some point during the weekend, I will be doing some senior photos for one of my brother's friends. It is going to be one very fun-filled photo weekend! So excited to be creative with my camera again.

I have a feeling there's a very exciting future in store for me. I can't wait to get it started. =)

How old would you be if you didn't know how old you were?

Road Rage

Let me start out by saying: This week is ridiculous.

We're right smack in the middle of Sturgis week and I am SO happy that there's only a few days left. Hopefully most of these "I think I'm invincible on the road" a-holes will ship out of here so we can get back to our normal and (for the most part) safe roads.

I've been complaining about this non-stop on facebook, so my apologies to those of you who will have to read about it again...But HOLY COW. I've been cut off more times in the past 3 days than I have in my entire life. Today, while leaving the Mt. Rushmore parking ramp and making a left-hand turn back onto the highway, three motorcycles decided to create another lane on the right side of me through the turn. Then, when they realized that there's actually only room for ONE vehicle on the highway, all three of them decided to squeeze right between me and the rail, and THEN cut me off. Basically I had to be the nice guy and stop for them, or they would have died. In hindsight, I should have just kept driving....

Anywho...So now that my road rage level has reached its max...

How about a few (and I really do mean FEW...There's like, two...) photos:

First, let it be known that this is how I deal with the bikers on the roads. Ice cream cures everything. Even road rage. I'm serious.

Shot this today from the Mt. Rushmore parking ramp. Those clouds were intense!! So pretty...

And this little guy joined me while I was sitting at Mt. Rushmore today waiting for my tour bus people to show up. He was pretty cool. Hung out there right beside me for quite a while before hopping away. Isn't he excellent?? =)

Ok, so there's three, not two. But anywho...

Next week I'll be in NESD for a few days. Gonna go get my country on at the Brown County Fair in Aberdeen with some fantastic friends. Pretty excited. It will be my little mini summer vacation, or something. =)

Then, hopefully, by the time I get back, all the crazy motorcyclists will be gone for good. It will be heavenly. Check back soon!

August 3, 2011

Hey, guys. GUESS WHAT! ...I'm still here! I know, I know. You thought I had disappeared off the face of the Earth, never to return to this lovely little piece of the world wide web. Didn't you? Well you were wrong, for the most part.

I'd love to keep this updated more than I do. I just really don't want to bore you with the "what's happening" in my life right now. Basically, here's the run-down: I wake up, I go to work, I come home, I eat something, I watch TV/read/waste time online, I go to sleep. Repeat. Or, there's even some days where I squeeze "I go for a run" right there in between "I come home," and "I eat something." Those days are my favorite. We've got this fantastic bike trail that's only a few blocks away and it runs along the river/creek/water going through Rapid City (I can not find the name of it at the moment.) So it's a really nice little jog that can go pretty dang far.

Anyway...Work is going pretty good. All the people who work at the museum are way cool, so it's fun to have them to (more or less) hang out with during the day. I need to start looking for jobs again soon, as this one ends in October.

It definitely feels weird to not be thinking about going back to school right now. It's the first time since I was just a wee little tike that I'm not starting a new school year. I feel so old! I see new backpacks and notebooks in all the stores and I feel like I should be contributing to the sales, but that would be entirely unnecessary this fall.

So how about some fun photos? Even though you've probably already seen them on facebook, here's a couple from the weekend. Our friends Amanda and Kyle traveled all the way out here just to hang out with us! (Ok, that's not entirely true, but we did get to see them a lot while they were here!)

Sylvan Lake. Pretty small area, but it is sooo pretty! We circled around the lake and climbed some rocks. This particular photo was a "from the hip" shot, something I do quite often. I love the surprise when I see it later and it's a cool shot like this one. My favorite!

Here's Kyle. This photo is my favorite. It was so much fun having another photo nerd along. =P Definitely nice not being the only person lolly-gagging around, taking pictures of everything.

On Sunday we went to Deadwood. Pretty much just walked around the whole time. Got some food at the Tin Lizzy. I wanted to stick around until it got dark so I could get some photos like this one. Definitely worth the wait. Kyle and I had a lot of fun playing with different shutter speeds with the lights and cars.

Once we got back to Rapid City, it was storming. The lightning was incredible, so we headed up to the motel where they were staying and attempted to capture the lightning. Proved to be a little difficult. But it was tons of fun. We were up above the city lights, so lots of cool photos came from that, as well.

WE DID IT!!!

Oh, and just for fun, some Deadwood HDR. Over the top, surreal, all that stuff....But I do enjoy it. =)

Now....Back to Shark Week!!