Bayou Sunset

Sunset on the Bayou. It's been a really interesting few days exploring New Orleans and cajun country. It's a region that surely doesn't lack in character and soul. We visited some of the wealthiest areas in the Garden District to the areas hit hardest by Katrina in Lower 9th Ward. We visited the touristy spots such as Bourbon Street and also found ourselves deep in the swampy rural areas filled with eye opening poverty. We drove along the Mississippi amazed by the number of refineries and chemical planets. We walked the plantations and felt a bit sick of the thought that people used to be 'owned.' We merely scratched the surface as we often do via travel, but we were able to open a new chapter in the book of life of understanding that was left unwritten before. Travel is such a critical tool...especially within our own country...even if it's just in our figurative backyard. If we want to understand ourselves and each other a bit better, we have to put ourselves out there.

Eternal Heart Of Fire

Februrary 14th, 2020. Valentine's Story: Eternal Heart of Fire. Lindsay Walton, Kya and I are on a road trip in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Yesterday, I took a day to wander with my camera and explore. I covered a lot of ground but simply being curious and slowing down a bit led to something really special. I was on my way to visit the Aquarium on Roanoke Island (which I never ended up even going to), when I fortuitously passed an assemblage of heritage buildings...I had to pull over. I wandered into the grounds of this place called the Island Farm. https://www.outerbanks.org/listing/island-farm/317/ .The sign said closed until April, but as I so often do, I poked my head around a bit and heard the clanking of a hammer and saw billowing smoke emanating from an old shed. I cautiously meandered over and saw this young man working in what turned out to be a blacksmith shop. I ask if I can take a quick look around. That quick look around turns to 2 hours with Wyatt Smith. Wyatt has lived in the Outer Banks his entire life. He was recently hired by the Island Farm, and it will be his first season working with them when they open in Spring. He's learning the art of blacksmithing. With a little bit of expert tutelage, he's only been at for less than a month honing in and eager to learn this beautiful art. He's a painter and creative, but this traditional way of sculpting metal is new. He's practicing crafting nails because at the farm, they only use traditional hangers and nails in construction as a homage to preserving the history of the place and the first settlers to Dare County (Virginia Dare, the first English woman born on U.S. soil was born here on Roanoke Island). Impulsively, I had an idea. I asked Wyatt if he could flex his creative muscles and craft a metal heart for my love Lindsay. I had stopped at several stores earlier in the day and saw tacky gifts which really didn't speak to me. I want something that Lindsay and I will look back at 40 years from now that brings us joy and an even stronger and fonder connection to look back upon. A heirloom of love of sorts. An eternal heart of fire which timelessly burns highlighting our passion for each other and how we want to live life. I want this piece and these photos to be mementos of our life's love story. So without hesitation...Wyatt said "Sure! I'll give it a shot." For 2 hours, the two of us worked on crafting this beautiful imperfectly perfect heart of fire. Wyatt kept reiterating, "Give me another year or so, and I'll mail you an even better one when I get this whole things down." I retorted, "This is perfect...the whole experience!" When we finally fashioned and bent the metal in something that resembled a heart, I had the idea of turning the long piece at the bottom into an L for Lindsay. Then Wyatt gave me the "finest nail I've ever made" to adorn the heart on a wall in our home. The following photos are the process and final piece along with a shot afterwards from Hatteras National Seashore. It's a masterpiece in my eyes. Thanks Wyatt for taking time to run with my impulsive ideas and be so inviting into your space. It's a great reminder to stay curious, connect and pay it forward with gratitude. I'll be sending Wyatt a print of one of these photos. I was so excited to give it to Lindsay Walton. I hope it serves as our forever reminder to love each other and others deeply, burn passionately, stay curious and be grateful and kind. Just as the embers super-heated this metal, I know our love (two fire signs Aries and Sagittarius) will always burn bright. Love you Lindsay! Oh so grateful for you. Happy Valentine's Day to everyone out there.

Dune Layered Sunset

Beautiful layers lead into the distance at sunset at Great White Sands National Monument in New Mexico.

Supervisors of Selma

Selma, Alabama . A center of the Civil Rights movement. Such a powerful place to be. These two brothers were sitting outside one afternoon just watching the day go by and according to them, 'supervising' as their buddies washed clients cars at an auto shop. They were salt of the earth men who spoke to my soul. Gregarious, amicable and present. They shared a bit of history with us and smiled ear to ear when they chatted about when President Obama visited. It's people like this when traveling that make an experience all the richer. This is what true wealth looks like. Thank you gentleman, and keep on supervising.

Currituck Sound Sunset

Currituck Sound as seen from the back dock of my girlfriend Lindsay's Father's house in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina

Clover Grill

The 'World's Best Hamburgers" at the famous Clover Grill in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Winter in Cooke City

Cooke City, Montana. 56 miles in through Yellowstone from Gardiner, Montana to get here. Incredibly remote town and crazy harsh winters. Some hardy souls live here year round. They have to drive 6 hours round trip to Bozeman to get groceries and stock up every few weeks. Obviously many of the places including this espresso cafe close for the season. It’s considered the snowiest town in Montana. We stopped in at the only spot open in town for breakfast...mostly filled with a few locals and snowmobilers in town to enjoy the many trails. The snowmobile tourism keeps the town going throughout the winter....9 long months of it. This place fascinates me, and id love to go back and dig deeper into some of the longtime locals lives and stories....and perhaps help them dig out of some of the snow.

Silver City Purple

A classic nostalgic scene of yesteryear seen on the main drag in Silver City, New Mexico during early Spring 2021

Black Friday.

The best way to spend Black Friday. Narrowsburg, New York.

Ancient Redwood Floor

A fallen Redwood limb embedded in a cloverfield in Redwood National Park, Califonia. These humbling giants have lived as long as 2,000 years. There really are no words to aptly describe walking among them and to feel their energy and presence.

Purple Porch

A beautiful porch in New Orleans. America's lost living rooms. Who wouldn't want to sit here and watch the world go by?

Mona's Farm

A beautiful afternoon walk on our dear friend Mona's farm in Spring Hill, Tennessee. So much history on this land.

Painted Pots Sunset

Finding Yourself

Dance first. Think later. Finding yourself while completely losing yourself. All negative energy sheds with the setting sun. A sculpture delicately crafted with joyful movement and one imperfectly perfect press of the shutter. A surreal fairy-tale moment frozen forever. My girlfriend Lindsay dancing at White Sands National Monument. Nothing like a roadtrip to bring you closer to each other and celebrating the important yet often so simple things in life.

Forest Minutiae

Forest Minutiae. Frequently, the grandest shots 'stem' from the smallest wonders. With a certain intensity of commitment and penchant for observation, you receive abundance of gratitude. Nature photography continues to truly teach me how freezing a moment reveals how truly stunning our world is. It's not about getting Instagram likes or checking off bucket lists, it's about feeling the world around you. Here, clovers give new life to a fallen ancient tree in Fern Canyon, Redwoods National Park.

Coffee Break

A local at Zuma Coffee Shop in Marshall, North Carolina quietly sips his coffee. Something about this austere and nostalgic scene spoke to me. Perhaps an imagined version of Americana.

Chimayo

Beads decorate an alter at the El Santuario de Chimayo, New Mexico. The sanctuary receives over 300,000 visitors a year and is one of the most famous sites of Catholic pilgrimage in the United States.

Sunrise with The Seagulls

Sunrise at the beach in Duck, North Carolina

Taos Studio

Fall inside of Red Willow's studio where he makes drums and an assortment of other handifcrafts in Taos Pueblo, New Mexico.

American Dreams

Deep in the bayou of Louisiana this dilapidated truck sat among a bunch of other debris and rubble. A telling story in our current political climate.

Egg Hatchery

Afternoon light at the 'hatching eggs' in Bisti Badlands / De-na-zin Wilderness in Northwest New Mexico. Roughly 60 square miles of otherworldly beauty.

The Ice Cream Gang

When ambling around Old Town Albuquerque, I saw these three kiddos on a tiny bench scarfing down some ice cream. They reminded my of a classically American folkloric scene. I kindly asked their mom for permission to snap a photo and she was more than happy to let me. There is something unique and special about this scene. It caught my eye as I wandered by and had to get it. I love the guy with black eye. He didn't even flinch and just kept on enjoying his ice cream paying me no mind.