While my career has allowed me to travel extensively, some of this year’s greatest adventures and discoveries came from unexpected places and surprisingly simple moments.
I realized a lifelong dream when I visited Switzerland this past June. One of my favorite afternoons was spent enjoying panoramic views of the Swiss Alps from a restaurant on Mt. Riggi. I made only a few photographs in the bright midday sun, but savored the witty banter between the staff and intimate ambience as inspiration for future creations.
This embodied a theme for 2016 - shoot less, process more. Aside from my trip to Switzerland, much of my time was consumed with remodeling my first home and training for triathlons. Over the course of 2016, I competed in four triathlons and eight races in total. My disciplined training regime left little time or energy for shooting, but I found it lent a new strength to my creative work flow. Each hour had value, every time block for creation had a purpose. While I couldn’t shoot as often, I found the discipline to sit down and begin scanning and processing long forgotten slides from years ago.
My motivation for processing these slides was also driven by the purchase of my first home – a four bedroom house overlooking expansive views of Kahala. It became a blank canvas for my creation, and I spent eight months stripping the house down to the basic framework and remodeling every detail from cabinets to coat hangers.
For the first time, I had a space where I felt inspired to hang my own work, and I was driven to create pieces that spoke to me on a personal level. As I processed a waterfall image I shot over three years ago in Iceland, a few sheep grazing along the cliffside caught my eye. In color they were barely noticeable, but when I converted the frame to black and white and dropped the exposure, the sheep found their feet as a striking accent. While much of my gallery features bright, cheerful photos, there was a compelling beauty in the dark mood this process evoked. It became one of my favorite images from the whole Iceland trip.
In turn, decorating my own walls allowed me to experience firsthand how an image could transform the environment and affect my mood. I was inspired by the new black and white processing, and began to expand my gallery images to embrace a complex spectrum of human emotions.
In the coming year, I’m looking forward to further developing this process with a new collection of black and white waterfall images. I’ll also be training for my first Ironman in April, and preparing to hopefully qualify for the Boston Marathon in 2018. My travels will take me through Montana and the East coast, and possibly even Antarctica.
I’m also planning a solo road trip to explore and get back to the roots where my photography all began. I’m excited to explore with fresh eyes, and let my shooting take a backseat to purposeful process and creation.
The kitchen the way it stood the first day I received the keys.
First day of demolition. First things first, removing the cancec ceiling!
Approximately one month into renovations. A new ceiling with recessed lights, new door, added vent hood and the quartz counters are about to be installed.
The original hardwood was in terrible shape. Since I have two dogs and live a very active lifestyle, I went with a lighter oak tone flooring that is very resilient to water, sand, and dirt.
Six months into renovations the big changes came. I busted out the back wall to open up to a 300 sqft lanai that overlooks Kahala. This wall will feature four, six-foot glass sliding doors.
My kitchen almost complete, just a few finishing touches needed.
My kitchen after eight months of renovations. I chose every detail very carefully. From the oil rubbed bronze pulls and handles, to the Greek Villa tone paint.
Even on stormy days, the view is beautiful.
Charles and Oliver love the lanai.
The Skogafoss waterfall in Iceland. Originally shot on color slide film, I converted it to B&W after noticing how much the sheep stood out on the cliff.
First olympic distance triathlon.
Xterra 10k Trail Run.