The cold calms even my jittery heart

It’s been an eventful winter - so far. Any Nebraskan knows that it’s foolish to speak of winter’s end in when February is still around.

My wife and I moved to a new home in December. It was a strange experience, but we are largely settled in at this point. I have space to stretch out and move forward with some things I’ve been wanting to do for some time now. Excuses, no more.

Winter itself wasn’t too bad this year, that is until last week’s cold snap. Now it feels as if it has dragged on forever.

I spent Saturday wandering snowy gravel roads in Saunders County. At first there was some incredibly thick fog, so thick at times that photographs appear to capture nothing but blank white.. But then the sun shone through and the fog was gone in an instant.

Post title: Kwame Dawes - Loneliness

I’m through singing these blues

25 more days until 2021…

Post title: Simon Joyner - Don’t Tell Bobby I’m Through Singing These Blues

Election Eve

Photographs from Northeast Nebraska and Sioux City on the 1st of November in 2020.

The most important election of my lifetime is tomorrow. It’s hard not to be nervous. Four years ago, I was in Tucumcari, New Mexico just days before the election. It was a great trip - followed a rude awakening shortly thereafter. And a sad, maddening four years of Trumpism capped off by a disastrous pandemic. Despite this, I still believe that empathy and fairness will find a way.

The post title is an homage to William Eggleston’s project from October of 1976.

Come morning, I’ll be through them hills and gone

It goes without saying that this has been a long year that seems to grow longer by the day. I live in a country (and a state) that is incredibly unwilling to rise to the occasion, lead by people who close their eyes and hope that a pandemic just goes away while downplaying the death of hundreds of thousands of people and taking every opportunity to divide us more every day. Those of us who have taken every precaution and do our best to respect others and side with facts are mocked and continue to have to live with this dark cloud hanging over our lives.

2020, as a whole, has been an incredibly disgusting, saddening year.

With all of this as a backdrop - not to mention hazy skies due to the massive wildfires on the west coast - I escaped to Colorado and New Mexico for a few days last week to do what I do best photographically - avoid people and lose myself in the unending challenge of finding images.

The road trip ended up being a bit more that 3,250 miles all told. I thoroughly explored the northeast corner of New Mexico - roughly Raton to Tucumcari - along with the area around Taos and Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado. The weather was beautiful and the scenery was perfect.

I am desperate to push further westward into the deserts. Perhaps next time.

Post title: Townes Van Zandt - Snowing on Raton