Compiled from the street.

I love finding the empty quiet parts of the city I call home. 

//Leica M6 w/35mm lens//Kodak Tri-x. 

Endure

I find strength in words sometimes. 

LaSalle Mountains, UT

The West - In color

I shot very little color when in Utah. For me Utah is a pretty black and white place. 

These pictures made me re-think my past ideas about Utah. 

The West - 4x5

Shooting 4x5 is one of my favorite things to do. Having a picture in front of you and taking your time to set everything up just right....for one frame.... is something enduring to me.

There are climbers in 2 of the 4 pictures above.........

These were all taken in Utah.
//Kodak Tri-x//

Places I've Slept

Nothing beats a good tent and a hard couch.

From top:
Capitol Reef N.P.  UT
Muddy Buddy, IL
Zapata lake Trail, CO
Great Sand Dunes N.P. CO
Random couches/beds
Chitna, AK
Mt, Churchill, AK x 3
Ruth Amphitheater, AK
Mt. Churchill, AK

Darkroom Sunday's {Contact sheets}

I have been spending way too much time in the darkroom lately. And am finally getting things dialed in as far as being more efficient and wasting less. 

I am going to have to say that contact prints are probably my favorite things about the darkroom. I spent the other night on my recliner going through about 20 contact sheets and looking at which frames are "worthy" of printing or even posting. 

The larger pictures above are 4x5 contact sheets {my flatbed for some reason scanned some out of focus} 

If anyone lives in the City of Chicago take a click HERE for the best little darkroom in the city. 

Canyon Lands National Park, Moab UT

Seems I have not posted anything here for a while. Which is hard to believe because I have a ton of stuff to get edited out.
I recently spent a very long time out west for one of the best most deserved trips I have ever taken. It started out with four long, perfect days in Moab Utah. I spent two days in the Northern end of Canyonlands National Park and two more days in the southern end. Alone.
All of these pictures were hand developed and scanned by myself. Been spending a couple days making prints from all this work and might be getting something together to sell some prints.

All pictures were shot with my Fuji GF670 I shot a lot in 6x7 and 6x6.
The last picture is shot with a Leica M6, I think the last frame skipped the roller and got double exposed which made for a pretty much once in a lifetime image.
Kodak Tri-x and Ilford PANF 50.

Roots.

 I want to talk about the art of "travel".
   Since I was 18 all I have wanted to do was to "see the world". I blame this worldly view on two things, my parents and National Geographic. It was the yellow framed magazine that exposed me as a very young child to the simple and addictive idea that the world is larger than my town and that it was completely mine to see. While most children are satisfied with just looking at the pictures, I wanted to see those places for my own dehydrated ego. I blame my parents for taking me out west when I was a giant sponge dying for something to scare me or to make me feel small. The combination of my parents love for "out west" and the accessibility of National Geographic has scared me from the start.
   As the new year is already a month old, I am yet again deep in the process of planning a "trip" that has been gnawing at my soul for quite sometime. But before I make that journey a reality, I am going on a vacation to one of my most favorite places in this great country.....Utah.
  I first went to Utah around the age of 20. Myself, my two best friends and three more friends loaded up two trailers with six ATV's and headed to "Little Sahara" dunes in central Utah. Gas was about a dollar, it took 28 hours non-stop. We spent a couple days in the dunes and then headed to the most amazing place on earth, Moab UT. I fell in love. A love that to this very day, has always loved me back.
  I am on my way to Utah for 2 weeks. Travel, its good for the soul.