Well hello again friends! Whew, I can’t believe we are here - at the peak of Nature’s cycle! One of the roughly bazillion times of the year that I absolutely love!😁
I, of course, had so hoped to be more timely with this originally intended Summer Solstice post, lol! However, grinding it out finishing up some big landscaping projects towards the end of June / right up to the weekend of the 4th during an extreme heat wave here didn’t leave much left in my engine (or my brain for that matter😂) in the evenings.
But, I made it, and after a recouping weekend, have been busy behind the scenes here for a few days preparing for a new experience!
At some point tomorrow I will head out towards Michigan for the Krasl Art Fair on the Bluff this weekend in St. Joseph, MI. I’ll have a couple days in between and then be at Ann Arbor setting up next Wednesday at the State Street District Art Fair. (If you missed my last post and want a more detailed explanation of what’s been going on click here - “Life’s Possibilities”)
I’m so excited to be getting back out on the road and showing my work to a new audience! I’ve been getting very ansy now for a few weeks, especially since I hadn’t done any shows this past Spring. And honestly, no matter what the case may be, when it gets to be about late June - actual Summer - my mind really starts to drift toward adventure…!
It has been that way as long as I can remember in my adult life. From the Coasts, to the Forests, to the Mountains… Backpacking, Camping, and Living Life 🏔️🏕️🏝️😎 That’s all I can think some Summer.
And now, the Festivals too! Being fortunate enough to be juried into some of the Nations finest that I can share my photographs with you, it brings me such joy!
Follow along here on my Blog/Newsletter for some of my most epic expeditions and consequently what I feel is some of my strongest finished work to date.
This Summer, escape the noise and the heat, and let this be the Season of Adventure!…
“Rocky Mountain Daydream” - Rocky Mountain National Park, CO
Linhof Kardan Large-Format 4x5 View Camera
Schneider Symmar-S 150mm Lens (Normal)
F45 at 1/4 of a second
Professional Fuji Velvia 100
As this was to be my Summer Solstice greeting, let’s kick things off here, because this photograph actually took place on a Summer Solstice - back in 2017.
Getting the photograph itself was honestly not that great of an ordeal. What I went through prior to however, was challenging in its own way…
I was headed out to Denver in early/mid June for an Art Festival, when cruising along I-70 in western Kansas, my Xterra decided to just stop running. Yeah…
Miraculously, since my insurance policy has always given me one free tow per breakdown to a garage of my choice within 200 some miles, and (here is the miraculous part) since I was so in the middle of nowhere Kansas and Denver fell within the mileage limits, I was able to get a tow to Denver!!!🤯
It was a long night to say the least, and at dawn, I was able to transfer my booth in a rental and still make the festival… wow, recalling all of this now is bringing back some crazy memories, lol… (And some instances that I sincerely hope I never have to endure again!)
It ended up being my transmission, which I had to have rebuilt (manual) and I ended up stranded in Denver for about a week and a half. Fortunately, I had friends that I could stay with and family that helped ease the financial burden.
For anyone out there thinking - “how glorious this life has to be?!” - this is just one example of the many many things you need to realize can happen “out there” sometimes. And you’d better not have a weak heart if you’re going to go for it, lol! It has damn near broken me on more than one occasion! Also I can’t say enough about having a strong support system and how that can come in very handy!
When I finally got my wheels back, I thought to myself - “I can’t NOT do something fun before returning home! So Rocky Mountain National Park, here I come!”
I only spent one night camping in the surrounding Roosevelt National Forest and did this one hike the next day on the Summer Solstice. But man, was it epic!!!
Also, fortunately, I think since I had been out here for close to 2 weeks, my body had acclimatized to the elevation very nicely and even though I ascended a few thousand feet and topped out over 10,000 feet elevation for the first time in my life, I felt great the entire time!
I remember passing elk along the lower elevation of the trail system and hiked past a gushing Alberta Falls on the way to this view of the back side of Longs Peak. Afterwards I would climb even higher up to the Loch Vale and remember hiking through melting snow fields, all the while with glorious sunny skies and warm, but “high mountain air mild” temperatures on this breathtaking Summer Solstice Day!🏔️🌞
It may have not been exactly the time I would have hoped for overall, but during those 24 hours, at least, out here in the mountains - the struggles felt the furthest thing from my mind, lost in a “Rocky Mountain Daydream.”
