Light in a Box

Think you know what silence is? Maybe you think of a hike in the woods or a cabin by a lake. How about the relief of putting the kids down for a nap or when a tree falls with no one around? Have you ever experienced total silence, the complete absence of sound, so quiet your ears fight to find noise? If not, then you've never been to Death Valley National Park. When you picture Death Valley you might imagine an arid desert, sand as far as the eye can see, or the classic cracked earth and an animal skull. Honestly that isn't far off, you just need to throw in God’s personal collection of unique desert landforms. There are fields of sand but they've piled up into dunes. The cracks in the earth can be dried out mud or a crystallized salt flat. Dry, yes, but water still drains down from the surrounding snow capped mountains. A landscape that endures the hottest temperatures in the country while also dipping below freezing at night. Wherever you go in t...

Sarah's Guinness is nothing more than a froth covered pint glass when our waitress asks if we'd like another round. The musician for the evening was an elderly man with a guitar and terrific stage presence. His charisma was turning the few Sunday night bar goers into a rowdy bunch. He sang a number of Irish folk songs that were broke up with hilarious toasts for a room of raised glasses. We tried to sing along with the words he taught us but would end up laughing when he'd scold the room for messing up. As he took the stage again, wrapping up intermission, there was no question another beer was in order. After the show, Sarah and I stumbled back up the cobblestone roads feeling drunker than two beers had ever made us. Our last night in town and we'd found a temporary getaway to Ireland from, of all places, Savannah, Georgia. Strolling along River Street to the buzz of street lights warming up, we were at the mercy of the night. We had just finished a wonderful dinner ...

Wanted: unbiased critic. Ideal candidate must have an artistic eye with experience in photography preferably in the landscape field. You will be tasked with reviewing my work and producing a critique that will push my creative talents while finding a happy median between ego grooming and making me cry. Think you have what it takes? Apply today! All of the critics in my life are either family or friends, few are artists, and none of them see a fault in my work. Sarah gets the most exposure to my work and has yet to find something wrong with a photograph. I view my work much differently, I see maybe, maybe, a handful of solid images in my portfolio. I've started listening to a few photography related podcasts while working at my full time job. On one show the host was interviewing a writer who was describing his journey. The writer watched his friends take off while he struggled to get off the ground. The problem, as he describes it, was the standard for which he held his work. H...