I love my new little camera. I have not pulled out my 4x5 in months and need to fill the space with something, for now this works. I tell my students to make pictures constantly and feel as though I have been sounding like a hypocrite. So, in an effort to lead by example I am trying to make images all the time. This weekend is the last of summer I think. The sun is getting more and more golden and my shadow is getting longer. All this week I could see my breath in the morning, but today I think we hit 75 degrees.

I finally bought myself a digital camera. I treated myself to the Lumix LX5.........so far I am in love.

I am also in love with my new surroundings.

New images from the weekend. I really need to sit down and do some serious writing about what I am doing. I am not really ready to make any grand statements yet, sort of enjoying working with out any boundaries. But soon I will have to collect my scattered thoughts.

A few more images. I have been so out of practice because of all my school work. I am excited about what I do get made though, however slowly it gets done. The ceiling fan is a favorite, and of course the one of Sadie. It is so exciting when that daylight saving moment happens. All of a sudden the sun changes and the light falls across objects differently.

One of the undeniable attractions of being a teacher is the amount vacation time you get. Not to sound like I dont love every minute in the classroom, but I need every minute out of it. We just had "winter brake", a random little week off in the middle of the dreary month of February. I thought I would take a true hiatus and head home to Vermont where I new my family would take care of me and require little of me. I slept, I exercised, I snowshoed and most importantly I made images.

The above images are quite. I made images without the confining label "a body of work"and am happy with the outcome. They still go together somehow. Simple, haiku like. I am committing to black and white for a while. I need to step out of my color comfort world and step into something slightly more experimental.

I am especially proud of the image of the hair. It is amazing how when making pictures of meaningful things they always just look better.

I think this is the beginning of something new. Since being married and becoming a teacher I have been going through some kind of identity crisis, or shift, or loss. I feel there are parts of me, from the past, that I don't know anymore and that are slipping away. My general mood has been incredibly quite and strongly turned inward. Without over thinking anything, this is the first image I made with these feelings at the forefront of my creative process. I liked the feeling of letting go of the precision of the 4x5, letting my bellows fall and bend.

Here are a couple more images from the high school. High School has changed since I was a student. There are no more dusty chalk boards, the ventilation system is suited for a space ship and the students have a salad bar in the cafeteria. The general atmosphere of the place though is exactly the same. Walking in the doors is like walking into a vacuum, the hallways smell like nothing, floor wax maybe. The students are the same too. All the same groups strut the halls, the jocks, the skanks, the "punks", the brains, and my personal favorite the nerds. The nerds are the most open and friendly group of students, they even invited me to play magic cards after school which had my stay at the high school been longer I would have absolutely done.