Year Three

You inspire me to be a better person everyday. Happy Birthday, Cohen. I will try my best to do the same for you.

Holland, 1945

I saw Jeff Mangum, lead singer of the now defunct band Neutral Milk Hotel, last Saturday night in Minneapolis, MN. The show was a very emotional one for me. The haunting memory of Mangum's courageously out of tune voice will not be quickly forgotten. I realized I had a couple hours to kill before my departure Sunday morning as I stumbled across Fort Snelling National Cemetery and decided to take a walk. As I zig zagged between the repetitiously similar gravestones, marking the final resting spot of thousands of anonymous comrades, I couldn't help but tie a correlation to some of Mangum's lyrics to what some of the courageous men and women, laying frozen, under six feet of Minnesota soil, once felt.

I leave you with the lyrics to Neutral Milk Hotel's song "Holland, 1945".

The only girl I've ever loved Was born with roses in her eyes But then they buried her alive One evening, 1945 With just her sister at her side And only weeks before the guns All came and rained on everyone Now she's a little boy in Spain Playing pianos filled with flames On empty rings around the sun All sing to say my dream has come

But now we must pick up every piece Of the life we used to love Just to keep ourselves At least enough to carry on

And now we ride the circus wheel With your dark brother wrapped in white Says it was good to be alive But now he rides a comet's flame And won't be coming back again The Earth looks better from a star That's right above from where you are He didn't mean to make you cry With sparks that ring and bullets fly On empty rings around your heart The world just screams and falls apart

But now we must pick up every piece Of the life we used to love Just to keep ourselves At least enough to carry on

And here's where your mother sleeps And here is the room where your brothers were born Indentions in the sheets Where their bodies once moved but don't move anymore And it's so sad to see the world agree That they'd rather see their faces fill with flies All when I'd want to keep white roses in their eyes

Fleeting

This year I ran over 650 miles. That’s roughly 81 hours and 15 minutes of running. Having spent all those lonely, introspective hours on the pavement, you might think I had time to reflect on what this year has meant to me. Well, I didn’t.  My mind was just doing its god damn best to keep one foot moving in front of the other. So, like this time every year, I turn to my camera to remind me of the important things that happened in my life these past 12 months. And like everything else – music, books, movies, beers – I whittled it all down to one list of ten things. Because if you have more than ten, your just bragging.

Two things stick out as being important to me in 2011 as I look at the ten images below – running and friendship. (And if your worried that Cohen didn't make the list, don't, he got a whole list to himself, here)

I ran a marathon in Texas, in the rain (again). I ran a 43.5 mile relay, in which I ran 10 miles and drank 11 beers and took one shot (try and beat that. I dare ya.) And I ran the hardest run of my life. The 12.5 mile Jumbo Burger Challenge, where I really think I may have almost died.

Two very good friends, and very inspirational people in my life were married this year. One in Barcelona, where I drank a glass of absinthe (ok, maybe three) in an old Picasso hang out AND saw my missing cat, Mike, who now lives with a homeless person on the streets of Barcelona. The second was in San Diego, where I was able to witness my wife dip her toes in an Ocean for the first time.

And last, but not least, I met one of my heros this year. Timothy "Speed" Levitch, who said "We are the living whispered warning in the roman general's ear........glory is fleeting, and there, in the fleeting moment of glory, we all reside.

See ya next year!

Ten from 2011

Here are my 10 favorite images of Cohen from this year, and proof that we survived another one together. Thank god he doesn't cheese for the camera like most kids. And if you are always trying to get him to (you know who you are) stop it. Here is to hoping we survive 2012.

Senior tigers

The basketball tigers have started their season with an impressive 8 - 0 record and a top 10 national ranking. This is in large part to the very strong play of the teams' senior class. I recently had the pleasure of photographing these seven young men, and I had all of 15 minutes to do it in.

Even before I knew the limited amount of time I was going to be given for the shoot, I decided that I was going to set up a remote camera and let the players make images of themselves. This accomplished two things. First, I thought a self portrait would go really nice with these awesome profiles that our Sports Editor, Marcus Wilkins, did on each of the seniors. It also allowed me to bang out the seven individual portraits and one group portrait in the 15 minutes I was given before the guys were expected to report to practice.

All in all, I was happy with the results, but I think if I would have had a little more time I could have gotten a couple of the guys to loosen up a little more. I guess there is always next year!