Four Years Strong

2015 marks the fourth year of this blog's existence.  It seems like it was just yesterday that I was struggling to find the right words to say on my first post (well, that it is for every post, but that is another point).  As a refresher, the post is below:

First, I want to say that one of my goals for the new year (2011) is to start a blog sharing my pictures with added comments.  I am probably one the last dinosaurs to move into the new era of technology.  For those that follow my twitter account, I am sorry, but you may be a tad bit disappointed.  Back in 2007, my mother got me a camera for Christmas (a Kodak Easy Share).  Since then, I have taken over 20,000 pictures with this camera.  When I moved to Eastern Kentucky in 2009, I became increasingly fascinated with Kentucky in general.  Since then, I have had the goal of visiting every county in Kentucky (Kentucky 120).  You can view my facebook account to see the current status of this journey. There are so many people to thank for their inspiration for taking pictures, especially those that have went with me while taking pictures.  To all of you all, thank you.  I will try to bring to you some pictures that I have currently taken and then some pictures from the past.  I love comments and will appreciate any feedback that you may give.  Be gentle though, I have a huge ego...ha ha.

So, to begin, this picture below is taken with the Kodak Easy Share in Franklin, Kentucky on Kummer Road (Spraypaint Road for all my locals).  It would only be fitting that I begin in my hometown.  While showing my girlfriend my hometown, I took her out to see the fascination that is Spraypaint Road.  I like the overall feel of this picture, but I am especially drawn to the lines in the sky.  The picture was taken in black and white.  I did not edit this picture.  

In reading the first post, I know I have come a long way (literally and figuratively) in the last four years.  I never thought I would my photography would be where it is today.  Am I accomplished?  No.  Is it complete?  No.  Not at

all.  2015 has the makings of being an awesome year.  Some of which has already started.  

My Hero

 

Right now, I am sitting with my nephew at Kosair Children's Hospital.  He was flown in on Saturday evening from Bowling Green and was discovered to have a blood clot in his artificial mitral valve. With not much time on his side, the treatment team had to decide between two course of actions with both procedures being risky with various percentages of possible fatality. The team decided to take the less riskier procedure and treat the clot with rounds of medication.  Early Sunday morning was rough, but within 48 hours, I am blessed to say that the original clot has decreased in its size.  Truly, it was nothing but God.

 

I have been blessed with many positive role models and leaders in my life from mom, dad, family, coaches, teachers, and supervisors.  Of those, I can say that my biggest hero is my nephew.  For those close to me, you know of the surgeries, the trips to Boston, and the many prayers that went up for him.  A week shy of sixteen, he has had four open heart surgeries in his lifetime and has endured more shots, tests, and procedures than I can imagine.  Yet, every time I see him, he always has a smile on his face.  He has always been a strong person and this past weekend even stronger.

 

Even though we will likely spend Christmas in the hospital this year, I am happy that he overcame this latest piece of adversity.  Like him and my family, there are many kids, families, nurses, and doctors, due to circumstances bigger than them will celebrate the holiday in the hospital.  To put it into perspective, I rode on an elevator today with a woman whose family was leaving the hospital finally after spending 18 months at the hospital.  My prayer this year is for everyone to know that it is more than the gifts you receive or do not receive that makes this life wonderful.  It is spending time with your loved ones and doing good for mankind.  These life lessons are like the heart valve, it's what keeps us going.

 

 

 

 

No Titles

Recently, I was reintroduced to a valuable lesson in photography.  An image should speak for itself.  No fluff.  No added commentary.  Just the picture.  My interpretation of capturing a moment in time.

Grace is Sufficient

Some may call me cheap.  I call myself a thoughtfully cautious financial consumer.  Right now, I am sitting at a tire shop waiting to get new tires on my car, Grace.  I held off as long as I could to get new tires, but the gaping hole in my tire forced my hand.

Grace and I have been together since November 2005 after the love of my life, Sage, left my life in flames one dreary night on I-65.  I did not realize when I first met Grace that she would be with me most of my adult life.  She was not prettiest filly on the track, but she was what I needed at the time.  And I showed her off like she was my crown jewel.  If it was driving to Folly Beach, into the hollers of Eastern Kentucky, to see referrals for work, or to *ahem* places, she has truly been my ride or die chick.

Truth be told, she has always been jealous of my girlfriend.  Since we started dating, she has been seeking to dip into my wallet just so that she knows that I know that she needs love too.  Women, go figure!?!  I can recall one day while we all were together that she decided to take this jealousy to another level.  Not one but two windows came out their tract in the matter of two months.  At least the second one was not on the side of one the tallest points in Kentucky and required me holding it for most of the day so that it did not fall.   

One the eve of what feels like is our impending end, I can't help to think of the good times and the bad times.  She is nearing the ripeful age of 230,000 miles.  She is no longer the beautiful lady she once was.  Her cooling and warmth have long been lost from her, although every now and then she'll find it in her to display her youthfulness again.  I don't know if we can make it through another Polar Vortex.  With all of that said, I feel the need to keep her close to me.  Do you blame me?  I made a promise to her.  A promise that I will see her hit the wonderful milestone of 300,000 miles.  Call me cheap, but I call it devotion to Grace.

Blackacre Conservatory (Louisville)

Nada Tunnel (Red River Gorge)

Jacobson Park (Lexington)

Old Louisville

Gray's Arch (Red River Gorge)

St. James Fountain (Louisville)

Beckley Creek Park (Louisville)

Waffle Shirt Season

It's autumn in the Bluegrass!  Don't get me wrong--  I have a deep appreciation for all four seasons, but there is something special and magical about the fall in Kentucky.  It is the time of sporting waffle shirts for the crisp evenings, fans filing into a football stadium, fall festivals each weekend, pumpkin carving, throwing everything into a pot and calling it chili, harvesting the last fruits from the garden, and gaining that one, coveted, extra hour of sleep.  Most of all, autumn is the harmonious array of orchestrated colors displaying the perfect symphony to conclude the end of the season.  

"Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns."  - George Eliot

Creation Falls

Rock Bridge Arch

Buffalo Trace Distillery

Anglin Falls

Anglin Falls

Louisville - Ohio River

Downtown Louisville

Ohio River

Portland - Ohio River 

Lunar Eclipse

Bowman Field - Louisville

A Hueston Chronicle

The Hueston Life Chronicles is a blog written by my friend that presents a witty, intelligent, and introspective view of not only pop-culture topics, but also things that come up in his daily life.  Of his many posts, the most memorable and powerful for me was the one he wrote in anticipation of the birth of his son.  The love for his unborn son he showed in his post mixed with the nervousness of being a good father and looking forward to spending time with him has had a lasting impact on me since the day he wrote it.

While in Dayton, Ohio a couple of weeks ago we did a photoshoot with the Huestons, their son, and the godparents of their son.  You could not ask for a better morning at Cox Arboretum, which was the site of where the Huestons were married four years beforehand.  As we laughed, joked, and took pictures, I could not help but refer back to his his blogpost.  I can only hope that when it is my time to be a father that I will follow the path of my friend…a loving, caring, and strong leader of his family.

A New Day

"Took me 26 years to find my path

My only job is cut the time in half

So at 13 we’ll have our first drink together

Black bar mitzvahs, mazel tov, mogul talk

Look a man dead in his eyes so he know you talk truth

When you speak it, give your word, keep it

And if the day comes I only see him on the weekend

I just pray we was in love on the night that we conceived him

Promise to never leave him even if his mama tweakin’

Cause my dad left me and I promise never repeat him

Never repeat him, never repeat him" - Jay Z "A New Day"

It's a new life for me...and my wife as *we bring our son into the world. When we found out we were "expecting" nothing was the same. Every step along this journey into parenthood has been earth shattering...

• Hearing the heartbeat was like hearing sound for the very first time
• Our first scare was like dying a slow agonizing death
• Feeling our baby move was insanity (How is this possible? I can't believe this!)
• The ultrasound where we saw the face of our son was seeing color for the first time

At the age of 28 I am a first time father and truly crossing into the wild unknown; its frightening, exciting and represents the biggest challenge I have ever faced and we are still months away from my son's arrival.

I was inspired by the Jay-Z verse above because it encapsulates everything that is "fatherhood" in my estimation. From my perspective I owe it to my son to teach him what it means to be a man no matter what and I can't wait.

Timothy Hueston, I love you more than I could've ever imagined. I am going to play with you, yell at you, teach you, learn from you, care for you, worry about you, embarrass you, raise you as a **Knicks fan and be there for all of your firsts because I'm your dad.


*Mostly her
**Please don't call child services on me