As we approach mid-winter here in Colorado, I’m spending very little time out in the field making photographs. What does one do in the dead of winter? I’ll tell you. Here’s the status quo for me.

The wife and I have been going to the gym every other day, some days it’s the swimming pool, other days it’s the workout room. My doctor tells me to get 30 minutes of physical activity each day. I’m trying. The body has been neglected for a while and I’m not capable of walking a lot, so I spend time on stationary bicycle, walking laps in the pool in 3.5 feet of water and doing some light weights to tone up my upper body. The motivation level is high too. I’m sore though, every day.

I spend a couple of hours each day in front of the computer working in the office. I’ve been doing reverse image searches to find out where my photographs are being published on the internet. I’ve found over 300 different publishers. I get a lot of travel industry coverage, as I have quite a few travel related photos. Colorado is a big hit for me, with maybe half of what I’m selling going to Colorado publications. I’m also fairly popular around the United States as well. It’s enlightening to see exactly who my photography is appealing to. I’m very well known here in Colorado as a photographer of Moose. I’ve even earned the nickname “The Moose Whisperer”, but to be honest, my moose photographs aren’t my most popular commercial photographs. What is flying off the shelf so to speak is my landscape photography.

To kill the time, I’ve also been playing with AI generated images. Today’s image is an AI creation from Adobe Firefly. Kind of reflects on my day dreaming during the winter of moose and winter scenery.

Speaking of winter scenery, I’ll be making a trip to Ouray, Colorado in early February to spend a few days with the wife exploring the San Juan Mountains. Now there is some winter scenery. I can barely wait to make that trip.

I also have a few Ghost Towns on my to-do list, but I’m not positive when I’ll get to them. Hopefully by the end of April. And that won’t be the end of them, as that’s an ongoing project I’ll be working on for quite some time.

Also on the photography front, I have booked my hotel in Monte Vista, CO for early March’s Sandhill Crane migration. I’ve finally convinced my buddy Jon Steele to come out to Colorado and make the trip with me. I do it every year, this will be his first time. It will be fun and maybe makeup a little for having to cut our autumn photography trip short due to me getting COVID.

On a more solemn note, it’s been almost four months since the death of my son Ryan. It’s been tough coming to grips with the fact that he is gone. I haven’t talked about this much with anyone, online or offline, except the wife and my daughter. I don’t want to come across as a blubbering fool. But I am sad, very sad about it. I see the news reports of celebrities losing their son’s recently, to fentanyl overdoses. Well, that’s how I lost my son too. He died of an accidental overdose of fentanyl. It’s an epidemic and my heart goes out to any parent who has lost a child to this horrible drug.

To add to the stress, I have another close family member who is fighting cancer at the moment. He’s done with his radiation treatment and is almost done with chemotherapy, and his prognosis is looking very good. The whole family is happy and very optimistic about his recovery. We’ve had enough grief and sorrow this past year.

There you have it.  The status quo.

Talk to you again soon.