The Final Rummy Score

I have been avoiding this post for quite some time now. Perhaps it was the excuse of being too busy with editing photos of the trip or the fact that I am in what seems like a never ending transit across the states. But as I sit in this coffee shop in Missoula, Montana I can no longer avoid the obvious. As Eric and I sat waiting in the abandoned airport terminals of San Jose, Costa Rica and later in the Charlotte, North Carolina terminal, we competed for the last hurrah of our five month long rummy game. Out of the trenches, he made a epic comeback in the score and went on to claim victory over me. Call him the comeback kid.

Final Rummy Score
Mike 18655
Eric 18880

A long time coming in the Big Sky

Since returning stateside I have found myself forced to re-enter the fast pace realm of of the norm. It has been such a quick change that in the past three weeks, I have been unable to fully grasp and digest the trip I have just completed. It's weird now looking back. It's as almost if I have awaken from this incredible, vivid dream. A dream of leisure and care free travel. Lately I have only been able to reflect on it in the brief moments it takes for me to edit through a group of photos. My trip no doubt yielded many of them. But as I re-entered American life, deadlines, obligations and hours in front of a computer screen replaced all other thoughts.

I now find myself back in a familiar setting, the place where my career took root, Missoula, Montana. It was only a year and a half ago that I left it for my first career job at a newspaper in northern California. I think about how much I have grown, both as a professional and as a individual. So much can happen in such little time.

I returned to watch the union of two very close friends of mine, Chris and Molly, finally tie the knot at their wedding last weekend. It was a reunion of old friends and faces from my past. This time I opted to be a guest, rather than work their wedding which I found to be a refreshing change. Still the photographer in me, refused to leave the camera behind and I took the opportunity to experiment with ways of shooting a wedding that I normally wouldn't have time to shoot. The picture above was the moment after the kiss that sealed the deal and officially made them husband and wife. I liked it because I think it shows them in a quiet moment, totally engulfed in eachother. Two individuals fused in the bond of love, oblivious to anyone else but eachother. It was exciting to witness and I wish them the very best.