I have received nominations in the 7th Annual Black and White Spider Awards in four categories! 

This international photography competition sees thousands of entries in every category, so nominations are a huge deal! It’s like making the top 20 out of a thousand-plus entries! In this competition I received the nominations in the categories: People, Photojournalism, Sports and Fine Art. 

I went back in my files for the photojournalism category using one of my images from a stint in Israel for Blackstar Agency. 

Entering the dogs, Odin and Makai, in the Fine Art category was on a whim. There’s not an animal category, but I wanted to enter this image. Having it go this far was a complete surprise! 

More of my  dog and Holga Toy Camera photography can be found at: 

https://www.facebook.com/Colorado.Dog.Photographer on Facebook and

https://www.facebook.com/HolgaFotoMatt

(as soon as I can fix stupid java i’ll upload the photos!!!)  

I had the opportunity to revisit Taos twice this summer. The first trip was with long-time friend, John Hanron, for the Taos News Reunion. I was regional editor from ’85-’87 – my first newspaper job out of college.

During my second trip with Jayne, we drove up through the Moreno Valley, 35 miles east up Taos Canyon and over Palo Flechado. On a stop in Red River I had a great moment of serendipity.

While photographing at an artfest there I saw a familiar face. Asking if I could photograph him, he told me his name is Kermit. My knees went out from under me! I was friends with Kermit when I lived there – 26 years ago!

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Here are a couple of images being packed for shipping! They’re from my Arapahoe Basin Ski Area images captured with the Holga Toy Camera. These two are a series of hiking the famed East Wall (Lenawee Ridge) shot at roughly 13,000 feet!

For more images and to purchase your own visit: ArapahoeBasinPhotos.com or ABasinPhotos.com!

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Brent and I try to get together in the canoe with his daughter Mya every summer. This year we gave daughter, Kate, her first boarding pass! Brent is a former wedding client, now great friend (I guess he loved the photos!). I photographed Brent and Allison 10 years ago at Ten Mile Station, in Breckenridge, Colorado! 

This was a great opportunity to give up the paddle for the Nikon and shoot new lifestyle photography.

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I did a Colorado Family Portrait session with the Moscarello family this week at their home along the Snake River in Keystone.

Yeah, who needs a studio with settings like this!

My favorites are the last two with an antique filtering from Lightroom. And, yeah, I shot them with this intent. Shot a few Holga Toy Camera images of these, too…those’ll take a bit longer!

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See the Summer Technology Camp where I had the opportunity to work with exceptional teens in an intense, one-week camp teaching digital photography.

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Go with the serendipity!

This Colorado Senior Portrait session started in “the backyard” studio using Buffalo Mountain as a backdrop. Black clouds, lightening and rain said otherwise.

We rescheduled for the next day and found ourselves at a small inlet to the Ten Mile River on the west side of Frisco. I’ve never shot here before, but really enjoyed the results!

These are for long-time clients, the Doblers.

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This young moose showed up in our yard a week or so after the big guy. I’m not sure where his Moose Mom was, but he was a bit freaked out. The aspen saplings tickling his belly really set him off!

Enjoy!

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This moose first showed up at the base of our steps. He’s as big as he looks. The next morning, he was visiting the neighbors. This is exactly the kind of image I used to love capturing as “wild art” when I was a photojournalist.

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Time out for our own Colorado Dog Glory Girl and her stick prowess!

We now resume our regular programming. 

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