In the past few weeks I have been quite busy with some projects as well as planning the a newly rented space which will soon be the home of Gallery NRC.  Located in the Tennyson Arts District of North Denver and part of the monthly art walk I am excited to get the doors open.  As I begin work on changing some of the layout of the unit, installation of new lighting and of course preparing prints for the gallery the to do list keeps growing each day.  However I am planning for the grand opening this spring.

The gallery will rotate artists on a monthly basis and include some of my work on occassion as well as other up and coming artists.  If you are interested in being a featured artist one month, please let me know and once I finalize the details I will be in contact with you.

Stay tuned for more details in the upcoming weeks, as well as the official opening date.

In the past I have done photography for the local Denver franchise of College Hunks Hauling Junk.  Earlier this month the Denver franchise CHHJ announced a new blog which is the linking the week site for this week.  In talking to Nathaniel the owner of the local franchise, he informed me that a large amount of the items they remove are either recycled or donated to local non-profit organizations thus reducing the amount of materials making it to the landfills.  The management of waste in the upcoming years will become a huge part of our lives as more and more items are disposed due to quickly changing technology.  Check out the College Hunks Hauling Junk blog, where you can even see their new mascot and learn more about what they offer.

There was talk of a chance of snowfall in Denver this morning, but what fell from the sky wasn’t what was expected.  After it all piled up around four to six inches of snow depending on where you were in the metro area.  Seeing the fresh snowfall I grabbed the camera and ventured out for a couple of hours.  Right in the middle of rush hour was the heaviest snow and as I walked down towards Cherry Creek while crossing Speer I grabbed the below photograph.  Crossing the street you could feel the slickness of the road under the snow, and with this most of the streets in the metro area moved at a snails pace.

After a month of voting, the results have been tallied and the winners determined for Thirty Days 2008.  With over 150 votes, it was interesting to see how the votes were placed as almost all of  the images did receive at least one vote.  However the image receiving the most votes by far is Day 15 at Dream Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park.

This image received 32 first place votes as well as a high number of votes for second and third place.

The image receiving the second most votes was Day 24 at the Salton Sea, which received 19 first place votes.

The images from third to fifth place were separated by three total points.  The third place image of my niece had a vote on January 10th by my brother-in-law which move it up a couple of places.  This image had 12 first place votes.

The skyline of Denver on Day 22 took fourth place with 11 first place votes.

Rounding out the top five with 14 first place votes was Day 8 at Washington Park here in Denver.  While this had more first place votes than 3rd and 4th place, the second and third place votes were the difference here.

Thank you to everyone who voted.  As I stated five name would be picked to win a free print.  The names selected were Larry Hawkins, Annie Florin, Monica Bradshaw, Margaret Miller and Ruth Martin.  Congratulations to those individuals selected.  Look for Thirty Days 2009 in November of this year, and once again you will be able to vote on your favorite images.  By signing up for the free newsletter, you will be notified when this takes place again.

If you would like to purchase a print of any of the Thirty Days photos they will be available for $30 for an 8×12 print.  This is 50% off the normal price.

The linking the week site for this week brings back the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society which you may recall I hiked to raise money for last year as part of Hike for Discovery.  As of December 1, 2008 HFD is now part of Team in Training which is the featured site for this week.  There may be snow outside right now depending on where you live, but Team in Training is starting to have informational sessions for the Summer 2008 events.  Team in Training is the main fundraising arm for LLS, and as you raise money you also train of an event where you may Run, Walk, Tri, Cycle and now Hike.  I will be a part of the Team in Training Hike support staff this season as a Team Captain.  If you have ever thought of doing one of these events TnT is something you should consider as it will help you get to that goal.

Over the next few weeks along the Front Range there will be informational sessions, but also at other chapters around the country you will find informational sessions taking place.   Visit Team in Training to see the events in your area and the local chapter to contact for more details.

The end of voting for Thirty Days 2008 is quickly approaching, but you do still have a few days left to vote.  The last day to vote will be on Saturday January 10, 2009.  On January 11th we will select the names of the people who were drawn to win a print of one of the images which will be announced on Monday January 12, 2009 at 12pm MST. 

Initially it was stated that three people would win a print, however due to a great response this number has been raised to five winners.

The process to select the winners will be straight forward.  Each time a vote was placed the entry was assigned an internal number for reference.  Using a random number generator five numbers will be selected and those will be the winners.  If the e-mail notification to a winner bounces, a new number will be randomly selected as a replacement.

The feedback I have received about this project has been great and I thank those who have sent comments via e-mail or the online comment form. Thanks again for voting and there is still time left to get your vote placed.

The linking the site for this week is a blog recently changed up from a past f/22 photographer.  Evan Prince is a photographer from Austin, Texas whose blog provides information about photography events on going on in Austin as well as updates on his work.

Overnight in Denver snow fell leaving a nice winter scene.  Seeing the snow start to fall on Saturday evening, I planned to wake up early to get out to Washington Park prior to sunrise and see how it had been transformed.  It was quiet in the park and as I headed to a tree which I found almost a year ago a slight chill was present but the beauty of the snow covered surroundings quickly made it go away.  I photographed this tree once again from the original position and prior to heading elsewhere in the park I decided to try a different view of the tree from what I had photographed before.

The image below was converted to black and white to help show the mood and feeling on this Sunday morning in the park.

More images from Washington Park may be found in the Denver gallery.

Happy New Year from Denver, Colorado.

Denver, Colorado Skyline