In order to expedite some of these journals, I am going to condense the recaps a bit. writing. I hope to share the same number of images, just less writing…

One more bit of housekeeping. Paid readers, I also want to inform y’all that I will be ending the paid newsletter. The prints you are owed will be delivered, then I will suspend your subscriptions and refund you for anything in the future.

It’s not my preferred choice (I’d love to keep it going), but I am severely letting you all (& myself down) by not being able to provide this on a regular basis.

Okay, onto the images…

San Diego

We started the month with a trip to San Diego — for the funeral of Paloma’s paternal grandmother. If you remember from my Nov/Dec newsletters, we recently lost Paloma’s maternal grandmother too. It’s been a year of funerals for the Gyles family.

We chose to delay this funeral until May, so that the whole family could be together. It was a really, really special time. Sure, we were sad, but we were also grateful and joyous.

Korea

Paloma and I travel with her family every year for a family vacation. This year, we returned to her mother’s birth-country: South Korea. This was the first time my mother-in-law returned to Korea since leaving as a five year-old.

Our time was divided between three places: Seoul (the largest metro area in South Korea), Busan (the second largest metro), and Jeju (an island off the southern end of the Incheon Peninsula). Each of these place was unique and vastly different from the previous.

Our time in Seoul was dominated by cafe stops, exploring diverse neighborhoods, and learning about the history of Korea.

I cannot emphasize how much we loved Seoul. The culture there was one I long for: full of respect, care, and beauty. Paloma, her brother, and myself have all said that we will be back to Seoul for a much longer trip — I fully intend to make that a reality.

Busan was a different animal entirely. Our time in Busan was lovely, but hard to grapple with after we had just left Seoul.

Busan reminded me perfectly of San Diego — a lovely, coastal metropolitan city, but lacking the “cute shops” that make it the next level. Don’t get me wrong, Busan & San Diego are both full of lovely places to eat, shop, & drink. However, they both suffer from a lack of depth. Cities like Seattle, Chicago, and Seoul have them beat.

Next, we flew to Jeju. It, too, was a fantastic, coastal place, but this time, it was chocked full with stunning cafes and shops. Bomuk-Dong is this small volcanic island right off the shore from where we were staying. I walked all along the shore, documenting it over our time there. Here’s those photos and some more from Jeju.

Leaving Jeju, Paloma and I returned to America. It was so hard to say goodbye to Korea. The culture and people are so so lovely. I cannot wait to return.

Seattle

From Korea, Paloma and I had a long layover in Seattle. It was very much needed, considering the twelve hour-long return flight that destroyed us (Paloma literally fell asleep on the table at Denny’s after that flight).

We took some time to recover and some time to explore. The main highlights include the Museum of Flight at the Boeing factory and the Espresso Chalet.

Other Bits & Bobs

The rest of the month was spent in Nashville (for two weddings) and Grand Rapids (for a couple of days). We spent the month in eight (8!) different AirBNBs, leaving only a couple of days left to be in our own home — it was grueling.

Here are some images from the rest of the month.

Conclusion

The busy-ness of May left us simultaneously so so grateful and so so drained (physically and financially haha).

June cooled down considerably, giving us the much-needed time to breathe.

I hope to see you again shortly. Thanks for reading this far!

Peace & blessings.

-C

In April, I’ve found myself photographing where I am, not going out of my way to intentionally create images for long-term projects.

I love shooting photos for larger projects, but there’s seasons with photography and sometimes the season tells me just to photograph where I am at. Unfortunately, it’s felt like that’s been how I’ve been operating for the past five months.

Let’s get into it.

All Around the USA…

April started with Paloma and I driving from Michigan down to Virginia (by way of a sketchy overnight stop in West Virginia). She flew home, while I drove to Richmond, Charlotte, Greenville, and Atlanta, stopping in each location to see friends or family. Eventually, I made my way home by way of Nashville and Indianapolis.

April ended with Paloma and I flying to Nashville for a cousin’s wedding.

I’m currently writing this in Nashville; on my third trip to the city in 32 days.1

Tomorrow, we board a flight to Korea, where we will stay for two weeks. I’m equal parts stressed and excited for this trip. There’s a lot left to happen before we leave, but I am excited to be there with family.

Planes & Airports

I’ve mentioned before that I am an aviation geek. Detroit’s airport is usually home to at least one Delta A350, coming back from Tokyo or Seoul. The way that this giant-of-a-plane sits and welcomes you to terminal is something I’ll never get over. You can see her peeking in the windows in the image below.

A Pink Spring:

A cold snap late into Spring and a few bigger rain storms in April meant that the blossoming trees in Michigan didn’t bloom for that long this year.

Fortunately, the one outside our home bloomed and we were home long enough to enjoy it before the blossoms fell and were replaced by leaves.

Nashville:

Paloma’s cousin got married in Nashville at the end of April. The wedding was beautiful and we moved getting to be with family so much during that trip.

Paloma’s little brother was a ladies’ man during the wedding festivities. He’s on the right of the below image, while the girl he kept trying “to rizz up” walked past elegantly. I like to think this image tells a story of her brushing him off.

For the send-off, the couple stopped right between me and their photographer. I had my shutter speed slow enough that I was able to pick up on the bursts of her flash, silhouetting them perfectly.

The caption of this image says “my first & last time on Broadway” — I don’t care to go back. Bar culture isn’t for me, but we wanted to experience the allure of Broadway at least once.2

Virginia:

We started the month in Lynchburg, celebrating Paloma’s brother’s birthday & Easter. As always, it was a sweet trip to see family and friends — albeit, it was jam packed full of events.

From Lynchburg, I drove to Richmond where I spent some time with some good friends — shoutout Jonah & Brennan!

I rode with them and somehow didn’t get dropped by Jonah while on my gravel bike with gravel tires and a 1x front chainring.3

Here & There:

I couldn’t figure how to package these images together. Here’s a random mashup of images from our time in Michigan this month, along with some bits and bobs of our trips down to Nashville & Virginia.

My $5 Nikon Coolpix from a thrift store has really been a favorite camera to use lately. It’s just so simple and produces shockingly great images.

Things I Loved in April:

1. New music from lots of great artists: Rock Music by charli xcx, The Eldest Daughter (Deluxe) by Gatlin, Middle of Nowhere by Kacey Musgraves, Wor$t Girl in America by Slayyyter, and Look at Miss Ohio by Ken Pomeroy

2. Your Name in Landsat by NASA in a really cool way to see so much of the landscape of the US.

3. The Rose Shave bike — It’s just so good lookin’

Conclusion:

April was a blur, but May was even crazier.

I hope you enjoyed this newsletter and I look forward to see you again soon!

Peace & blessings.

-C

I am beginning to realize that these months after the holidays and before Spring are the hardest for me creatively. The Winter causes us to hunker down quite heavily to let ourselves rest — it’s just human nature that we want to be cozy in the Winter.

Right now, that means staying home, watching Drive to Survive (& Love Is Blind), and hanging out with our close community (thx City Chapel).

Due to the aforementioned winter-hunkering-down (& the fact that I didn’t shoot much in Feb or March), I’m combining the two newsletters.

Paid Subscribers — After soooo many printing & mailing issues (the Grand Rapids postal service returned your prints to me multiple times), your backlog of prints is on the way to you! I apologize for the delay (& included an extra, larger one as compensation).

Old Film:

I sent some rolls of film off to the boys at State Film Lab in early February. I got the scans back last week and I’m quite stoked on how a lot of it came out. It’s always exciting to see film scans come back and I’m really happy with a lot of these frames — for once I don’t feel like crap getting my scans back lol.

Zion National Park:

Mackinac Island:

Michigan in Winter:

The Aurora:

This last frame of the aurora is one of my favorites. I have always wanted to shoot the Northern Lights on film, but I’ve never even seen them before this. Lucky for us, they showed up in Michigan and we were able to go watch them from a local park.

Sadly, I only had Portra 160 on me. This film is a very low ISO, meaning that it doesn’t easily pick up light (something I really need in pitch black).

Somehow, the Lord let my 1.5 minute exposure (thanks to reciprocity) work.

There are quite a few more images that I am stoked for that I got back recently, but I think that it’s best if I just save those for a rainy day.

The Lake:

On Valentine’s Day, Paloma and I had quite a bit of time to kill before our evening plans. We hadn’t been out to Lake Michigan yet this year and Paloma wanted to walk on the shelf ice. We went out to Grand Haven State Park and ventured out on the ice to watch the sunset. It had felt like months without sun, so a nice sunset in a cool location was a real treat.

**Note that the ice was feet thick for most of the bay, with select areas that were sheets/chunks, we didn’t walk out on those parts.

Chicago:

Paloma and I celebrated our anniversary in February. Each year, we try to spend a few days out of town around that day. Unfortunately, our anniversary is in the dead of winter (for the Northern hemisphere lol), so it usually is in a cold location.

This year, we went to Chicago and stayed in the Gold Coast. Once again, we took advantage of the rewards that we get with our Chase Sapphire Reserve card and got reimbursed for $900 worth of things we purchased over the weekend (lodging, meals, & more).1

It was a fun new experience being ~20 floors up over the city. It felt like I was simultaneously the fish in the fishbowl & the person standing outside the bowl tapping on the glass.

The above images are all from a 300 ft. long stretch of the River Walk inside the Chicago Loop. I love Chicago’s architecture (like, ALL of it), but I really love this corner of the river. The Corncob Towers, the Wrigley building, and (unfortunately2) the Trump Tower with the way the sunlight glistens off of it, all fit together so nicely.

Bits & Bobs:

It was hard to want to shoot this month, mainly just due to the weather being bad for most of the month. I stayed in for a lot of the month — which meant more time on the indoor bike trainer. Here are some photos from random spots throughout the month.

Things I’ve Loved in Feb/March:

1. I’ve been following Rob Stephenson’s The Neighborhoods project for a while. It’s a beautiful visual essay of the neighborhoods that comprise NYC.

2. This article is titled “No Parties in the Kingdom” and examines politics as it relates to Christianity. If you feel discouraged by how you’re supposed to mesh your faith with politics, read this.

3. Super niche, but Flint can build webpages in seconds.

4. If you want an old-school airport board for your house, but don’t want to pay $3500, run this and turn any screen into one. Note: requires a teeny bit of editing for you to use, but just use Claude to fix this!

Conclusion:

I’ve written too much and my brain is officially dead.

Thanks for reading this far!

I wish you all a happy and healthy April!

Peace & blessings!

-C

January here in Michigan is when we all do one of two things: 1) hunker down and get through the winter together or 2) if you have the PTO and finances, escape to Florida.

We don’t have those things. We stayed in Michigan.

There was a stretch of ~16 days where we got snow each day. Some days it was 1/4 of an inch, other days it was 12”. Suffice to say, I’ve had to shovel and sweep off our cars a lot this month.

Most of this month was spent hunkered down with friends — a truly lovely communal experience — but I miss travel, warm bike rides, and the ability to wear shoes other than boots.

As always, I am so grateful for the support of you who read my newsletter. If you aren’t subscribed already, you can do so here!

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Okay, thanks for being here! Let’s get into it!

Remnants of California:

I found some images from our trip to San Diego that I hadn’t edited yet. They were from a handful of walks that I went on during our time out there. The people that live out in Southern California — especially those on the coast — have it nice.

The Storm That Never Stopped:

As mentioned in my introduction, we got snow each day for over two weeks. It’s normal here — everyone knows how to deal with it — but it’s discouraging. We’ve had pockets of sun here and there, but largely Western Michigan has been in a blanket of white snow and grey skies.

I took frequent walks during January, photographing the city in these conditions. Here’s a handful of images from those adventures.

Eventually, the grey relented. We’ve had a string of a few days with some nice, warm sun lately. I think we all have been cherishing the warm glow of the sun.

I’ve shot a bit more film this past month than I normally would. I’ve sent off a few rolls of film to my lab (State Film Lab), so I hope to have them back for my next newsletter.

This month, as with most Januarys, was a lull for me with photography. I kinda think that these kind of months are necessary to make months like last one worthwhile. I cannot have months of “success” without months of rest.

Things I Loved in January:

1. Turnstile’s Grammy-winning album, Never Enough, seduces you into thinking you’re going to be listening to some pop-rock. Then, it begins to micro-dose you on metal, eventually turning into a full-on metal album. It’s a masterpiece of music.

2. I’m not shy about the fact that I am a aviation nerd. I recently remembered that my hometown had (& still has) two scrap Boeing 747s sitting around, waiting to be scrapped. There’s not much else in Laurinburg, including any passenger air service, so this is very out of the ordinary. I’m planning to head back and check them out soon!

3. GOREWEAR is closing. I don’t love that at all, they make the best cycling/running clothes for colder temperatures. I have been loving the sale that they’re running, even if it is quite sad that I am able to take advantage of it due to them closing.

4. We digitized some old tapes from Paloma’s childhood recently — and laughed and cried a lot watching them.

Conclusion:

This newsletter was shorter than normal and I’m kinda grateful for that. It’s taken the pressure off of my shoulders from sitting down for most of a day to edit photos and write. I’ll be back to longer, more photo-filled newsletters before you know it.

Until then, I wish you all well.

Peace & blessings.

-C

December was full of three things: snow, family, and flight cancellations.

I loved the month we had. The snow has been magical. Better yet, we were able to spend lots of time with the people we love — both family and close friends.

December took us from coast to coast with a few stops in between.

It was also full of a lot of hard. I won’t get into it, but I’m glad to be on the other side of many things. Despite the hard, I’m very grateful. I was able to create a lot of images that I am proud of during December. Here’s some of them.

**I’d recommend clicking into the following images to see their full detail (many of them are cropped due to the nature of email)

New York:

We traveled to New York for Paloma’s grandmother’s funeral. I wish that we were there on happier terms, but I am so grateful to have been there.

I took a lot of photos at the funeral that I am really proud of; however, due to the sensitive nature of them, I am choosing not to share most them on the internet. Here are the two I will share…

Paloma and I took a few days to go into the city. We were able to spend some time with some close friends in the city we love. These were some restorative during a hard trip (<3 you, Brennan & Jenna).

Vegas and Zion:

Paloma and I took our bi-annual trip to Zion this month. It’s become routine for us to visit Zion on our trips to San Diego. It feels special to have these regular opportunities to visit a place that we feel so connected to.

Due to the flight options from GR to Utah, we had to spend a night in Vegas. There are worse places to spend a night, but not many. We’ve been credit card hackin’ for a while now, but this might be one of the best perks yet — we were able to snag a deal for a bougie hotel, then get upgraded, free meals, and late check-out, all because of the Chase Sapphire Reserve card that we have.

Our first stop in Zion was Kolob Canyons. It was Paloma’s first time there and the sunset really showed off for her.

Our first stop the next day was the main canyon. It’s a favorite place of us both and where I feel most at home.

Taking more and more inspiration from Ben Horne and Andrew Baruffi, I spent a good amount of the time wandering and letting the park speak to me. Here’s a handful of images from the trees, rocks, and landscapes that called out.

Paloma and I ventured deep into Kolob Terrace, a place neither of us had ever been. It was a journey that was well-worth the travel. We will be back.

The following two images are definitely going in my portfolio.

Here’s a smorgasbord of leftover images from our trip.

San Diego:

Our Christmas trip to San Diego was full of lots of wonderful moments with family. Our family members out there are some of our favorite people to be around.

Unfortunately, Paloma’s grandmother was in skilled nursing care for our entire trip. It’s a sad reality that our grandparents are getting toward the end of their life. I took a lot of photos out there, including a lot with Grammy, but due to the private nature of these images, I am not going to be sharing them on the internet.

On a completely different note — Paloma and I have become plane-spotters. The San Diego airport is GOATED for plane-spotting, so we spent a few hours watching planes come in.

I (finally) also got a Polarizing filter. I love the dark blue sky with the intense highlights. I think that this replicates the reality of what is beyond our atmosphere well. This next image is one I’m really stoked on too — it’ll be in my portfolio soon.

Things I Loved This Month:

1. I grew up collecting baseball cards — in fact, I still have my collection of almost 30k cards. I hadn’t purchased cards in almost a decade. Then, I became friends/co-workers with a professional baseball player. His card came out in Topps’ Update Series this year. Paloma and I have been cracking packs since the set dropped to pull his card. We haven’t hit it yet, but we’ve gotten about 500 cards that aren’t him.

2. Old Friend Photobooth in Chinatown, NYC was such a fun experience. Guys, if you’re in NYC, take your girl here.

3. Michigan winters are long and brutal. If you’re a cyclist, they basically prevent riding for months and months. I finally got a trainer (not exactly this model) for indoor riding. It’s been a blasttttt so far.

4. Paloma.

Conclusion:

December held a lot of emotions and a lot of stress. We made it through the month, but I feel weary still. The experiences Paloma and I enjoyed together, alongside the photos I’ve taken, were a sweet reprieve in an otherwise chaotic month.

Be prepared for a much more mellow newsletter in January. I’m just gonna rest haha.

Peace & blessings.

-C

Dang, where the heck am I supposed to start this one. I feel like I shot so much this month and I am really happy with a lot of the images that I made.

As the subtitle of this post suggests, the seasons changed a LOT this month. We had a few days with nice, warm weather. Earlier this week, I shoveled a foot of snow off our walk. Quite the change.

The month was full of a lot, including a few different trips, a concert or two, and lots of time spent outside (even in the snow). Let’s dive in!

One more note, if you’re not subscribed to Between Frames, it’d mean the world if you would. Your support of this newsletter goes a long, long way. <3

The Last Bits of Fall:

The beginning of the month saw the trees full of orange & yellow leaves still. As I mentioned last month, it was quite the sight to see — beautiful, vibrant leaves coating the trees — and eventually, the ground below.

More of Michigan:

The “Gales of November” started hitting around November 10th — on the 50th anniversary of the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald1 — with them came stormy seas on the Great Lakes. One evening, I went out to Lake Michigan to photograph sunset at Big Red, a local lighthouse. I froze my a$$ off with the <25º temperatures and 50+ mph winds making it feel subzero. Here are some of those photos.

We also finally got to see the Northern Lights here and they were very visible with the naked eye. I’m not happy with the images that I got, but we saw the Northern Lights.

Paloma used to work with the mom of the lead singer from the band Almost Monday. Because of this, we’ve been fans for the past few years. They went on tour with the Band Camino in November, so we were able to see them while they were stopping through town. It was a greatttt show. Here’s a few frames I nabbed.

The Snow:

As this section title suggests, we got snow. Today’s the first day it hasn’t snowed in the past seven days. We’re expecting quite the strong winter. Thankfully, Paloma and I don’t mind the snow — it’s a warm (rather, cold) welcome from boring winters in VA.

These four images are some of my favorites from the month. Click into them and check them out more ;)

New England:

I needed to take some time off work in November. Paloma was in London and Paris, so I decided to go to New England and visit a lot of friends!

First, I went up to Concord/Laconia, New Hampshire to visit our friends Caleb & Kayla (love y’all, miss y’all), where I popped over to Maine for a day.2 On my way back from Maine, I stopped in Portsmouth, NH for sunset. That city is really, really beautiful and I’d love to live there. Here’s photos from that first day.

The next day, I spent some more time in Laconia with Caleb & Kayla, then drove down to Boston for dinner with family (thanks Holly & Dwight for a lovely meal — I’m really grateful for our conversation and for reconnecting). After dinner, I made my way down to the Cape.

I’ve spent a good amount of time on the Cape over the past few years and it never fails to stun me with it’s beauty. I was really only there for one day, so I chose to hit all of my favorite spots — in the hope that I will be back very soon for more exploration.

I hate the Days Cottage trope for the photography community, but there’s something so magical about the way the sun beams off the water behind them. I had to go.

My trip down to the Cape was to create some content for Autocamp once again. Autocamp, no matter where I am, always has such a beautiful property. They tuck their properties away in the surrounding nature really well. They always feels like a reprieve from society in the best way possible.

I even messed around at night with some astrophotography, breaking out a tripod and strobe for some creative shots. I don’t love these, but I think they’re fun, unique vignettes of the property — and that’s what matters.

The last bit of my New England trip that I’ll mention was my flight out of Boston on Sunday morning. The gate I flew out of had a great view of flights leaving Boston Logan, so I spent a few minutes photographing planes as they took off.3

Chase’s Favorite Things of the Month:

1. Art Museums — I spent some time at the Detroit Institute of Art and it was very overwhelming with how large it was, but it was also very nice. Go look at some art.

   

2. Bookshop.org — Paloma found these folks this month. They sell books at prices like Amazon, with the stock of Amazon, with the shipping of Amazon, but the profits actually go to local bookstores (we ordered a $30 book and sent $8 of it to our local bookstore).

3. DodekaDigital.com — We finally launched our new site for the company I work at. Fraser Ellard did sooooooo good with the design of it!

4. Bamboo Grand Rapids — GR finally got a cool co-working space. It’s in an old art college, has a movie theater and an art gallery inside it, and has brutalist architecture — all my favs.

Conclusion:

Hope you had a great Thanksgiving and were able to spend it with the ones you love. I also hope that this newsletter inspired you in some way.

I’m quite happy with the images that I created this month — I feel like they were a great warm up for the trips that we have coming up soon.

I’ll see ya next month. Peace & blessings.

-C

Welcome back! It’s only been a few days since the last time that I wrote one of these, but I’ve got some new images for you!

Thank you for your patience with me as I am writing these — it’s been hard to find the time to edit the photos that I am taking. Thankfully, I’ve got some time off coming up that should give me more time to catch up on all of my editing.

As I was editing this month’s images, I found a ton of images from September that somehow missed the newsletter. I’ve included them here as there are lots that I love from that month.

Thanks for reading! Let’s dive in!

Concerts:

September and early October were full of concerts. I’m fairly certain that we went to 4 concerts within 7 days during the end of Sept/early Oct — but the two highlights from that run were Peach Pit and Phabies (as always, love those guys & gals).

I went to the Peach Pit show by myself (a first for me) but it was a great show with some amazing musicians — including the best guitarist I’ve ever seen.

The Stages of Fall:

Autumn appeared to come early this year, but it ended up lasting a while for us here in Michigan. It was still going strong with many of the trees in our area in full color; however, snow yesterday changed that — tons of leaves have now fallen :(

Paloma and I spent a good amount of time on the water still. We’re sort of fine with the cold water1, so we’ve taken a few opportunities to go out to the coast and go for a swim. Even if the water is cold, the sunsets on the Lake have been magical.

Not only has the warm sun been nice, but the beautiful oak trees with their golden leaves have been very beautiful to look at. Colors like this are something that we haven’t really experienced before — the bright yellow is just so stark and a welcome change from the dull-orange leaves of the Northeast.

Thanks to the snow, we’re in the stage of fall where many of the leaves have fallen (arguably the worst part of fall). Grey clouds are rolling in for the winter, but every now and again, we’ll get some pretty sun that lights up the trees.

‘Round Town:

I took a day off from work later in October (to celebrate my birthday). A good part of that day was spent just walking/riding around town and taking photos in places that I’ve wanted to for a long time. Here are some of those images.

Paloma and I have grown fond of going on dates to the local airport viewing park. It’s a grassy hilltop park with tons of seating right next to the airport with wonderful views of the planes as they leave for their destinations.2 We’ll usually grab a bucket of KFC and go sit there and watch the evening flights leave.

Outta Town:

I spent a week of October down South for work. I could have flown, but I really wanted to ride my bike with some friends, so I decided to drive it. I made a few stops along the way, with the main one being a dinner stop in Louisville, KY. Louisville’s one of those cities that doesn’t get the love it deserves. There’s a lot of good people, good food, and beautiful places there.

I had 30 minutes to kill while in Louisville, so I stopped at Andrew Granstaff’s stomping grounds.3 The Falls of the Ohio State Park was beautiful — I understand why he spends so much time there.

My work trip was a retreat to Chattanooga. This trip was the first time I met some of my co-workers in person. We spent a lot of the week planning ahead for the future of the business. It was a great time to connect with the team and I’m really grateful to be there.4 While on the retreat, we hiked Lookout Mountain outside of Chattanooga; here’s some photos from our hike.

These last two photos are some of my favorites from the entire year. They will definitely be going in my portfolio — which I will soon be updating.

Things I Loved This Month:

1. The Chase Sapphire Reserve card rolled out a bunch of new changes this month. For those of you who love to travel, we just got some killer new benefits with the card ($500/yr hotel credit, $300/yr Stubhub credit, etc).

2. I finally listened to Alive from Whispering Pines with Tubbs Tarbell (aka Lord Huron) and it’s the perfect thing to throw on the TV in the background for a cozy evening.

3. Looking past politics, Zohran Mamdani saw everyday New Yorkers and their struggles and was able to win the mayoral race. Even if Zohran is Muslim, I think his actions model the call of Jesus for us Christians. I pray America can look past political titles and see how far we’ve strayed from living in harmony with one another. It’s encouraging, even if his policies may be questionable.

Conclusion:

Thank you so much for getting this far! I hope you were able to feel inspired in some way through the images in this issue!

I’ll be back to you at the end of November with a new round of photos — including some from Cape Cod and snow in Michigan (yay)!

Talk soon! Peace & blessings!

-C

Deepest of apologies for being so late with this newsletter. Life got real busy in late-July and that put me behind enough that I am just writing a recap of August/September (it’s now 10/22).

To my paid subscribers: I’m sorry for the delay in prints. Those are in progress along with an extra print for you!

Okay, onto a little bit of an introduction to this post. August and September each revealed a new layer to Michigan to us. We experienced summer like we never have before. Along with that came the busyness and the rush of summer — travel, adventures, and lots of time outside.

I’ve talked about this before in some previous posts, but I’ve really gotten into cycling this year. Since June 1, I’ve ridden over 1,200 miles. It’s been the first sport that I enjoy participating in and it’s one where I can learn and grow quickly, while getting fitter. It’s a win-win!

Enough about me and my busyness. Onto some images!

**As always, this newsletter is best viewed on Substack — it’s too long for email.

Up North:

Northern Michigan — not the Upper Peninsula, that’s different — is a different kind of place. It’s rural, yet modern. Full of life, but quaint. Coastal, mountainous, and full of fields. It’s confusing how it all co-exists so well.

During the back half of summer, Paloma and I made a handful of trips to towns up there. Some of our favs are Empire, Glen Arbor, & Suttons Bay. You should go there sometime!1

On the Coast:

When we weren’t making trips up North, we’d be running out to the coast near our place. Being a short drive away, it’s easy for us to go stick our toes in some chilly Lake Michigan water whenever we want. There’s a handful of beaches that we’d frequent, but they’re always the same magical tranquility.

These images might make you think that the water was warm. It never is up here. And we like it that way.2

In the Middle:

The two previous sections may make it sound like we spent all of our time outside of our home. While things may have felt like that, it was not the case.

Much of the past few months have been spent at home, but we’ve also taken a few trips to “Central” Michigan. Out here, life is (once again) different. It’s not a city. It’s not mountainous. It doesn’t really have water nearby. It’s just flat farmland…

I’m learning that’s okay.

The above images are from Pleasant Lake — where my dad’s ashes are scattered. Paloma and I have been a few times recently — to sit, to swim, or both. It’s becoming a special place to me, like it was to him.3

Paloma and I went to see Lord Huron on their Cosmic Selector tour in August. It was magic as always.

Lord Huron has always felt like a perfect expression of my vibe and the vibe of the American West. They portray the American West, not in the shiny “cowboy aesthetic” that much of pop culture is shifting towards, but in the vast, ruthless beauty of what it truly is — full of life, but also void of it.

I long to one day live in the rugged valleys of Southwest Utah with this playing softly as I look out on the sunset as it dips behind the mountains.

The above are a few other random images from the month — including a beautiful park in Paris and a kid at the local Greek festival.

Out of Town:

We took a few longer trips during August & September. First was a trip down to Virginia for a close friend’s wedding. Paloma didn’t join me on this one because she had a close friend getting married that same day (albeit in a different state). I flew down to VA and drove back (with the car that we still had there). Here are some images from that trip.

On my way back to Michigan, I took a pit stop at Cuyahoga Valley National Park. It was 6 minutes off my route, so I really had no reason not to stop. It was a beautiful park, but — similar to my thoughts about Venice, Italy — not worth a whole trip.

Also on that journey, I stopped at a retro Burger King and one of the best coffee shops I’ve been to in a while — made even more special by how it was in the middle of a tiny PA town.

Paloma and I had it on our “yearly bucket list” to make a trip to Mackinac Island. Mackinac is special to me — a trip to the island is one of my earliest memories. To get there, you must take a ferry. We got lucky and took one that went under “the Mighty Mac” — the longest suspension bridge in the Western Hemisphere.

Mackinac Island has no vehicles on it. Beyond that, it’s quite old and historic, meaning each building there has a rich history associated to it.4 It’s practically impossible to live there unless you can afford the $1.5M+ price tag for a home, but it’s sure beautiful to visit.

Things I Loved This Month:

Or really over the past few months… sorry that it’s a lot of video content, that’s all I could think of when writing this.

1. Grant Ritchie makes cycling less intimidating and helps me learn so much along the way — check him out.

2. Formula Duck provides great F1 commentary without saying the same exact thing that every other F1 YouTuber does. Good job Duck.

3. If you’re a cyclist (or active in another sport), Wahoo makes some rad computers/watches for keeping up with your data. It’s nothing revolutionary, but it’s sick for nerd like me.

4. The latest series of Taskmaster is out. It’s top tier comedy.

5. The YouTuber, Heliocentric, is an atheist that reviews churches and denominations. Sounds weird, I know. But he really brings a gentle curiosity to religion that I think Jesus would second. Give him a watch (note: includes vulgar language)!

6. Lastly, I’m reading a book — Jesus and John Wayne — by a local Michigan author. It’s an examination of where masculinity was shifted from a healthy, Biblical model to an rugged, nationalistic model.

7. Oh, and I’ve launched a handful of websites during this time. Canvs is a fave. Score Atlanta took a LOT of work to make the backend work. Lastly, Copient.ai is just clean.5

Conclusion:

Thanks for grace as I figure this out. I hope that you enjoyed getting a glimpse of the craziness of life over the past few months.

I’ll be back shortly with a newsletter for October!

Peace & blessings!

-C

Welcome back to Between Frames! Hopefully, you were able to read last month’s newsletter—here it is, if you haven’t read it yet.

Unlike June, July was spent at home. Paloma and I spent lots of time visiting our local coffee shops and beaches, walking, and riding our bikes. Most of the photos you’ll see here are just from around Western Michigan.

Honestly, not shooting any photos was a good break for once. I want photography to continue to be a form of expression and an outlet, rather than an obligation for my career. Taking the month of July to infrequently shoot and simply rest has been a nice break for me.

I’m also curious as to what you 🫵 want from this newsletter. If you have a second, fill out the poll that’s below to let me know!

As a reminder, each month, the paid subscribers to my newsletter receive a print of one image that I really enjoyed taking that month. If you want to receive a print and support my work, then subscribe (or upgrade) below! Note: I am a bit delayed on prints and will be sending them out soon!

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Okay, that’s enough housekeeping for one newsletter. Onto the images!

Michigan Summers:

Since moving to Michigan last winter, everyone has always said that “Michigan summers are unlike anything else.” For a while, Paloma and I called BS on this remark, believing that there couldn’t be anything that different compared to New Jersey or Virginia summers.

We were both right and wrong in our assumption. The temperature and humidity aren’t that different (at least this year—thx global warming), but the access to beaches and water (in so many forms) is really what sets it apart. I want to gate-keep the beauty of Michigan beaches, but I don’t think it’s fair for me to do so. Y’all have to experience them for yourselves.

We spent a good amount of time at the beach in July, soaking in as much sun as we could. Seeing the sun set over the horizon, while not living on the West Coast, is a real treat.1

Meyer May House:

Frank Lloyd Wright, the famous architect, has a strong presence and history in Michigan. He’s designed many homes in the area. Paloma and I finally got to take a tour of one of them — the Meyer May House — in July.

The home was originally constructed in 1909 and underwent a large restoration process in the mid-1980s. Since then, the home has been open for guided tours, allowing you to get a glimpse into the work and theology of Wright.

The exterior of the home followed the Prairie Style that Wright came to be known for. Cantilevered awnings, long bricks, and low-sloped roofs are distinguishing features of this home and many more that Wright designed.

Wright often designed much more than the home itself. He would design much of the furniture, light fixtures, and more to go inside the home too — believing that his vision for the home had to be carried out throughout the entirety of it. It’s an interesting belief that I can completely understand.

As a furniture nerd — this stuff is sick.

Chicago:

One of our close college friends works for a NASCAR team — shoutout Cora & Katherine! NASCAR’s Cup & Xfinity Series were in Chicago in early July. Cora, knowing that we were racing fans, asked if we’d be interested in some pit passes for the race. How can we say no to that?

So, on Sunday, Paloma and I went down for the Cup race and got to be in the pits for it. It was quite the experience and we loved it so much (except for the insane humidity, we can do without that).

Other Things:

I could write more here, but this newsletter is already so overdue that I just want to get it out right now haha. Here are some more images from the ending of July.

Conclusion:

Okay, that’s all for this one. I’m super delayed on these, so I know that I should just start writing the next one.

Talk to you soon!

Peace & blessings.

-C

Hope you enjoyed last month’s newsletter. If you haven’t read it yet, you can find it here. It’s jammed packed.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to write two newsletters this month, so I’m going to try to push things one more month. July wasn’t that eventful, so it’ll be an easier one to write.

Now to June—Paloma and I started the month on vacation with her family in Italy. We were only there for a week; far too short to enjoy all that the region has to offer, but long enough to slow down and rest some.

Just like last month, this newsletter is going to have a lot of images, so I’d recommend reading it on the Substack app.

Italy:

Paloma, her family, and I went to Italy for their annual family vacation. Each year, we choose a new destination to visit—this year it was the Lake Garda region of Italy. Lake Garda is near the Dolomites, in Northeast Italy—the lake was likely carved by the same glaciers as the rest of the Dolomite range.1

We stayed in a quaint little village on the lake shore and spent most of our days driving up and down the coast to visit the towns that dotted the lake’s rim. Many of these towns were full of tourists, but not the traditional “American tourists on their European vacation” that you might expect. Most tourists were German, coming down to Lake Garda. To be honest, it was refreshing to be away from Americans for a while.

Enough possibly-controversial opinions. Onto some images!

Swimming on Lake Garda felt like we were swimming in a crater carved by an asteroid at the top of a mountain—it just had that other-worldly feeling. I miss it.

Most evenings, we’d venture out to a lakeside village for dinner. Each of these villages were beautiful in their own way, always giving us a view of the sunset across the lake. Torri del Benaco was a town that we visited more than once. I spent lots of time in the harbor, photographing people as they lived their quiet lives in rural Italy.

Where we were in Italy was only a 2hr drive from Venice. If we were this close to such a famous city, we might as well go!

TL;DR — Venice is a day trip.

For us, we didn’t feel like the Venice area offered enough for it to be more than a day trip. It’s just various piazzas, canals, and bridges—again and again. It’s all beautiful, but not anything that different from one to another. I fully recommend that everyone go. Just also visit the countryside while you’re there.

After Venice, I spent the next few days hiking in the mountains. Lake Garda is in the basin formed by some “Dolomite-adjacent” mountains. One of those is Monte Baldo, a tall peak that I visited twice on our trip.

Both days, I reached the peak of the mountain and could see the lake (1700 meters in elevation below me) clearly. However, shortly after arriving to the top both days, the clouds took over the peak and visibility was reduced to only a few feet. Here are some images before and after the white out.

That’s the majority of images from the trip. There are a handful of images that I love, but that don’t fit into one of the “buckets” that I featured above. Here they are!

A Quick Note on My Style…

I’ve found that my traditional, true-to-life photography style has been getting a little boring to me as of late. I’ve been inspired by people like Harry Talbot, Ashley Gruber, and Andrew Granstaff2

The way that these photographers will intentionally “break the rules”—crushed blacks, out of focus elements, blown highlights, and askew compositions—allows their images to stand out from those around them.

I’m kinda tired of my style being so simple. I’ll admit that there’s plenty of beauty in making images this way, but I think that I am ready to make images a bit more creatively. Throughout this newsletter, you’ll see a few images that are different than my normal style.

There’s a time for both styles—old and new—and I think that I’m going to let the creative side come out a bit more now.

Chattanooga:

I’ll keep this section short. At the end of June, Paloma and I went down to Chattanooga, TN for a weekend to celebrate our friend’s, Alyssa, birthday! We rented a large cabin with a group of friends and just had a chill weekend full of great meals, good conversation, and a lot of coffee.3

Conclusion:

June took so much out of me. It was non-stop travel, and that wore us out. July was very chill in comparison—a much needed refresh. I’m working on that newsletter now, so I promise that you’ll be able to see some of those photos here soon.

Okay, this newsletter is too long. See ya next time.

Peace & blessings!

-C

I feel like every one of these newsletters is starting to sound the same, “I’m sorry it’s late, we were travelling, I’ll try to be better next time.” Of course that’s still true this time. This time, it was to another level. I was out of town from mid-May until almost mid-June, so I am just now getting around to writing this newsletter. Sorry.

In May alone, I/Paloma & I went to Chicago, Southwest Utah, Denver, and Italy.

It was a lot.

So, here’s a mega collection of May’s images, with a handful of words about trips thrown in there.

This email is better viewed on Substack as it’s LONG.

Chicago:

Paloma and I took a trip to Chicago to visit some friends and to meet my boss in person (the joys of remote work). Oh, and we went to a White Sox game (go Sox)!

Chicago wants to be New York in many ways. A lot of the city feels partially like New York, but it’s also missing that NYC charm and character that I know and love. We enjoyed our time there and are going back this weekend for a NASCAR race of all things, but we do miss a nice Subway system (I <3 U, NQRW line).

As Edward Hopper super-fans, we had to make a trip to see Nighthawks at the Art Institute. It was beautiful. Also, seeing so many of Claude Monet’s, Georgia O’Keeffe’s, and Picasso’s was a dream. If you’re ever in Chicago, the Art Institute is a must.

I will hand it to Chicago—it’s a sick city. It’s got culture and tons of beauty and it’s one of America’s greatest cities for sure. We’ll be back many more times :)

Utah:

If you know me (or seen my leg tattoo), you know how special Zion National Park is to me. Zion is home-away-from-home for me—a place that feels so safe. In May, I took a quick trip out to Zion to spend some time photographing the park in the beginning of summer. I also went out for a shoot for a client: Autocamp.

This trip was fast, full, and also a bit stressful. Not feeling super settled before the trip made the trip not the most enjoyable, but it ended up being a fruitful time. I walked out with a lot of images that I am proud of.

One such image was of a tree that I’ve been wanting to photograph for years now (this one that Ben Horne photographed). I am happy with this photo, but know that it could be better—the conditions were not exactly the best, so we will have to try again one day.

Most of the rest of the trip was spent hiking through slot canyons or along the Virgin River in the main canyon. Here’s some photos that I love from those spots.

This trip also gave me my first experience with “reflected light.” Reflected light like this happens in tall, sandstone canyons, like much of Zion National Park. When the light is not yet touching the canyon floor, but bouncing off the canyon walls, this phenomenon happens.

It usually only happens in small(er), narrow canyons where the light doesn’t have too large of a gap to cross (ruling out most canyons that tourists see in Zion).

The photo below is heavily influenced by reflected light. If you look under the leaves, there is a warm glow that fills the shadows and adds a little pizzazz to the image.

Now, here’s some images from my time at Autocamp :)

Denver:

Paloma and I made our yearly journey to the Rockies — to Denver for Lord Huron’s show at Red Rocks. This year, they played their best album, Strange Trails, from top to bottom and it was simply lovely. Here’s two photos from the show and one more from the flight there.

(The Beginning of) Italy:

From Denver, Paloma and I flew to Italy. It was a grueling day made worse by Lufthansa perpetually teasing us of the flight to Munich that they launched after I booked our tickets. We flew DEN > SEA > LHR > MUC > VRN for all your airport nerds.

We were in the air, on the aforementioned flights, for the last (technically two) day(s) of May. So here’s one photo in the air over the Dolomites and another on the ground at our AirBNB.

Things I loved in May:

1. I bought a bike and I became hooked. Forget running, cycling you’re my new fav.

2. Our friends released a new album. If you like indie music, rock music, chill music, or something in between all of that, then “The Curse of Caring” is for you. Phabies forever <3.

3. If you want new outdoor gear and don’t want to break the bank, try REI re/supply. I bought some Rapha gear there for >50% off.

4. This Geisha from Madcap Coffee is so so tasty. Will at Madcap Fulton pulled a beautiful shot for me today :)

5. If you use Zapier, you should start using Relay instead. Thank me later.

Conclusion:

I’ve barely scratched the surface of editing photos from the past few months. I really need to spend some more time digging into all of the folders and folders of RAWs that I have.

As soon as I hit send on this newsletter, I’m going to write June’s and that one will be just as full, so strap in.

Thanks for the support as always. If you’d love to own one of these photos for yourself, you can sign up for the paid tier of my newsletter and you’ll receive a little print of it!

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Peace & blessings!

-C

Spring has sprung in Michigan’s Lower Peninsula, albeit a few weeks behind when most of the country saw Spring (and it’s still a few weeks until Spring comes to the Upper Peninsula). Walking outside and only needing a light jacket is truly a beautiful experience.

Paloma and I got to travel a lot in the first half of April. It was too much travel though, leading to us need a few weeks at home to rest. These few weeks were a perfect time to be home as Michigan has come alive with beautiful weather almost every day in April.

I’ve been quite busy with work this month, so I haven’t been able to give photo projects the time that they deserve. Hopefully, things will start to chill out soon, so that I can get that long-awaited NYC post finally out.

Sorry that this issue is so late, time has flown by!

Paid subscribers, sorry that your prints haven’t shipped for the past few months. I’ve had issues with the printer that caused some delays. The past few months worth of prints are on their way now!

Florida

If you know me decently well, then you’ve probably heard my disdain for Florida. Nothing against my friends and family that live there, but you don’t necessarily live in “my kinda place.” Every few years, Paloma and I have something that brings us to the Orange State. This time it was because one of Paloma’s childhood friends was getting married.

Reluctantly, I went. However, it ended up being a great time.

We had the best time at the wedding seeing all of our friends (although, for me, it was not in the same capacity or to the same depth as Paloma — childhood friendships that last are special). I took a good amount of photos there and I’m quite pleased with them. I think they are clearly “coastal,” without being too “Florida.”

Michigan

Spring has finally hit (South)West Michigan, with trees in bloom, plenty of Sun, and even more pollen. Paloma and I have been taking advantage of it by going on as many walks as we can. As per tradition, I usually bring a camera on these walks and snap some photos along the way.

This Spring, I’ve been focusing on a few small projects—one intentionally and one unintentionally.

The Pink Tree

There’s this tree near our place that’s beautiful. One of the most stunning trees I’ve ever seen. I started to see it bloom early on and have made it my goal to take as many photos of it as I can as the seasons begin to shift. Here are the photos that I have of it (only from April though, I’m still working on this one):

The Local Concert Scene

We went to more concerts in the past month than we’ve been to in a long time. I think we went to four of them (which may be rookie numbers for some of you—looking at you, Brennan). Most every show that we go to, I bring my camera. It’s just a fun way to document what we do.

They’re not the best concert photos you’ll ever see, but they’re great memories from great shows. Sorry if you don’t like them, I’m the one writing this newsletter haha!

The Grab Bag

The aforementioned projects have been a fun reprieve from aimlessly wandering and shooting, but I’ve still been bringing a camera with me for most things over the past month. Here’s a few random frames that didn’t fit into the rest of the categories. First up, my beautiful wife.

Chicago

Last category: Chicago. I came here (I’m writing this newsletter on another trip to CHI) for a work trip in April and really enjoyed my time here. It’s a city that reminds me a lot of NYC. It lacks the culture and the vibe of New York, but makes up for it with some of the best architecture I’ve ever seen.

The seagull lit up against the dark backdrop of the river makes it one of my favs of the month. Other favs from the month came on the ride into Chicago via Amtrak. I like to think the lady in the window was sitting there just for this photo, it’s so beautiful in it’s anonymity.

Please look at these images on Substack (vs. Email)—they’re much better when large.

Favs of the Month

1. Grand Rapids is a biker-friendly large city—truly one of the only ones in America—so it’s time that I get a new bike. I’ve ordered this guy from a local shop and I’m stoked.

2. For the 1% of you who care about AI automation for cold-outbound and marketing strategies, this company offers a lot of free tools that I love.

3. I want more tattoos. These from Angie Balm are sick.

4. We launched this website last month that’s nice if I do say so myself.

Conclusion

Apologies for the late issue this month. With a lot of travel (including some trips that I cannot wait to share), I’m going to try to be a bit more proactive with these emails, as that’s the only way they’ll get out.

If you’re not subscribed yet, what are you waiting for?

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Enjoy the Spring! Peace & blessings!

-C

Spring is here. Western Michigan breathes again. Winter has been exhausting, mainly because of the lack of sunlight1, but also because Paloma and I haven’t gotten the chance to really leave Grand Rapids for a few months. The itch to travel has been real.

Thankfully, I’m writing this on a plane ride back to Grand Rapids after a long weekend in NYC visiting family and friends. I think Paloma and I are both breathing a little bit deeper again, now that we’ve spent some time away.2

This month’s newsletter contains a lot of photos that I don’t feel like are my best (or my worst). It’s a lot of daily life, trips to the Lake, and a few concerts thrown in there. I hope you enjoy!

The End of Winter:

Winter has *almost* come to an end here in Michigan. The sun is starting to show its face a little bit more, snow isn’t as common, and everyone is a bit happier. Despite all of that, ice still covered the Lake for a while this month. I made a trip out to the lakeshore one night and got lucky with a beautiful sunset.3

Some of my favorite photos of the month are of the lighthouse for a small town nearby, as it was being lit up by the sunset.

I got lucky with having two people sitting on the bench out front of it (a hard-to-access location, so people are rarely seen there).

Last photo from this scene is a detail shot of the ice on the shoreline. Sheets of ice had washed ashore and broken up into these beautiful, large chunks. The ones in this photo are probably eight inches thick and three or four feet wide. They’re massive lol.

In March, the temperature has gotten up to roughly 70ºF (21ºC) a few times. One of these days, Paloma and I went out to a local state park and hiked to the beach. It’s a ~1 mile hike to the beach, meaning that, compared to other beaches, this one is quite secluded. Unfortunately, when we got to the shoreline, the wind was brutal, meaning the 70ºF weather felt more like 50ºF (10ºC). Regardless, it was a beautiful day with some really pretty dunes, largely undisturbed by humans.

For those of you that regularly read my newsletter, I bet you can imagine how much I felt like Ben Horne taking these photos.

Last photos of this section are two frames from random adventures around town, both with really good light, but at completely different times of day.

Concerts:

I used to work and photograph concerts professionally almost every week. Since then, I’ve found it’s much more enjoyable to stand in the crowd, scream my heart out4, and take photos with my little X100F. I don’t have deadlines, rules I have to follow, or extra hearing loss from being so close to the speakers.

This month, I saw two shows. Each show was of my friends’ bands: the Phabies, Vacation Manor, and Rhineland.

• The Phabies are some friends from church here in Michigan and they make some lovely indie-rock/“midwest emo” tunes that are just phenomenal.

• Vacation Manor are friends from our time in Lynchburg. They are more indie-rock mixed with chill tunes. “Damage is Done” is hands down our favorite song, but definitely not representative of their whole discography.

• Rhineland are also friends from Lynchburg and they’re definitely slower indie-rock that’re so nostalgic.

Here’s some photos from those shows:

New York City:

We finally were able to get back to the greatest city on Earth. Things felt right in NYC; I want to be there forever.

I didn’t take tons of photos there and I don’t feel like that they added a lot to the body of work that I have already created in New York. I think they’re weak images, but they’re images of subject matter (neighborhoods: Williamsburg and East Williamsburg) that I haven’t spent much time photographing.

Things I Loved This Month:

1. I’m helping launch a book! Capitalizing on College is written by my friend, Joshua Travis Brown, and is a novella about the future of higher-ed (genuinely a VERY good read).

2. Now that the weather has warmed up, I have been wanting to get into cycling. I’m looking at a Canyon gravel bike, but would love advice!

3. I finally ordered prints from my lab and hot dang, State Film Lab killed it!

4. I launched this website with the agency that I work for. I think our design team did amazing with this redesign!

Conclusion:

Now that I’ve written this email, I think that the work I created is better than I originally thought. I am struggling with the whole challenge of what to do with my work more and more nowadays. Do I share my work here? Make books? Or something else?

I’d love to hear of any particular images that stood out to you this month or any ideas that you may have for things that I can do with the work I create!

Until next month. Peace & blessings.

-C

The last days of February hit hard. I got sick. Then Paloma got sick. Before I knew it, it was today (March 8th) and I hadn’t even started writing Between Frames for February.

In the middle of the month, my friend Robert von Thaden posted a series of photos perfectly depicting Cape Cod in the winter. All of those photos showed beautiful sun over the snow capped peninsula.

Meanwhile, Grand Rapids in February is something else entirely. Less winter wonderland, and more landscape flattened by gray clouds. The photos you’ll see this time around reflect that. A little heavier and a little quieter. Some of that is just the season, but part of it is me. I feel like my style is shifting... toward something simpler, more restrained, and more reflective.

So, here we go. Better late than never, I guess. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

By the Lake:

Earlier last month, Paloma and I celebrated two years of marriage. We booked a last-minute getaway at a cute Airbnb in Muskegon. We spent the weekend binge watching Drive to Survive (to prepare for the new season that dropped yesterday) and exploring Muskegon some more, beyond what we had seen in past visits.

The photo above is one of my favorites from that trip. The way the sun catches the boats, perfectly framed by the broken fence, just feels so right. However, right after taking that shot, I wiped out on some black ice. The asphalt left a deep scar in my hand. It gave me a little keepsake from the photo, I guess.

That afternoon, the whole coast was covered in soft, hazy light, enough to make everything glow. The marina pictured above was one of my all time favorites, there were just so many beautiful scenes to photograph. I’ll certainly be back once the weather gets nicer and some boats get in the water.

Here’s two other frames from our time by Lake Michigan.

Back To Town:

February brought snow—not the 20 inches we were told to expect, but enough to bury the city for a while. I went out and took photos at night a few times over the course of the month, trying my best to show what life looks like here in GR in the winter.

Like I mentioned above, these photos are a bit more depressing than usual. That’s due in part to the environment we were in, but also because I think that’s what’s in me. I’m not depressed, I promise. Maybe it’s because the art I am making is coming from a hole in me, whether from lack of sun, not being near the mountains, or because my dad’s gone.

It’s different art. It’s not the kind of stuff to garner 1000s of likes on Instagram, but that’s okay. It’s what I want to make.

Enough yapping, here are some of those images. I promise they’re better if you click into them and see them full-screen ;)

The snow stuck around for a few weeks before a rainstorm came through and washed it all away. I went back out one night to capture what was left. Here’s are some of those frames:

Okay, a little bit of gear talk…

I am always scouring Facebook Marketplace (sorry, Paloma) for good deals on gear. I saw a 5D Mark III with a handful of lenses on there for a few months, getting cheaper and cheaper with each passing week. Eventually, I reached out to the guy and bought it. My plan is to keep half the gear and sell the other half to cover my expenses for the whole kit.

The 5D3 is my all-time favorite camera. Canon knew what they were doing with that sensor. There hasn’t been a camera like it since. I loved using it, when I was at Liberty University, often choosing it over the much newer R3’s or R6’s. Owning one feels right and I hope to keep it in my rotation as long as possible.

That’s enough gear talk, back to pics of town.

I’m excited to see town come alive in the spring. Until then, I’ll keep documenting what’s around me as I see it.

Things I Loved This Month:

1. Not a February release (oops), but the new Peak Design Roller Pro is SICK. I’d get one if I didn’t already have multiple roller bags (oops, again).

2. Really cool piece of history to learn about Zion. The true name of the canyon is “Mau-o-weap,” but we changed it like everything else that explorers took from Native Americans.1

3. Franconia Ridge is a super sick hike that looks like something from the West Coast, but it’s in New Hampshire (whoa).

4. Imogene + Willie … why am I just now learning about them?

5. I haven’t loved seeing the US government crumble in front of our eyes, but I love seeing NPS employees standing up for the lands that mean so much to me. Trump’s executive orders are death sentences for the acres and acres of land that have meant so much to me, but I’m grateful for people fighting for them.2

Conclusion:

Life here in Michigan has been sweet. We’ve met lots of amazing people and have been able to explore a part of the country that we aren’t acquainted with. The snow, rain, and sun-less days haven’t been the easiest, but the coming warmer weather is going to make it all worthwhile.

This month, Paloma and I are going to get out of town some. Western Michigan is nice, but we miss traveling. The next few versions of Between Frames will be a lot more interesting, I promise ;)

Before I go, thanks for making it this far! Your comments, texts, and email replies are always encouraging. If you’re not subscribed and want to stay up to date with what I’m doing, subscribe using this link!

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Peace & blessings!

-C

Now that we live in Michigan, we are beginning to experience a different kind of weather than what we’ve ever previously experienced. It’s been a really nice change for both Paloma and myself. We’ve had to learn how to live differently, changing the way that we exist in and explore what’s outside of our home.

Considering days are 20º F (or -7º C) on average, we’re spending a lot more time inside. However, it’s been a fun challenge to learn the ways in which we can exist outdoors despite the cold. Getting our daily intake of Vitamin D sometimes is easy (taking a pill) and other times much harder (going on a walk to a local coffee shop).

Changing subjects… I apologize that this issue is a bit later than usual, the end of January/the beginning of February has been quite busy. Hopefully, I’ll be back on a normal rhythm soon where I can get that NYC issue finally out into the world.

One last thing, since my last issue, there have been over 30 new subscribers. Each time I get a notification of a new subscriber, it genuinely blows me away. Thank you to each of you that subscribe. If you don’t, feel free to hit the button below!

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Okay, onto the fun stuff!

*Also, this newsletter might exceed the max email link. I highly encourage reading it on Substack.

The Frozen Lake:

Lake Michigan, the lake that we live near and the fifth largest lake in the world, (partially) freezes over each winter. Thankfully, we live near the part of the lake that (regularly) freezes the most. Seeing, much less photographing, the “chunky ice,” the balls of ice, or the sheets of ice has been really fun new experience.

We’ve been to a handful of coastal towns over the past month, exploring the towns and the lakeshores in each of these towns. Here are some photos, broken up by town.

Grand Haven:

Grand Haven is one of the towns that sits on both Lake Michigan and it’s own smaller lake (kinda like a bay). The mouth of the “bay” is quite narrow and attempts to freeze up during the winter. Sometimes it freezes fully and other times it makes what Paloma likes to call “chunky ice.”

The “chunky ice” reminds me of some of Ben Horne’s images, namely: Interconnected, Sun Cups, or City Lights.1 I tried to do the scene justice with the images I took of it. Here’s one… In the moment, I chose to shoot this shallow to hopefully add some nice fall-off to the ice at the back. Maybe that was the wrong call in the end; however, I’m still quite pleased with it.

That day, the dunes were covered in a fresh layer of snow, providing some beautiful contrast between the crisp white snow, the dead (?) sea grass, and the pastel colors in the sky.

Saugatuck:

Saugatuck’s where I first really saw the Lake frozen, frozen. Paloma and I took her parents out to Saugatuck to see the town, where we eventually ended up at the beach. My mother-in-law (she’s an adventurous queen) and I walked out on the frozen lake because why not ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

Quite possibly the most interesting thing here was how the wind turned some sand berms (that are normally deep underwater) into snow and ice berms. Don’t ask me the science of how this happens, I just have to admit that it’s super rad.

Here are some images from the frozen dunes and berms of Saugatuck:

Holland, MI:

Similar to Grand Haven, Holland sits on a “bay.” Unlike Grand Haven, Holland’s connecting channel between the Lake and the “bay” froze over fully this year. Before the ice thawed, I wanted to head out to see it for sunrise one morning. Thankfully, I chose a day that ended up having a sunrise (an irregularity for us in Western Michigan during this time of year).2

I spent a lot more time dialing in my compositions when I was in Holland. I wanted the images to be fully thought through rather than halfway done. I know I can create good stuff, I just need to take the time to think it all through.3

First, I spent some time photographing “Big Red,” the lighthouse in Holland…

Then, I made my way out onto the “water” where I photographed the frozen channel, the Lake (frozen as far as I could see), and the strange ice formations.4

Winter in Western Michigan:

I spent most of my time photographing the Lake in January.5 The time not spent photographing the Lake consisted of work, re-watching all of Drive to Survive to prepare for the new season, exploring MI with Paloma, and photographing life.

January was a mix of beautiful sunny days and brutally cold winter days (reaching -10º F a few times). Some days, the sun would stream in through our dining room window and bring life to our house. Other days, clouds would fill the sky, choosing whether they wanted to dump more snow on us or darken the mood and our spirits. Here are some of my favorite images from the rest of the month:

The above image is one of my favorites, not only from this month, but also from the past few months. It’s got solid composition, a defined subject, and interesting scenery (the falling snow and ancient power lines).

The laundromat pictured above is one that we pass frequently. It’s a bit older and in a less-than-ideal part of town; however, the light that it casts onto the white snow has always mesmerized me. One night, on our way to Whole Foods, I stopped here and spent some time photographing the light that it produced.

Things I Loved This Month:

1. Michigan reversed their stance on Kei trucks, so I guess it’s time to get one.

2. Lord Huron is going on tour and we’re going!

3. My friend, Cole, makes some really cool art.

4. Charli didn’t win AOTY (a true crime), but she won three Grammys.

5. Josh Allen won MVP. He’s genuinely the best guy (watch the end of this).

Conclusion:

Okay, I can’t write too much more without it going over the max email length. Thank you for getting this far. I’m genuinely so sorry that this newsletter is over a week late!

If you haven’t subscribed yet and would love to see more of my work, check out this post or subscribe with the link below!

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Peace & blessings. -C

First things first, welcome to Between Frames! In the past month, I’ve had a 55% increase in subscribers. WOW! Thanks for subscribing, it means the world to me!

Each year, I comb through all of my photo galleries and compile one big contact sheet full of my favorite images of the year. I think it’s a fun practice that allows me to examine and healthily critique my work from the year.

Slowly, patterns begin to emerge from the sea of images. I’ll see colors that I tended to edit toward, compositions that look alike, and scenes that repeat themselves.

This year, I started with roughly 22,000 images that I took and edited. I narrowed that down to 720 images. Then I culled down again and again, with the first round taking me to 171. After seven more rounds, I ended with 13 selects.

The 13 images I ended on are mostly ones that I’ve shared before. They’re the ones that I wanted everyone to see. This process revealed that I (originally) chose a lot of my favorite images because of what I knew people liked. After this less-than-fun realization, I went back and changed my selects to include images that had more power beyond the fact that they were “crowd pleasers.”

Here’s some of my favorite images from 2024 (with a few words here and there).

A Few Quick Notes!

1. I’ve compiled the 171 images from my first round of culling in a Google Drive gallery that you can view here.

2. I’d recommend viewing this on Substack where you can click into the “sub-galleries” and see images larger, plus this newsletter gets cut off on email.

Some images I took in 2024

Zion will always be a second home to me, especially in the winter. There’s nothing like the peace you experience standing next to the Virgin River with no one around you. A short drive away, you’ll find Autocamp Zion, a modern slice of heaven in the high desert of Utah. We’ll be back to Zion & Autocamp soon (there’s something real special in the works that I can’t wait to share).

Remember how I was a full-time photographer within the past year? I barely do lol.

I miss it sometimes, especially when it came to making images like these, but it also burned me out. It took more creativity out of me than could be replenished.

In culling my favorite images, I realized that the collection of images that I have from walks in our LYH neighborhood is quite massive. Massive to the point that I can (& probably will) compile a book of these images.1

Also, in culling through my LYH images, I realized that patterns kept repeating themselves in my galleries.

I talked to a friend a few months ago about this. He referenced Joel Meyerowitz’ famous book, Cape Light, and how many of the photos are of the same few scenes. By photographing the same thing again and again, with varying light, composition, and tones, Meyerowitz told a really compelling story. As I start to focus on long(er) term projects, I want to be mindful to not pass over an image because “I already have one like it.”

Speaking of long term projects, I also spent some time documenting my hometown/home county of Scotland County, NC this year. These first two images are from that trip…

Despite it being the most exhausted I’ve ever been2, Commencement was a weekend full of so so much joy and excitement. It was the end of an era for me, plus I feel like I made some really special images. Here are some more images.

Over our last few days in Lynchburg, I took portraits of all of my/our friends. I ended up with ~85 people that I was able to photograph, but here’s a little sample of some of my favorite images from this project. To all our LYH friends, we love and miss you! Thank you for all you’ve done for us in 2024, 2023, and all the years prior.

I could fill this entire newsletter with photos from France. I’ve actually done that once before. To prevent too much repetition, I’ve attempted to only include the new photos.

Speaking of newsletters about one particular geographical area, I’m working on a special version about our six month stint of living in NJ/NYC. I know I’ve mentioned this before, but it’s getting closer to being done. Go ahead and subscribe now so that you can make sure you receive it once I finish it!

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Segueing off of that, here are a few frames from that stint of living in the Northeast.

In late-July & early-August, we spent back-to-back weekends in Ocean City, NJ and Cape Cod, two popular Northeastern beach towns/areas. Both trips were to visit friends and both trips featured some really really nice weather, including some beautiful sunrises & sunsets.

These frames from OCNJ were some of my favorites of the trip. Throughout the entire time we were there, I felt like my compositions were slowly becoming more and more dialed in, from focusing on specific details to leading the viewer’s eye with parts of the scene. It definitely was a good “warm up” for the following weekend on the Cape.

I’ll never get over the color of the sea grass as it’s bathed in warm light. These three images feel like a warm breeze over your skin as the sun is setting off on the horizon.

I’ve photographed Cape Cod a decent amount now, often re-visiting the places that I’ve been to before, continuing the process of documenting the passage of time, like I referenced earlier. In that, I created these images…

I really feel like I created some of my best work of the year over these two weekends. It’s the work that I felt most creative when producing. It also happened to be some of the most meditative photography outings that I’ve been on this year. It was just my camera and me, and that felt so so right.

Okay, that’s genuinely all of the “larger batches” of images from the year. I’ll finish up with some loose images that were favorites, but without a larger trip/story that they were a part of.

Conclusion

That’s all, folks. Thank you for making it this far and for being a supporter of the work that I make. I am genuinely inspired by you choosing to subscribe to see my art. Thank you!

I’ll see you in the next one! Peace & blessings!

-C

*As a reminder, you can see many more of my favorite images in this Google Drive gallery.

Not only did I get sick once during the month of December… I got sick twice. Each putting me out of action for almost a week. I’m grateful that this month is over, hoping that all of the sickness is behind me now, allowing us to move into the new year with fresh minds and bodies.

December had good parts in it, but the sicknesses prevented Paloma & I from seeing some of our friends or doing the things we had planned, both big bummers.

Housekeeping:

Over the past month, there have been eighteen new subscribers to this newsletter (WHOA, thank you)! I’m blown away by the support!

If any of you would be interested in supporting me further, I have a paid tier of the newsletter that gets you a small print of one photo I took that month. The cost of the paid tier exclusively covers the cost to produce and mail the print each month (& pay credit card processing fees, ew). Genuinely, no pressure, but your continued support means the world <3

Subscribe or Upgrade Here!

Okay, enough housekeeping and bad news, let’s get onto the photos.

NYC…

I know that last month I promised I would be sending out a mid-month “special NYC newsletter.” Well, due to the aforementioned changes in our plans, I haven’t finished that one.

Instead, of a full newsletter, here are some frames from the start of the month when we spent a day in the city after Thanksgiving in NJ. The city was cold & jam-packed full of tourists there to see the city all decked out for the holidays. Our day started in the Upper West for church, but then brought us toward Midtown/Midtown-East to check a few things off our list that day.

Here’s those images…

I don’t feel like my NYC work this trip really added much to my body of NYC work; however, it didn’t really have to. We weren’t there for photos, we were there for church, friends, & Culture Espresso (lol)1

Sometimes being a photographer means that it’s time to lay down the camera in favor of living the life around you. Yeah, I can take photos here and there, but life isn’t all about photos. The sooner I can separate my identity from my photography, the better off I’ll be.

There’s this fine line between making your entire existence about the fact that “you’re a photographer” and letting the art flow from deep down inside ya2. When you can let your soul create art, through your eyes and hands, it’s a beautiful spot to be. At the same time, this flow can come without letting everything in your life be “because you’re a photographer.” We’re all humans after all, it’s time to start living like that’s our reality and identity. Okay, enough psychology & philosophy for one day.

Real snow

Yeah, this headline is a direct target at our time in Lynchburg…

Spending the past 6+ years of our lives in LYH, we never really saw snow. Occasionally, we’d get greater than 1” of snow, which would stick for longer than a few hours. But, I can count the number of times that happened on one hand.

Moving to Western Michigan has been completely different on this front. We’ve gotten 4”+ of snow a handful of times in the past month alone. Naturally, I’ve gone out and tried to photograph it some. By no means am I really that happy with the work I’ve created, but I have plenty more winter to photograph the snow (we’re not even to the strongest part of winter yet, ouch).

Here are some favorite frames from within a close radius of my home. I’m really looking forward to venturing out into the country soon to document more of the winter season. Hopefully, you’ll see more of those in the coming months.

Home & Around the Lake

Paloma and I are spending a lot of our time out by the lake, aka: Lake Michigan. Most of the time we are antiquing (lol), but the rest of it is spent exploring all of the cute coastal towns that dot the shoreline. It’s far too cold to do anything in/near the water right now (evidenced in the frozen water below), that will have to wait until the cold subsides.

The boating community around the lake fascinates me. At this current moment, all of the sailboats, motorboats, and yachts are pulled in and sealed up for the winter. In a few months, these many-ton behemoths will be back in the water. It’s so interesting that people willingly keep their boats in a place that’s so harsh to them, allowing them to be enjoyed for only a small portion of the year. Anyways, I really want to work on documenting this part of life more, it’s something integral to the area that we live in, that I feel needs to see the light of day.

Lastly, I’m including a few frames from our life at/around our home over the past month. Our house is starting to feel like home, finally. I could write more about this, but there’s no need to explain more. Please enjoy these photos.

Okay, that’s all the photos for the month! I’m working on a few special newsletters, so I hope that they’ll come out this month for y’all to read :)

Things I liked in December…

1. Lord Huron 101 - Every song you need to know from them, in one playlist.

2. Alexis Dahl - She’s a YouTuber based in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, who specializes is really informative science & history videos about the area. HIGHLY recommend.

3. Slackmojis - If you use Slack for work, add some of these.

4. Poet Priest Vol. 3 - Andy Squyres is a “theologian” that I actually feel like I can relate to, who’s writings feel akin to the thoughts in my mind. This volume of his writing is one I have yet to purchase, but one I have high on my list.

5. The Lectio Bible - It’s not just “another Bible,” but one that was translated/arranged how the original manuscripts were. I too don’t own this, but want it!

6. Aerochrome… in 2025

Paloma and I spent most of the month of November packing up all our belongings and then unloading them again a few days later. We finally moved into our new place on November 10th, after six months (almost to the day) on the road & in between homes. We’re incredibly grateful for our new apartment. It’s incredibly cozy, in the cutest neighborhood, and perfect for the life that we are wanting in Grand Rapids.

Despite the fact that we are no longer NJ/NY residents, Paloma and I are in Manhattan today, sitting at Culture Espresso as I write this. It’s my usual spot (to quote the title of one of my friend’s Substacks, which I highly recommend). Throughout the course of the twelve issues of Between Frames that I have written, probably seven or eight of them have been written from this bench in Culture.

Our lives don’t feel completely settled right now, but I hope that once the holidays (& all our travels) are over, things will settle down some. In this vein, I didn’t get the opportunity to shoot as many photos this month as I hoped to. Regardless, here are some of my favorites.

One piece of housekeeping: If you aren’t already a paid subscriber, please consider doing so! You can even gift subscriptions to people you think would enjoy them! Each month, my paid subscribers get a print of one of my favorite frames of the month as a little thank you!

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*Side note: We’re on track to pass 100 subscribers this month. It’s wild to me that 100 friends & strangers have decided to follow along to the story of my life between shutter presses. Thank you! 🥳🥹

Lynchburg, VA:

Paloma and I made the trek down to Lynchburg a few days before our trip with my mom for one main reason: the Vacation Manor boys were playing a hometown show. I’ve never been able to see VM play live, so this was really sweet to see, especially with so many of our friends being in the band/good friends of the band. Our friends Nolen, Joseph, & Troy opened for VM and it was just one huge homecoming party. Here’s a frame or two:

Paloma and I had to make our way up to the Blue Ridge Parkway while we were in LYH, especially with some leaves left on the trees in the mountains.

The beginning of this month was spent with my mom in Leatherwood Mountains (a true slice of Heaven). We got there right at the end of the fall season with many of the leaves still on the trees. The Lord really blessed us with the ability to “see Fall happen” a handful of times in different states (Michigan, Colorado, New Jersey, Virginia, and now North Carolina).

Ferguson, NC:

In Leatherwood, we didn’t do much besides resting and going on little walks through the woods. It was great that way and we left feeling restored as we had a long move to Michigan ahead of us. Before we get to that, here are some images from our time in Leatherwood:

You’ll see that I photographed the exact same view a number of times, each one in a different way though because of the ever-changing light on the golden trees. The one above is a favorite of mine because of the way that the hills in the background turned purple during blue hour one day. The frame below is another favorite because of the haze over the valley that was illuminated during golden hour one afternoon.

The next photo is one that I am immensely proud of. It’s the Milky Way Galaxy photographed from our back porch. Leatherwood, by being deep in the Appalachian Mountains, gives you the chance to see more stars than you can count. The lack of light pollution gives you the chance to see the Milky Way with your own eyes. Throw a camera on a tripod and open up the shutter for a few seconds and you get this. My favorite part of this image has to be the slight glow behind the trees; it helps accentuate the trees so so nicely.

The last frame from Leatherwood I’ll share is one from our way back to Virginia. In order to do all that we had to before our big move the next day, we left Leatherwood shortly after dawn. On our way out, the sun had just crested the mountains and was lighting the fog up in the valleys below. I pulled off near a cow pasture to grab this photo:

Grand Rapids, MI:

We’ve been in Grand Rapids for about two and a half weeks now. I haven’t shot much, especially now that it’s winter there (it’s already snowed 6”, with another 6” coming this week). The weather has been so gloomy with almost non-stop clouds, but there have been a few moments of sun.

To be honest though, I don’t care that I haven’t shot much. Things come and go in seasons. If I have to shoot “x amount” in order to create content for XYZ thing, then I am not making art for the right reason. This newsletter is meant to be a place to freely release the art that I do make, while also holding onto some of it for myself. The world doesn’t need to see everything that I make and I actually prefer it that way.

Each photo is a piece of me and not everyone deserves to see that.

With that out of the way, here are a few frames from our first weeks in GR.

Conclusion:

That’s all for this month. Truthfully, November came and went in a heartbeat. I miss the longer days, the autumn leaves, and weather that isn’t so frigid, but I’m grateful for this new season that we have entered into. Life looks a lot different, but that doesn’t mean it’s bad. Instead, it’s simply lovely.

Things from November that I love...

1. Paloma Gyles.

2. This Lord Huron bolo tie. You had best believe that I purchased it ASAP and now it’s on it’s way to me.

3. We live super to this coffee shop and it’s a new fav. Just look at it.

4. Statistics, particularly F1 statistics. Oh, yeah, that reminds me. A new Ferrari Delusion Syndrome is dropping soon.

5. This “pin keeper flag” from Oxford Pennant is super fun for the person that likes to collect pins (Paloma and I do, so I am very interested).

6. A super rad BFCM deal from Autocamp. We love their Yose and Zion properties, so we are eyeing making another trip soon.

7. A fun way to try new coffees! Madcap’s tasting set of their 2024 roasts will be something I get soon!

8. The Void. Only for those wanting to follow strange trails.

9. Josh Allen.

This month featured three trips to other states (going back to NJ/NY in between each of them), birthdays for Paloma & myself, and a handful of friends visiting us in NY1. It was a lot.

First, Paloma and I visited Grand Rapids, MI (more on this later). Then, I went to Denver with some friends for a Goth Babe (he’s not goth, nor a girl, he’s indie & he’s amazing) concert. Finally, Paloma & I joined her parents for a trip out to visit Paloma’s paternal grandparents in San Diego.

Looking back on my images this month, I’m not the most proud of them, but 1) I’ve only touched the surface on editing them (I edited them today for this newsletter) and 2) I think that they serve their purpose well.

Enjoy!

Grand Rapids, MI

Paloma and I went to Grand Rapids (hereon out referred to as GR) because………..… we are moving there.

Paloma was laid off from her job in early September, and, by the grace of God, was able to secure & start a new job within a month (and a few days) of losing her old one. She is the Marketing Project Manager for CURE International, a non-profit specializing in surgeries for children in Africa & Asia born with genetic defects (bowed legs, clubbed feet, etc).

Paloma was flown out to GR for a final interview by CURE. We decided that it’d work best if I joined her on the trip in case we decided to move there. Surprise, we decided to do so and we moved there this past Sunday.

While we were there, we wandered a lot, exploring as much of the city as we could. Inevitably, I took tons of photos as we wandered. Here are two of them (I don’t have room for any more, sadly):

Fall wasn’t really “Fall-ing” in Grand Rapids. Some small trees had turned and it was beautiful to see with the late afternoon golden light beaming through on the golden leaves. Don’t worry, beautiful fall colors are coming soon :)

Denver, CO

Shortly after our trip to GR, I hopped on another plane. As I mentioned above, it was to Denver this time to see Goth Babe with my friend, Brennan. Somehow, life keeps pulling Brennan and I back together, no matter how far apart we live from one another. That’s something I hope never changes.

Despite neither of us living in Denver, we made our way there to see the show at my all-time favorite venue, Red Rocks.

Throughout our entire time in Denver, we seemed to have perfect light. Although the trees had changed and mostly fallen the week prior, there were still plenty of stragglers that held onto their leaves (you’ll see that this is a theme that continues).

The aspen trees in Denver (& all of CO and WY really) fell mostly the week before we arrived (major sad), but we still saw plenty of beautiful trees, including these as we hiked the Flatirons (10/10 hike! Go do it!):

*Side note: sorry the crop on these isn’t great. I had to split screen them (and thus make them 1:1) to save space :(

We grabbed coffee one day in Boulder at Alpine Modern (genuinely one of the best in the Denver metro). Next to it was beautiful cemetery with aspens full of leaves still. So, continuing my father’s legacy, I went and photographed it. Here’s a frame.

The last part of Denver that I want to highlight was the drive we took from Boulder to Morrison via Golden, CO. That night, Golden was golden. The sunset over the range was stunning, casting this beautiful golden haze (special thanks to the local wildfires) over the farmland.

San Diego, CA

Shortly after my Denver trip, Paloma, her family, and myself hopped on a plane to San Diego to visit Paloma’s paternal grandparents. Not 30 minutes after we arrived to SD, Paloma’s grandmother fell and broke her hip. The rest of our time in SD was spent bouncing between the hospital and Paloma’s grandparents’ home (visiting her grandfather). It wasn’t the trip we wanted, but we are so so grateful that we could be there to be support during a hard time like that.

We did sneak out twice to a place called “Sunset Cliffs” (you’ll see why in a minute) to watch the sunset. Us East Coast-ers don’t get to watch the sun dip below the horizon much, so we had to take the opportunity when we could.

I took a few photos of Paloma while we were there too. Here’s one of my favs from late:

Lastly, I added a few more photos to the project that I am working on for Paloma’s grandparents. I documented their new home some, even if it’s almost a one-to-one recreation of their old place. This project definitely has gained some ground, but the setback of Grammy breaking her hip didn’t help it progress far.

The In-Between

In between my visits to the various NYC airports for these trips, I would find myself documenting my autumn in New Jersey. Our last few days in NJ were spent hiking, exploring, and enjoying the changing leaves. Paloma’s family lives in the mountains of NJ, so our backyard was ablaze with orange trees shooting up the mountainside. Here’s a few photos from a hike I did my last week there.

This last frame is one of my favorites from the entire year. My paid subscribers will receive it as a print this month (sorry it’s so delayed, moving messed it all up haha).

Fall in Northern New Jersey feels like fall in Virginia, but crisper, almost like a fresh apple that you pick off the tree in your local apple orchard. It’s orange, almost like the color of the pumpkins you carve. It’s peaceful and slow, far different from the fast that you’ll find in the center of an island, named Manhattan, off of it’s shore.

Things I loved this month:

1. Making a home in Grand Rapids means finding new coffee shops. Please come visit so I can show you these two: Madcap and The Bradbury

2. Nuclear Fusion. At home.

3. I read this article about the stock market after a new president is elected and it made me realize that the markets will always do what they want. Presidents (& their economic plans) can’t really affect things that much. If you want to discuss this further, I’d love to chat!

4. Come see Lord Huron in May with us! We got even better tickets again this year.

5. I got a new tattoo. Maya is awesome and her work is stunning. Go get one!

As this heading suggests, September wasn’t a favorite month of mine. The struggles of live & grief were weighing me down. Picking up my camera and shooting usually would help, but this time it didn’t, so I only shot a little bit.

Paloma lost her job this month. OM laid off ~25% of their staff. This new reality compounded with the grief that’s still present from my dad’s death made September a long one.

Despite all of that, there’s been some beauty to September, particularly the changing weather. It’s a very welcome change.

Okay, now that all of the bad is out of the way 😅, let’s get into this month’s newsletter.

More New York. Lots more.

Paloma and I spent the beginning of this month all over NYC. We took our friends into the city (they were in town to go to NYC) and we let them loose in the Big Apple. From there, Paloma and I had a lot of time to kill. So we wandered. And wandered. And wandered. Maybe a bit too much for Paloma, oops!

As I’ve mentioned over the past few months, the images I find myself making in New York keep feeling more and more “whole.” These images keep feeling like they contain the essence of New York.

Here’s a small handful of the images that I made this month in New York. I know that I shared two of these last month. I shot them on the 31st of August, so I’m letting them slide for now 🫣

New York is New York because of the deep human experience that happens on those streets. The collection of buildings is nothing special. Dozens of cities all around the world have infrastructure like New York.

What sets NYC apart from places like LA (a place with some of the same infrastructure) is 1) the people and 2) what it takes to live here. There’s so much hope and possibility here, yet there’s also so much pain around the next corner. New York is the bonding agent for humans of all walks.

This last frame is my favorite from the month. It’s also the print I am sending out this month. The empty ferry cabin, composed through a variety of leading lines makes this frame feel reminiscent of a Jason Kummerfeldt composition.

If you haven’t subscribed to the paid level of this newsletter, here’s my shameless plug for that level. You’ll get this print in early October and one each month after that. All for the price of a coffee each month.

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Rural North Carolina

I grew up visiting small churches every Saturday, walking around their cemeteries, documenting the names of the people buried there. More often than not, this would turn into a journey deep into the woods behind a church, trying to find someone who was buried a few centuries prior.

It was a project that my dad started for his library. I guess it stuck with me, albeit in a new form.

When Paloma and I were in NC this past month, we stopped in my old hometown on our way to Wilmington. In both Laurinburg & Wilmington, plus on our roadtrip back, I found a few little churches similar to the ones I’d visit each Saturday growing up. Here’s a few of them…

My camera roll from this trip may include an irregular proportion of churches & cemeteries, but sprinkled in there are a few images like the following: small scenes in rural America that tell of a different way of life.

The Rest

Early in the month, we played mini golf on this super rad course on a huge lake in Northern NJ. It was genuinely the best mini golf experience of my life. Here’s a set of three photos from our time there.

We also spent a little bit of time visiting my mom in Lynchburg (hi mom 👋). While we were there, I pulled my camera out once or twice and grabbed a few frames. Here’s one from a little adventure up onto the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Final Thoughts

I am feeling myself come out of my creative slump as I write this. It’s quite possibly due to the changing leaves all around me. This month, I’ve got at least three sets of flights across the country (Michigan, Denver, and San Diego), so I’ll have plenty of fun chances for documenting fall across the country.

One final thing. I started another Substack. It’s about Formula One, featuring tons of science and data. You can subscribe (for free) to it here:

F1 Newsletter: Ferrari Delusion Syndrome

*Warning: I yap a LOT in this newsletter. It’s extensive and funny, hopefully.

Things that have inspired me or that I like (more official name still TBD):

1. Here’s a preset that ChatGPT made for me. My friend & I wanted something to mimic VSCO’s A6 look. So I asked ChatGPT and got this. Download the .XMP, compress it, and install it into Lightroom or ACR!

2. If you do marketing of any sort, these two AI tools are game-changing. Surfer for SEO and Relume for quick website wireframes.

3. The Buffalo Bills are on a roll this year (TBD about week 4, I’m writing this on 9/27). Either way, I’ve been remote editing photos for them some. Here’s a batch.

4. I’ve been eyeing these pants for a long while. If you’re a Gen-Z-er living in Bushwick, they might be your next buy.

5. This camera might be my last camera ever. I’ll sell a kidney for it.