happynewyear – Life, Love & Passion Through the Lens

Can you believe it? 2022 is upon us, where has the year gone? As long as 2020 was, 2021 moved along at warp speed. I had a fairly good year and here is a list of what happened in my 2021.

I became a Nali (grandmother) on January 21 and flew to Arizona to meet him in February (thank you Jimmy & Natashia)
Lost my beloved Harpo (my cat of 12 years)
Adopted not one, but two new kitties. An older female stray I named Shai and a kitten from Ocala, FL who was named Sherman. Shai was 7 according to her past records and Sherman was 10 wks.
Concerts and events started to pick up some
Became the official photographer for US41 Radio and continue to work with my wonderful friend Matt Mangas
After a year I was able to photograph the PBR once again at Hertz Arena
Contracted Covid19 in late July early August, but thankfully for the vaccine, I had a mild case
Planned another trip with my girlfriends in North Carolina
Planned my trip to Arizona for January 2022 for his first birthday
Was able to see my grandson when my son and daughter in law came to Florida for a brief visit
Spent a lovely Christmas with my youngest son Tommy Owen
Won a fishing reel from a local YouTuber Digital Four Ten so I decided to rig myself out with a new pole and some gear and a license; will finish the year fishing the Estero River
I didn’t get to blog much this year, but due to the current world situation, there wasn’t much to post, but I did a little
Looking forward to the blessings of 2022!

Considering the way things are and the closures of 2020, 2021 was great and I’m sure it passed so quickly because of all the things that happened. Here is a short video of what the year has brought me.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Out goes the old year and decade and in comes the new!

I’m not going lament on not posting a blog regularly, because I have let that go, I’m never have felt guilty or that I needed to this past year. 2019 has been an incredible year. My best in a very long time! I want to share with you all the wonderful things I have experienced. So without further ado lets get into it.

What have I been up to this past year? It comes to 91 different photo opportunities for the year which comes to almost 2 events a week. Here is a breakdown of what I have accomplished for this past year.

6 – different elements of commercial type work.
9 – Concerts outside of Hertz Arena (most with the radio stations I provide for).
1 – fun creative project
13 – events outside of concerts and Hertz Arena, again supporting the radio stations.
28 – concerts & events at Hertz Arena
4 – local band shoots
18 – Meetup events with my Shutterbugs group
7 – different places visited
4 – portrait sessions
1 – wedding

This year was also epic because the new owners of Hertz Arena where I am the house photographer decided to use several photos I have taken the past few years of events and concerts. Imagine my surprise when I found out they were museum quality prints in a large format on metal in approximately 38″ x 42″ size. Also, they posted an approximately 50′ collage banner all done in black & white over one of the concession areas.This year was also epic because the new owners of Hertz Arena where I am the house photographer decided to use several photos I have taken the past few years of events and concerts. Imagine my surprise when I found out they were museum quality prints in a large format on metal in approximately 32″ x 48″ size. Also, they posted an approximately 50′ collage banner all done in black & white over one of the concession areas. *Disclaimer: Melvin Vigo took the photos of me in the gallery photos and Ali O’Connor took the banner images; also the hockey images are the work of Kevin Bires.

Another exciting event was Stars on Ice. Last year I took a photo of Olympic Gold Medalist Charlie White during one of his routines with his partner Meryl Davis. This year, I had him sign the photo. Can’t wait to hang this in my new apartment!

Some of my favorite images from this past year are from many different events, concerts and work I have done in 2019.