I had made a series of still life's a year or so ago while thinking about my friend and former prof. Enrico Pinardi. We called him Henry most of the time. He would consider his student his kids. Those of us sorta lost in the art world or at least within the dept, those of us who didn't quite fit, Rico took under his wing. I've had a few very significant moments in my artistic life that really changed or helped define me. One of the most significant was meeting Rico and having time to spend with him as i learned some fundamentals and more importantly how to think my way through the creative process. Rico tried to teach me better technical skills and he did, but my work was never about technique. We would talk about meaning, but most importantly we would talk about emotional response. That right there---how do you move someone with your work. This opened up the art making world to me. Frustrated by the theories and seemingly political nature of the art world, Rico showed me that, or at least confirmed in me, that art is personal, you make work for yourself and if you move others fine, if you move yourself then you will be a success. I made this still life thinking about how Rico's kids gravitated towards him and still gather round him like he is an icon.... and he is! I never really completed this series, I've meant to get back to it to find that image that i ultimately want to make, but as with everything its a work in progress and will always be, perhaps i did make that piece that says what i wanted to, but didn't give it enough time really. I know there is at least more to be done and for that i know, as Rico would say, thats the way it is kid, you always have more to do and more to say, if you don't....you're probably dead!

The featured picture of the day was one of my favorite parts about my photographic life. It generated quite a bit of a following and it was fun and educational for us to put our thoughts down everyday and reflect on our work. It seems it has gotten away from. Harmony had a baby and I have been working between three photo related jobs and simple have not taken the time to keep up on it. We still post pictures daily only now via instagram which is a lot easier to do than maintaing a blog. You can see our work if you get on instagram and look up sayerrich and kodacblue. 
Someday i hope to get back involved with this feature and try to rebuild our audience. I am asked about it fairly often and really wish i had more time and energy for it. 
What sparked this today, well I was thinking about how i take pictures every single day for one reason or another. Sometimes its street photography, sometimes its a client, sometimes its a freelance gig, sometimes its for the newspaper and sometimes its just for fun. I guess photographers are a rare breed in that even when we work as a photographer, we still have it as a hobby as well. 
Making photographs is a joy! Today I worked for the paper and ended up shooting a muddy splash , a roller derby crash and Abe Lincoln, earlier this week I did a freelance gig for a magazine(picture above) I also photographed a senior portrait and a couple baseball games. Its a good life this!