The Devil's Nose - Ecuador

The main reason for making the long trek to Alausi was to ride the rails on a scenic train ride through the mountains.  The train trip is called Nariz del Diablo (the Devil's Nose).  It was a wonderful and exciting 2.5 hour trip in a old wooden train through the lush green canyons.  We also found out there is a 3 day trip you can do from the mountains to the sea.  Next time!

Morel Season

My friend Miklos is an amazing guy.  He's a sculptor and a fantastic cook.  This year he finally took me with him on an annual foraging expedition.  Our prey was stealthy. We went foraging for morel mushrooms in the wilds of Illinois.  I won't say exactly where we did it, as foraging grounds are a prized and guarded secret, but i will say that we were mighty successful.  We found lots of mushrooms and had a ton of fun doing it.

Alausi, Ecuador

Sometimes getting around in Ecuador can be a chore.  A trip that you expect to be 5 hours of driving is really 8 hours.  Then when you factor in stops for lunch and sightseeing, it drags out to 12 hours.  Such was the case with our trip to the beautiful little town of Alausi.  Once we were there, however, it was all worth while.  Alausi is a quaint little mountain town with friendly people and stunning views in every direction.  

Ecuador - Llamas

While traveling through Ecuador and visiting the South American side of Sarah's extended family, we got to see some incredible places.  On one of our first afternoons we went to lunch at a beautiful restaurant near Mitad del Mundo.  The restaurant overlooks a beautiful valley.  Or at least, that is what we were told.  When we were there low lying clouds filled the valley and sadly we couldn't see into it.  But the food at the restaurant was delicious and when we walked up to it we were greeted by a welcoming committee of a couple of tethered llamas.  We saw llamas all over Ecuador, they are a common livestock, but these two were particularly photogenic.

Frozen Lake Michigan

Being back in Chicago has been good.  Well, in most ways it has been good.  In one very prominent way it has been bad, which is to say cold.  This has been the worst winter Chicago (and the rest of the country) has seen in years.  I had the chance to escape the cold for a few days for a great shoot down in Houston, but the rest of the time we've just been enduring it.  On one particularly cold day Sarah and I went down to the edge of Lake Michigan to see what a 92% frozen lake looks like.  In a word, beautiful.  It almost made the frostbitten ears worth it. 

Horseback Riding with Subaru

I just finished my second project with AdAsia and Subaru.  The creative teams were fantastic to collaborate with as usual.  We had some unexpected weather related hurdles to overcome when snowstorm "Electra" hit New York.  But we rose to the challenge and with the help of a great team we created a wonderful final image in which you can't even tell that it's winter.  Big thanks to Nancy at Frog Hollow Farm for furnishing the location and the excellently trained horses (one of whom was an Olympic hopeful).

Road Home to Chicago

Once Sarah and I left Los Angeles, the goal was to get back to Chicago as quickly as possible.  Despite not wanting to get back to the worst winter in Chicago in decades, we had a job to get to in New York.  We decided to fly rather than risk getting stuck in the snow with Timmy so we had to drop him off in Chicago first and make our flights.  The last several days were longer with an average of 8-10 hours of driving a day, but we did manage to stop at a couple of cool places like The Salton Sea and Petrified National Forest for picnics and photos.