Photo Nerds IRL

My friends Joel, KJ, and I have had a text thread going for over two years now called Photo Nerds. I have known Joel for about a decade. We have hung out a few times in person but mostly our friendship has been through texting. He is the head of the photography department at Liberty University. He is an incredibly creative person and a great photographer, but most importantly he is an extremely kind and generous thoughtful person.

A couple of years ago he introduced me (though text) to one of the photographers on his team and a friend of his named KJ. It has been so cool getting to know him. He does amazing work for the university but his personal work is really fantastic as well. He is very thoughtful human and examines his art and life well and I appreciate that about him.

For years we have been talking about finding a way to all get together IRL and this year we finally made it happen. There was a concert at Red Rocks that Joel wanted to go to and so we decided to plan a little trip around it. KJ and his wife were able to come out and I was able to get a couple days off of work to explore the state with them.

Day 1

Most of the first day was spent in Rocky Mountain National Park. It is so beautiful there and really so close, especially to our new house. We wandered and photographed and chatted a lot. It feels so good to be around other creatives who get it. It was so refreshing to my soul and I needed it more than I realized.

We saw a mom moose and her twin baby moosen. They were kinda hard to see and these photos suck, but you get the idea.

Day 2

On the first day, we immersed ourselves in nature, so for our second day, we chose to explore the city together. We hopped on the N-line into Denver and spent the day wandering through it’s streets, discovering delicious food and browsing expensive retail spots. Most of all, we talked and talked. It was a great and beautiful day.

Day 3

Unfortunately on the third day KJ and Soli had to move on to a different part of the state. It was so good hanging out with them and I am already looking forward to the next time we get to spend time together.

Joel and I spent most of the day relaxing and catching up but in the afternoon we shot down to Englewood Camera to window shop and check some stuff out. Most notably they had a Sigma BF which we had a blast trying to figure out. It made both of us feel pretty old.

The reason we planned this trip when we did was so we could see Lord Huron at Red Rocks! They were doing a 10 year reunion tour of their Strange Trails album. It was an incredible show and I got to hang out with another internet photographer friend Chase Gyles.

There was a lot of other time spent the last couple of days hanging out when the cameras didn’t come out. It was one of the best weeks I have had in a long time hanging with one of my best friends and an awesome new friend, and it seriously felt like a breath of fresh air. It is easy to feel alone in photography sometimes and spending time with other people who obsess about the same things and have the same passions was so good.

Make sure to check out Joels work here and KJ did a blog post about the trip here