Uncle Sam

I was asked to shoot a 25 year anniversary party in Gill, Colorado.  I grew up in Colorado, but I have really never heard about Gill.  It was way out in wheat fields.  This shoot was one of many that I had, in a 3 week working-tour, that lead me to a few different states this summer.  I went from Fruit Heights and Salt Lake City, Utah to Evergreen, Gill, Denver, Loveland, Fort Collins, Windsor and Longmont in Colorado; Laramie and Cheyenne, Wyoming; St. Petersburg, St. Pete's Beach, John's Beach, Treasure Island and Tampa Bay in Florida; and Washington DC.  This was an amazing tour of incredibly different cultures right here in our great United States of America.  I love watching people.  As I sat in airport terminals on layovers, if I wasn't working on my computer, I watched the different types of people at each gate.  Airports are great places to see so many different types of people.  The people going to Washington DC were straight and to the point.  They told you (one time) exactly what your next step was and how to get there; very straight forward from point A to point B.  Tourists stuck out like a sore thumb (I was one of them).  The natives just walked around us as we fumbled.  It was hilarious.  People going to Florida were either super stressed out (on their way to vacation) or super tan with white teeth and wearing a Hawaiian shirt (on their way back from vacation).  The people in Wyoming, usually in working clothes with calloused hard working hands and weathered faces.  Colorado is where I met Uncle Sam.  Driving out with my 2 assistants to Gill was a beautiful ride to eastern Colorado.  I resigned myself to the back seat so that I could look around.  We arrived at a beautiful house on cobblestones, set majestically in wheat fields.  The wheat was about 2 feet tall, still green.  My very laid back client told me to look around and decide what location would be good for family portraits.  I grabbed a few of the younger fellas and said, "Can ya move this couch into the field?"  They stood there for a moment contemplating my request and said, "Sure" with big smiles on their faces.  They thought it would be a neat trick to play on their mama...lol.  So, there we were, with their sofa in the middle of their wheat field.  I saw this neat old man, with his 2 younger sisters.  I said, "I am going to make you famous.  Do ya want to take a few pictures with me?"  The image above is one that I shot with him.  He turned 87 years old that month.  Him and his sisters got a hoot out of taking pictures in the field.  They giggled and smiled the whole time.  He was a great model.  I absolutely love my work; meeting new people; experiencing different cultures; and living my dream.