Wow, what a week! It seems like only yesterday that I was getting on the plane to go, and at the same time it feels like so much more than just a week has gone by.

I think I’ve fallen in love with San Miguel. It’s a beautiful little town with friendly people, rich with history and tradition, surrounded by fascinating landscapes and filled with surprising nooks and crannies. I definitely want to go back. I’m even tempted to say I want to pull up roots and just move there.

But anywhoooooo … I’m back now, and it’s back to business, and with all I’ve learned in the past week, I’m now capable of serving my clients better than ever before. I definitely look forward to next year’s workshop.

It’s always interesting to find out what people who aren’t emotionally invested in my images think of them. I’m my own worst critic, and it’s hard for parents not to love any image of their children.

Day one of the workshop consisted of Jock reviewing everybody’s portfolio. What an eye opener!

I’m actually quite flattered that Jock thinks I’m good at what I do, and I also got some very helpful pointers on what I can do to bump things up to the next level.

After reviewing my portfolio, these are the images that Jock considers my strongest.

I can hardly wait for tomorrow … we’re going on location to work with some models.

Wooohooo! I arrived in Mexico in one piece. San Miguel de Allende is a beautiful colonial town, which conjures in my mind an image of old-town Berlin dropped into the middle of the Wyoming desert.

The landscape is very high-steppes — mountains, arroyos, prickly pears, junipers, and the town itself is reminiscent of many European towns — cobblestone streets, narrow alleys, simple yet elegant architecture, and a magnificent chapel.

Day one of the workshop will be a portfolio review, which shouldn’t take all too long because there are only seven of us in the group. It looks like we’ll have some time to explore the town this afternoon, and make ourselves a bit more acquainted with the lay of the land.

I feel like a six year old on the first day of school, I’m so giddy with excitement!

I’m so EXCITED!

I leave on Sunday for a week-long workshop with Jock Sturges, in Mexico, hosted by the great folks at Santa Fe Workshops (thanks a million, Reed, Dodi, Mignon, and all of your great staffers!).

Armed with my camera bag and some hastily learned Rosetta Stone spanish, I set off on my first-ever trip to Mexico.

I’m SOOOOOOO looking forward to this! With the masterful technical skills, magnificent formal composition technique and wonderful depth of character that he brings to his photographs, Mr. Sturges has long been an inspiration to me. I am honored to finally be able to meet him.

I’m also looking forward to visiting Mexico for the first time. Having grown up in southwestern Wyoming, I met and lived with many immigrants from Mexico and other Central American countries, and I am giddy with anticipation at finally being able to observe some of their rich and varied culture firsthand.

I’m giddy with anticipation.

I’m told that the hotel in San Miguel that we’ll be staying at has internet connectivity, so hopefully I’ll be able to update website, blog and flickr while I’m there.

Did I mention I’m EXCITED?!?!?!?

I’ve been watching the news about the stock market lately like most people … with a much different reaction, however.

Those of you who have known me for a while know that I’m an adherent of the philosophies of Ayn Rand and Ludwig von Mises, so it should come as no surprise to you that I’m not surprised that the markets haven’t recovered after the humongous infusion of fiat currency that the government recently pumped into a number of failing banks.

People who understand what money is and how it works instinctively know that such a “bail-out” is not a viable solution. Expecting the government to solve a problem by interfering in the marketplace in the same ways it did to create the problem in the first place, is simply counter productive.

An artistic colleague of mine put it very well in his own blog recently, he calls his article I’m MAD as ….

I think he’s right.