Of course this is the time of year for lists. Best this and that. I love the music lists compiled here and the "notable" books here. But I always look forward to the few premium selections deemed worthy by the photography staffs of the Boston Globe and the New York Times newspapers. One of the best is this short list of 10 photo books listed on this great blog here. On a side note my friend Steve Simon produced a wonderful educational photography book this year after a long long road of research and writing. Steve's book - The Passionate Photographer: 10 Steps Toward Becoming Great - can be found here. And, like the 10 books listed above, it is well worth adding to your library. I learn things every time I pick it up.

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Cheryl and I have been working on our house for nearly 12 years now. Considering it was built in 1897 our time here has been but a blip. Ethan and Cassius have both grown up here and it has been a wonderful family home for all. But like everything it's time for change and we plan to move on. We're now finished painting the exterior and have moved inside to finish the dining room and kitchen before we put a sign out on the lawn hoping someone will come along and continue the love for its heritage and potential. It's been fun and frustrating being in constant renovation, but we have loved every minute of it. When we first began we didn't even own a hammer and certainly couldn't operate power tools. We've moved on to try our hand at virtually everything from plumbing to the removal of entire walls. We've taken the ceiling out of the kitchen and exposed a large attic now finished in hardwood. We built a large, west-facing stone deck by hand. We've removed old windows and used a variety of materials including sheet copper and cold rolled steel and hunted for used and recycled at every opportunity, including heavy-duty large windows we got from a skyscraper reno in Vancouver. Here are a few recent pictures. More to follow as we finish up in the coming months. Love to all and happy holidays!

The new website is now up and running. www.rickcollinsphotography.com  Any feedback is much appreciated. I'm continuing on this long road of documentary photography with wedding stories being only one aspect of my work. I like what National Geographic photographer David Alan Harvey recently had to say about photography with sage advice for photographers.

"You must have something to say. You must be brutally honest with yourself about this. Think about history, politics, science, literature, music, film, and anthropology. What effect does one discipline have over another? What makes 'man' tick? Today, with everyone being able to easily make technically perfect photographs with a cell phone, you need to be an 'author.' It is all about authorship, authorship and authorship."

That said, Cheryl and I are off to Kauai tomorrow for the week. Stay tuned.

Well. This was supposed to be an exciting announcement. However, for now, it's just a reminder of delay. I have been working on a couple of new websites for a while now and this weekend was to be the transfer date. Instead the site has been down for a few days now. Bear with. It's coming sooooooooon.