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the newsroom || 10 on 10

Hello, kind visitors! If you’re a regular reader, howdy hey and such. If you’re a 10-on-10 wanderer, welcome and buckle up.

For those of you who may not know, my job as a photographer is multifaceted. I freelance both on the editorial side, as well as commercial, I photograph weddings with my husband, and I work full time as a photojournalist for the Denver Post local section. For the past three years I’ve rocked around the Denver metro area in my trusty vehicle, mostly using the car as an office, a dining area, a nap room and of course a mode of transportation. But at least once a week I work from the actual newsroom at the Post. So for today’s 10-on-10 post, I’m taking you into the office.

But first! Here’s the list of my fellow photographers:

Amy Straka Photography

Button Media

Casey Brodley

Courtney Z Photography

Lelia Marie Photography

OK, here we go.

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December 2, 2015 by Anya Elise

The difficulty of carousels

It’s December. De-cem-ber. (Side note: Colorado is bringing the brrr to the month so far. Have you all collectively rolled your eyes and abandoned ship? I understand. Carry on.)

December is a fancy sort of mishmash month. Everyone is getting hyped up for the holidays, donning their sweaters and hanging up wreathes. Scratching out complex equations to deduce just how many strands of lights can be plugged into a set of outlets before the circuits blow. And then we are also getting ready to say so-long to the near-finished year. We become introspective and contemplative about the past 11 months; we imagine what the world holds for us in the new year.

Much like December, I’m a bit of a mash myself right now. I’ve been thinking a lot about what I’ve accomplished this year, and the things to which I didn’t give enough attention. One such matter: There have been a number of stories and travels and photos I never quite got around to posting on this ol’ blog of mine. So before we say our final farewells to 2015, I’ll be getting those organized and up here. Stay tuned in the coming days for the deluge.

But, before then….here are some photos of a carousel. On Sunday night we went to the annual Denver Zoo Lights festivities. We did our best to spot the zoo animals, but they were much smarter than us homo sapiens and stayed indoors. The lights were pretty and there were snacks. But the best part was the carousel.

Here’s a thing about carousels however. They can be tricky to photograph with a fancy phone, while on a zebra that is jumping up and down and going in circles. At night.

Nailed it.

Happy December, friends! Talk soon.

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November 10, 2015 by Anya Elise

RVA || 10 on 10

Sometimes you get to the ninth day of the second to last month of the year and realize that your longtime collaborative project is due to run the very next day. You haven’t prepped photos or put together a cohesive plan of any sort, and so you search through the archives of the previous month and come up with the following.

It’s Richmond, Virginia, folks.

First! Here are the fellow travelers for the month:

▻ Anne Almasy

▻ Amy Straka Photography

▻ Button Media

▻ Casey Brodley

▻ Courtney Z Photography

▻ Lelia Marie Photography

▻ Lisa Hibbert

▻ Pogo Photo

▻ Shaw Photography

▻ Twinty Photography

On a good month I try to have a little bit more intention with these 10-on-10 posts. Consider what it is I want to explore and share with you, and how I want to photograph it. It’s really a “best laid plan” situation on many occasions and perhaps that will be nowhere more evident than with this installation here today.

Last weekend we went to Richmond for some good ol’ fashioned homecoming hoopla at Dan’s alma mater. I took along my little Fuji x100 and of course the trusty fancy phone, but didn’t plan on taking many photos. Having only been to Richmond one time before I was hoping to simply take in more of the city and the history of the region. But as our personal history of scheduling too many things in a short amount of time has illustrated over and over again, we really only had one afternoon to do the sort of sightseeing I was looking for. Thus, here are 10 photos from the haphazard and fast-fast sightseeing excursion that we should probably just go ahead and trademark already.

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November 6, 2015 by Anya Elise

Just because

I photographed this earlier today at Mezcal Restaurant here in Denver. The whole place has these bright colors and awesome wall decor. And for now, that’s about the entire story. It’s bright, cheery, a little strange, and fun to photograph. I think there are days when that’s all you need.

Oh! And also I mopped this evening. So why not commemorate such an outrageous housemaking feat than with a random little blog post featuring a bright pink wall. (Though, there’s a spot on the floor that is now tremendously slippery despite my best efforts to somehow solve that situation and there now exists a 78.5 percent chance that I will slip to my ultimate demise.)

Happy weekending, sweet pals. Have some great adventures.

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November 3, 2015 by Anya Elise

Modern-day fencing || Photojournalism

Whenever I imagine fencing I think of a time centuries ago. Two fine gentleman are having a disagreement regarding a bad cup of tea and a scone lacking the proper ratio of currants to pastry and the only way to settle the manner like gentleman is to duel it out. So one removes a white glove from his jacket pocket and swings it at the opposing fellow and there you have it. They must duel. With thin, flashy dueling swords and fencing jackets with full-coverage masks.

Admittedly, my crazy mind is not exactly what you would call historically accurate, but since when has that stopped me. Recently I was able to join the young buccaneers of the Gateway High School fencing club for an assignment with the local section of the Denver Post. These teens were dedicated to this craft in way that was really fun to see. They don’t have a specific space open to them at the school, like a gym or a classroom, so they set up shop in one of the hallways, backdrop of brick and orange lockers. They take turns sparring and help each other learn better technique, all under the direction of teacher Kevin Heinrich.

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