10 on 10 | anya elise

10 on 10 || august

What you’ll notice first is that we are laughing a lot. In nearly any photo you find here that features two or more of us together, we have these goofy and ridiculous grins taking over our faces.

You could posit that since my brother moved away to pursue his animation dreams in Canada, our sadly infrequent visits have made this tendency toward the comical even more pronounced. Which would make sense, except for the historical evidence. For instance many moons ago, as we sat at a bar with a larger group of friends, my brother and I were speaking at this heightened pace, trading jokes like cards, feeding off each other and laughing maniacally. One of the fellows there turned to another and said, “I cannot understand them. One-on-one they are totally normal. Together, they go crazy.” (I’m paraphrasing, but that was the essence.)

So when Chris returned home from Canada last month for a much-needed visit, we knew we would have to take a day to set out just us four and take the town. Which made for a grand day and a great subject matter for August 10-on-10: Year Three! (And some extra exclamation points for effect — !!!!!)

But first, my fellow internet humans, here’s the list of my 10-on-10 comrades. Please give them a shout:

Anne Almasy

Button Media

Courtney Z Photography

We had to start with breakfast. Donuts, naturally. Coffee, a given.

These were the donuts to end all other donuts. Hefty, robust. If you put one of these suckers up against a grocery-store donut, it would win every bragging right. And the shop had some sweet booths. Sitcom worthy booths.

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July 10, 2015 by Anya Elise

10 on 10 || july

Are there any drummers in the house? Can you play me in with a good drum call please? THANKS.

Hello and welcome to year three of the 10-on-10 collaborative project. [insert awesome drumming here] I can’t believe we have already completed two full years of this great project. If you aren’t familiar with the project, click on that link up there and you can read about how we all got started. Courtney Z has recruited a few new photographers for our third year, rounding out our numbers to 10 total. So now we have 10 photos, on the 10th day of the month, shared by 10 different photographers…if that’s not fate I don’t know what is. The basic mission will remain the same for us all: Document and share 10 photos from our personal lives. We can’t show work work, it has to be something unrelated to any other obligation. Photos that we take just for the fun of taking a photo.

So as in months past I will first link to my fellow collaborators. Please stop by and spend some time with each of them, particularly our newcomers. Let’s make them all feel welcome, yeah?

Anne Almasy

Amy Straka Photography

Button Media

CLB Creative

Courtney Z Photography

And now to my July photos. As you likely remember (maybe not, it has been a long week), last weekend we celebrated July 4. Independence Day. The Fourth of July. America! I had a busy but great day jumping around to a few different homes. And a store full of patio furniture.

It all started with a grill. Doesn’t it always on the Fourth? A dear friend of ours gifted us this little fellow as he didn’t have a need for two grills at his house (though, perhaps he’s not dreaming big enough — two grills, ALL the hot dogs!!). So I dusted the little fellow down and placed him on our little patio. Our little, sadly empty patio. Our little, sadly empty patio that we have had at our fingertips for two years now, and still haven’t fully utilized with patio furniture and garden parties. So naturally we decided July 4 was the day to remedy the situation.

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June 10, 2015 by Anya Elise

10 on 10 || june

We are wrapping up the last 10 on 10 post of this second-year cycle, my fellows. Two years of the project, two years of being made to stay accountable to posting with some modicum of regularity on this little blog. I’ve really enjoyed every second of it. We’ll talk some more about what is on the horizon for our rag-tag group of 10-on-10 photographers next month, but for now we have to dive into June’s edition.

First, send some love to my comrades:

CLB Creative

Courtney Z Photography

Shaw Photography

Button Media

Twinty Photography

Brittany Conner Photography

On the first Friday of everything month, several streets in Denver throw a party saluting local artists and art galleries known as the First Friday Art Walk. Or maybe Denver Art Walk, depending on who you talk to. (They are the same thing, but the second is more snappy for social media purposes. And who doesn’t want to sound more snappy.) In several neighborhoods around the city, and in some communities in the expanded metro area, galleries open their doors and invite the masses to view art. To meet artists. To embrace the artistic community. It’s rambunctious and fun. I haven’t gone in years and years, so this last First Friday, my friend, Kayla and I ventured to the Santa Fe Art District with cameras in tow. (And just narrowly avoided the pretty sensational lightning storm that appeared later that evening.)

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May 10, 2015 by Anya Elise

10 on 10 || may

Hello there, team, we are on to May now. It has been raining almost nonstop this week, which means it has largely been overcast and dreary. As a Colorado girl very fond of her 300-plus days of sunshine, these gray skies are certainly not among my favorite things. However, I just finished exercising — endorphins! — and then drank a good-sized bit of coffee — caffeine! — so I think we’ll make it.

More importantly than all of the above, happy mother’s day to all you mothers out there! I hope you’re being perfectly pampered by your children.

I’m going to be sharing some photos from a 14-hour trip to Salt Lake City that Dan and I embarked upon mid-April. But first, please check in with these fine, 10-on-10 folks:

Brittany Conner Photography

Courtney Z Photography

So yes, 14 hours. Why, you may ask, would we go on a journey for only 14 hours? It has to do with frequent flier rewards and A-List status, probably some form of algebra and physics, and the fact that Dan is all about rewards programs that will benefit our travels. It seemed a little crazy, but why not.

After getting in very late on Friday night (flight delays, then cancellations, then rebooking), we rose as early as we could muster to fully utilize our remaining six hours in the state before we had to fly back to Colorado. I spent the formative years of my life driving back and forth between Denver and San Francisco (where dear family members live). As a kid, we would make the drive at least once a year, and our route always took us through Salt Lake City. However, because my family is of the intense, we-can-make-it-in-17-hours-if-we-just-believe variety, we almost never made lengthy stops along the way. So while I knew what SLC looked like as it passed by the window, and had gazed upon the Great Salt Lake itself on a number of occasions, and once spent hours and hours on the cusp of Park City, Utah, when our car broke down — memories! — it had been years and years since I had really explored any of the sights. Dan had never been to the city or surrounding area at all. We started with a very fast jaunt around downtown and the grounds of the Mormon temple.

Then off to breakfast at a funky little diner….

…and then up to Park City, Utah. We wanted to see where the 2002 Winter Olympics had been staged. And where Sundance Film Festival takes place each year. It was fairly warm and most of the snow had since melted, but we felt we could imagine the scene. Sadly, we happened to be in Park City in the three-four weeks when the place essentially shuts down. In between ski season and their summer activities circuit, the place goes quiet. Business owners either take a nice vacation, or work on those renovations they’ve been putting off, or just give their employees what I imagine is a well-earned break.

On the drive to Park City. I’m such a sucker for a barn-in-a-field shot.

Evidence of fun times gone by. Good ol’ Banksy. There’s a glass pane covering the work to protect it.

This is the look of disapproval I’m afforded when my subject realizes I just took a rather unflattering photo of him yawning like a lion on the Serengeti.

After wandering up and down the streets, drinking coffee, visiting an independent bookstore and envisioning returning to feast our eyes upon the extravaganzas of future film festivals, we headed back down the mountain to see the lake for which the city was named.

As you can imagine, it was salty. I felt like my fingers were brining up quite well when I touched the surface. It was also very beautiful. Calm.

Ideally we would have ventured to the northern part of the lake as well and get some other views. And we certainly would have liked to see more of the downtown area. But that’s how it goes with a 14-hour trip. You embrace the time given you, you venture as far as possible and then promise to return another day.

The end!

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April 10, 2015 by Anya Elise

10 on 10 || april

April, dear ones. April is the month each year when I finally start to feel settled in the new year. Yes, it takes me four months to get into the swing of things. Yikes. This probably doesn’t bode well for the overall course of life. That’s a lot of time to feel out of sync with a year. I should re-examine everything immediately.

In other news, here we are with another 10-on-10. It took me a little time to decide what I wanted to share with you here. Seeing as I’ve just now gotten involved with the year 2015 (again, wow), it seemed it would be fitting to show you a place that has always lent me a great deal of inspiration: a bookstore.

But first, my comrades.

Shaw Photography

Brittany Conner Photography

Courtney Z Photography

Twinty Photography

CLB Creative

I have always led something of a second life in books. I adore reading. I’m a book nerd through and through. A literature junkie. Words engage my whole being. So what better place to spend an afternoon than in a bookstore. I think if I wasn’t a photographer, I would want to work in such a place. Of course, almost every cent I made there would be spent on more books and I would be quite poor. But I would be rich in many other ways.

One of the best bookstores you’ll ever visit is a true Denver treasure, the one and only Tattered Cover. This place has all the best qualities of a bookstore. All the books, of course. Coffee. Ample, mismatched chairs for lounging in to sit and read. I have spent hours at a time sitting in such a bookstore, just reading away. And you’re never bothered or asked to move along. Heavenly.

This particular branch of TC (there are now four in Colorado and a few scattered about our airport terminals), is built into an old theatre. So you get all these beautiful architectural details.

As a family, we have been visiting Tattered Cover for as long as my memory has been remembering things. And something I have always loved about these particular stores are these iconic author portraits. All the authors who have visited the store for readings and book signings get these beautiful photos taken and they are just everywhere, all over the walls. I’ve studied them since I was a small gal, and I swear on some level these photos are what made me want to be a photographer. To capture fellow artists and brilliant minds, preserve them in these wonderful moments that just seemed to be such a privilege. Even as a youngin’ I was enthralled by the whole process and its potential.

Annie Leibovitz, I mean really now.

Local first. Amen.

I’m not really sure, I just liked the red chairs.

Denver, take us out!