I continue to work on various photographic projects. A new website will be coming this summer, collecting all of my current project portfolios in one place. During May/June, I’ll be participating in SoFoBoMo (Solo Photo Book Month), right now planning a photo book that combines my love of labyrinths and night photography.

Thanks to some friends in grad school, I’ve discovered Twitter. I post fairly frequently under the name eyeintheworld. It also connects to my Facebook status (something I don’t use very much) if you are a Facebook user.

May 24th marks my graduation from the Pacific School of Religion and the end of a 5 year long journey through seminary. I will be very happy to be done, and a little sad to not be seeing some of my favorite people so frequently anymore. I’ve recently taken a part time chaplaincy job with Sutter Hospice San Francisco and will continue there for the time being. Robin and I are hoping to stay in Oakland for the next year or two (at least); we’ve both come to like living here very much.

In July we will be hiking the John Muir trail, 220 miles from Yosemite National Park to Mt. Whitney. I can hardly wait for the time away for wilderness recharge. It feels too long since I’ve had the chance to just be in the backcountry.

The exhibition will run through September. I hope some of you will be able to make it to the reception on June 22nd, from 4-7pm; come to view the work, sit down and chat, and sip a glass of wine or punch.

For those that can’t make it to see the actual prints, you will be able to view the photographs and purchase prints beginning June 22nd at:

http://www.grantkinney.com/prints

(note that Adobe Flash Player is required to view this page)

• Celebrating the 4th anniversary of being married to the amazing and beautiful Robin Kinney
• CPE Unit 3 of 4. For those who’ve ever done a Clinical Pastoral Education residency, you probably know how intense this unit can be. I can hardly wait until those summer interns come to help lighten the load
• Learning about the Enneagram, a facinating personality typing system that’s way better than Meyers-Briggs. I’m a 9; how about you?
• Upgrading to the Pentax K10D camera, just before the rebate ended!
• Flirting with purchasing a medium format camera system and shooting film for the first time since my childhood (looking at the Mamiya 645 system right now)
• Selecting classes for the PSR Fall semester (mostly MDiv required ones)
• Enrolling at Laney College to take some photography and art classes in the fall!
• Enduring a water leak which spread into our unit from a vacated apartment across the hall
• A wonderful First Congo Oakland spring retreat in the Marin Headlands
• Starting the Artist’s Way, gleaning a wonderful sense of creative recovery so far, and writing my morning pages (almost) every day
• Starting a LIFE (“living in faith everyday”) group at First Congo focusing on contemplative prayer and meditation
• Surprising myself by getting up into handstand for the first time in yoga class without any help
• A visit from Robin’s mom
• A cross-country skiing trip to King’s Canyon National Park, enjoying 5″ of fresh powder on the trail

I am looking forward to the continued warming of the weather, getting outside more often, the extended daylight hours, and more time with Robin once her school year is done in June. May the warmth and clarity of the California sun be with you all!

There’s a quote by Jackson Pollack upon looking through a catalogue of Picasso’s work: ”God damnit.  That guy thought of everything.” It’s like that. What an amazing diversity of subject matter and creative vision, over 400 photographs in a career spanning half a century. And I’ve never seen a photographer with a better visual sense of humor–truly a delight. I am both captivated, intimidated, and frustrated–I want to be that good!

Robin’s started calling me “Kinney-lander” now. I take it as both a playful teasing about my obsession with photography and affectionately calling me to live out my potential.

 See it here: http://thomasbroening.blogspot.com/

I mention it because I should aspire to such blog writing feats. Or maybe I could at least just update this more than once every two months.

I do want to say that CPE Unit 2 (of 4) was finished last week. That means I’m halfway done with my CPE residency! It’s 1) incredible exciting that I’ve made it this far 2) motivating to think I’m not going to have this program in 6 months, so I’d better use the time wisely in units 3 and 4. It will be back to the “real world” all too soon. Though after this, seminary is going to be like cruising in a convertable on a mid-summer’s day.

http://www.grantkinney.com/artwithsoul

If you’re interested in purchasing prints, you can select which ones you would like and use the form at the bottom of the page to indicate your name, email address, and what sizes you would like. Here are the prices:

5 x 7″ (in an 8 x 10″ mat) – $12 ($5 shipping)

8 x 10″ (in an 11 x 14″ mat) – $27 ($10 shipping)

11 x 14″ (in a 16 x 20″ mat) – $49 ($12 shipping)

Shipping for more than one print is an extra $1 per print. All prints are archival and matted with acid free materials. Credit cards are accepted using Paypal.

They make great Christmas gifts!

I’m working on getting an online gallery up featuring the prints that were on display on Tuesday, so you can look at them online. Future enhancements will also include online purchasing through Paypal (which has free and secure credit card payments), hopefully sometime over the next week.

As great as Sonoma was, the trip to Desolation Wilderness was the highlight of the summer: 8 days of wilderness backpacking in one of the most beautiful parts of the Sierras. Not surprisingly, most of my favorite photographs from this year were from that trip. This one was taken on the first evening of our adventure. The clouds looming after sunset matched this tree perfectly.