The Year 2023 just passed a few hours from now, and Lexi and I celebrated the beginning of the New Year quietly. She watched the New Year celebrations around the world on TV and I tried to catch up with the labeling of my developed large-format negative films. When I woke up early morning, and walked around our house in the pine forest on New Year’s Day, I felt that the refreshing clean air and the first lights of the rising Sun accepted my big Thank You for the past Year. After a good homemade breakfast, we drove to the nearby Bastrop State Park, hiked, and enjoyed nature’s beauty as a New Year’s Day gift.
Years are passing fast, and my wife Lexi and I will be 71 years old at the end of January. Luckily both of us are healthy and in good physical shape. I am not as strong as I was before, but I can carry my large-format camera backpack and tripod on the trails. We like to walk, hike, swim, kayak, bike, and enjoy the outdoor activities. Well, biking is not an easy task for us on the steep hilly roads and trails, but we have a lot of fun and learning experiences using our electric bikes.
We are very proud of both of our grown-up boys Daniel and Gergo. They are strong, healthy, and successful. Both are happy with their family members and have many common things to enjoy their life. So, I cannot complain, especially in this complicated, not-too-shiny world.
As four-year-old Bastropians, we are happy in our house in the middle of the loblolly pine forest. We explored almost all the nature trails in our surroundings and nearby. Both of us are healthy, but during one of our spring trips to the Coastal area of Galveston and High Island, I got a nasty leg infection… luckily my doctor and the ER team cured me and turned our planned photography expedition into reality.
As a retired scientist, I continued working on scientific papers with a few of my former colleagues, who included me in their publications. For our English language improvement, we continued our daily Scrabble play and I tried to continue to learn Spanish, but I need more determination for that. However, the New Year is here and I can make a strong improvement.
As Photographic artists, my wife and I exhibited our works in solo and group exhibitions in several venues. My wife Lexi had a solo show: “My New York City” and I had a solo show: “Tales of the Live Oaks” at the Lost Pines Art Center’s Art Wall in the Bastrop Public Library for two months, respectively. We participated in several group exhibitions together with the Members of the Lost Pines Art League at the Lost Pines Art Center, Bastrop. Submitted our images for several world photography contests and two of my black and white images were selected as a “Nominee” for the worldwide Black and White Spider Awards and one of my photographs was included in the LensWork “Light, Glorious Light” book. I published my 2024 Portfolio Calendar: “Fallen, back to Nature”.
As a long-time Photography Instructor, I continued to teach photography at the Houston Center for Photography (HCP), led 3 discussion/critique meetings at the Houston Photography Study Group, and made an online presentation at the Houston Audubon Nature Photography Association (Houston), and an in-person presentation at the Lost Pines Art Center (Bastrop).
The year 2023 was our 45th Anniversary year and we planned to celebrate it under the Northern Lights at Tombstone Territorial Park, Yukon, Canada. We made a 90-day-long expedition to the Arctic again. We were well-immunized, my leg was cured, and we felt strong enough for the simple, challenges-filled, backcountry trailer life. We pulled our tiny Aliner camper with our strong Toyota 4Runner Off-road, from Texas, across the US to Canada, up north through Yukon and Northwest Territory to the Arctic Ocean. We lived simply, hiked daily, photographed nature’s beauty on large format film, collected nice memories, and were happy every day. We drove thirteen thousand miles in challenging conditions and arrived home safely in the middle of October. After several weeks of recovery, we turned back our busy retired life to normal, repaired a few trailer damages, developed my films, edited our presentation pictures, and we were ready for the Holidays.
Christmas celebration started on Christmas Eve in the afternoon via video conferencing with our older son Daniel and Janine then continued in the evening with Gergo, Emily, and her Parents in Austin. On Christmas day, we visited Emily’s cousins and enjoyed Heather and David’s hospitality. After Christmas, I finished our “Two at The Arctic Again” 45-minute slide show with music, which was presented at the Bastrop County Audubon on January 2, 2024. On New Year’s Day morning, we took a beautiful long hike and then ate our traditional home-cooked lentil soup and Hungarian pasta with cottage cheese. We were tired but happy, grateful for every minute of our lives.
In conclusion, 2023 was busy, and filled with good photography explorations. We were thankful for the blessings that we received and looking forward to the New Year with hope, love, energy, and many new plans.
My wife Lexi, and I are wishing all of my Friends and their Families happiness, peace, and good health throughout 2024!
