Last week I did a shoot for one of the premier partner yoga instructors in the country: Elysabeth Williamson.  Elysabeth was teaching the first ever partner yoga teacher training course. The course was given up at the absolutely beautiful Gold Lake Resort about an hour and half from Denver.  I spent the morning documenting the training (2nd image below).  In the afternoon we were able to spend a bit of time creating some commercial images that Elysabeth plans to use for promotional material. We were a bit cramped on time and then of course the rain came but we were still able to get a great series of images, thanks to some great work by all those involved. For those that don’t know about partner yoga- it’s worth checking out.  It’s a beautiful practice that challenges the participants in so many ways, not least of which is opening ourselves up to the beauty in those around us- a noble effort if there ever was one.  A big thanks to Elysabeth and all the participants for allowing me into such an intimate space.

This was one of my favorites from the day.

In addtion to the Warriors for Peace series, I’ve begun another new project documenting the growth of a community garden space at a halfway house here in Denver.  A couple months ago I ran into an old friend who told me about the program.  She told me the vision was to work with the ex-criminals and felons to not only create a community garden at the halfway house but to include nutrition and gardening classes, to form a non-profit they could be involved with as they re-enter society, give them job training in an emerging field, and in a sense, give them potential they could believe in and a sense of worth.  The long term vision includes a farm they could work at when they leave the halfway house and starting gardens at other halfway houses and prisons.  Needless to say, two days later I called up my friend and told her I would love to document the project.  I’m a sucker for any story that includes personal transformation and an acknowledgment of our collective humanity.  The images below are from the first time I went. It was the first day they broke ground and started planting the dozens of plants that were donated by local farms and gardens. The piece of land they were given for the garden was an amazingly barren plot with some of the poorest dirt I could imagine growing food in. As a gardener myself, I was sceptical. There optimism was enthusiastic though and  It’s been inspiring so far to say the least.  More coming soon, and eventually a multimedia piece.  Enjoy.