January
Wedding planning in full force.
February
I started working full time as a photographer for a toy company. It was a terrible place to work. 6 months later I went back to my photo lead position at a tech company. That’s a long story.
I also participated in an art market at The Ugly Cupcake Muffinry (a cute café with some of my art on the walls). I made lots of resin pieces and a wood burnt tray to sell alongside some photos.
March
I got married! Everything shut down 2 days later and we had a staycation honeymoon.
April
I finally got some photo mojo back.
May
I apparently had a lot of blog motivation this month.
- My Toy Photos that Didn’t Fool the World
- The Toy Photo that Fooled the World for 60 Years
- Small Scale Documentaries & Reality Shows You Should Watch
- Toy Photos of War that Fooled the World for 50 Years
- Vogue and Toy Photography
- The Staged Photos that Fooled Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and the World, for Nearly 70 years
- Surrealist Figure Photographers of the Mid 1900s
- Focusing on Toes
- My Ongoing Search for the Earliest Toy Photograph
- Creating Art that’s Intimately Yours
Loch Ness Monster Sighting, 2020 
Bigfoot Sighting, 2020
June
My research led me to a toy photo from 1898!
July
One of my most fun resin projects!
August
- Toy-esque Photographers | Onset of Photography through the 1980s
- EcoRelics, Jacksonville, FL
- Hans Bellmer – A Doll Day Feature
September
I decided to host a Halloween challenge, Lenscratch published my self-quarantine cat photo, me and my mom harnessed what I learned in 2019 at Indigo Art Therapy for our own intuitive painting session, and I traveled to Texas to train a new employee.
- I’m a Professional Cat Photographer Now
- Getting your Toy Photography Noticed
- Tourmaline .’s 2020 Halloween Challenge
- Keep Doing You
- The History of the Still Life
- Empire Toy Works
- The Standout Dollhouses of 2020 – so far
October
The Halloween challege was in full force and I traveled to Idaho for work.
November
I planned my first ever Christmas challenge,
- Tourmaline .’s 2020 Countdown to Christmas
- White’s Guide to Collecting Figures, Number 19, July 1996
- A Doll’s House, Style Magazine, January 2004
- The History and Psychology of Toys
- Historic Miniature Photography of a Different Variety
December
The Christmas challenge was in full force, I began selling my art online and I participated in a show/sale at The Ugly Cupcake Muffinry.
- 120+ Photographs of People with Toys, Library of Congress, 1840-1950
- You Can Now Buy My Art Online!
- A Toy Photograph from 1894
Looking ahead to 2021
- Today I will have another image up on Lenscratch.
- I have more than 8 blog posts already in the works.
- I’m planning on making art with my MRI scans and creating relating photos etc.
- I also have follow up images to my 2018 Monochrome series planned.
- Overall I hope it will be a year filled with peace and creation. I know things aren’t going to be different than the stress of this year immediately, but I’m hopeful.
How did your 2020 turn out? Mine definitely had more stressors than I mention here. But I like using these end of year posts to focus on the good.
2020
Jan
Hard to remember. I went of IG in Sep… so my record of events is hazy. Working on building the house… scrambling to get money to finish it. Gearing up for a big year.
Feb
Found out we were pregnant with a 3rd, very unexpected child. At least we get money from the bank to finish the house.
March
We go to for our 10th anniversary in the city March 13th… covid is just starting to be a big deal. That weekend is that last time things are open. My brother, our babysitter, ends up with sniffles and is labled a probable case. Uncertainty abounds. How does this effect pregnancy… a week passes and nothing happens. Things go into lockdown, we start washing groceries. Meanwhile i reflect on my dive back into film photography and write a blog on TP.com.
April
I come back on IG. (My toy photography on IG never stopped, just my personal account for awhile)..all non essential business shut down, me included. This turns out to be the best thing ever. With money from the bank in hand i go to work full time on the house. I make a mad rush to purchase as much material as i can to keep building before finding out Home Depot is an essential business. We move out of our apartment into a trailer on the property and ate now 100 percent commited to being in the house by fall.
May
The world seems to be going crazy. But by and large we are insulated from it as we live in a trailer in a field 30mins from from the nearest major town. The construction site and woods offer up all sorts of scenes for photos. We still wash groceries, but other than that things feel normalish (we lived in the trailer two summers back to start the house). I write a review of the Lego fiat 500 that we built on our anniversary in the city.
June
Things settle down a bit. Looks like washing groceries probably isn’t necessary… hurray. We find out it’s a girl. Finishing the house is starting to seem a bit daunting.
July
I hire drywallers for the first week of september. Deadlines are good. The mad rush to finish mechnical is on.
August
It’s hot, and I’m in an attic installing fibergkass insulation. I give uo on the mask because the sweat pool in it and i suck it in when i breath. So sauna attic, fiberglass and being waterboarded with my own sweat. Deadlines approach. But my wife and i sen a few nights IN our house building the Lego TRex at a desk with wine. That’s fun. I shoot the model and the review is posted on time.
Sep
Drywallers take over. I go to work for a week for the first time in ages. They go home and i paint the place. Now the mad rush to install a floor because impending baby doom in october.
Oct
Installing flooring. Sanding flooring. Finishing floor. The night before we go to the hospital we set up a bed in our house with finished floors and walls. Wow… but it’s still a whirlwind as surgery is scheduled for 7am the next day. That happens. Everything is ok the girl arrives. We come home and sleep in the house for the first time. I start shioting my fall roll of 35mm film.
Nov
I juggle looking after the kids, working on the house and making sure my wife rests. COVID surges, the US goes nuts, but again… insulation.
Dec
Still trying to work on the house. COVID rages, everything starts to lockdown again. Not to the same degree as April though even with 10 times the cases. Everyone has adjusted to a new normal sort of. I am psychologically preparing to resume normal work.
Congratulations on your new baby girl and your house progress! My work was deemed essential because it provides things to grocery stores so no shut downs for either job I held this year. Its odd watching people participate in quarantine because of course while my put and about habits have changed, my day to day hasn’t changed much at all. I hope your return to work goes smoothly, but I’m glad you were able to accomplish so much this year. I saw your fiat review but need yo check out your other TP posts.