13 for '13

I guess it's that time of year to take a look back and select my favorite images from the past year.  The images I have selected are my favorites for a variety of reasons.  They might not be me my best or tell the story the best, but they all have meaning to me for one reason or another.  Enjoy.

13. Winter Park Highlands fire

Granby firefighters wet down a hot spot on a house fire on County Road 85
in the Winter Park Highlands on Saturday morning, Oct. 5.  Firefighters from
East Grand, Granby and Hot Sulphur Springs/Parshall fire departments
responded to the blaze that left the residence a total loss.

12. Red Bull Final Descent

Ned Kajko of Steamboat Springs recovers from crashes on his two previous laps
during the Red Bull Final Descent at Winter Park Resort in September.
Individuals and teams attempted to complete as many laps
through the Trestle Bike Park as they could in 12 hours.

11. Perch perfect

A female red-winged blackbird sings while perching on a cattail
along the shore of Shadow Mountain Reservoir in May.

10. Rivalry game

Middle Park's Jace Linke (32) blocks the shot of West Grand's
Nick Ritschard (0) during the cross-county rivalry game
in January in Kremmling.  The Panthers held on for a 57-50 win.  

9. Dog bites "dog"

Bernie the Colorado Avalanche mascot has his foot bit by National Sports Center
for the Disabled therapy dog Cinnamon during the Wells Fargo Ski Cup
in March at Winter Park Resort. 

 8. Too close for comfort

Visitors to Grand Lake look at the smoke rising from the Big Meadows fire
 in Rocky Mountain National Park in June.

7. Hug a tree

Grand County Search and Rescue member Dave Kafer instructs Granby Elementary School
 third graders on how to use a garbage bag to stay warm and dry as part
 of the Hug-a-Tree program in May.

6. Bald is beautiful

A bald eagle passes above the Colorado River
along U.S. 40 between Parshall and Kremmling in February. 

5. "A" for effort

West Grand and Hayden face off in a Western Slope League game in October in Kremmling.

4. Boys will be boys

Bighorn rams play on the tundra in Rocky Mountain National Park in August.

3. A "Kool" reaction

A fan reacts as Shawn McQuiller, lead singer of Kool and The Gang, touches her hand
 as the band performs "Ladies Night" during the Winter Park Jazz Festival in July.

2. Rain art

Rain from a passing thunderstorm runs down a car windshield
in Rocky Mountain National Park in August.

1. Snow-clasico

Costa Rica defender Juan Diego Madrigal (6) falls in the snow as United States forward
Herculez Gomez (9) looks for the ball in the second half of a World Cup
 qualifier at Dick's Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City in March.
The United States won 1-0.  

goo, goo, g'joob

My second book

Ever since I published my first book "Grand County Visions" way back in 2000, I have had numerous people ask me when I was going to do another book.  As much as I enjoyed seeing my work in print and receiving all of the wonderful feedback, there was a lot of time and money, energy and money, and work and money that went into getting that book into print.  Did I mention money?  Not to mention dealing with distribution and marketing.  I had several ideas floating around in my mind, but didn't know if they would be financially viable.

Today the world of book publishing looks totally different.  There are so many options now that don't require a huge investment of money up front.  A few years ago I came across an on-line publisher called blurb.com.  The offered a variety of printing options (sizes, layout templates, paper choices) and you could print one copy or thousands of copies.  But one of the best features is you could direct potential customers to the web site where they could order your book and it would be printed on demand.  I had seen several photographers I know use blurb.com to produce wedding albums and was slightly surprised by how good they looked, but was excited to have found an option to get another book published.

Then it became a matter of determining the subject.  I went around and around trying to come up with the right idea.  It actually took me several years to get this figured out.  But one Saturday morning back in November I sat down at the computer and said to myself, "it's time to get this done and you aren't getting up from the computer until this book is done."  I finally decided to do a book with some of my favorite Instagrams from the past couple of years.  About three hours later, I had the bulk of the photos selected and laid out the way I wanted.  I did some tweaking over the next couple of days and then ordered several copies for myself.  About a week later the books showed up and I was blown away.  I was thrilled with the results.

Here is a preview of my book...
(if it doesn't load properly for some reason, here is a direct link: http://blur.by/1eZIi9f)

InstaGrand by Byron Hetzler | Make Your Own Book

 
Now what to do for my next book...

goo, goo g'joob