I keep seeing all these memes about how fucked up 2016 was and how it kicked them all in the ass but I thought this year was pretty good! A lot of new places and experiences have been had, new friends and connections along the way too. Whats the point in dwelling on bad things from the past? Here are a few of the highlights of my 2016:
2016 started off with my car looking like this, so I said "fuck this" and headed south...
I took a 3 week trip down to Colombia. It was my first time in South America, so now I only need African and Antarctica to complete visiting all 7 continents!
We got to tour around to 4 or 5 different cities around the country to skate, explore and take photos but after my wrist injury in Cali from the first couple of days, I was out of commission to skate the rest of the trip. I still go to do a ton of cool shit including visiting Pablo Escobar's party house that got blown up from an assassination attempt.
You can check out Part 1 of my Colombia Trip here and Part 2 of my Colombia Trip here.
I got this epic sun burn...
Sometimes I looked like this...
I officially made a full switch from Canon to Sony cameras for photo and video. It was a slow transition but after spending a few months with the A7SII, I've decided to go balls to the wall and bought a few more bodies and lenses. It's been almost a full year and I'm still happy that I've gone this route.
I took the wheel of an ice cream truck...
The first half of the summer was pretty slow for me with work and I've had a lot of opportunities to do one of my favorite things on earth... riding my bike through the city with my camera. I put a ton of miles on my wheels while weaving in and out of traffic, meeting up with friends, shooting photos and eating pizza. A lot of my favorite photos have been featured on my Photo Of The Week so you can check those out if you're interested in seeing more of them. Also, check out my INSTAGRAM.
A friend of mine was serious about this...
CUBA! After a lot of research, I made it to Cuba and it was everything I had imagined. A ton of new experiences and it was crazy seeing how this country had coped throughout the past 50 years in isolation. This place is a photographers dream! I've posted the first half of my Cuba blog but still have a ton of photos to post hopefully soon when my time frees up.
My biggest regret of 2016 was not getting this Fidel Castro doll...
2016 marked the 20th anniversary of myself doing tricks on the blades. A few years ago I had the idea to do an anniversary video and it finally came to fruition. This is one of my proudest moments in blading and I'm extremely happy with the way it came out. If you haven't seen it yet, be sure to check it out and also check out the write up I've done on the past 20 years of my life.
I discovered a new way to consume ketchup...
I had to urge to head out west to skate and see some friends who I haven't seen in a while. It's always nice visiting Los Angeles, especially when it's starting to get chilly back east.
I got to finally see the Conan O'Brien show, which I've been trying to do for almost 12 years:
I made it a full year with posting 1 photo per day on my Instagram page:
The year isn't over yet...for the second time in my life, I'm not spending New Years in NYC. I'm flying out today to spend the rest of the year and the first week of 2017 in Dubai. I don't like fireworks but I'm super excited to see the world's largest fireworks show for New Years Eve!
Wishing everyone a happy and safe new year and see you all in 2017!