"Offseason in Truro," Cape Cod, January 2011

Left behind, originally uploaded by DC Products.

As a vacation destination, Cape Cod gets its share of visitors from Memorial Day through Labor Day. But it's a different scene in the middle of winter. Cottages are boarded up, stores are closed for the season, roads are empty and the restaurants that are open are more than happy to see you.

Sometimes you just have to get away, and with a friend housesitting in the woods on the outer Cape this month, my wife and I were more than happy to visit her on a cold January weekend. The signs in front of these North Truro cottages said "See you in May!" and the beach was empty, the waves lapping at the steps that lead down to the water and the wind leaving the sand flat and undisturbed.

"Edie's, Little Silver," New Jersey, October 2010

Edie's, Little Silver, originally uploaded by DC Products.

I love this little luncheonette in my hometown. It's a nice little slice of suburbia. I wrote more about it here.

New Year's Eve timelapse

New Year's Eve timelapse, originally uploaded by DC Products.

For my second timelapse (here's the first), I set up my camera in a corner of the living room on New Year's Eve. My wife and I were in the Boston suburb of Milton, Mass., staying with my college roommate, Bryan, and his husband for their annual party. Casey and I have gone up for several years now, so it's become a great tradition we both enjoy.

My first thought was to set up the camera in the kitchen to document Casey's preparations for the party (it's her thing), but there was no out-of-the-way place to set up the tripod. This spot in the living room was the next-best thing, because it shows the path to the kitchen through the dining room and also contains the TV, where we all gathered at midnight.

The music for this version is Frightened Rabbit's "Extrasupervery," chosen for the simple fact that it was the only song on my computer that came close to the 87-second length of the video. All the rest of my music was on an external hard drive at home, and I didn't feel like shortening a different track. (When I posted the video to YouTube, I just went with one of the tracks available on that site.)