In November I took a risk. I wrote an essay and sent it to a photographer whose work I am in complete and utter awe of, and gulped. I asked the universe for help, I hoped. I dreamed. I crossed all my fingers and toes and prayed. And in January, the universe answered. I was chosen to attend Clayton Austin‘s first ever Share The Goodness: An Inspiration Shop and I was floored. Excited. Scared. Crazy nervous. I can’t explain why Clayton chose me as an attendee – the essay? Perhaps. My photography? Maybe. But what I can tell you is that in one single day (and two fleeting evenings) my life was forever changed. Not only was I given the opportunity to learn from an incredible photographer, but I was in a studio with some of the most amazing people I have had the pleasure of meeting – talented, humble, funny, candid, amazing people – photographers – who...
my own skin
The journey to this moment started over a year ago with a wordpress site — complete with my very own domain name, and a made-by-me custom header. Although everyone I asked said wordpress was the way to go, and the only way to have a truly professional site, something about it didn’t feel right. After less than a month I scrapped the site and ran back to blogger. Blogspot was what I knew – my personal blog has been on blogger for years – and it was safe there. Comfortable. Easy. So I traded in the boring (and, in the interest of full disclosure, terribly ugly) basic wordpress theme for a somewhat custom blog. The template I bought had blue damask wallpaper and typewriter-esque font, and I had a very new (very blue) safety net of epic proportions. I built myself a mediocre version of the status quo. I hated it. Even...
moving silence
I traveled to Austin at the end of January for a photography workshop, my first, and a dear (new) friend of mine was also an attendee. (More on the workshop, later!) On our first evening in town, in an attempt to shake off the oh-my-god-this-is-my-first-workshop-ever-what-if-everyone-hates-me nerves, Kelsea and I found a parking lot. Filled with fog, street lights, and … her. I have always been drawn to fog. Its quiet majesty. The moving silence. Though I prefer fog during the dawn hours, that evening in a Cabela’s parking lot, south of Austin, Texas, was one of my favorites, ever. Kelsea, you’re beautiful, amazing, kind, talented, crazy, hilarious, and I hope you love these images. xo a...
One. Honest. Thing.
January is a time of reflection for most. I suppose it’s a time of reflection for me, too. I’d be lying if I said I haven’t spent the last two months entrenched in what has happened over the past year, and what I want to happen in the next. It’s consumed me, really. I have made so many lists: goals, to do, budget, more goals, making it happen, workshops, more to do, branding, more goals. Lists, lists everywhere; strung on walls, crumpled in trash cans, scratched into Anthropologie catalogs and Moleskines, on post it notes and fashion spreads. I have big plans for my business. Big dreams. I heard somewhere that if your dream doesn’t scare you, it’s not big enough. I assure you, my dream terrifies me. Wakes me up in the middle of the night sweating and gasping for air. What if it actually comes true? What if...
