the next adventure...

Next step in this crazy adventure called life: we're going on the road!  We bought an old RV and are driving out to the sunny west coast to chase the sunshine and connect with some friends & family....yep,  just like your retired grandparents ;)As of now, we're planning to be on the road for most of January, February, and at least part of March.

We have so many fun spots we'd like to stop at along the way!  Although we do have a general idea of dates, we're not going to be super strict about which exact days in which locations.  Why not?  Well, that depends, in part, on YOU!

If you live in or relatively near-ish any of these spots along the way, I'd love to do a session with you!  Or, have you always wanted to have a session in one of these spots, and want to meet me out there?

Or, I'd love to meet you for coffee... or park our RV in your driveway for a day or two....or have you tell me about your favorite local thing to see or do.  If I end up with tons of people in a similar area wanting sessions, we'll stay there for a bit longer.  Yay!

Here's a rough estimate of our driving plan, so far:

If there's enough interest,  we may consider heading up farther north towards Washington & Oregon after March 7th :)  So if you're interested in a session along the way, get in touch!

If you're a current client, you can still order prints, albums, and graduation announcements and schedule your session for the future, just like always.  And for those of you staying in Colorado, I promise lots of updates as we hit the road!

hawaii & my 30th birthday.

So it's official.  I am now officially old... which is actually totally fine by me.  I had way more fun in my 20's than I did in my teens, and I had way more fun in my late 20's than I did in my early 20's, so I'm just going to go ahead and assume that my 30's will be off the freaking hook.Thanks to frequent flyer miles, we headed to Hawaii in March for my birthday, and stayed with one of our best friend from Buena Vista, who now lives on the big island.  I've been to the big island before but haven't spent a ton of time there until now.  We totally fell in love with it! Nowhere near as touristy as the other islands, and everything is so green and rural - there are tons of big plantations and family farms.  The whole island (Hilo included) is so laid-back, friendly, slow-paced, and quiet.  I loved it!

Yep, this is still Hawaii... the  view from the Keck Observatory on the top of Mauna Kea!

Hiking Hi'ilawe Falls in the Waipi'o Valley:

Now, the really awesome bit.  Here's what we did for the actual day of my birthday:

1) The night before, try to sleep a little bit.  Not very successful.

2) Get up around 1:30 / 2 am

3) Drive a few hours towards Hilo

4) Park and start hiking another few hours across crazy sharp lava flows in the dark

5) Find the point where lava is still actively flowing into the ocean

6) Sit and wait for the sun to come up

7) Drink champagne

8) Hike back, find a greasy breakfast joint, drive back, pass out around 1/2pm.

Please ignore the cheesy white shoes.  I didn't bring anything other than sandals, not realizing we were going to be doing so much epicness - so, on the drive down to Volcano, I stopped and bought the cheapest pair of closed-toed shoes I could find.  $4.99 at WalMart, baby!  Glad I did - that lava was SHARP.  One of the craziest parts of this whole hike was feeling the ground beneath my feet start to get warmer as we got closer to the active lava.  I knew we were getting really close when we could see steam coming up from these huge fissures in the ground.  Nope, my shoes didn't melt, but for a while I was sure they were going to.

Pretty epic, if I do say so myself :)

adventures in africa : part five (safari and giraffe manor)

Man... it's hard to write this final post about Africa, because then it feels like the trip is truly over.  The last few days of the trip, as we were all starting to make our separate ways home, Cyndi and I decided to go on a safari.  Now, I am no wildlife photographer, and I have to confess that, although many photographers would dream about shooting in Maasai Mara Park, I thought it sounded interesting, but... I shoot people.  How exciting can a safari be?Boy was I wrong.  It's seriously like the Lion King, as soon as you drive into the park.  I was surprised to see that we didn't have to go looking for animals or make any sort of effort to track them down.  Just a thousand animals, all hanging out together, with zero fear or skittishness around the safari vans.  Also, the several-hour drive from Nairobi to the Mara gave me lots of opportunities to shoot some street scenes out of the windows :)

We spent three days on the safari and stayed at a camp / lodge on the outskirts of the park.  Late one evening, we were sitting in our room and I heard a soft thump on the window, right behind my head.  It almost sounded like a dog jumping up to try to peek through the window, like my dog often does.  Curious, I stepped outside to see what it was.  Um, yes, it was monkeys.  Monkeys, robbing all of the rooms of their food.  I watched this guy and three of his monkey friends jump in and out of our neighbor's window, stealing all of their granola bars and chocolate bars, one by one.  Seriously, one was even keeping watch while the other ones ransacked the place.  

Ostriches!

See?  Sunrise in Maasai Mara - exactly like the beginning of the Lion King.

When we got back to Nairobi, just a few hours before our plane left, I got to do one of the most epic things of my life.

Backstory: maybe two or three years ago, I came across this image on Tumblr.  I was so sure it was fake, a movie set or something, but I loved everything about it and saved it.  Fast forward a few years, and I decide to join Photographer's Vision for Africa and travel to Kenya.  While doing research for the trip, I came across the exact. same. image.  Wait, wait... this place is real?  I could not have been more excited.  Visiting Giraffe Manor quickly became my singular life goal, and it almost didn't happen (turns out you have to make reservations).  We finally made it in for high tea a few hours before our return flight to the States.  It was every bit as epic as I had imagined - moreso, even.  Everyone was so friendly, and we got unlimited tea, wine, and fancy pastries.  This place lives in my dreams.  Yes, that's me in the blue dress, sipping my coffee.

Craziness.  Africa, I love you!

sami & nick (texas bluebonnets engagement photography)

I loved getting to shoot Sami & Nick's engagement session in Wimberley, TX last week!  We had totally perfect weather, gorgeous blooming blue bonnets, and a beautiful sunset as well.  I can't wait for their wedding this summer!  We started out at a turquoise swimming hole called the Blue Hole:

Sami's engagement ring was her grandmother's.  I love it so much!

Love you guys!  Thanks for such a wonderful day :)

vegas gypsy style shoot: behind the scenes video

All this cold, snowy weather is making me miss the warm desert like crazy.  Here's a behind-the-scenes video I shot during our awesomely fun styled shoot in Las Vegas last month![vimeo 64251954 w=500 h=281]

Vegas Gypsy Style Shoot from Cedar House Cinema on Vimeo.