so many things - *warning* long post

It has been quite some time since I have posted a blog. I have been pretty crazy busy. I took a trip back home to Michigan to surprise my mother. Then took a roadtrip south with my friend Lance and have settled back in Nashville to be greeted by my friend Lisa who just moved here. I just know there are lots of good things that are going to come from her living here now. Shes an explosion of excitement to say the least. I have also gotten my personal work site up and running which displays some of the things I do outside of The Sleeping Collective.

Trip Home

I took a trip home to see my family, some friends and get a photoshoot in with an old highschool friend who wanted her daughters 6 month photos taken. This was my first actual shoot with a baby. It was great to see my family and the surprise look on my mothers face when I stepped into the house was priceless. I also was greeted by my hyper-spastic dog whom I miss very much and cannot wait to take her back with me.

I managed to get a shot of her in the yard.




Road Trip

The road trip took off Thursday and lasted a week. We stayed at a mobile home in Alabama to a kick ass unit above a yoga business in New Orleans to sleeping in the xB in parking lots to couches in Arkansas to finishing up the trip in an apartment in Memphis. We took the backroads as much possible; Driving through broken down towns, open roads and coast lines. I didn't get nearly as many shots as I was expecting to before the trip started. I was just enjoying the trip as a whole and although we came across some great sites...I wasn't intrigued as much as I thought I would be to capture this trip through my lens. We explored some of the damaged homes and the lackluster "beaches" in Mississippi. Along the way we made sure to stop at as many thrift stores as we could handle. I got some pretty good finds but all in all I was a tad bit disappointed.
The highlight of the trip by far was our stay in New Orleans. We were quite lucky to stay with a girl named Paige and her sister. Her place was amazing to say the least. It was pretty much exactly the type of place I would want to live in. It was full of character. There were big open windows, old hardwood floors, arched entryways, old tiles, the list goes on and on. She was our own personal tour guide through the city. We had a non-stop two days from the minute we got there. It was also our luck to happen to visit the weekend of Indie Rock Fest. We were able to see some very talented bands. I had no idea there was even and indie scene in New Orleans. Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised. There was so much about the city I enjoyed. Lance made a nice blog about our trip as well on his site if you would like a little more detail. The overall experience was one I will never forget and I hope to be able to visit New Orleans again soon.

We capped off the trip with a overnight stay in Memphis where we visited the Civil Rights Museum. This was quite an experience. There was a lot more to this movement that I had realized and it was well worth it to see. Lance was more eager to go there than I was but in the end I'm glad we went.

Personal Works Blog

Lastly, I am just wanting to let everyone know that I have started a new blog site that I will use to post my personal work. In other words, the site will be an outlet to display some of the things I'm doing that are outside of my freelance business. I invite you all to check it out as it will be updated frequently with new photos, designs, paintings and things of that nature. Feel free to add me to your blogs and please leave comments or critiques on any of my posts.

You can see my site HERE or in the "find me" section of this blog.