My goals for 2013 were to take as many photos as possible and to enjoy weekends off with Jeffery for the first time. Looking back, it was an incredible year. I experienced a lot of professional growth and am grateful for all of the beautiful people who got in front of my lens. I feel really lucky to be pursuing my passion.
(Click any image below to see the original post)
In January I visited my parents in Hawaii and Jeffery and I spent our first wedding anniversary apart. When I was there, I did portrait sessions with both my mom and dad and had my first child portrait shoot with Miss Maile. It was that session that reaffirmed my love for photographing children and inspired me to pursue a career in family portraiture.
In the Spring we enjoyed a weekend wine tasting with good friends friends in Napa, where I bought a hat and took lots of photos.
For my 25th birthday, Jeffery and I celebrated with a getaway weekend to Anderson Valley. We stayed at the Boonville Hotel, took a day trip to Mendocino, hiked through redwood trees to the Navarro River, wine tasted at Toulouse Vineyard, toured the Philo Apple farm, beer tasted at the Anderson Valley Brewing Company, and dined at Table 128. It was the best birthday I have ever had. The bar is pretty high for next year.
In April I had my first paying gig and photographed this little lady's 4th birthday party. (I shot a total of six kiddo birthday parties in 2013!)
In May, with the help of my mother and grandmother, I coordinated a Russian Easter Celebration with family and friends. I also launched my new website (!) and for Memorial Day we went camping with friends on the Eel River.
In June we went up to Willits again for Jeffery's ten-year high school reunion and then ventured to Grass Valley where our friends Jen and James got married!
In July, my friend Sadie and I road tripped to Colorado, where we stayed at her grandparent's ranch in Grand Junction and visited Aspen and the Telluride Bluegrass Festival. It was so interesting to see how the light and Colorado landscape differ from California.
In August I was hired to work as a photographer at Dead on the Creek, a three day music festival up in Mendocino County.
Over Labor day, we camped on the banks of Blue Lake in the Tahoe National Forest with some of our favorite people. It was where I did my first engagement session with our friends Josh and Katie. I didn't take any other photos that weekend, I felt the need to be present and experience it through my eyes instead of through a viewfinder. It was also so beautiful that I didn't think my camera could do it justice. I hope over time I won't regret taking more photos. If the memories fade, we'll just have to make some more. :)
This year I shared ten family sessions, and was able to shoot another six that never made it on the blog. I loved working so much this fall.
I had four fashion shoots with beautiful friends who got all dolled up for me. It was fun creating beautiful images together, collaborating with other creatives is so different than photographing children.
In the new year I intend to be more organized with my business goals, to plan ahead and ask for help more often. Reaching out is challenging for me, but always worth it.
I want to say yes to new adventures, while working and saving towards buying a home.
I want to continue working at creating balance. I want to breathe deeper and have more patience.
I want to cook more and go on more hikes.
I am not going to be intimidated by the unknown. I am going to face things head on and learn from my experiences.
I want to have more conversations. Life keeps getting better, and I have all of you to thank for that. So thank you. I am very excited for 2014.
P.S. Highlights from 2012