Italia: Adventure in Portofinio & Florence.

24 Hours in Marseille 
     
       We got tired of Spain and decided that I had enough time left before I had to be back in Paris, to drive to Italia and spend a few days. We drove from Barcelona to Marseille, where we spent one night to catch up on sleep and divide up the driving time. I woke up early and explored the nearby streets in search for a bakery, once I located one, I was presented with a weird situation. Before I knew what exactly was going on, I had a homeless (Maybe Gypsy) women hanging on me, sobbing in French that she was hungry, not knowing what to do, I bought her a chocolate croissant, shook her off my leg, and headed back to the hostel.

Espana: San Sebastian & Barcelona.

   

 After a little to long of being cooped up in Arthur's flat, the second that the car was fixed, we eagerly set off for our next adventure. Arthur had heard a lot of talk about San Sebastian so we decided we would go there. The spontaneous-ness was beautiful but little did we realize what our lack of planning was getting us into.

Colomiers

Aug 10 - 15 2013 - Directly After Paris.

       Arthur has been living in Colomiers (which is a suburb of Toulouse) for the past eight months, apprenticing with a two Michelin star restaurant to pursue his dream of cooking and his love of food. We ended up staying at his flat for five days for some needed rest and due to the fact that his car battery had completely died and didn't want to be revived. During these five days we explored much of Toulouse, ate some amazing homemade sandwiches, grudgingly shared one computer, and watched to much YouTube. So basically we didn't accomplish much of anything, but we got to recharge ourselves.

Paris: The City of Lights & The Beginning.

Before Departure,

       I was determined to pack everything for my three week trip into a carry on bag. Why not just check a bag? ... because I didn't want to have to deal with the anxiety of rechecking my bags during my short one hour layover in Miami. And also the jet I was taking from Paris to Toulouse wanted an arm and a leg as payment for checking bags & I valued my limbs to much.

Pre-France.

11 days left. 

       Eleven days until I leave the country for the first time, step onto foreign land & see my best friend who has been tucked away in the south of France apprenticing with a chef for the past eight months. Eleven days until I start living my dream.
       Anyone who has known me over the past six years has known a wide eyed, rambling girl, who will talk to anyone who will listen about her dreams of traveling the world, photographing other cultures & experiencing everything foreign lands have to offer her.
       Soon enough I will start the adventure i've been loosing sleep over ever since the tickets were finalized. In the mean time i've been doing more research than is healthy. Packing and then repacking my bags. And spending to much time indulging in my picky eating habits (because I know all my food particularities & picky-ness will not be aloud once I step off that plane) while watching every episode of 'New Girl' & 'How I Met Your Mother'.

BTS of my recent self portrait.

       It's been a long time since i've done a serious self portrait. I forgot how therapeutic it can be & I will start taking them more regularly, like I use to! Above are all of the shots I liked from the series.

Tybee & Savannah.

  (June)    

       So much has happened the past few months. They have been filled with some of the hardest times but are undoubtedly some of the best of months my life thus far. I hopped in a car with a bunch of unshaven band members, drove to Tennessee and had a crazy, shower-less, loud weekend. I fought, I forgave, and I was forgiven. I learned how to bake pastries & what good produce is suppose to taste like. I learned how to dance. I escaped to Tybee and Savannah for a weekend camping trip. I spent another week getting all of the sand out of my hair. I got my first passport. I lost in chess, lost in pool and got covered in acrylic paint. I drove to Texas where I rode on a mechanical bull, went to a rodeo, and wake surfed, shook my butt at a honky tonk, and then my uncle entertained everyone by riding on a unicycle with sparklers in his mouth. I received the hardest news of my life. I cried until I couldn't physically cry any longer, then when I could, I cried again. I bought my tickets for my France trip and am about to embark on a journey i've been dreaming of ever since I promised a dear friend I would fly out to France and visit him, a promise I didn't think I could gather the funds for but ended up doing it.

Here are photographs from a weekend spent camping on Tybee Island & Savannah. 

Tennessee.

(May)
This road trip marks the start of my summer.
Somehow speakers, an entire drum set & guitars, plus three other passengers and myself squeezed into my mini van and trekked up to Tennessee. Our Iphones didn't have service most of the drive and we relied on a map that was based off of loose landmarks to get us to the camp sight. We drove through some of the cutest american towns i've ever seen in my entire life. Towns where there's still arrowhead ands and civil war bullets in the ground and tree trunks. (*speaking of which anyone want to do a mini road trip to take some photographs of these places?*)
We arrived at the camp grounds with enough day light to explore the grounds and meet new people. That night was fun, it consisted of human chicken fights, sparklers, live music by my friends the Blackwater Creek boys. I ended up making friends with someone who had a tent, early on in the night, and helping them set it up in exchange for me getting a sliver of it to sleep in! Which ended up being a lifesaver seeing as it apocalyptically stormed for hours and hours during the night and I was lucky enough to stay dry. All in all it was a fantastic, shower-less, coffee out of a pot over a campfire, port-a-potty type of weekend.

Here is a before & after for the photograph I released today!
Its just a simple self portrait, but I thought that it was a perfect example of the power & impact Curves in Photoshop can have on an image. I achieved this image by using Curves, Layer Masks & a small amount of Gradient Maps.
I am currently working on my own color study (because i'm a black & white fanatic). So i'm pushing myself to get out of my comfort zone color wise. So far I am extremely happy with the results!

Feb 20 2013:

I live in good ol' suburbia, twenty minutes from the hustle and bustle of Atlanta. It's been a while since I've gone and done any exploring, gotten out of my comfort zone, or tried anything new. So these past few days I made a promise to travel out of my usual 15 mile radius and do something different!

Sunday morning I traded my warm bed for the cold air, me and my good friend decided to take a hike up to The Indian Seats, A 3.5 mile round trip path that led us to the top of this mountain overlooking beautiful farm land and rolling hills. I trekked my camera up to top only to find that there wasn't a memory card in it (lesson learned - ALWAYS make sure your memory card is in your camera before a shoot - 2nd to a charged battery). So we ended up snapping some Iphone & Instagram shots instead. The hike was well worth it and it got both of our endorphins moving!

"Today is the first day of the rest of my life."

That quote has been a part of my life for the past four years now. I remember sitting on my kitchen counter in our old apartment watching my mother write it on one of her paintings. Since then it has held a role in my life, some days in the most subtle and unique ways.
Today is the first day of the rest of my life.
I recently released my website, and i've been revamping my entire image as a photographer. Using social media, marketing, and this world I have at my finger tips to my advantage.
This blog will be used for posts on my recent photo shoots, behind the scene photos, tutorials, and occasionally a snippet of my writing or other creative outlets.
Thank You for coming along this journey with me, I promise it'll be fun!