I spent the last few days in New Mexico, a trip that involved a lengthy list of unexpected surprises.
The impetus for the trip was my long held desire to see White Sands. It was worth every obstacle (and there were many) to spend a couple hours in the gypsum.
First, it was Grommit. Then it was the engagement. And then, finally, it was the wedding.
Thanks, Audrey + Andy for making me a part of your big day. And congratulations!
Thanks also the unbelievably fabulous wedding planner, Ashley, of Table 6 Productions. You are amazing!
When I was six years old I made a bet with my uncles that I would eventually win with no contest. They bet me $100 each that by the time I was sixteen I would be more interested in boys than horses. By the time I was sixteen I was at the barn more than I was home (and that includes sleeping hours), I had yet to even notice there was another gender wandering the earth that I would one day find attractive, and I was $200 richer. This obsession with horses – and obsession it was – started about as soon as I was able to formulate thoughts and was nurtured in those early years by a grandfather who was an excellent horseman, a friendship with Lauren who was equally infatuated, and the Thoroughbred series. Thanks to Joanna Campbell, author of A Horse Called Wonder, that fateful first book that hooked me, I decided early on that I would be a jockey. That dream was eventually slashed but not before I collected every Breyer my allowance would cover and spent months creating and documenting imaginary horses with imaginary bloodlines that I dutifully kept organized in an accordion file folder.
I spent last weekend in San Diego with the express purpose of shooting a wedding with the talented Justin, and the added bonus of a whole day at the Del Mar Racetrack. The six year old in me was in heaven.
If you have a friend who owns a Ricky Bobby outfit, and another friend who lets you dress her up in ludicrous ensembles, and both of those friends will spend two hours in Commerce City allowing you to photograph them in said garb, I think you pretty much have to take advantage of that.
I sometimes get tripped up by the professional-versus-personal blogging boundary, but this is a topic I most definitely want to share with you all. Sadly, I cannot divulge all the details. Some people have real jobs and real employers and real concerns about the public nature of the internet. I never have been particularly good at keeping secrets, but if there ever was a place to avoid barfing out secrets, it’s on the internet. Someday in the not-too-distant future I’ll be free to divulge whatever I please. In the meantime here’s what I can say: In the company of good friends, human and canine alike, Roux and I will be undertaking a journey. We will leave Denver in mid-September and return to these parts mid-December just in time for the Christmas rush, that frantic photo-taking that has become as much a part of my holiday tradition as spiked eggnog, or intensive one-on-one time with certain family members, or any other tradition that is both taxing and gratifying.
We will drive from Denver to Juneau, Alaska and then Southwards via the coast all the way into Mexico. In addition to a myriad of smaller towns we will be passing through the likes of Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, San Fransisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, and various destination spots in Mexico. I am booking a select number of shoots along that route so if you or someone you know is interested have them contact me. If you are in Denver and want to get something set up before mid September, or in December, contact me soon as I have just a few spots left.
And if you are located somewhere are along that route and would like to meet for a drink or have an object you would like Roux to balance on her head, let’s make it happen. We would love any insider tips on places to see or to stay.
We will be blogging, an online diary that promises to be unabashedly more ridiculous than this blog could ever hope to be. I’ll be posting links.
In the meantime, Roux has been put in charge of route planning. Unlike me she has an admirable patience for logistics.
