I’ll be out of the office until Wednesday.  Troy and I are celebrating our 2 year anniversary … somewhere outside of Wisconsin :)

I’ll be answering super duper majorly important emails on my phone while away (as I am able) … and everything else I will respond to when I return.

My favorite photos of Troy & me, taken by none other than the lovely and amazing Gladys Jem.

You should probably have a rootbeer float :)

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about personal vision.  I’ve been taking a good look at the personal work I shoot in comparison to what I shoot for clients.  Where are the differences?  What are they?  And WHY are there differences?

If you can’t tell already, Gladys is one of my favorite subjects for shooting personal work.  I’m always inspired when I see her through my lens.

I always love an empty parking lot.  Woodman’s East on the 4th of July.  I started shooting Gladys.

Then Gladys grabbed my camera and started shooting me.

Gladys:  Put your arms like this (lifts arms up).

Me:  (Lifts arms up) I don’t know what this is…

Gladys:  Me either.

I returned from a trip to Southern California last week and I’m still settling-in to this fulltime photographer routine.  The hardest part is knowing when to stop, ironically.  Now that I actually have enough time to do everything, I just keep going and going anyway!

While on the west coast (my favorite), I got to spend time with some of my favorite people, including my brother, Nate.  It was awesome to see everyone … we had a great time despite the terrible weather.  My final night there Nate and I just drove up the coast toward Los Angeles — it was so neat to see the huge port and all the little beach neighborhoods and houses late at night on Tuesday … nobody was out.  We ate at Taco Surf, but mainly, we drove and drove.  Turns out we both love driving and driving … sometimes for hours.  Sometimes when I’m just feeling restless inside late at night … I’ll ask Troy if we can just drive.  And we do just that.  Good music and an endless road in front of us — love that.

There’s something about California that just gets to me every time.  The energy, laid-back and cool, is amazing.  Here are 24 frames from my little trip.  Of course, there are plenty of food photos: