On June 12, 2010, lots of family and friends gathered at the Grove Park Inn in Asheville, NC to celebrate Carly & Keyes's long awaited wedding. It was beautiful, and even though my photos didn't capture half of it, I think they still speak for themselves. The talented Neal Slimick was their official photographer, so check out his site for more photos! (Sidenote: the last photo was actually taken by my best friend's fiance/my roomie & honorary brother, Dan - credit given where credit is due!)

As my laptop dies, I move out of my house, and my school year comes to a close, I found myself looking at old pictures. I hope I can get that energy and joy back now that I'm a free woman for the summer. Will be posting another blog with more old photos as soon as I get a new charger.

I've been wildly busy lately inside of all the end-of-semester chaos, pulling more all-nighters than one ever should, but I did get to do a photo shoot for an upcoming album a couple of weeks ago. Stephanie Nash, a local singer-songwriter, recently got a deal with ASU's record label Split Rail Records. Check out her music and don't forget to check back, as we have more plans in the future.

Spring break has come and gone, but with the break in the monotonous winter weather, I don't see why this entry shouldn't be titled as such, especially since all the photos come from the break allocated me by ASU. One comes from an especially sunny day, when the shadows were begging me to come play with them. The others, a trip to Ikea - a task that might seem mundane but was not because of the lovely females I went with. The last is of myself, playing with radial blur. Check out my Tumblr, WordPress, and website gallery for more. I can't wait until May when I can focus on my artistic creativity and these sites instead of constant assignments that box my mind into a corner.

It's no secret that everyone has been getting blasted with snow. I saw on the news the other day that Mobile, Alabama had its first measurable snow since 1998. Boone is no different, as we are normally calf-deep in snow 'til at least March. But this year, we have been hit with a total of 61.9" as of Feb. 14, and it's still going outside of my window right now. We were recently attacked by a blizzard that got classes here cancelled for TWO days in a row, something I have never experienced nor heard of since my move up here. What you see below is the storm door of my best friend's house. Both the inside (left side of the photo) and the outside (right) were covered in these weird puzzle piece-like blobs of snow. We waited that one out with a lot of N64 playing...

I've been going through a lot in my personal life and it's been draining me mentally, which always seems to flare my creativity. The sad thing is, I'm normally lacking in energy because of it all. Well, the other day I was looking through old photos, and I found one I'd taken at the beach in 2005 on my first point and shoot (a Cybershot, one fancier and sleeker than the model I have now), and I remembered why I believe in myself when it comes to taking photos. Other people might not understand my style or my subjects or a million other choices I make when it comes to my art, but I do, and that's all that matters. So here is the photo that brought back my confidence in myself. Hopefully many more entries to come...

Major Magick, the amazing band to which I believe I've become the photo groupie (okay, they're also my friends), performed on Saturday, January 16 at Boone Saloon, an awesome bar here in Boone. These photos speak for themselves. I barely touched them in Photoshop because I really kind of like the way untouched photos look - I feel like I did more to capture the moment by being there and clicking that shutter button when it felt right rather than by making the moment later on some software. This is a group shot, the rest will be on my Wordpress (here!) by tomorrow.

I've been working on all of my sites lately to give them more of my personal style. Of course, it's hard to do that using templates that I didn't create (or commission to create) myself, but I think I've found a couple that fit who I am and what I'm trying to accomplish with my sites. This entry is a test of sorts, one that I am using to try a new technique for presenting photos. If I like it, all future entries will follow the same format. I'll be keeping my older entries up regardless, and may even update them to the new style.

I didn't mean to actually be artsy with the disposable camera I bought in Charleston in October, but there's just something about film - especially printed on matte, gritty paper instead of glossy - that just gives off a vintage, timeless feel. Classic is artistic to me. Agree or disagree, here's a a digital photo (designed to look like a Polaroid) and film photo that I think invoke a different time.

I used free actions (Polaroid) and frames (film) online - I simply typed in free photoshop frames and the results were on the first page!

I took this photo in August or September. I can't remember when, but I remember feeling like it was past sunflower season & was glad to find all of the colorful flowers still intact. Currently in the midst of exam week...

Check out my Wordpress, as that has been updated a couple of times over the last couple of months. Will have more photos on both sites soon. Last exam: Dec. 15!!!

All personal comments of this game aside, my co-worker & friend Christy and I drove down to Charleston, SC last Sunday on assignment for The Appalachian to shoot our Mountaineers play the Bulldogs. The game was close, so close that overtime was required. ASU won the coin toss and smartly decided to play defense first, blocking the Citadel's attempt at extra points. Jason Vitaris kicked the Mountaineers game-winning field goal shortly after. Side note: it was so wildly hot during this game that our team required some extra assistance at cooling off (note the big misting fans).

Sadly, school has been back in session for two weeks (sans this Labor Day holiday) and summer is quickly coming to its close up here in the Blue Ridge. The September air already has a bite to it, reminding all of us how harsh this winter may be. In the mean time, here's a scattering of end of summer photos from July & August, spanning from my garden to Virginia, to a rowdy night of music in Blowing Rock, and finally to the Watauga County Farmer's Market.

Major Magick headed on the road to Southern Pines (or some other nearby city - the confusion of that day makes the actual location of the gig quite foggy now) on July 5th for a soul show of sorts. The band played a lot of old greats & the audience ate it up. Though it was sweltering and nothing seemed to be going right, the boys pulled it off as usual. And yes guys, I have a picture of all 5 of you... at one time. By the way, the nearly identical dancing couples were getting down to a nearly 7 minute version of "Let's Get It On!"

After a long hiatus, I'm back and with more photos than ever. There's a stockpile just longing to be put on this blog & now that I finally have the Internet, a flow of posts will be up very soon!
Nestled in downtown Asheville, NC, a gathering occurs every year. For the past 31 years, the Bele Chere festival has taken over the historic downtown of the mountain city for a weekend. Sheila and I headed down to the celebration with her family in tow to take in the art, music, people, and atmosphere - my favorite part is always the smell of the food, even if I never choose to indulge in any. These, again, were taken on my Cybershot as it is easier than lugging around the Nikon, especially when the buildings force strangers closer to one another than is the norm.