Hey all - I am so incredibly stoked this week! I am launching my new website, just ordered business cards, and in a few days I have photos in my very first art show! How legit am I? Haha, just kidding - this is only the beginning of so much to come, but I'd say this is a start toward legit! :)

Anyway - I got the opportunity to collaborate with several other artists for an art show, A Decadent Illusion, at The Belamar Hotel in Manhattan Beach, put on by Beau Robinson of Twisted Fist Gallery. We'll be putting our various art forms on display on Wednesday, June 3rd from 5-9pm at The Second Story bar. I am struggling with how to appropriately convey my excitement about this to the rest of the world. My roommates were cracking up when I got my prints in the mail from Aluminyze the other day. I may as well have been a kid in a candy shop with the wide eyes and grin from ear to ear I had goin' on. I'm such a dork, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

A few months ago Beau asked me if I wanted to display some photos in the next show he put together. I have to admit, there was a rush of emotion going through me and about a thousand different thoughts. I felt extremely honored to have been asked to join in on an art show, extremely unprepared to show any work or present myself professionally, extremely nervous to finally stick my neck out and see how people react to my photos, extremely excited that this means I would finally be doing it... the list goes on. Now, here I am, putting the last minute touches on everything and ready to go!

A Decadent Illusion has been the perfect kick in the butt to get me going. I have loved photography since I can remember - always stealing my parents' cameras as a kid and constantly carrying around a disposable kodak. In high school I envied my friends who took photography as an elective, wishing I would just stop being a nerd for a semester and give up one of my college application stuffers to have some fun, learn something other than traditional curriculum, and do something I loved doing. Alas, I went for the bookworm option instead. College went the same way for the most part. I was able to sneak in some valuable classes such as Ballroom Dancing and Sailing, but by then I was way too intimidated to enroll in a photography class. I figured those were for kids who had been on this course all along, and I would just be that idiot who didn't know what I was doing. So, here I am, being that idiot now instead of years ago.

I was only allowed to submit 6 photos for this show, which may have been one of the more intensely mulled over decisions of my post-graduate life, let me tell you. I'm really happy with the ones I picked, however. Three are from a trip to New Zealand while on summer break from college and joined by some good friends from back home. That was right after I got my Nikon. I treated it like gold back then, and was ridiculously nervous about bringing it anywhere with me - as if someone was going to snatch it from around my neck or I would hurt it somehow just by carrying it. Any who - thus is the beginning of the next step in my photography life. I distinctly remember showing one of my best friends my photos when I got back, and him trying his darnedest to convince me I had potential. I wanted to believe him, but dismissed it on the surface as an under-deserved compliment and kept it tucked away as a planted seed for my future. Two of my other photos were taken on a trip to Costa Rica. Coincidentally with the same friend who had seen my New Zealand photos and encouraged me to pursue photography all those years back. He patiently waited and explored with me as I wandered about the countryside, view finder glued to my eyeball. The final shot I have in this collection is from a trip to Alaska with my good friend and former coworker and boss, Paleo Nick. I posted this photo on Instagram when I got back and uploaded it onto my Twenty20 page as well and was selected to be in the signature collection. You could say it was my first social media success, so add that to the beauty of the landscape and my memories tied with the trip and it earned its spot in the show.

While I am really excited for this show and the launch of my site, I beg you to bear with me for a little bit. This site is going to be a work in progress for the foreseeable future, as I add new collections to the gallery and eventually figure out how to sell prints in the store. Stay tuned and follow me on Instagram and Twenty20 for new content as well. Hope to see you at the art show!