I’m currently wrapping up one vacation and starting a second one (back-to-back). I am literally on the road writing this on my way from North Carolina where I spent a week relaxing with Jessop, Lauren, Mike, and Steph. We didn’t do a whole lot which was exactly what I was looking forward too. The drive down there went by fast as I slept most of the way (after a late night out the night before we left with my friend Evan).

From North Carolina

We went to a real grass putt putt range and the guy running it was originally from Maryland. He was a really awesome, laid back beach bum and we chatted with him for 30 minutes while we waited for the girls to return with our liquid refreshments for the course.

From North Carolina

We all worked on a pretty difficult puzzle for a few days (wild and crazy kids, I know) but it was a lot of fun working on it together. Another favorite of the week was Rock Band. Mike brought his Xbox and Rock Band setup and his HUGE collection of songs and we rocked out until the wee hours of the night/morning.

From North Carolina

From North Carolina

We also did a lot of hot tubbing and laying by the pool. The house was awesome complete with hammocks for napping and lots of porches to sit on and look out over the dunes and into the sky. I did take a short walk up to the beach one night and put my toes in the sand and surf but since I really hate putting on sun screen, I pretty much stayed to the house and shade.

From North Carolina

Jessop and Lauren kept us fed with delicious food all week including roasted free range chicken, bison burgers, chicken chili, and pasta with bison meat balls. It was great not having to worry about what/where to eat and leaving it all to them.

From North Carolina

I also had quite a bit of editing of photos to do on this trip. It has been a very busy time for taking portraits. I had 13 photo sessions scheduled between July 4th and July 17th. It was a lot of fun doing all of those sessions and getting ready for them. I’ve been going through the photos (all 2400 of them) and editing them and culling them. I’ve been really happy with the way that they have turned out. I’ve been spending time during my vacation editing the photos and getting them ready for everyone.

Steph has been doing the blog posts for me for my site to off load some of the work and it’s been a real big help.

Here are some photo sessions that have been posted lately:

It’s been a while since I posted on here so I have a lot to catch you up on.

The first thing I will go back to is my 29th birthday. I’m not a huge fan of my birthday for some reason and it has nothing to do with being almost 30, it’s just this weird awkwardness I have when getting all the attention that I get. My family is really cool about birthdays though and they always have at least a little something for you whether you want it or you think you don’t

From My 29th Birthday

For my birthday, my parents and my grandparents pitched in and got me a Wacom Intuos 4 input tablet. This lets me use a pen like device to draw and edit my photos. The nice thing is that I got the medium size so it’s portable with my laptop and I can edit pretty much anywhere, even in the car (as a passenger, not as a driver). I love the new features of the tablet including the 8 programmable buttons down the side and the jog wheel for controlling zoom and brush sizes. It has made my editing much easier than using the touch pad on my macbook.

From My 29th Birthday

This past weekend was very busy but a lot of fun. On Saturday, I had a full day of photo sessions starting with some test sessions from my model search. I had two very cute and polite boys come in for a test session and they were an absolute pleasure. You can read more about them on my other blog here: Shawn Grimes Photography.

Carla, a neighbor, came over with her kids after the test sessions for a mini session too. That was a lot of fun. Her children are all amazing, she has 5 of them and they are the most well behaved children I have ever known. They are so helpful and polite and just a pleasure to be around, it’s very impressive. I will post some of those pictures when I am finished editing them.

After Carla, Sami came over for a secret session. She wasn’t in a good mood when she got there but she did a great job during her session and her mood picked up. We did 6 scenes with her which is really a large number. But it was a lot of fun. After her session, Andy and Niki, Sami’s parents, hung out for dinner and chatting. It was a good finish to a busy day.

On Sunday, I met Evan down in Hampden for Honfest. It was really crowded but still a lot of fun. I couldn’t stay long because I was going to the No Doubt concert afterwards and had to leave at 3:30 but I had fun while I was there.

From No Doubt Concert

So after Honfest, Steph, Courtney and I headed down to Nissan Pavilion in Virginia to see No Doubt. It was a great concert. The Sounds opened for No Doubt and I got to meet them after their set. It was really cool. No Doubt was awesome, I’ve always liked their music but their live show is just full of energy. It was great.

From No Doubt Concert

So this is a combination post to share my 52 week photo from last week and to announce that I’ve resumed my Street Performer Photo Project after a winter hibernation.

My photo this week (Week # 14) is of performer Laura Ernst. She auditioned at the Harborplace Street Performer auditions over the weekend. You can read more about the street performer auditions over at Shutter On The Street.