Hello, Monday.

Prepare yourself– this is a long post with a lot of writing. 🙂

Those of you who know me know that I am mostly a full-time photographer, but that I also spend some time every week teaching an introduction class in the Digital Media Arts department of my local community college. I love it. It gives me the opportunity to get away from all the photo editing, emailing and other photo business stuff at my desk and to socialize with a bunch of open minds eager to learn. I love having the opportunity to share my knowledge with people who are interested…

Judgment Night movie

Having said that, Spring Break was last week and it was lovely! It came along at just the perfect time and so I seized the opportunity to take a break from working, much like the days when I was in college and not teaching it. I didn’t run off to Mexico. Actually, I never had that kind of Spring Break even in college. Instead, I hung out here in Southern California. I went to an Angels vs. A’s game — my first Major League Baseball game, which was really fun — even though I went with a huge A’s fan and the Angels won. Still a great experience.

I also went to Disneyland for the first time since I was 12! Yes– I live in Southern California and it’s been 12 years since my last trip to the happiest place on Earth. Here are some of the photos I snapped on my point-and-shoot while we were there. Obviously these don’t capture the magic that is Disneyland, but I spent less time taking photos and more time just enjoying my day there.

The Painted Veil movie full

To be honest, since it had been so long since my last trip, I don’t remember feeling like Disneyland was as super fantastical as everyone makes it out to be. But, once I walked through those gates last week, it hit me. It really is a magical place! I love the stories behind each ride and attraction. They have a unique ability to transport me back to a time when life was simple and I really thought Tinkerbell would one night fly into my room and sprinkle fairy dust on me so that I could fly away with Peter Pan.

I love the optimism that oozes out of everything in that place… it’s more than a theme park, it’s an amazing world where any dream can become reality (cheesy, I know) and it’s impossible to be angry or upset. I studied marketing communications in school and totally understand the corporate marketing machine behind everything Disney. But, inside those gates none of that mattered because I was so inspired by the atmosphere, the stories told, the utter happiness visible on every kid’s face- and every adult’s face, the tasty churros and the feeling I had for the 14 hours I spent there. Yes. Fourteen hours. 🙂

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Speaking of inspiration…

I was just catching up on my Google Reader– something I try to do whenever I get a spare moment at my computer. I follow so many different blogs — from photographers, to friends, to designers and just plain interesting people. Right now I have 989 unread posts… it’s unlikely I will be able to read all of those. One blog that I always turn to in times when I feel the need to read something deeply soulful and meaningful is by a fellow photographer named Jesh de Rox. He always has something beautiful and truly interesting to say about life. Today I read this from one of his recent posts and was inspired.

“i believe that who we are, that preciousness at the core of us, and the way we share it is has its own signature, as rare and perfect as a fingerprint.”

Yup. Inspirational, for sure.

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In other news, I did a Just for Fun shoot with my friend Laurel this weekend. The plan was to do an amazingly fun portrait session out in the vibrant poppy fields… but the poppies are lackluster this year and we happened to choose the windiest

day of the year. So, the shoot didn’t go as fabulously as planned, but I did manage to get a few fun shots.

I’ll be trying out this setup again in less windy conditions. How cool is that old phone that my mom let me borrow for the shoot??

Spun movies

We tried to do some fun stuff with the umbrella… didn’t turn out how I envisioned, but it’s good evidence of the wind we were dealing with.

And that’s about it! Hope you all had a great Monday! Mine was fabulous except for the part where I had to send in my tax returns along with with the payments to Uncle Sam… grr.

Now, bring on Tuesday! 🙂