The Start Of A New Decade

Today is the beginning of a new decade for me.  I put out a list of 39 things I wanted to accomplish on my 39th year on this earth and I am proud to say that I completed most of them over the year.  Now on to a new decade of my life and more adventures to come.

Thank you to everyone who followed me on my crazy "driving around the USA in my tent adventures" for the past year, and the year before that.  It was an incredible few years and I hope to experience many more things to come.  As I did before, I will compile a list and share that with you.

As I mentioned, the past three years I have been wandering around the country with my dog, camera and tent.  I made the decision to go back to school for a year to see where that takes me.  I am always up for learning and it will keep me in the same place for a while.  This doesn't mean that I won't take a break for adventures here and there.  I plan to continue this roller coaster ride called life.

I look forward to more and sharing it here with you.

Adventures In Illinois

After I participated in the bike ride, there was much more fun to be had on my visit in Illinois.  I went to a local farmers market, watched the band "the pimps" perform, went to a concert on the grass at a winery and I photographed a senior portrait photo shoot with my friend Adriane's son, Jake.

I do appreciate it when my friends don't mind me showing up at the last minute to crash their plans and tag along for the adventure.  I tend to plan mostly day by day so I don't really know where I will end up and where I will be at any given time.  Lucky for me (not sure about Adriane), it was a weekend full of activities.

I had a great time doing a photo shoot with Jake. He chose the place to go which is a good thing since I had no idea where I was.  He plays the classical cello and wanted to include that in his shoot since it shows a part of who he is.  When I photograph people, I give very little direction on what I want them to do so they can look as natural as possible.  Being in front of a camera is a very vulnerable place to be for some people.  Jake didn't mind it at all and he wasn't concerned about how it looked or where he stood.  He was easy and went with the flow.  We didn't stay out for long as the clouds were looming in the distance.  Once we were finished, we walked along the highway back to the car.  He held his cello and I was following him with my camera in tow.  We must have looked like we needed help or at least looked like we were lost since a bus came by and stopped in the middle of the street to open the door and asked us if we needed a ride. We graciously declined.

The following day, we drove out to a local winery to enjoy a picnic and concert on the grass.  It turned out to be a beautiful evening and there were surprisingly about a thousand people who decided to do the same thing on the grass.  I wandered around with my camera to snap photographs of some of the activities that evening.

After a whirlwind of weekend fun, it was time to leave and head on our way.  Thank you for the slice of Bloomington, Illinois Adriane!  Max and I look forward to our next visit!

To see more of my portraits from the road, click HERE.