palm tree revelations

here's what i learned/realized about my life while lazing away the days in kauai:

- my friend's 2 year old canon rebel xti verges on kicking my 5d's butt

- consequently, getting the new 5dMII feels about 1000 times more necessary than it already did (yikes)

- using the term "investing" in a new 5dMII makes me feel much better than saying that i want to "buy" a 5dMII (subtleties, i know)

- my first "new project" shoot went really well. it's a huge weight off my shoulders to shoot while not stressed and still get great images. it's delightful to know that i can either have a full crew or be by myself with no makeup/styling and still make beautiful photos and be equally happy and satisfied. to remind you, this project is about making portraits of people in which i shoot digitally but use the same quiet feeling from my something like home project thus merging my fashion and fine art bodies of work.

- sunsets and palm trees still rock my world (and my camera)

- taking photos on vacation makes me happy. this may sound like a weird one, but i used to always say "i'm not bringing my big camera (read: pro slr) on vacation! i'm not working!" but this time i did bring the biggie and actually reveled in the ability a. to take much higher quality "snapshot" vacation photos and b. to be able to shoot real (read: for my portfolio) images. it's always nice for me to remember that photography is fun and that i am indeed doing it because i adore taking photos. sometimes that gets a bit lost in the work melee.

- cameras should all be innately waterproof. when i go anywhere near water i feel the compelling urge to spend all of my time in it (hot tub, pool, ocean, lake, you name it) and my camera just can't go with me, boohoo.

- i am capable of not reading emails for 7 days while on vacation, as difficult as it was

- i love shooting my family and josh. i can never have too many photos of them. as annie leibowitz said to me when i asked her a question at a lecture a few years back, "you get the most information from the people you photograph… and i say, stay close to home.”

there we have it: i plan to continue staying close to home physically and emotionally and make beautiful images from my best inspirational people.