Inspired by Portland

“Be daring, be different, be impractical, be anything that will assert integrity of purpose and imaginative vision against the play-it-savers, the creatures of the commonplace, the slaves of the ordinary.”  –Cecil Beaton

Most days, I don’t feel like an artist… I feel like a business owner. There are so many things to check off the to-do list, so many moving parts to balance, and it feels like everyone is watching. Most days, I succumb to the pressure and work myself silly for the dream. Don’t get me wrong, I love my job and I feel so blessed to be able to do what I’m passionate about…. but in every dream job, there’s a good portion of work you have to do that’s not part of the dream. For example, it’s tax season…. so in addition to the fun things like shooting and designing, I have to get spreadsheets made and numbers crunched. Yay.

So when Kate asked me if I wanted to take a photo adventure trip with her to Portland Oregon, my heart and mouth simultaneously said a resounding YESSSSSSS. Lots of coffee, silence, beautiful surroundings, time to think, picture taking…. and more coffee sounded like heaven. So we went. On a whim. No plans and no agenda other than to come home feeling creatively revived and ready for 2014.

We breathed deep. We breathed in joy and creativity and freedom. We breathed out stress, the need to be perfect, and our inner critics. In…. hope and courage. Out… the monster of status quo. And as we breathed deep, and explored the pacific northwest, we found ourselves in a place with more room to be. Caffeine jitters kept us warm as we strolled along puddled beaches shrouded in fog, and towering evergreens danced in the rain. We stood and marveled in the rain and felt the cold in our bones. And at the end of everyday felt thankful for our beating hearts and the pulsing urge to create and share the beauty around us.

I came to the conclusion that it GOOD to leave…. to change things up and see that the rest of the world lives different and thrives. Creativity is alive.

iPhone Photos….

Big Camera Photos…

Just a note: You may have noticed a different style of photography happening in this blog post. That was just me experimenting, allowing myself to be inspired by the dark and dreary PNW, and being an artist. While I enjoyed this particular “feel”, my regularly scheduled post processing style will continue to be my consistent photographic expression. In case you were worried.