What makes me smile

The last half of 2014 has been crazy. I've slacked off on blogging and on all my social media accounts because I've just been too darn busy. I honestly don't understand how many photographers keep up with social media and blogging (I do know that many high profile photographers hire someone to do it for them!), especially when they have a presence on just about every social media platform out there.

This time of year most photographers do some kind of recap of their achievements and highlight their "best" photos of the year. I've been home miserably sick with a cold the past few days and haven't had the energy (or brain) to put together a meaty post or sort through a year's worth of images to choose favorites, but I did want to get one last post in just to let people know that I'm still alive.

All of the accomplishments and sales and yada yada are great (they truly are because without them I couldn't keep doing this full time so please understand that I am very grateful), but what really made me smile a few weeks ago is when fellow adventurer Brett Heimreich shared this photo to my Facebook page (used with his permission) -



Last year Bill and I spent Thanksgiving at the Crusty Bunny Ranch and we strung Christmas lights in a Joshua Tree so I could do a Christmas shot for my holiday trail article on DrivingLine.



In the follow-up story here on my blog I mentioned how the lights were tangled in the tree and we forgot to take them down before we left the next morning.

Brett wrote to let me know that one year later, my lights are still there in the tree! How cool is that? Not just that my lights are still there, but that Brett had read my articles and actually took the time to contact me! We had a great conversation, sharing stories about places and adventures we had in common, and hopefully we'll meet in person out on the trails one day soon.

An upcoming article in DrivingLine will mention a couple we met on the Mojave Road during this year's Thanksgiving adventure. Alisa is a motorcycle photojournalist so we had a lot in common and exchanged contact information. She's the kind of fearless woman who rides solo through Central and South America, India, Israel and all over Europe. She's also preparing to race in a motorcycle rally in Morocco. Seriously! I think I should convince my editor to let me do a profile piece on her.

I get to meet, sometime just virtually but often in person, so many wonderful and interesting people while doing what I do. It's those personal connections that mean the most to me.

Happy New Year everyone! Here's to meeting even more wonderful and interesting people in 2015!

(And if none of this makes any sense, blame it on my cold!)