Goodbye, 2011

I started 2011 with a jolt. Many changes awaited me: my exit from a full-time corporate world, marriage, realizing some dreams, stumbling a bit on the way, realizing how many wonderful/helpful people are in the world, learning accounting… I feel like I had a chance to spread my wings as an adult: a surprisingly terrifying enterprise that makes you wonder how anyone before you took those crazy risks that brought the human race to where it is today. And no matter how many times you’re reminded (inspirational quotes, blogs, greeting cards congratulating you on your boldness, great friends telling you that you did the right thing) that people before you have taken major risks before you and succeeded, you sometimes sit staring at the ceiling wondering what in God’s name inspired you to be such a complete, committable nut job. Welcome to the world of being a small business owner.

Through all this, and the “what are you doing” days, I sit looking through the pictures I took this year and thinking about all the lovely couples, the children, the moms, the dads, the best friends that I got to know, and realize that every tough moment was outnumbered 10-to-one by the dazzlingly amazing moments. I am changed by the love, joy, beauty and wisdom of these events and people. They’ve become a part of me. And I, a part of the way they remember.

It may sound really sappy, and I’m well aware that my infatuation with weddings and photographing them is a puzzle to many who know me, but I cannot even begin to express how lucky I am to wake up every morning and do what I do. I get to see unedited, unfiltered, unscripted, unstructured love and hilarity and tears and emotion in a way few people do. I get to share precious, once-in-a-lifetime moments that will never come again. And I get to document them. Preserve them. Cherish them. Because, really, what could be more important?

At the end of it all, I got to share my (mostly technology-bereft) Christmas break with my handsome and amazing husband. We drove down to San Francisco to stay with friends, and had some wonderful adventures. I had a chance to spend time with landscape art, and I hope you enjoy.

Click the images for a larger version.

Above: Embarcadero Center – San Francisco

Above: The Mission and Castro District – San Francisco

Above: The Marin Headlands and The Golden Gate Bridge

Above: Nathan in a battery tunnel – Marin Headlands

Above: Rodeo Beach – Marin Headlands

Above: Christmas Eve at The Golden Gate Bridge

Above: Keyhole on Pfiffer Beach – Big Sur

Above: Pfiffer Beach – Big Sur

Above: Bodega Bay – California

Above: Mendocino – California

Above: Mendocino – California

Above: Moonrise in Mendocino – California

Above: Trinidad Wayside – California

Above: Prairie Creek Redwoods – California

Above: Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park – Oregon

Above: Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park – Oregon

Above: Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park – Oregon

And one for fun, me taking a bounce in front of Postcard Row.

Cheers, and Happy New Year!