Thoughts of Today...

Inside of my brain can get weird.

I've had a wild year.... I'm not exactly sure why I've been reflecting on this so much today, but I have been. I suppose it has to do with it was around this time last year I asked my wife to be my wife.

Marriage... huh? Who let me adult.

I still think back to when I was a boy climbing trees and coming home covered in dirt and sap to my parents asking me if I was out playing in my new shoes and responding with a not very convincing "no". Or to hanging out in the woods that we called our "base" because we were a bunch of "badasses" and had our own little "home-base" in the middle of our woods. Now my wife and I are talking about building our own base, aka a house, like adults do. With more and more of my friends having children of their own it's hard not to reflect on that "next step" in our lives. That thought... which is followed by some other childish and former thought. When do you finally feel like an "adult"? Something I keep asking myself. I feel like I've been through enough experiences to finally call myself one, and I do, but at the same time I'm giggling on the inside saying "what, no you're not!". It's strange is all. It's scary and amazing and fun all at the same time. I'm crazy fortunate to have married a super rad badass girl that loves me for everything I offer and don't offer. So at least I'm not alone with these crazy thoughts. We are on the same page, and are starting to start our life​ which is really awesome. We've already been all over the World and we don't plan to stop seeing and doing anytime soon.

That's my segue into this top photo.

Our first big trip together was to visit one of my best friends who was working in Alaska and go to Vancouver along the way. There is something about going to places like this... It's a feeling deep in your gut that's hard to properly describe when you get to experience such amazing places, you can't help but just have a goofy smile for no reason from just staring at nothing and everything. For us, we have only tried to top each trip that we've taken. When we went to Kenya, for a lack of better terms... it changed our lives. Our trip mantra was to be there with "love, leadership, and legacy" on the forefront of our mind. There was 6 of us that went in total, and I think I can speak for us all, but it's something that has stuck with us. We carry that mantra with us every where we go now. 

Wedding season is starting back up again for me next month. With that I've been just trying to get my shit together. I'm really trying to figure out what I want to do with photography... and well much like this post, my brain and thinking is all over the place. In a perfect world I would work with numerous local (and not local) companies on helping them tell a story about their brand, the best way to use social media for a company in my opinion. It would be a fun, creative, and a challenging way to work with a company. It would be more than just photography. It would be helping local companies that do something great, but explaining that is not one of their strong attributes (It all comes back to love, leadership, and legacy). Along with that I would love to continue to shoot weddings, which is something that when I look back at weddings that I've shot just in this year, makes me enjoy shooting weddings even more. I look through photos and get excited about the opportunities that come with a new season of shooting and doing things better, differently, and more efficient. Love, leadership, legacy. I try my hardest to be honest, fair, and hell, just kind to people. 

Okay, I think that's enough typing for one day. 

Well, almost. This wedding is funny to me. I went into very nervous.... and it has some of my favorite images from any wedding I shot. I didn't know the couple... at all, I met them about an hour before this photo was taken actually. I was shooting it as a favor for a wedding planner friend of mine that knows the couple. There was an impending pseudo-hurricane on the way. I was nervous about the weather and shooting it alone.

It was a lesson learned.

The couple was awesome, the lighting was perfect and beautiful from the soon to be storm, and I got better at being my own assistant and being more efficient shooting on my own. 

Stepping out of my comfort zone is something that I'm getting better at... and it's just funny that I have photographic proof of why to just go with the damn flow. 

​And, that, is it.
​-Ray