Not only will I be celebrating the New Year this evening with friends, but I am also personally celebrating the launch of my all-new Web site! It’s been in the works for quite a while and has taken me a little longer than expected, but it is finally ready. Though I have yet to upload a few galleries, the site is up and just waiting for you all to visit.

Click here to visit my all-new Web site!

I told myself about a month ago I wanted to have the site complete by the end of the year… I definitely cut it close to that deadline! Nevertheless, I acheived that goal. I have a few ideas for tweaks to the functionality of the site in the coming months, but as it stands, I’m very proud of it. I hope you all enjoy visiting!

This year has been an incredible year for me personally and professionally. I’ve shot more photographs than ever, which has been incredible! I’ve learned so much about myself as a photographer and have realized that this is what I truly want to focus on as a long-lasting career. Additionally, I have learned so much about photography in itself from some great people and other resources, and look forward to continue to learn so that I may continue to improve my art. I believe that no person can know too much about their craft and I plan to always reach out for more knowledge and inspiration. I already have a few seminars and workshops lined up for early 2008 and am so excited to apply what I learn to my business!

In May, I acheived my Master’s degree in Communication Management from USC, which is one of my most cherished acheivements in my life. Though I’m not directly using my degree now as a photographer, I plan to use it in the future to grow my business and know it will provide me many opportunities to acheive other goals I have in life.

Though this year has brought many happy times, I also, like everyone else, have faced my share of difficult times from which I learned so much. For everyone, life has its ups and downs, but it is how we respond to and learn from those experiences that make us grow as human beings. I myself have grown so much and now have a better perspective on what is most important in my life, and for that I am truly thankful.

I celebrate tonight all that I have accomplished in 2007, and hope that 2008 is just as educational, inspiring and successful.

Cheers! And celebrate safely!

So, obviously I have completely failed to post a Daily Photo for the past couple weeks making my quest to have a new photo posted everyday a failure. I have been so swamped with photo sessions, design projects, the holidays and other various things that I’ve barely had time to shoot for myself, let alone edit and process photos to be blog-ready! It really does take a lot of time and effort to prepare photos for posting since I really try to make every photo I present to the world something I’d be proud to frame and hang on a wall or place in a photo album… Though I appreciate perfect images straight out of the camera, a lot of the time an image does not fully live up to my creative vision without a little extra love thanks to my good friend Photoshop.

To break away from my recent schedule, I made time to go to my friend Olivia’s B.F.A. gallery show in Long Beach. Not only was it a chance to see what she has accomplished as an art student, it was a rare opportunity to meet up with some of the people I studied in London with a few years back. We all became very close as American students living in a foreign country and it was because of the friendships I developed there that those four months were truly some of the most amazing months of my life. So, of course, I could not pass up the chance to catch up with some of them!

From Left: Me, Teresa (Dan’s girlfriend. She didn’t study in London with us, but she did come to visit!), Dan, Olivia- the lady of the night, Tracy- my roommate in London whom I met my Freshman year of college, and Pete.

Olivia in her amazing gallery. She is so incredibly talented and is actually moving to Hong Kong to design jewelry for a high-end jeweler! I wish I could buy some of her pieces now. They are some amazingly cool.

Just one example of her amazing work. Spurs for high heels!!

Another shot of the spurs with a little extra Photoshop love. This is just one reason I love to take my time in post!

Tracy and Olivia in the gallery.

Tracy and Pete.

Dan and Me acting dorky. Thanks for taking this one, Trace!

While I’m at it, here are some flashback photos from our time in London. Ahh, a stroll down memory lane…

Tracy and I on the bus tour our first weekend in London. Check out Dan sleeping in the background!

Our lovely home for 4 months.

Tracy and I SHARED this room for four months! If I put my arms straight out to the side, I could practically touch the wall on either side! We thought it was a complete joke the first day we were there… but we got used to it after a while.

I took this photo while waiting for the tube on my way to my internship. I only had a point-and-shoot at the time, so I thought this was an amazing shot from that little camera. It’s still one of my favorites.

This has to be a close second favorite! This was taken in Edinburgh, Scotland and was completely candid (though it doesn’t look it). It came to be lovingly referred to as Pete, Dan and Garrett’s “boy band shot.”

The architecture and amazing lighting at certain times makes me so excited to go back to Europe with my DSLR! I got some good stuff with that little point-and-shoot… but I’m dying to take a real camera with me on a trip like this.

Olivia, Tracy and me on our way to the Vatican. I so envied them and their iPods. I was able to get one after this week-long trip to Italy, but until then they taunted me with theirs every chance they got!

And, finally, Olivia and I enjoying the breathtaking view off the coast of Cinque Terre, Italy.

That was fun.

As a side note and speaking of London… I saw Sweeney Todd the other day with my sister and loved it! Every scene was so gorgeously composed and lit that I wanted jump into the scene with my camera and just start shooting.

More posts to follow soon…

Tonight I went to The Signet Ring’s practice to hear some of the latest songs they’ve been writing. They have recently switched practice locations, so it’s a little more difficult for me to get out there these days. They sounded great and I can’t wait for them to record their new songs, though that won’t happen for a while. Since they have a show coming up in Canyon Country on December 21st, they’ve been focusing on their set list and really nailing their current songs.

Here are two photos from tonight… I didn’t shoot too many photos tonight for two reasons: I really wanted to focus on just listening to the songs, and the practice room is totally boring and uninspiring in so many ways.

Ryan on the guitar:

Charlie on drums:

The Signet Ring can be heard here.

At the request of my dad, who for one reason or another loves this thing, I took a photo of one of his favorite little trinkets… I have no idea where it came from, but it can only be described as creepy.

I have to admit that for reasons beyond my comprehension, I kind of love the thing, too.

Thanks to my gorgeous sister, I had a model for today’s photo… Though I’m happy to photograph just about anything at anytime, I’m mostly inspired by people and portraiture. The interaction I have with people while photographing them is really one of the best parts about what I do and makes my life so much more interesting…

Hayley and I had a lot of fun shooting this quick session. This is my favorite shot. Aren’t her eyes incredible?

Thanks for modeling!