This year, I read… a lot. I’ve always been an avid reader, but I think my injury this fall just really pushed me over the top. Since I couldn’t be outdoors hiking, I decided to see how many books I could read instead, as I am a highly competitive person (with myself). The answer is 41 this year, plus one in progress and two that I did not finish.

I’m going to give some of the books I read this year some awards, but if you’d like to see all 41 books that I read, hop on over to my StoryGraph profile!

Hi friends. It’s been a while. I’ve been in a little bit of a rut lately, and I haven’t known what to write about here - or been able to find the motivation to write.

When both of our partners decided to go to Burning Man, A and I decided that we needed to have our own little adventure. We agreed on a camping trip, and after looking at smoke and weather forecasts, eventually decided on heading to the Lake Chelan area. I found a Hipcamp, booked it, had it get canceled on me, found another Hipcamp which did not get canceled on me, and a couple weeks later, off we went!

Have a weekend to spend in Washington? Mount Rainier National Park is definitely worth checking out. However, with over 2 million visitors per year, it’s a hot spot to visit, and there can be a lot of crowds to contend with. Be prepared for long entrance lines, especially on the weekends, and please be respectful of the park! This means leaving no trace and not stepping on the meadows, among other things.

With this as our only (but certainly not disappointing!) option, we decided to book it. Neither of us had the energy or time to really plan a huge trip, and I put my faith in the trip organizers. Honestly, I just kind of skimmed the itinerary and assumed it would all work out. And it did!

So what was this trip that we went on?

Why do I have 6 cameras, you may be asking yourself? Honestly, I’m kind of asking myself the same question. I think it’s the n+1 problem, where the ideal number of cameras (and camera accessories) is always equal to one more than the number I currently have.

Sunday night, I set my alarm for 2:10 Monday morning and hoped for a solid 4.5 hours of sleep. For the record, I’m the kind of person who needs a lot of sleep - in an ideal world, I’d be getting 9 hours a night. But sometimes, the best adventures are worth a little sleep deprivation.

I don’t just get to take photos, and edit them - I love both of those parts of the process. I also have to be my own marketing manager, project manager, social media manager, and administrative assistant. I built my own website. I manage my own social media campaigns. I blog every week. I’m also entirely self-taught, and I’m constantly trying to improve my skills with lessons available online. It takes so. much. time. And that’s not counting the time spent actually doing the thing I want to be doing.

Remember a couple of weeks ago, when I was talking about being patient with myself, because I have all sort of stuff going on with my body? (I hope you do - it’s my most-viewed blog post!) Turns out that’s easier said than done.

I’d been thinking about this a lot recently, about how so much language around photography is so violent. We shoot families, weddings, nature. When someone needs to pictures to post on their social media, I’m happy to provide them with headshots. We often carry multiple bodies with us. Even just saying that we "take” a picture. Who are we taking it from? Are we taking it violently?

When I started looking for a new camera, I went straight to looking at DLSRs, assuming those were the best on the market and still what I wanted.

However, in the last 10+ years, mirrorless cameras have come a long way, and were actually a viable option.

I want to balance my desire to unplug, to be present in nature and use that time to recharge, with the desire to turn this into my full-time job. Yikes.

So what is there to be done about all of this? Here are some things I’ve found that help keep me in the moment:

I’m usually a bit more of a planner. The van makes it so we can camp anywhere, but I do like having some idea of where we’ll end up. But this was a great example of just going with the flow and seeing how things work out - and they worked out perfectly. Free photo lesson, amazing shots of Mount Rainier, and an absolute blast of a weekend with my adventurous mom.

After years of saying that I don’t take pictures of people… I’m going to start taking pictures of people. I’m opening up my website to book adventure engagements and elopements. As a bonus, I’m also offering officiant services, if you’d like to get married on top of a mountain.

While a DSLR can produce better results, there’s no reason you can’t take great astro photos with a micro 4/3 camera, assuming you have the right gear and lens.

I’m very fortunate to live in such a beautiful state, where we can drive pretty much any direction and end up where there’s beautiful scenery. We’re also lucky that we have a camper van, which allows us to extend the camping season earlier into Spring and later into Fall. However, we do need to be cognizant of where the roads and hikes are open, especially in the shoulder seasons.

I think I’ve got a decent set up that allows me to get great pictures without lugging too much gear with me.