I started journaling on my trip to NYC and most of my entries have just been recounts of my days, quotes I find inspiring and motivating, and things I want to remember. Mostly they're dry with a spice of something strange therefore sometimes it feels invasive and uncomfortable to go back and read them. I do remember a specific entry when we were on the plane back to Seattle. I was finishing listing all the places in New York we had visited and all my memories of the people bustling around with so much energy with no time to stop and slow down.
I think one thing that shows in my photography is the way many of my images stop and dare you to dream. I believe photography in general does this but there is an essence or particular way my portraits do this. I'm not sure how, I guess it's just how I decide to shoot in the moment... and who knows where that comes from. So I think some of you can relate to when I say I visualized, literally pictured, this first image in my head. The very moment I made it, I think I screamed or my jaw literally dropped. I can't really remember, it is such a blur. Maybe I should ask Kal. Not sure what happened, but something clicked. It was just one of those moments. The whole reason I photograph, the whole reason I travel, the whole reason my mind, body, and soul are so connected to photography.
After we spent two hours up at this lookout playing with my flowy dress and smiling so wide our faces hurt, we called a Lyft to get back over the bridge to where we were staying for the night. After 50 minutes went by of three drivers getting lost trying to find us, we decided to run. Across the Golden Gate Bridge. I tightened my backpack straps as short as they went and zipped my raincoat all the way up. It was drizzling and windy, dark, and so many cars passed by as we ran across, I truly felt free. This moment was the highlight to the trip after such a positive first experience of booking, planning, and executing a trip without the help of parents or a travel agency. My vans didn't fail me, and we made it to the other side, got an Uber and made it back to USF. When we made it across, it was 9pm on Easter Sunday and we were starving. Not much was open so we just started walking towards Haight. All thinking the same thing, we walked straight into the first place that we saw sold food. It was a classic San Francisco late night classy bar and restaurant and we treated ourselves to much a deserved feast. It was my favorite meal on the trip. Our flight the next morning was at 5:15am so we wanted to be asleep but we had so much adrenaline and we ended on such a HIGH NOTE!
To many more adventures, experiences, and dreams coming true...
xo, Hallie