As soon as scanning in wristband and stepping into the festival, big drops of rain started falling. It was nice because it cooled off the day, but I didn’t want to be soaked, so I hid out under a tent until it let up and then headed over to see Young the Giant. They put on a great show and sounded awesome, but I was pretty far back in the crowd.. kinda due to not wanting to be next to a bunch of wet bodies.

Iron and Wine was a little too instrumental for me.. for a bit it just seemed like they were jamming for themselves. However, I know a bunch of people love them.. but I was just not into them in that setting. Best part of the show was catching a glimpse of Christian Bale as he was filming something in the aisle.

Left and got a hot dog from Salt and Time which was super yummy. Heard the Moondoggies play a song I knew.

After eating, heard a bit of Fitz and the Tantrums before abandoning the show to get a good spot for Cut Copy. Hung out on a blanket to get a spot pretty far up in the crowd and it was SO WORTH IT. This was my favorite performance of the day. The band was so into the show and so energetic, and the crowd basically just turned it into a giant dance party. There were people crowdsurfing, and this group of guys next to me started throwing tortillas into the crowd.

The day winding down.. headed over to the Google + stage to see TV on the Radio. Such a great band. The last song they played is one of my favs, and so of course I just danced along with the guys next to me. One of them afterwards gave me a fist bump and said “Hey. You’re a good dancer.” So that was nice. Who doesn’t like compliments?

Was going to stick around to hear a bit of Stevie Wonder.. but he wasn’t starting and so I just left. Later found out his sound was messed up, so I’m kinda glad I just headed out.

Favorite Performance:  Cut Copy
Favorite Stage Decor:  All the plants on stage during Cut Copy
Least Favorite Moment of the Day:  Getting bitten by fire ants while locking up my bike
Favorite Celeb Spotting:  Christian Bale

This year is the 10th anniversary of the ACL Festival in Austin. So of course, I had to get tickets and go, even thought it fell in the middle of a hot, hot September of the hottest summer Austin has ever experienced.

Day 1 started off shaky. I left my house on my bike and rode maybe 10 feet before realizing my tires were flat, so had to go back home and pump them up. But then.. the ride to the festival was glorious! Mostly downhill (yay!), and I rode my bike in the street. For the first time on a major road. If you count Barton Springs a major road. But I did it! And used a bike lane!

Then.. after arriving at the festival, my wristband wouldn’t scan. Which was very weird since these wristbands came directly in the mail from the ACL people. So I had to convince them that yes, my wristband should be valid.. they pulled up the order..  and finally gave me a new one.

After that delay, festival time! The day started out overcast, which was perfect, and then while watching Theophilus London, big raindrops from the sky! It rained for a bit, so much that my hair was dripping. Normally, that may have been a downer, but with this summer Austin has been having, everyone cheered once it started raining and people started dancing.

The rest of the day was spent grabbing yummy food at the Austin Eats food court, listening to bands, filling up water bottles, laying on blankets, running into friends, and reapplying sunscreen.

Favorite band of the day:  Fool’s Gold
Favorite performance of the day:  Santigold (it was a golden sort of day)
Favorite Food of the day:  Fries from PTerrys.. exactly what I needed at that moment..
Kayne or Coldplay:  Neither. I listened to one Kayne song before hopping on my bike and riding home

Here’s the thing about Facebook.. lately, it’s been doing this weird thing where it will show me a status update that I posted two years ago. So after seeing a few of these pop up lately, I realized that it’s been two years since I left my former home Seattle and embarked on a 2.5 week road trip down to my current home of Austin.

Thinking about it made me feel all nostalgic for the west coast (especially as we are experiencing 100+ degree temps in Austin everyday.. yesterday was 112) and I decided to take a look back through the photos from the road trip.

Leaving Seattle…

Then spent a night in Portland and headed south in the morning…

Taking a break to check out Mount Shasta..

After living in Seattle for 2 years, I was excited to see 102 degree temps in California.. however, after this summer in Austin I am no longer happy to see things like this show up in my car..

Catching an amazing production Around the World in 80 Days in Volcano, California

Spending the day in Sacramento, California…

At the California State Fair in Sacramento… this guy made San Francisco from toothpicks!

The rides at the California State Fair…

Fishing on Silver Lake in Northern California.. I caught 5 trout (the limit)!

Driving down I-5 to Los Angeles…

My bed in Santa Clarita…

Poolside in Santa Clarita..

More photos to come soon..

This blog has gotten pretty sad with lack of posts, so I want to start posting here more again, along with the regular food posts over at I See Nom Noms. So here’s a start.. photos from my weekend! Filled with time relaxing, spending Saturday evening on a boat with friends at Lake Travis, lunch at Hopdoddy with my family, and hanging out at the Dell Diamond.

It’s so fun to see photos I’ve taken pop up in so many places. Some photos I took for Foreign & Domestic have been showing up in magazines and newspapers. Like.. this article in the Houston Chronicle. It was in their print version too, yay!

And in Austin Monthly.. talking about 111 Fun Things to Do This Summer. (The photo of Foreign & Domestic is under number 78).

And then in L Style G Style -

I’m so happy that they’ve gotten mentions in so many publications. So well deserved. This is making me hungry.

You may have noticed my posting here has tapered off. Well there is a good reason for that and no, it’s not just because I’m lazy. I’ve been working on two new blogs. Yes, two!

But what about this one? What’s going to happen here? Well.. this blog will remain dedicated to any photography news. If I’ve been published in something, or have taken new photos for a restaurant, this will be the place I will announce it.

Then what are those other two blogs for? The first, I’ve been working on, and launched last week. It’s called I See Nom Noms and is completely dedicated to food photography. I had been going back and forth on the idea of whether I should start a food-related blog for about a year now, and I finally decided to just go for it. I’ve been really excited about it so far. And this way.. if you only care about my food-related posts.. that is the blog for you to bookmark.

I’m starting a second blog that will be focused more on photos I’ve taken around Austin. I love this city, and I love just going around and capturing bits and pieces of it and want a place to share those with you. I don’t have that one all set up yet though, so you’ll have to wait just a bit longer before checking that out.

Like I mentioned, this blog will be for stuff I’ve done professionally.. like these photos I shot for West Elm. These were taken back in February at the pop-up shop curated by the lovely Abby. So many great people involved, I felt so lucky to get to be there the whole day and capture it all! Here is a selection of some of my favorite images from the day. And want to know who was there? Check out Abby’s blog posts for a list of the amazing, creative sellers.