I photographed a wedding in India. I blacked out in Vegas (twice). Toured wine country with my girls. Road tripped from Arizona to Georgia. Helped capture my best friend’s wedding. Moved to Los Angeles. Worked with celebrities. Participated in my first editorial. Oversaw my first editorial. Flew to DC for an amazing corporate opportunity. Photographed amazing weddings. Was featured in a magazine. My Photographs were featured on NBC and Discovery Channel. Almost destroyed Seattle’s nightlife. Explored Los Angeles with my family. Made amazing friends. Almost died in Alaska. Changed my business. Made amazing contacts.
It has been another incredible year. Full of changes, new beginnings and lots of cupcakes. I started my 2011 in India capturing some of my best images to date and ended it with good friends (and bottles of alcohol) in my new city of Los Angeles.
I could really write a HUGE post on all the things that have happened to me this year, but you are going to have to take my word for it. It was an amazing year and I can’t wait to see what 2012 will bring me.
Here are some of my favorite images of 2011 that come to mind.
It seems just like yesterday that I took a trip, a trip around the world.
A trip that completely changed my life.
I could go on and on explaining to you why this trip completely changed my life, but I am not a novelist. But, lets just say that it opened my eyes and made me reevaluate everything I was working toward. You could say this is the trip where my photography career began. It started with me, my backpack, my camera and two amazing friends.
It is always a good day when your photographs from India are featured in a small segment on the NBC nightly news. [Click Here] to watch the news clip! :=D
Its always awesome seeing video and images that I took be used in an awesome video. Check them out!
MPowering in Orissa, India:
{A short video on our work in Orissa, India. We’ve partnered with Citta Foundation, who built and runs a local school and hospital. The facility serves families in the local village who live below the poverty line. We’ve provided each of these families with a phone. Children receive points for going to school and mothers receive points for attending healthcare classes at the hospital. The families pool their points together and redeem monthly for local food staples, clothing or medicine. Today, there are 49 families / 150 individuals participating in our Orissa project. On average, these individuals survive on $0.34 a day. Through our program, we can increase this by $.06 — $.15 per day via the value of our redemption options.}
Mpowering in Bhaktapur, Nepal:
{In Bhaktapur, we’ve also partnered with Citta Foundation, who runs a women’s center in there. The women’s center currently employs 6 women, 4 of which are single mothers. On average, these single women have monthly expenses of $55, but only earn $45 per month. Our mobile app allows these single mothers to receive 5 points for each day they work and they can redeem the points for food. Through our program, they receive on average $5 worth of food per month.}
While I have showed a lot of pictures of the people I took pictures of in Nepal and India, I have hardly posted pictures of the places I stayed. Here we have the hospital in Nepal. I took the picture from the small air field Humla has for the tiny planes and UN helicopters in order to land. Speaking of, taking the small plane to Humla is definitely a nerve-wracking experience. On one side of the airport you have the small village of Humla, on the other side you have nothing but fields, the hospital and the majestic Himalayas.
Trying the describe the height of such mountains is almost impossible. We would trek a few meters up the mountain and you would literally be at the edge of a cliff looking down into the valley below.
Amazing.
Michael and Kamael (the two incredible non-profit founders I traveled with) have explained to me that they are starting the process of building a school by the hospital.
