I always thought being in my thirties would mean I was old. Well, not in a bad way, but in the sense that I would have my life completely in order, like I would achieve some sense of worldly maturity that came with the territory of being this full of life experience.  It was something that was so far off in the distance that I didn’t realize time was creeping up on me.

     Well, folks, in exactly two hours I will be 30 years old.

      Do I feel as mature as I thought I would? In some ways, maybe. Most times I still feel like a kid trying to figure myself out. Full of self doubt and wondering if I am doing the right thing… wondering if I’ll ever be ‘good enough’. I keep reminding myself that I only have to be good enough to be satisfied with myself. But if you know me like Justin, or most of my friends do, ‘good enough’ is a pretty tall order in my eyes and I’m pretty critical in judging my accomplishments. My goal for this decade is to cut myself a little slack and just accept that I’m good enough as is.

     So what have I accomplished in my twenties? Besides finding the best, most patient man on the planet to marry (believe me, he must have super powers that enable him to put up with my insane schedule and consequently, my lackluster ability to play homemaker) one thing that I can honestly say I’m proud of is the fact that I’ve found photography as an outlet. My heart literally sings knowing that I’ve finally found a passion to consume me and satisfy that creative side of me that was dormant for so long! Well… on that note… I’ll leave you with a little eye candy from a photo workshop I attended last month…

     Goodbye twenties… Looking forward to the next exciting decade of my life!

Using studio lights isn’t something I commonly do, but it was definitely worth practicing and learning about. Our model was fabulous!

One final favorite from the day…

Ok one more… (or two!)…. Here’s my friend Juan taking his turn posing our model…

And last but not least…much props go out to William Benson who blessed us with his knowledge and is just one cool cat to learn from!