Today is a day that I have been looking forward to for weeks. It is my first real day off in quite some time, and I am in one of my most absolute favorite places: Manhattan.

If I am in one of my most favorite places, why then am I writing a midday blog? Great question. Dramatic Explanation:  The last two years after WPPI I’ve gotten the flu. Last year; it was the stomach flu. (You know it’s bad when you are laying on the floor in the fetal position on the cold tile of your bathroom for the majority of the day). THANKFULLY, this year I do not have the stomach flu. However, I woke up this morning coughing, swollen glands, and feeling like I was run over by a truck. That darn WPPI Las Vegas 18-Wheeler truck.

Sometimes I think your body knows when it can get sick. In college I always got sick right after finals ended.  Any day sooner than today would have been highly inconvenient to not feel well.

To me rest in NYC means waking up early meeting friends for coffee, lunch, and dinner, running around Central Park, playing in SoHo…in other words my version of rest is running around 100 miles per hour. Well, today much to my dismay, my body is winning. I’m sitting on a couch in my friends perrrrfectly cute Manhattan apartment watching way too much bravo, drinking tea, and reading.

New York, we still have tomorrow to paint the town red before I have to go back to Cali.

Happy Monday Friends, enjoy your day! Here’s a little peak of John and Kathryn’s wedding I just shot on Saturday:) I hope y’all are having fun in St. Bart’s! Can’t wait to show more soon…

Dear Elijah,

You are one lucky boy.  Your mom and dad are a rare gift to this world and specifically our community.  They are loyal and faithful friends, and already committed parents.  You’re not even here yet, but you’ve been loved so well.  You have been prayed for, taken care of, and thought of long before we even knew you were coming.  I can’t wait to meet you and see your little personality… and teach you some awesome dance moves!

Love,

Kat

There are six children in my family.  Yep, you read right:  I am one of 6 kids, which basically makes my mom a saint.  The older I get the more I realize what an amazingly strong woman she is.

Grace is my youngest sister.  My mom had her when I was a senior in high school if you can believe it.  When she was a new born I used to take her to the mall to go shopping with me, and everyone would comment on how good I looked with having such a small baby!  Did I correct them, and let them know she was my sister, not my baby?  No way; it was too much fun to pretend I was a teen mom!

Grace is 9 now, and although she lives in Texas we are super close.  She’s my pen pal, and we write to each other about things like Justin Bieber, and her new genie trolls that she buys off e-bay.  It’s also not uncommon to come back from a run and find that I have 15 text messages all from her; it cracks me up and makes me feel special.

Over Christmas we snuck away and took some pictures in our backyard and alleyway.  These pictures are the essence of my precious little sister.  I hope you enjoy them as much as I do:)

I love you Grace.

“Creative work is not a selfish act or a bid for attention on the part of the actor.  It’s a gift to the world and every being in it.  Don’t cheat us of your contribution.  Give us what you got”.

Steven Pressfield, The War of Art

My blog has felt quiet lately.  I don’t know if it has felt that way to you.  The surface may have looked still the last month, but just below so much has been happening.  In a sense I’ve been on this journey of discovery.  By the time 2011 ended I felt as an artist (and to be honest as a person)…well I felt burnt out.  I lost sight of the why, and began to go through the motions in my craft.

I felt dry, and uninspired…not sure what to do next or what I should/could/ought to do next. Then I began to read The War of Art by Steven Pressfield, and slowly I felt a change.  Maybe change is the wrong word.  I felt a resolve.  A resolve to press into my craft not for the sake of status or fame, but a resolve to be a more true artist.

I think what people connect with is honesty.  When I read a John Steinbeck book I know it’s him.  There’s a certain rhythm, a distinct voice to his work.  All I need is a few seconds to know that a particular song is by Jonsí. I can spot a Peggy Sirota image from a mile away.  I connect with these artists because they are (or at least seem to be) exerting their own voice and not mimicking another’s success.  They are trailblazing a new path.  Maybe there are some fakes out there that are successful, but I’m starting to wonder if the most successful people are those that know themselves and vulnerably offer their craft from a very personal place.

The truth is that I’m in the beginning stages of my craft, and I’m still looking for my voice, my rhythm, what defines me as an artist.  I come into 2012 with a resolve though.  A resolve to push myself as an artist, do shoots that are completely out of my comfort zone, open my work to other artists for criticism, and to keep moving.

Even if it’s small, tiny, almost unnoticed steps I am committed to movement.  There may not be overnight success, in fact I already have a few bumps and bruises, but there will be growth…a quiet growth.

Pssst…here’s a sneak of a recent shoot I did with LA based model Jessica Seeley.

This was not a typical day in Santa Monica.  The marine layer rolled in early afternoon, and turned the ever busy and fast paced Santa Monica into a quiet, peaceful, and intimate setting.  (Folks outside of Southern California…Santa Monica is everything but quiet!)  But  what was perfect about this is it’s just what Molly and Hunter wanted. A small intimate beach wedding with their favorite people.

Born and raised in the South, Hunter and Molly ventured to Santa Monica last year for work, and as their time here was coming to a close none of their family had come to visit them.  So…why not plan their wedding in Santa Monica…that’ll get people out here right?  Right!  Molly and Hunter rented a GORGEOUS house in the Malibu Hills for the closest friends and family, and celebrated  their marriage, their move back to the South, and New Year’s Eve!  I couldn’t think of a more fun way to close out a year could you?

Thank you so much Aaron Young for letting me shoot this fabulous New Year’s Eve wedding with you; it was a wonderful way to cap of 2011! Check out Aaron’s images from the wedding HERE.

It never fails; each time I drive to San Diego my heart gets this anticipation…I’m not sure what heaven will look or be like, but I kind of hope it’s something like San Diego.

On Saturday I could not wait to spend time with Mariana and Craig.  From our first meeting I knew they were a special couple.

Craig and Mariana are adventurous, caring, generous, and a live-life-to-the-fullest kind of couple.  In fact Craig and his friends are climbing Machu Picchu for his Bachelor party…that’s not a big deal at all right?

They live minutes from the beach (which I’m super jealous of), and so we spent the afternoon traipsing all over Del Mar.  These are some of my favorite shots from our time together.  Guys I cannot wait for your wedding in September, thank you thank you for hanging and being adventurous with me last weekend:)