Part of the joy of not doing too much research before a trip is the pleasant surprise of experiencing a town like Cambria for yourself. It was charming to say the least. I rushed over from Hearst Castle because I wanted to make it to the Tea Cozy before it closed at four. When I arrived all…
How do I convey the magic of getting in a car and simply driving down the California coast– on a Tuesday morning, all by myself, no less? Nothing in particular prompted this trip, other than my love for travel and a well-timed week with no other obligations. But of course, I am no stranger to…
We are now on part two, day two of my Memorial Day weekend adventures. We started the day at China Camp, a state park up by San Rafael. Unfortunately, it is about to be shut down next month due to California state budget issues, so our visit was aptly timed. China Camp was a historic…
Friday night of Memorial Day weekend, I texted my good friend Dan because we still had no plans whatsoever, and we needed to do something! Dan is the perfect adventure buddy because he is not fazed by the randomness of our trips (example: Salton Sea). After all, spontaneous trips often turn out to be the…
To say this Memorial Day weekend has been incredible is certainly the understatement of my year. In the last two days, I watched a waterfall pour into the ocean, I was attacked by a turkey on a hiking trail, and I saw fireworks spew from the Golden Gate Bridge. I have so many stories to…
Defining Movement, a.k.a. defMo, is an amazing multicultural dance group at Duke University. In college, I used to love photographing their performances. In fact, a defMo show was my first official paid photography gig. I always wished I could dance that well, but I was pretty content with leaving the dancing to defMo and photographing…
It’s very fitting that right now, as I type this post, I am back at Duke a second time in two months, sitting at a computer station in Lilly Library on Duke University’s East Campus. Just last month, I came to Duke for my reunion. It had been five years– five long/short years since I graduated from this…
I know it may be tacky to quote myself, but I recently wrote a piece for my alma mater Duke University, and it was selected for publication as part of their “Major Impact” campaign on campus. I posted it yesterday on facebook and was truly overwhelmed by the positive response from my friends. My letter…
This city is full of surprises. Even with all the times I have visited in the last couple years, no two trips have ever felt the same. This time it was a really quick visit, just two short days, one of them Valentine’s. No romantic liaisons, but lots of awesome friends! I spent most of…
I went to Philadelphia in the middle of February on a whim, and of course, of course I had to sample the famous Philly Cheesesteaks for myself. So with a motley crew of 3 of my awesome friends who had never met each other, we set off on our cheesesteak adventure. Four cheesesteaks in one day….
My good friend Talya is working with an amazing after school music program called Play On, Philly. While I was visiting Philadelphia last month, famed vocalist Bobby McFerrin also happened to be doing a guest appearance at the program. It was a perfect opportunity for me to grab some photos for them and capture the excitement…
I just happened to have some free Southwest flights that were expiring, and I thought, why not visit Philadelphia? Really, that’s it. People were generally quite skeptical and reacted as if I were venturing into some sad, forsaken land. I gathered that Philadelphia does not have the best of reputations. Plus, it was the middle…