WEST COAST | CALIFORNIA - DAY 2


On my Day 2 of the west coast, it started off with a massive hangover from a long night out before. We were all binge coffee drinking, dosing ourselves with ibuprofen, and going wild with the idea of brunch coming. Tracy, a friend of Tara and Ali's met up with us for brunch at Cafe Nouveau and the food was incredible - totally hit the spot. We pitched the idea of going to Venice and Santa Monica for the day and right then and there, Tracy called her dentist and moved later to soak in the entire day and night. Venice was such a weird cool diverse crowd and Santa Monica was lively and fun as I remembered of the first night I was on the west coast. I had such a good time out with these beautiful ladies on this day. Here's my top 10 of Day 2...

  1. From left to right - Tara, Tracy, Ali, Lainey
  2. Gus (the dog) farts smell like a million farts just blew in your face. He's such a good happy lil bulldog during brunch. 
  3. Venice is by far the most diverse crowd I ever seen in my life. From homeless, women aimlessly wandering around in thongs, longboarders zig zagging through the crowd, amazing artists, street performers, beautiful people roaming, etc. It was weirdly relaxing just walking down the streets people watching. 
  4. Did an impromptu photoshoot with Tara and Ali of Our Kandles. A dedicated post to them and their company will be coming later!
  5. Tara took me to Los Feliz (up and coming hip neighborhood outside LA) to see my friend Gabriel and Kaitlyn. They were among my first friends I met in Chicago and now live in LA. Thank you Tara for being the chauffeur and Tracy for tagging along. It was so sweet.
  6. Forgot where I placed my sunglasses and freaked out for a sec because I couldn't remember where I put them. Then I saw them on top of her car. Huge relief since we drove everywhere that morning too.
  7. We had Sugarfish sushi for dinner in Santa Monica and it was AMAZING. If you ever get a chance to try it, I highly recommend. I would go again in a heartbeat!
  8. Tracy (black leather coat) moved her dentist appointment just to hang out with me and all of us.
  9. Chavito Bar and Lounge really reminded me of Wicker Park or Logan Square. This is where I met Gabriel and Kaitlyn.
  10. All of my friends tell me to move to the west coast because we were having so much fun.

WEST COAST | CALIFORNIA - DAY 1


Before I type away on this post, I just wanted to make it aware that this is my first of a three-part series of my time out in the west coast. There will be a lot of similar photo's of the same individuals, people, landscapes, food, scene, etc. I want you to soak in the experience how I saw it. Hope you like it. Enjoy!

For the first time ever in my life, I traveled to the beautiful west coast of California to visit my lovely and gorgeous friend Tara. I packed my bags, my camera, got on a plane, and jet-setted myself to an area of constant sun and beaches. Really needed a change of pace from the aggressive city lifestyle and slow things down a bit. Life is precious, you know? Anyways, you're probably wondering about who is this girl I posted a bazillion photos of, "so who's Tara anyways?" Obviously she's in the photos above BUT she's also a wonderful, fantastic, light hearted, and adventurous woman that I kinda-sorta knew / randomly met at Delilah's (one of my go-to spots in Chicago) during her cross country road trip! I won't write much but will list top 10 things all in random order of Day 1...

  1. El Matador Beach is truly beautiful (look at my photos above!). We spent the entire evening walking down the beach, see couples do engagement photo's. climbing rocks, and even running under them before the wave hit the shoreline. This was on my #1 thing to do on my "to-do list."
  2. Driving down the Pacific Coast Highway to pick up Tara from work to get lunch and all while blasted song's like this and or this. Had the worst time finding her gas tank button to refill the tank!
  3. I didn't bring any shorts and thought it was a MAJOR FAIL but I saw everyone else wear jeans, so I got used to it. Sorta MAJOR WIN(?!)
  4. Sat on their porch drinking coffee watching the sun rise. This sounds odd but I miss having a porch/patio. Basically hung out there A LOT.
  5. Their house smelled AMAZING. You guys should really get a Our Kandles. I'm getting TWO.
  6. I had to get a nail clipper and hair spray at RiteAid because the nails were getting annoying and constant sun makes my hair droop like whoa. Yeah, they laughed at me for this, haha.
  7. When it was night, I was used to the "cold weather." Coming from Chicago, it was GLORIOUS.
  8. Went to get coffee downtown at Marie Shannon's and the girls behind the counter looked like post-American Apparel employee's who's happy prancing days are over hating their job now and just serving amazing delicious coffee and bacon empanadas. Oh, they were so good. 
  9. Going back home together, we blasted/sang songs like this and or this. Not ashamed, I know the lyrics to the first song.
  10. Bought the first meal/drinks at The Misfit even though I was on vacation, Tara wasn't so happy about this. Oops! Nice boy, ya know?

BKB CHICAGO | TACOS & TUNEUPS + MEMORIAL DAY MIXER


May has been busy at BKB Chicago and I got to cover two fun events - "Tacos & Tuneups" and "Memorial Day Mixer"

I'll start off with "Tacos & Tuneups." It was cold / rainy but I was surprised to see the amount of people still working out and getting their rock climbing on. Can't forget to mention Clif Barwas giving out free bars to the community, The Salsa Truck selling their great tacos, and Heritage Bicycles was providing discounted on the spot tuneups. Those chorizo tacos you see up there...yeah, that was mine. Could've had TWO more, easily!

"Memorial Day Mixer" was probably by far my favorite event ever shooting. I only say this because of the amount of involvement the facility / staff took on with the climbing community totally integrating belay buddies to get free tattoo's to apply on yourself and the crate stacking competition. It was amazing how the females of the competition were slaying the boys on crate stacking! I would like to try at it some point and I'm sure it's super mentally and physically challenging. 

I'm looking forward to the events and photo shoots I have lined up. Can't wait to show you guys what I have upcoming. 

TAME IMPALA & MINI MANSIONS


Last Friday I stopped by the Riveria Theatre in Chicago and took some amazing shots of Tame Impala and Mini Mansions. I actually never shot photos before at The Riv and it was all new to me. Crammed up on stage left with security guards overwatching the crowd who are drugged up or drunk, I met so many genuine photographers from other media firms whiling waiting for the bands to start (Chicago Tribune, Chicagoist, etc - all super nice people). I was literally a solo freelance fish in the sea of photographers and held my ground.

The facility has this strict rule of taking shots of the first three songs and that's it. After that, camera's are away - no joke. In the time span of three songs capturing the band's performance, you're completely focused on the shots you can get and the music dissolves as background noise.  They opened up "Let it Happen" then into "Mind Mischief" and it was incredible. After shooting photos of both bands, I enjoyed watching the rest of the set from afar - mind you I was a hot sweaty mess from the jam packed stoned/drunk crowd. Alcohol wasn't even on my mind at that point.

I can't wait to shoot more photos of bands, events, and whatnot. I'm starting to really enjoy this photography thing with bands, etc. 

BKB CHICAGO | LADIES NIGHT x MIZUNO x POWERBAR


Topping off the last LADIES NIGHT @ Brooklyn Boulders of Chicago, Mizuno x PowerBar set up shop and hung out for the evening. LADIES NIGHT happens every Wednesday and purely dedicated to the ladies out there in Chicago at a super discounted rate. On top of that, cool sponsors come in and usually have something to give out for FREE. Cool, right? I pretty much just hung out by the PowerBar table and ate two bars worth off samples. Essentially just made it my dinner. The 'Peanut Butter & Caramel' was so addicting. 

A message to the women out there who are on the floor -- you are all seriously killin' it on the rock walls! Keep it up ladies.

LILI K. | MEET THE MUSICIAN


Spontaneously looking to catch a moment to take photos of something/someone, my close friend Brittany Julious happened to be casually having a conversation with Lili K.  at the Apple Store on North Michigan Ave.  Filled with friends (spotted CELINENEON in the crowd!) and bystanders curious of what's going on, Lili K's soulful voice accompanied by her band  resonated throughout the store. Yes, even got the Genius bar to sing along with her! With inspirations from Ella Fitzgerald to Erykah Badu to Sharon Jones - she sheds that flare of it all. Her music has been on my playlist lately and I really love her song "Refreshing" (esp the house version which she did LIVE as their last song). Check her album "Ruby" released by Chicago's very own - FreshBaked Records. Seriously, go buy it! You won't be disappointed.