the fall I love...

On the ride home from PA with a girlfriend it only made sense to stop and take advantage of the views.

                                                               This is why I love Jersey.

so you wanna battle? on my stage?

There I was, shooting Battle of the Bands for LH! weekly..... in my old High School auditorium....
couldn't have felt more old then at the moment when girls rushed the stage for a local band I never even knew existed on a stage I once graduated from 8th grade to be in that High School.
It was alot of fun. There were 5 bands, they each got a 10 minute set then the top two were to battle.
very cool.
I have been to too many Bon Jovi concerts, seen most of the NJ cover bands perform and seen with my own eyes & heard with my own ears the King of Pop, Michael Jackson live. Music is my second favorite part of culture.
I honestly have to say these bands were frickin awesome!! I was blown away. Unreal to me that these kids ( and yes, they are kids to me.... adding to the oldness) were so good! They all were. I got carried away taking photos, it was so much fun... enjoying the music & doing what I love that 600 photos later it was hard to choose these.... my favorites..

and then I had to go look....

there it is, my art & photography & darkroom in high school...

where it all began...

it's so weird to see.

 the darkroom is now a "digital lab", the photography room without "Hirl" looked so empty and sad.

these halls are filled with so many memories...

so much love, hate and an unexplainable bond.

Hopatcong is a small town and after that night I couldn't have been more proud for it to be a part of me.

just breathe....

ever get so caught up in the everyday of life that you forget to just breathe?
I started this blog with the intentions of being able to not only document & share my life through my lens but to be able to remember the things that in years from now I may forget.  Everyone always says life is too short, and it is. We all know it. I have a neighbor that I saw maybe 10 times in the 7 years I've been in my home. She was an elderly lady, had a son ( I kinda assumed) who came by once a week or so to mow the lawn, take out her trash etc. I found out a few weeks ago the lady passed on.... four months prior.
Crazy we didn't even know. What is more crazy to me is the amount of people that have come to her home in the past month. Where were all these people before? makes me sad for her.... this woman I never even knew.

With that being said, we decided to just take a family walk... enjoy the weather, the scenery and the gorgeous fall colors...

                                                 the weather was perfect, well for fall...

he's not crazy about the idea of winter either;)

we came across some containers, figured out people leave notes so we had to join in...

                     I found this tree so interesting, it was one at the base, but two as it reached up.

we had such a great time, we went back then next day...

to take a break, take it in...

                                                                                                and just breathe...

and then there was a publish....

As I set out to do my first freelance assignment, I was more then enthused! It was to photograph the "cut-a-thon" for LH! weekly. The cut-a-thon was to raise money for the Hopatcong High School Project Graduation....

haircuts were super cheap & the stylist donated their time...

they raised $400 dollars :)

being a Hopatcong graduate myself... I had to help them out :)

and then I got an email.... what started out to be a "one page photo spread" turned into a cover :)

and I am a happy girl :)

who couldn't resist digging out a photo of my hubby & I at our project graduation :)