-2020-
Wow. What a year, amirite? My goal for 2020 was to step outside my comfort zone to push myself to grow and you bet your bottom dollar a TON of that was accomplished. Quarantine was weird for everyone, I'm sure. I'm someone who lives a very fast-paced life and doesn't know how to slow down so quarantine was a strange blessing in disguise. So let's get into it babyyyyyy.
JANUARY
At the start of the year, I lived in Rohnert Park. I rang in the New Year in Napa and had no idea that the following month I would be living there... crazy foreshadowing, huh? I found a cute little apartment in a great location rightin the heart of wine country. I can't even begin to explain how excited I was for this new adventure.
One of my horrible traits, that will probably never change, is that I have a tendency to jam pack a ton of things into one week or weekend. But no regrets ever because life is just too short. The first weekend of the year, I went up to Shasta Lake and then Castle Crags State Park for a super fun engagement session! Then I drove all the way back down to the bay to wake up early to catch the sunrise at Mt Tamalpais. If you know me, I'm a sucker for a good sunrise.
I'm going to share tons of blog post links because blogging was one of my goals in 2020 and I was able to publish 36 blog posts throughout the year!
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FEBRUARY
I got my apartment keys and I moved into my new apartment! I wasn't home much though, there were too many adventure to be made. I visited San Diego, went to Anza Borrego State Park and took a quick trip to Oahu!
Then at the end of the month I had to rehome my little chunky boi Oliver (my cat lol), because my lifestyle is just too all over the place and he deserved a better home. Little did I know that in just a few weeks, I was about to be home ALL THE TIME.
MARCH
I was lucky enough to squeeze a few last photo shoots in this month before the sudden shut down. I did my first attempted styled shoot with my friends and it turned out soooo pretty!
A couple weeks into quarantine, my girl Kayla Esparza launched her online education course "Quarantine with Kayla" and I did NOT hesitate to support her and learn from the queen herself. (Her education courses are now called "Full Throttle" and you can check it here!!) It was honestly my first time ever investing something like that to learn how to really thrive and build my business and I'm SO grateful I did it. And this year I'm attending my first in person photography workshop and I'm so stoked for that, so stay tuned!!
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APRIL
April was a ROUGH one. Living alone was rough. Being alone was rough. Like... I didn't want to live alone so I could BE alone hahaha. Actually, fun fact - up until about 2018 I thought I was an introvert. And anyone who knows me would laugh at that because I NEED social interaction. We all need it. But I just love being around people. But when I couldn't be around people, I just hiked a lot, started running, and cried far too often (we all did...right?!) I even got bored enough to take some self portraits in my apartment. Oh, I also got covid and it was super not fun but I'm fine.
MAY
Ahhhh, May was a breathe of fresh air. There was about a two month period after quarantine started where no one knew whether or not it was okay to start doing photoshoots. I finally got to do my first shoot with my friend Mary. We went down the street to the riverfront and took some photos for fun and it was a blast. Then I got to do two more shoots that month and both of these couples are a few of my favorite people I've met this year. I'm so grateful for them because they were so fun to work with and helped bring back that creativity I had been lacking during quaratine.
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JUNE
In June I went on a few fun advenures and even got to go up to Oregon with my family. We had booked an Airbnb up there for my sister's graduation but that was obviously and unfortunately canceled, but we decided to go up there anyway for some quality family time.
I also FINALLLYYYYY got to shoot my first wedding of 2020 at the end of this month. It was an Indian wedding and it was SO MUCH FUN!! Stayed tuned for that blog post :)
JULY
I love camping and adventuring of all sorts but somehow I had never been backpacking and I finally got to go! It was so refreshing and fun and I can wait to go many more times this year!
Apparently there were a lot of first this year because I shot my first proposal at Viansa Sonoma this month and I was so nervous but it turned out perfect. I can't wait to shoot so many more proposals in 2021 :)
I also finally shot a couple weddings with the wonderful Mariana Calderon and got to take some updated headshots for my good friend and talented musician Justin Diaz.
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AUGUST
In August, wedding season really went from 0 to 100. REAL QUICK. I did so many weddings, my first actual styled shoot collaborated with other vendors, family shoots, and a proposal. Behind the scenes I was doing dozens of phone calls and Facetimes every week with new clients and it was so overwhelming but... honestly, fun. It was fun to finally get to experience wedding season and the business side of things simultaneously. I also struggled with my editing style this month and finally figured out how to make my edited photos more true to color. Overall 10/10 amazing month!
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SEPTEMBER
This month I turned 25 and took a couple weeks off life and went to Joshua Tree (during a heat wave lololol, it was literally 122 degrees) and Seattle. It was nice to get away, but I can't wait to being able to travel again. There's still so many places I haven't seen and things I haven't done. But one day!
When I got back home, I really hit the ground running with more phone calls and Facetime, weddings, family shoots, and another proposal! I also got to do and in home maternity session with my friends Mariana and David Ronconi - they had their baby in November!! This month was a blast :)
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OCTOBER
October is hands down the busiest season of the year for wedding vendors. While weddings looked a bit different this year, this month was still crazy. I did tons of location scouting, shot a bunch of weddings and drowned in editing. I also held my first ever mini sessions! I wasn't sure how it was going to go or if anyone would sign up but I think I will definitely be doing them again in 2021 :)
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NOVEMBER
Usually November is the end of wedding season, but I actually had my last wedding in October! It was a quick and aggressive wedding season haha. I slowed it down a little and did some hiking and hanging out with friends. I did tons of family shoots this month. Before this year, I used to dread family shoots because I had no idea how to pose families but I think I'm really getting it down and learning to love it! I also did a couple proposals, a fun shoot with my friend and his car and shot some wine content for Cuvaison - this is something I'm hoping to dive into in 2021! It would be a dream to get to shoot for more wineries :)
(That last photo is the pie I made for Thanksgiving! Rebecca Skidgel: photographer and pie-maker?)
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DECEMBER
This month I worked on a ton of projects behind the scenes that you'll have to stay tuned to see! I spent more time with friends and family annndddd of course I did some more family shoots!
This year was nothing short of unexpected. I've said this before and I'll say it again and again - everything happens for a reason and no matter what's happening right now, you're going in the right direction.
We only have one life and only you have the power to decide that each day is going to be a good one.
