Taking a break at the Greensboro music festival.

This year has brought more surprises, life lessons, sadness and beauty than I thought was possible in only eight months. Two years ago, I moved from the Southwest to a little town in North Carolina that no one had ever heard of to go to the best, unknown photography school in the country. Over those two years, I went from knowing no one to meeting some of the most amazing people in my life. Those connections will last a lifetime.
Graduation came all too fast and I can’t believe I have finally made it. Setting goals for my life was something I did not practice much. To accomplish something I have been dreaming about for years is an incredible experience I will never be able to fully put into words. As I find work here and there and start to work on my own fine art photography and documentary films, I am finding the reality settling in of the fact that the only thing ever getting in my way was myself. Fear is a funny thing because of the way it can make us feel safe from ever having to fail or succeed in anything. Excuses blanket dreams and make life “safe” and bearable. Or so we tell ourselves…
For the first time, I am excited about life and what will come my way. Sure, fear still raises its head but I hope that I can have the courage to stare right back and keep going. The most important thing to me is to always be doing what I love.
I am in the middle of moving to Greensboro and curating a photography exhibit right now. When the dust settles I will post more photos. In the meantime, have fun and I will see you soon.

Randy Furches, Morgan McPherson, and Kristen Leigh played for our June Dotmatrix Project show. It was a great acoustic set and all three gave a unique presentation. Join us this month on the 30th at the Green Burro for Amplify This (AKA Chuck Folds Five) and The Wigg Report!

I am slowly swimming through all my photos from China in between internships, job seeking and putting together a photo exhibit for the Dotmatrix Project. This photo was from the beginning of our trip from inside a restaurant where we enjoyed cow stomach and pig’s foot soup! It was pouring down rain outside and I was having so much fun watching the people walk by with their umbrellas.

The back room of the Green Burro was once again filled to the brim as the Subterranean Bums opened for Eating the Invaders in another monthly show for the Dotmatrix Project.
I have been shooting with the Dotmatrix Project for almost a year and this is the first time I have seen a trumpet, banjo and a kazoo all in one show! These guys put on an amazing performance and their music can be heard on Last.fm and Amie Street. More photos can be seen on Flickr and the crew from Monkeywhale filmed a great music video which should be coming soon.
Next month: Kristen Leigh w/ Morgan McPherson & Randy Furches at the Green Burro, 8pm., the last Thursday of the month and it’s FREE! So come out and join us if you are in the Greensboro area, we’d love to see you there!

I just returned from a 10 day trip to China where I visited Shanghai, Wu Zhen, Nanjing and Bejing. It was such a wonderful trip! I hope to go back to China again someday. There is so much to see and the people are amazing. I will be putting up more photos soon but here are a few from Nanjing. We met up with other photography students from Nanjing Normal University and got to shoot with them for a couple of days. We visited the temple of Confucius and the Sun-Yat Sen Mausoleum with the students. Spending time with them really gave us an up close and personal experience of Chinese culture. The time with them was too short!

For our digital class we had to shoot a panoramic and I have always thought this scene of downtown Greensboro with the train tracks looked really special. Building the panoramic was tricker than I thought it would be but finally after over 50 layers and several hours of blending I came up with something I was pretty happy with.

As promised, here are a few pictures from the Jim Avett show at the Green Burro where he played with Ray Morton, Seth and Scott Avett and Scott Manring. To see more check out The Dotmatrix Project on Flickr.

Jim Avett and his sons Seth and Scott bring some gospel to the Burro.

Jim Avett sings with his right hand man, Ray Morton

Bruce Piephoff (pronounced pea-0ff) played at the Green Burro in downtown Greensboro for another Dotmatrix show on Februrary 26. Fellow musicians who played with Bruce were: Renee Mendoza of Filthy Bird (playing at the Burro on April 30), David “Driveway” Moore, Scott Walker, Landon Walker and Jennie Walker Brunner. Bruce has 40 years of writing and playing all original music under his belt and has recorded 16 CDs. They were followed by Jim Avett who sang a couple gospel songs with his sons Scott and Seth. I will have pictures from that set up shortly. It was a great show and I hope many of you can come out March 26 for a spoken word show with Universal Mathematics and Mr. Rozzi.

Landon Walker

David “Driveway” Moore

Bruce Piephoff

1212 salon is a great little salon in downtown Asheboro, North Carolina. It just got started in the beginning of February and is a great addition to the town. Doug York is the co-owner and has been doing hair since 1983. 1212 Salon also offers makovers, massage therapy, manicures, pedicures and facials!