Looking for interesting locations for sessions is just my excuse to aimlessly drive around and explore the gorgeous Tennessee backroads. Ain’t it perty? :)

Oh Christmas time! Last year at this time I was celebrating Christmas in China by shopping with some of my favorite friends & I REALLY missed being home for Christmas. So I was really excited to have a BEAUTIFUL white Christmas at my parent’s house in Knoxville. I can’t remember the last time I had a snowy Christmas. Merry Christmas to everyone! Here are a few snaps from my day.

P.S. There were no puppies harmed… He loves catching snowballs!

I’ve finally got around to blogging some photos from Thanksgiving. The craziness of my family is only beat by the craziness of my parent’s new dog, Chester. Seriously. He’s almost demonic. We’ve nicknamed him Chester the Molester… and you’ll see why…

Hey guys! I’ve only got one photo to share. I came across it on my old hard drive & really wanted to release it to the world. This was on a cruise I took with my family to Alaska. Pretty, eh?

I spent 10 months in China last year & it was absolutely amazing. I studied Chinese, worked on photography projects, and explored. This is a looking-back post of sorts. It’s been 1 year since I went on my first solo trip in China. I’d been in the country for 2 months and I decided to try out my really really bad Chinese. I was extremely nervous when I went and bought my train ticket, and I was surprised when the ticket lady understood what I was saying. 1 ticket, overnight hard sleeper bed, Changsha City to Jishou. After I arrived in Jishou, I found the bus station to Dehang (德夯). What I saw on that bus was out of this world.

Karst peaks grew in front of me, in true Hunan（湖南) fashion. The village of Dehang is a weird hybrid. Half of the villagers continue to farm, herd water buffalo, forage for mushrooms/roots etc. The other half cater to the tourists. Dehang itself is not that popular of a destination, but its really the only reason to visit that area of Hunan Province.

It did not disappoint. I spent two days hiking the mountains & trying to start conversations with confused locals. A few humored me &  you’ll see them pictured below. Dehang gave me the confidence to really get out there. I caught the travel bug, and spent many more months ridin’ trains solo around China.

Thank you, Dehang. I hope to see you again! 谢谢你！

P.S. Don’t you love my “self-portrait” with the cow patty? Hehehe