We're deep into the holiday season, which is the best time to reconnect with family and friends. Especially for me, since I have the bad habit of getting lost in my work and and not spending the time I should with the people I care about. That's why it was so awesome to be able to triple-dip last month with a business/friends/family trip back to my hometown.
I grew up in the Tri-Cities area of Washington State, which is about a four hour drive away from my home in Seattle. The region is famous for it's nuclear weapons, hydro-electric dams, sagebrush, and The Academy of Children's Theatre. I can't overstate how important ACT is to this community. It brings the gift of childhood theatre education to Eastern Washington, and by doing so it provides immeasurable benefits to the community. This can mean anything from teaching the professional skills needed to become a performer to providing a safe place for kids to exercise their imagination and make new friends. As a teenager in the Tri-Cities with few friends and even fewer artistic outlets, ACT gave me a place to be and taught me skills that I still carry with me. I'm really proud to remain involved with this organization. I continue to work with them as an occasional Graphic Designer, and in November I was happy to travel across the state to work with them as a photographer.
Wren came with me to serve as a second shooter, and between the two of us we were able to go from room to room, capturing the awesome work that ACT was doing with kids from 3-18 years old. There was something for everyone, storytelling, choreography, vocal coaching, set building, costumed rehearsal, and so much more. And all this was just part of a typical Saturday. We were blown away, and I can't remember smiling so much during a shoot.
The trip was made even better by the chance to catch up with ACT's Artistic Director, Josh Darby. You can see another adventure we had with Josh in an earlier post HERE. Since we live far apart right now, it's my favorite thing to wander through Hastings talking about everything and nothing. This weekend was a chance to do just that. Last, but definitely not least, it was great to see my family. It'd been about six months since I'd been able to sit down with my parents and my brother Eian, so going out for Chinese food was more than called for.
I'll be working with ACT on some upcoming projects, so having a wealth of fresh photography will be a fantastic resource. I'm so happy when life and work can overlap so well. It was the perfect combination of adventure and friendship, which made for a really great trip. Check out some more samples below taken by me and Wren, and look out for my next post, which will be the unveiling of our family Christmas card.
