oldies but goodies from the summer

Conquering Old Rag

I miss Virginia.
Back in August, the weekend before I left for New York, some friends and I took an annual camping trip to Shenandoah. The Old Rag hike was daunting but also incredible, so much so that it was definitely a punch in my guts before I permanently left DC (gasp. so weird to actually type that out). Somewhere in the middle of the challenging hike (and seriously disturbing the nature with all kinds of profanity) I had a brief moment of panic/regret about leaving a city with so many good people and an easy access to vast nature. It was like, shit. What do New Yorkers do anyway? Go to Central Park for a dose of nature? If I'm so obsessed with the nature, why am I even moving? Nonetheless, the 8 mile hike through rock scrambles and a rewarding BBQ dinner were a nice way to finish out the short chapter I had in DC (Maybe I'll return someday... who knows?). Ahh, these gorgeous valleys...I'll have to return sometime in the fall when the leaves go wild.

Bye bye. See you later, VA.

Catching the tail end of summer

Last summer was glorious in so many ways that were definitely not covered on this blog (sigh, I really need to be more diligent about this one) and as I look back, I realize that the days I actually decide to whip out my camera for whatever reason obviously become more vivid in memory. Over the years, documenting something with film has become a rather luxurious and stressful hobby, financially and logistically. Rolls often get lost while I'm moving literally for the 5th time in the year, scanned shots sit in my hard drive for eternity until I dig them out and manage to post a few. It's a whole process of its own. But you know, I can't seem to ditch film. Like a lot of people around me know, film is how I first learned photography and I honestly have not fallen out of love with what it can do to a photograph. ANYWAY enough rant about film (or more like what was supposed to be my excuse for posting summery pictures in JANUARY). Here is a beautiful late summer day hiking with Sarah + Allie in Virginia sometime in September. All taken with the trusty Nikon FM10.

Dolcezza at Mosaic district

An adventure that started out on the sheer mission of checking out the coolest-looking Target in Virginia turned into a total self-indulging and borderline barbaric gelato fest that perfectly wrapped up the warm spring weekend. One cannot simply go wrong with some gelato on a Sunday afternoon, especially if it's flavored dark chocolate and black sesame. Plus I was glad to finally check out Dolcezza - even though I've been more dying to try their Union Market location. This place is a happy concoction of coffee, ice cream, and beautiful interior. Yum.

It certainly seems like they have great coffee, but I was already too caffeinated at that point. Next time, though.

Also: you're not doing gelato right if you're not getting super messy and sticky while inhaling the cup in like, 5 minutes.

quick portraits: sarah

Let's talk about 10-minute portrait sessions. These are some digital shots from my quick portrait session with Sarah.

Autumn Getaway

I love indulging in autumn, especially when these beautiful hiking hot spots are only 1.5 hours away. Few shots from the top of the mountain w/ the Yashica Mat-124, few weekends ago. Wish I could do this every weekend!

Every time I go on these hiking adventures and try my best to enjoy the nature, I always think of this quote from one of my favorite books, Walden:

Winery at Bull Run

Back in September on one sunny Sunday afternoon, two of my friends and I spontaneously decided to go visit the closest winery near DC. As we drove westward through the Virginia country, I became thoroughly convinced that Virginia is basically more of a farmland than I had imagined. It reminded me of home. Oh how I miss home and the Texas Hill Country. But I think I can get used to this - Virginia is full of beautiful landscape, wineries, hills and valleys.
After doing an initial wine tasting (we went through 12 different types of wine & ports!) we decided to go with the rosé for the chill afternoon.
Bull Run was such a cute place. There was also a wedding ceremony there that night, so they were setting up the entire place nice and pretty. Oh, and live music too. Definitely worth the short trip.