For the past two years, I’ve been bartending 4-5 nights a week. I always promised myself that as soon as photography took off, I would be able to quit. But never knew when I had taken off – when I booked 30 weddings? When I made $60,000 a year? Two weeks ago, I had a major breakdown. The regulars at the bar were draining me – I was being negative and basically becoming a person that I did not like. I was unhappy with myself, mean to Bryan, putting negative energy toward a job that was supposed to be temporary and not putting the positive energy, time and work that it takes into building a business. Plus, I was seeing my husband for like 20 minutes a day at lunch. It sucked.

So, that afternoon, I cracked open a beer and started going through our annual expenses, writing down what it would take for both of us to make it work for me to quit the bar. My husband just finished law school and opened his own practice, so it’s not like we were rolling in dough by any means. I knew by me quitting the bar it ould be a major leap of faith for both of us. But I had to do it. There was no other option. And there was no other option than that we will both succeed in our prospective careers. Photography makes me happy – it challenges me, it fills me up, it’s my passion.

Since I gave my notice, I’ve booked two more weddings, a few portrait sessions, have three more possible brides and begin this Thursday walking on a cloud. I worked my last shift last night and woke this morning with relief, anxiety and a whole world open to me. I feel proud that I am going for it. I am going to plow through Seth Godin’s so-called “Dip” and come out successful on the other side.

And now for some snow day pics – 12″ we got on Tuesday and today it is melting fast …

Caught this woman taking a break on the lawn before I left a wedding recently. The light attracted me to it, and then the smoke made me pick up my camera.

I went on a “post-modern safari photo hunt” along Colfax Avenue in Denver two Saturdays ago. There sure is a lot to take photos of – interesting stories and characters. The gallery opening of Colfax Love is at Neopolitan Gallery June 14 at 7.

Walking around Bryan’s new neighborhood in Denver, I came across Roy and Twila sitting on their front porch. The afternoon wind was whipping around, cooling down the muggy air a bit, as rain clouds hovered above but never released. Roy, in a dirty wife beater, sat in the corner – ivy framing him on the porch. Twila, a small, elderly lady who liked to talk, sat swinging on the porch swing, with her walker resting in front of her. I stopped and talked with them. Twila bought the house 43 years ago with the money she earned working at a rubber factory for 30 of those years. I took their picture, and left before realizing my lens was on manual focus. So – these shots aren’t perfectly in focus, but I still liked them, kind of.