Death Valley California, U.S.

Another "this is really my job?" trip. I had to absolute pleasure of taking off to California with this awesome dude. Conner was a senior in high school that worked at a coffee shop in my home-town. I'd seen him here and there throughout his time in Defiance. When he messaged me and asked if he could bring me along to California to shoot his senior photos I quickly replied a resounding "hell ya". Conner and I stayed a night in Chicago, then flew out to LAX and stayed the next night in Hollywood. I woke up bright and early to the smell of some french pressed coffee Conner had ready to fuel our 4 hour drive to our first (and my favorite) photo destination- Death Valley National Park. The views we had on this drive brought constant tears to my eyes. Miles and miles of nothing. mountains in the distance held small spotlights from the sun. An absolute breath of fresh air. Whenever we came to a spot where we thought to pull over and take photos we were taken back at how insanely quiet it was. It was pretty erie, but in the coolest way. On our drive back to our place to sleep we stopped at a small burger shack to pick up some burgers and drinks then pushed all the way through till we were back in Hollywood. The next day we drove through Beverly Hills (mostly just to sing the Beverly Hills song.. you know the one.) and Santa Monica. Walking out on the pier in off-season was another erie yet amazing sight I'll never forget. We explored through the city, went to an art museum, and ate some incredible food. Then we were off to our last airbnb stay of the trip. We stayed up late talking to our airbnb host who gave some precious life advice. We woke up to our last morning in CA and decided to drive straight to the beach for one last look. Im really glad we did that, I still remember the comforting, salty, sunny air of that morning. Conner is such a genuine soul, Im so honored to have been able to go on this adventure with him. Another trip and person I won't soon forget.