This past weekend was a crazy, exhausting whirl-wind of fun! I had the honor of photographing the 39th annual Capital Pride parade on Saturday and festival on Sunday. Although it was two very long physically exhausting days it was a weekend spent with great people and great pride for being part of such an important organization! It was so refreshing to be around so many people who were not afraid to be who they were despite what others might think.

Saturday we kicked things off with the parade which consisted of so many fantastic ornate outfits and suped up cars. A whole lot of people just having a good time. The best part of the parade was the very end when I got to hop on the last float filled with all of the volunteers. Not because my feet, arms and back were throbbing (although not having to walk anymore was pretty awesome) but all of the people in the crowd clapping and cheering for us. Thanking us for giving our time to make this happen. You could see the true appreciation in everyone's face and smiles. With all of the love being shown towards us I completely forgot about all my throbbing body parts and was truly thankful that I was apart of this event.

Another reason this weekend was so special to me was I got to hang out and take pictures with my dad. Two things that I love very much! When I look back on my childhood I remember my dad always having a camera on all of our trips and was constantly taking pictures of us. I loved when we would set up the projector and watch our family slides all night. He also had a video camera which was always filming. I remember he used to lug that thing around with a VCR like device attached to his hip! I am so thankful that we have so many movies and pictures of us growing up especially because we moved away from our extended family and hometown that I loved so much when I was 11. I'd have to say that my love of photography and need to document every moment of life would be attributed to my dad. So when I got to spend a weekend taking pictures with him it was pretty darn cool!

Sunday I woke up feeling like I had the worst hangover. Seeing as I hadn't had anything to drink the night before I believe it was caused by the loud music, cheering crowds and being on my feet with a 50 pound camera in hand! Yes we were about to do it all over again. When we got to the festival and I found out we were going to be photographing the shows on the main stage I was thinking, great this will defiantly cause permanent hearing damage and why didn't I bring my ear plugs? Oh man, that just made me sound really old. Seeing as I am a musician in my spare time (yeah right, like I have any spare time) it was so cool being right in the middle of all of the action. I got to watch Betty Who made famous by the song "Somebody Loves You" do a sound check and then perform an actual show for a swarming sea of people. People who paid serious cash to get within several feet of the stage, but we were right in the press pit in the middle of it all for FREE! What I really wanted to do was put down my camera, jump up on stage and grab a guitar! That would have been A-mazing!!

What was really amazing is that this whole photography team was organized by Seth McClain-Johnson who by the way is only 16-years-old and runs his own photography business. I got to hang out with Seth and two of his friends/interns Erika Falkenberg and Josh Medlin. Had I not already known their age I would have never guessed they were so young! Erika has her own photography business (and is in high-school) and Josh has is own videography business (and just graduated high school). If only I had half of their ambition when I was their age. Sigh... I also got to meet Free Akins a fellow photographer and we got to trade crazy kid stories. It was an amazing weekend with some amazing people. Now let me share with you some highlights from the weekend.