NASHVILLE WAS AN EXPERIENCE I HAD ALWAYS WANTED TO HAVE. SO MANY OF MY FRIENDS SPOKE SO HIGHLY OF IT AND I HAD HEARD OF SO MANY RAD THINGS ABOUT THE CREATIVE COMMUNITY THERE THAT I JUST DECIDED I HAD TO GO SEE IT FOR MYSELF. SO I did and here is a bit about what happened while I was there.

There were already a few people I was planning to meet up with a while in the Nash, one of them being a guy named Gill that I met a while back thru Instagram. Luckily, Gill was off work the Monday I drove into town, so I met up with him, his roommate, Nolan and their dog, Woodford at their apartment.

Luckily they both love exploring as much as I do, so they grabbed their cameras and we went out for the entire rest of the day adventuring thru Nash. We spent golden hour capturing light in an old parking deck overlooking the city. We ate dinner at the Pinewood Social Club which may be the coolest place I have ever set foot in. Then we went back to the house to hang out but Gill and I quickly found ourselves back on the city streets shooting until almost 3 am. 

The next day we all slept in late and then went to the Barista Parlor which I might add was the best coffee experience I had in Nashville. Ironically enough, at Barista Parlor I randomly ran into two of my favorite ATL creatives, Jeremiah Cowen and Jess Vass who were in town working on a shoot for Lexus. We all hung out as well as a couple other people that just happened to be getting coffee as well. It was kind of incredible how small and familiar the community seemed there and it was honestly one of my favorite things I experienced there.

AFTER COFFEE, GILL AND NOLAN SHOWED ME ALL THE COOL STUFF GOING ON AROUND THE NEIGHBORHOOD. WE WENT TO MOTO MOTO, THE GRAND OPENING OF THE LITTLE OCTOPUS AND BICENTENNIAL PARK. LATER, I MET SOME OTHER NEW FRIENDS AT CREMA WHICH I WILL WRITE ABOUT SOME OTHER TIME. 

In the afternoon, Gill and I met up again with Jess and Jeremiah to go camping outside the city for the night. We ended up setting up camp under the Natchez Gap Bridge which was a kind of surreal experience. Gill played his guitar and sang, Jeremiah and I shared weird stories and Jess was paranoid about getting caught all night. Actually we all were, but it was worth it when we woke up in the morning to watch the sun rise over the valley. Jeremiah and I climbed to the top of the bridge to watch the light fill the valley. On our way out Jeremiah and Jess did a bit more shooting of the Lexus they had with them as we drove thru the mountains back to the city.

We then grabbed one more cup of coffee at the super rad Steadfast Coffee and I showed them Pinewood since they hadn't seen it yet.

We then parted ways and I met up with Gill and Nolan and a few of their coworkers to go explore some waterfalls and swim for a bit before they had to go to work and I had to get back to Atlanta. 

Overall, the entire experience was surreal. Gill and Nolan, who I had only just met, felt like brothers by the time I left. Camping with Jeremiah and Jess was not only spontaneous and thrilling, it was genuinely inspiring to spend time with such incredible people. I left Nashville reluctantly, but full. Thanks to everyone that made that experience one of the best of my life. 

On May 8, 2015, I had the incredible opportunity to participate in this year’s SCAD Atlanta Out to Launch show. Out to Launch (O2L) is a massive presentation by the graduating class of SCAD Atlanta of the best work from each department to industry professionals from all over the country who are invited to attend the showcase and interact with the students, almost like a reverse career fair. It was an honor to accept an invitation to be in the show earlier in the year, but it was also a lot of pressure. I was to present alongside 100 of not only my friends and peers, but the top students in every department.
 

Finally, the week of the show came, and we hauled in several boxes of our work and other favorite trinkets from our houses (and the house of lauren evans cuz her trinkets are INFINITELY more rad than mine). We set up our two tables with Monica’s work on one end and mine on the other, and a nice arrangements of giveaways in the middle including laser-cut wood coasters and tiny bottles of coffee. We also had several frames with some our favorite print pieces hanging on the wall behind our table along with a massive handmade display sign that read “something different” between our areas.
 

In conclusion, I would like to just thank everyone that came out to O2L this year as well as all the SCAD staff who spent months planning this event, but most of all, I would like to thank all my professors here at SCAD for pushing me to do my best and make work I'm proud of. Because you guys OUt to Launch 2015 truly was a succes. Thank You.