Heads up, this will be a long post. Lots to read! But if you don’t like reading, there’s lots of photos to see! 😉

So, I just got back a few days ago from doing a short little summer tour through the Midwest with my band Deer Vibes. I had a blast. It was great getting out of Texas for a bit and do nothing but hang out with friends and perform for people in other states. If you follow my personal Facebook page, you know how much I hate on San Antonio and Texas in general. Lol. It’s what I do. I honestly do it on purpose because I want to offend people. I like seeing how people react to particular things. It’s really interesting because you learn things about people through the comments. You learn who feels the same, who have traveled before, where people are originally from, and also I get to laugh in amusement to the people who say I say nothing but blanketed statements when it’s actually just me being sarcastic. I enjoy being sarcastic, but I equally enjoy being real. I absolutely love being honest. I’m not afraid to show my vulnerable side, my passionate side, or my I just don’t give a damn side. Life is too short. I want to see a lot of places and experience a lot. All in all, I don’t hate it here. It’s home to me. It’s where I grew up, where I found my soul mate, Amanda, and where my family and close friends live. I do however, feel like I don’t fit in here. I never have, but more so ever since I dove deeper in the what I hate to call “artistic scene”. Some people call me an artist and some people say my work is artistic. That’s fine and all. I don’t mind it, but I know some great artists out there and I don’t feel I am one. I just love life, love people, love experiences, and love to document it through my eyes. I sometimes get this urge to want to collaborate with others here, but usually wind up that most people here don’t see things the way I do. All the people that I’ve collaborated with (except for a handful of people) have been from different places other than San Antonio. It’s why I like filtering out the close minded types. It’s how I know who I’ll get along with. It’s why I promote my business the way I do and why I’m not afraid to write honest things on my blog like this. So, the question I get asked a lot is, “Why don’t you just move?”. Well, I can’t. I love my girlfriend with all my heart. She’s my other half. Since she has equal custody of her son with her ex, she legally can’t move. And I’m not going anywhere without her and Ethan. So, what do I do? I make the best of things! 🙂 One goal of mine is to focus on doing more weddings out of Texas than in. I’m still in complete awe that I do photography full time. I made my dream “job” a reality, so doing out of Texas weddings is my next goal to make happen. It’s only a matter of time! That way, I meet other awesome people from around the U.S. and get some stunning scenic locations for their photographs! Plus, I get to come back home to San Antonio and be with my lovely Amanda and her son. It’s a win win situation.

Well, enough of the ranting. That went on longer than I planned. The point is, I had a great time. The weather was gorgeous everywhere we went. I met some great people and some strange people. But all in all, had a great experience.

DAY 01 – San Antonio, TX – Dallas/Fort Worth, TX

We originally had plans to play a house show up in Dallas/Fort Worth, but it fell through. So when we got there, we just hung out and rested for a bit, then made the long drive up to Nashville.

DAY 02 – Nashville, Tennessee 

The Nashville show wasn’t that great in my opinion. The venue was weird. It was a strange “we’re so arty that you just don’t understand” kind of venues. Lol. We got there early so we relaxed in the area and had a few beers.

 

We played with one band that had the funniest t-shirts.

This is my fellow photog friend, Ashtin Paige, who recently moved to Nashville a few years ago (maybe a year and a half… I can’t remember). Although I totally forgot to get in touch with her and feel bad about it, she luckily saw my Facebook status saying we were in Nashville. So, she was super duper cool and kind for letting us stay the night at her place. I had asked if it was cool that all 14 of us could stay there and she thought I was exaggerating about the 14 people. That was, until she saw all of us. Lol. But, it was really great seeing her and catching up on our lives. It was great to hear that she recently became a full time photographer too. When I first started learning photography, I came across her work and was blown away. I eventually met her and loved that she was so humble. It seems that’s so hard to find here in San Antonio.

 

Day 03 – Nashville, Tennessee to Cincinnati, Ohio

I don’t know what to say about Cincinnati other than it has a lot of character. As you can see, I took a lot of photos there.

We played with this band in Nashville and in Cincinnati. If you’re into shoegaze, you should give them a listen. They’re called, Glish.

Day 04 – Cleveland, Ohio

After our show in Cincinnati, we drove straight to Cleveland since we had a place to stay. As soon as we got there, we crashed out. Cleveland was a lot of fun. I took a lot of photos there.

 

Day 05 – Columbus, Ohio

I’m not sure what to say about Columbus. We didn’t spend too much time there, so I didn’t get a feel for the city much. The people we stayed with were nice and a bit strange to me. I offered to send someone photos I took of them and all they did was ask why I didn’t go to school for photography.

Day 06 – Bowling Green, Kentucky

All I will say is this. I didn’t have a great time in Bowling Green personally. We had a place to stay, but me and a couple of the other guys decided that sleeping in the van away from everyone was in our best interest. So, us four played a scary video in the dark (all anti-social style, lol), then crashed out. We left the next day with a saying, “What happens in Bowling Green, stays in Bowling Green.”

Day 07 – Clarksville, Tennessee

I didn’t take many photos in Clarksville either. Although the town seemed a bit creepy during the day like a Twilight Zone episode, it did nothing for me. We did however take a group photo there. I didn’t take the group photo, since I’m in the band, lol, so one of the roadies took them.

Day 08 – Clarksville, Tennesse to Austin, TX

This was another long drive back to Texas. We stopped to rest at one of our guitarists’ parents house in Austin, then played our last show for that tour. I’ll just go ahead and say that the people who work at the venue, Red 7, are jerks. We had never been treated so poorly and rudely before. So, don’t support that venue!

So, that was my trip. It’s nice to get back into the flow of things though! I’m going to be working on some personal photography projects soon! It’s that time again!