I usually don’t post so frequently after publishing a previous post, but here it is – my obligatory birthday blog post. Every year on my birthday I take some time to reflect on the year’s experiences. Yesterday I turned twenty-six.

Last year during this time I had just finished up covering the riots and protests that engulfed my home city of Baltimore for almost three consecutive weeks. Going back to classes, finals, and regular photojournalism work was unsettling and surreal. How could I concentrate on my editing class assignments when just a week prior I was running around the city on foot with a gas mask stuffed in my backpack? I felt like I’d be sleep deprived and on edge forever. Then my twenty-fifth birthday rolled around on May twenty-fifth right after things started to feel normal again. The day of my last birthday, I felt displaced. I went to DC with a group of friends, ate Chipotle in 100-degree heat (sorry guys) and explored some pretty neat museum exhibits. While I had a great time and loved spending the day with my friends, it felt so weird to do something normal after that documenting that spring. Now when I look at those photos it feels like I was another person then, maybe I was.

Flash forward to this year, my twenty-sixth year of life, and protests/riots weren’t even the craziest aspect of my past year at all. During this year I graduated graduate school, started working full time since I finally obtained enough clients (both public and private) to do photojournalism and writing projects for, and oddly enough started basically living between Baltimore, MD and Orlando, FL due to the fact that I am now dating someone (and have been since last July) who lives in the Sunshine State. I have new friends and kept all my old friends (well, most of them except that one dude) and have been so busy I haven’t even realized a year had gone by. I feel like I am now at my final form “adult Kaitlin” because when my birthday rolled around this year, my first thought was “again?”

This year’s birthday was quiet, low key, and relaxed. Nothing like last year’s wild party at the Rockwell on the eve of my twenty-fifth. While chugging a bottle of Fireball whiskey to 50 Cent’s “It’s Your Birthday” as the clock struck midnight was a fun time, I would be ok if I never did it again. This year was reserved for the beach, rum runners and a cool breeze.

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That giant ice cream is from Ghirardelli  – espresso chip ice cream, strawberries, and whipped cream in a hand-dipped chocolate waffle cone. Who needs a cake when you can just stuff your face with that? Sorry that all my photos on this post are iPhone ones. Bringing my heavy 5D3 to the beach wasn’t an appealing idea to me at all, however, I did shoot some film there so expect that to be added to this post once I get it processed.

Next week I’ll be back to posting about things other than myself. My last two posts have been about myself, which is fine every once in awhile so you guys can see what I’m doing behind the camera, but I like to keep it streamline with *real* photowork 😛

Also, even if you tan well, wear sunscreen at the beach. It was super cool outside and breezy, so the heat from the sun didn’t feel very strong. Amateur mistake to the fullest, both Ryan and I look like lobsters. Don’t be a lobster, be a person, wear sunscreen.