As my fourth year photographing for the UNCA Athletic Department comes to a close, so too draws near the graduation of the first class of freshman I photographed. As I’ve worked with these stellar athletes for the entirety of their college careers, it is a little sad for me to see them go, but I’ve had such fun getting to do one last shoot for them to commemorate their time at UNCA.

Paris Day 7: Cross-checking the List

Our last of Paris dawned warm and beautiful and we awoke to greet the sun… for all of 5 seconds and then fell back into an exhausted sleep. Exhaustion was certainly the word of the day, although we tried as hard as we could to fight the tiredness from our last few days and sadness of the day to come. Nonetheless, we were able to make our last day in Paris a successful and enjoyable one.

Paris Day 6: Planes, Trains and Automobiles

Our first impression of Reims was getting turned around (not to be confused with “lost”) in the train station, the second was trying to use hand signals to a non-English-speaking audience to ask directions to the cathedral and the third that the locals must be made of steel because they had no fear of crossing the street right in front of a speeding car. Our fourth impression was the overall theme of the city: the interesting mix of the old - bordering on ancient - city mixed with the new and modern.

Paris Day 5: Paris Street, Rainy Day

We woke up this morning intent on watching the sun rise over the Seine, but that didn’t really happen. Our goal was to use the Vileb bike rental system to cycle to Pont des Arts, but unfortunately the morning dawned cold and rainy, so there was no sunset to be had. We did at least enjoy a bike ride, although it was equally as terrifying as it was thrilling. While Paris is certainly a bike-friendly city, locals must be much more comfortable riding in the street mere inches from being sucked under a bus. We coasted down main roads with bike lanes and sprinted up side streets between moving vehicles, no destination in mind just trying to stay upright. Thought we tried to observe the rules of the road, we did get yelled at by a bus driver. We just think he was complimenting us on our exemplary cycling skills.

Paris Day 4: A Lot of Eiffel Tower Pictures

Both of us have run across the Holy Chapel in our studies, so we thought we knew what to expect, but when we crossed the threshold into the Gothic cathedral we both inhaled sharply, momentarily stunned. It is not just the impeccable Rayonnant architecture giving the structure a sense of weightlessness it surely does not have, but the bright and ornate colors touching every single surface that is truly dazzling. Every inch of the interior that is not stained glass is painted with scenes of saints and martyrs, decorated with trefoils, or made to look like fabric hanging along the wall.

Paris Day 3: Goes to Paris, Sees Deadpool Movie

We decided today to take a more “relaxed” day to make sure we didn’t burn out on jet lag and continual adventuring. After sleeping in again - yet, in reality, getting up at 5 a.m. in the time that we’re used to - we headed to Montmartre. Though the metro would’ve taken us right there, we decided to enjoy a 40 minute stroll there instead, grabbing a couple apples from a corner market on the way. As my minuscule amount of roaming data is already exhausted, we had to navigate almost the entire day (and from here on out!) with just a map, road signs and our intuition. Fortunately, all three added together took us right where we wanted to go.

Paris Day 1: Always an Adventure

The best way to begin your adventure of a lifetime is to have issues checking in for your flight, give your carry-on luggage to the baggage attendant when he thought it was checked then forget to pick it up when disembarking because you had to sprint across the entire airport to get to your connecting flight (which ended up being delayed), be told your luggage was found and would be put on the plane and then land sans change of clothes and toothbrush. Well, that's what we thought, apparently.

Soaking up the Sun at Craggy Gardens

When I decided to come to UNC Asheville for school, one of the determining factors was the great abundance of outdoor activities which I hoped to enjoy. Unfortunately, my four years flew by with very little time for any fun extracurriculars. So I made it my mission this summer to catch as many sunrises, sunsets, blue skies, and rainy days as possible, enjoying what each has to offer. On a particularly splendid Monday afternoon, my roommate and I spontaneously decided that an evening hike was the only way that we wanted to spend the evening, so hike we did.

Love West Asheville

Last weekend I had the opportunity to work with a community organization called Provision Asheville. Provision, whose mission is to "create community through service," held their first community event, this one called Love West Asheville. The idea behind the four-hour-long event was to provide various services to community members that they would otherwise have to pay money for, money they may not be able to spend on such services, which included medical screenings, dentistry, massages, and family photography (as well as bounce house and painting activities for kids.)