Wandering the wild west.

I recently had the opportunity to work on a project in Buffalo Gap, a tiny town in the middle of the Lone Star State. Coming from NYC, I had no idea what to expect. I envisioned driving through the night on a narrow, 2 lane highway and pulling over at a dingy gas station with flickering florescent lights. The locals along with tired transcontinental truck drivers (with mustaches) gather at the neighboring bar/pool hall to feed their bellies and feed the juke box cranking out an all-American soundtrack by CCR, Toby Keith, and Neil Diamond. Maybe some Bruce Springsteen.

My Texan fantasy never materialized, as I was always exhausted after 12-13 hour days and would lose motivation to socialize. I generally wound up watching shows about giant fish or jungle survival on the National Geographic Channel in my hotel room. Or Egypt documentaries on the History Channel because that dominates approximately 78% of their programming.

Fortunately, I'm a morning person, so every time I had a day off, I would wake up at the crack of dawn and venture out into the Big Country to explore. The lushness and beauty of the countryside totally won me over. I miss the crunchy gravel roads, the friendly farm animals, and the 9:30pm sunsets.

Project Runway 8.

Don't forget to watch it Thursdays at 9pm et/pt on Lifetime or online any time!

Meet the art department super crew, Luis, Brian, Keith, and Andrea. (not pictured: Katie & Scott)

Little Lili goes to school.

My dear friend Anna asked me photograph her little girl and her "boyfriend" at school and I gladly obliged. It took me several hours to choose the best ones because apparently all pictures of toddlers are unbearably adorable. I really enjoy taking candid and unique family photos, so if any of you have special moments you want to capture, you know where to find me!

Bent By Elephants

The most valuable things I took from Montreal were a desire to learn French, and a CD by Bent by Elephants. When Vic and I stumbled upon their CD release party at Divan Orange, we were blown away by their talent. Their set was short, and I wished they would play it over. And over. And over.

This orchestral/folk/pop band is relatively unknown outside their native city and I hope they build a large enough following to warrant many shows in NY in the future. Guys, this band is REALLY good. Please sample their incredible sound. Their CD is on iTunes and all that good stuff.

BENT BY ELEPHANTS - Emma Lake from Mitch Fillion (southernsouls.ca) on Vimeo.

Quebec City