I feel like I had a huge breakthrough with my artistic style after living in the mountains. I’ve been trying to hone in my style of photography for years now, and it finally feels like I’m finding my niche. I’ve been trying to force myself to have an urban, New York style, but once I let myself capture what truly inspired me this summer, I realized that I should never force anything.

No matter where I am, I want to find the natural light. To me that means that even in the most urban space, I want to showcase the nature and the outdoors. Looking back at this month’s photos reminds me that a lot of this wouldn’t be possible without Leah being my partner in creativity. The adventures we push each there to take have inspired so much of our photography work.

A few weekends back, we decided to wake up to see the sunrise, and took the Staten Island Ferry to get a good view. It was freezing, but stunning. Well worth getting up at 5:30am and rushing to the subway. Waking up before the day ‘begins’ made me feel like I got a bonus day, and having adventures before I normally wake up feels like the most rewarding bonus. We essentially choose how many hours we get in a day, and this choice unintentionally set me up for a day full of SO many little adventures.

I wanted to take pictures so badly, but my body was so cold on the boat, all I could do was clutch my sweater and enjoy the view. Thankfully Leah didn’t have the same issue, and she took these amazing shots while I modeled and regained some warmth.

After the sunrise boat ride, we wandered around the Battery Park and took more photos in the gorgeous golden light. It wasn’t even 8:30am yet and we were ready to go find a brunch spot, and be one of the first ones there!

Then came a really fun part. Once we had food in our system, we stopped at my place, and I decided to venture onto the scaffolding on my apartment building, or as I like to call it, my make-shift patio.

Up next: climbing at DUMBO boulders

Leah’s brother Levi joined us in DUMBO and they let me take photos of them!

After romping around Brooklyn, we finally went back to Leah’s place and I settled in for the night. This day felt like 3 days, and that can either be a bad thing or the best thing. This day was the very best thing.

I am always searching for things that break me out of a city routine, and these are all examples to look back on:

1. see the sunrise/sunset

2. take a boat ride

3. go out to brunch

4. relax outside

5. go rock climbing

6. have a photoshoot with a good view

7. make plans to see loved ones

8. keep moving forward

xo Marilyn