I’ll have more of a recap later (including pictures of the new booth setup), but I just wanted to say thanks to all the lovely people who visited me today.  You made it an excellent day!

A very special thanks goes out to my Special Lady Jenna, who helped with setup and teardown, kept me company, brought sandwiches, and loaned me her awesome design skills, nimble fingers (lots of wire this year) and her super cool iron tree (from which portrait ornaments were hung).

More later!

But this is a brand new day, a non-holiday in fact, and I’m back for my last post on this blog ever, to tell you that you can find me at rebeccabarnesphoto.com. Should you desire to email me, just write to rebeccabarnesphoto [at] gmail.com.

Here’s the last image I’ll ever post on this blog…sniff. I just realized it kind of looks like I’m sliding into the ocean, but that’s only the effect of the wide-angle lens. Lots more of this kind of thing at Rebecca Barnes Photography, so come check it out!

I’ll be back again this year! Same booth, same expo, same enthusiasm for capturing unique moments in time. Although I’m hoping there’s less Lady Gaga in the background from the runway show this year. Nothing against Lady Gaga, but seriously – NO ONE needs to hear Poker Face 20 times in a single day.  Could be worse, though.  Could be Mambo #5…

ANYWAY.  If you’re around, stop by and say hi, and maybe even enter the raffle for a free engagement session!

P.S.: I’m already booking super fast for this year, so if you’re interested NOW in a particular date, you might want to get in touch sooner rather than later.

P.P.S.: I have just decided that I will give a $100 discount to anyone who comes up to me at the expo and says (preferably in a stage whisper) the secret Discount Code Phrase “The falafels are fantastically fragrant in Finland”.

Let’s rewind to 2006, shall we? I was living in Southern California, where I’d been for most of my life. I’d been working at the same company for 10 years, had been divorced for 2 years, and had just gotten out of my first post-divorce relationship, which was kind of devastating for me.

I’d met Rebecca a year or so before when she commented on my blog, and we’d gotten to chatting. Her posts about life in Santa Cruz intrigued me, and she seemed like the type of person I could really get along with.

I’d also struck up an internet friendship (again, via the blog) with a (San Francisco-based) hilariously awesome bass player in a band called Birdmonster. They were playing a show somewhere in SF on New Year’s Eve 2007 (at the Warfield, I think?), and because my life was going SO WELL, I figured Screw It, I’ll drive up and see them play. I made good money, I had plenty of vacation time, and there wasn’t going to be any hot New Year’s Date. So I drove up, and made plans to stop by Santa Cruz to have lunch with Rebecca.

Then it happened. As I drove closer and closer to Santa Cruz, I noticed that the light was changing. It was more golden, clearer, more…something. I can’t adequately describe it, but it’s probably the closest I’ve gotten to a religious experience. Something inside me turned and clicked into place, and I knew that this was where I was supposed to be.

I met up with Rebecca, and we talked and she made coffee, and then we wandered around a bit and talked some more, and it was a great day. There was just something about Santa Cruz that spoke to me in a way that nowhere else had.

Over the course of the next few weeks, I decided that I needed to visit again, and a Plan began to form. So I came back up over a weekend, and explored some more. I picked up a copy of the Good Times, the Metro, and The Sentinel, and started checking out rental prices, just to see. It wasn’t too bad – I was paying less down south, but down south wasn’t HERE, and HERE had a premium on account of it being HERE, which was way better than THERE.

The original Plan was to wait until June, which was when I would have hit my 10 year anniversary with my company. But…I kinda couldn’t wait. I gave my 2 week notice in the middle of April, cashed out my retirement, and moved away from everyone I knew. Because being here made me feel better. Because it made me feel like it was ok to be whoever I was supposed to be, and that whatever path I took to get there was maybe going to be a little easier than it would have been elsewhere. And it was.

Rebecca was the only person I knew here, so I leaned rather heavily on her in the friendship department. She introduced me to her friends and awesome family, and I began to feel like this was Home.

Plan A had me working on a book (Science Fiction/Mystery, thank you very much), but I was either suffering from writer’s block or from Having Too Much Fun Being Retired at 32. I suspect the latter. So instead of writing, I went for lots of walks and drives and took photos. During one of my exploratory trips up here, I loaned a little point and shoot camera to Rebecca to use during a walk we went on with one of her friends. In my mind, that’s when Red Bat was born.

Fast forward to July of 2007. We’re sitting at Las Palmas Taco Bar near the wharf, and all of a sudden we decide that we should start a photography business. EXTREME EXCITEMENT ensued. It was what I needed to give my somewhat directionless trajectory a shove toward Creative Purpose, and she needed to transition to something that did justice to her creativity. And so Red Bat was born, for real. It was the first time either of us had tried anything of this magnitude, and BOY HOWDY was it an interesting year.

We got through it ok, still excited, still raring to go. Work started coming in, first from friends, and then from referrals and word of mouth. It was very gratifying to me that we could navigate the somewhat treacherous waters of co-owning a business together and still remain good friends.

The next few years are kind of a foggy whirlwind, as we learned how to run a business and still remain sane. Over time, Red Bat became the thing that defines this place and this time for me. It’s part of who I am, like it’s baked into my bones. It’s the evolving culmination of how being here makes me feel. And it’s good. Which brings us to today.

I wouldn’t be the person I am now without Rebecca. She’s had a seismic impact on my life, and while I’m sad to see her leave the business, I’m EXTREMELY excited to see what she has in store for the world in the future. Because it’s going to be amazing.  Trust me.

You know, despite having photographed countless toasts in the course of this job, I’ve never actually given one before. So here goes (raising digital champagne flute):

Here’s to Rebecca: One of the best friends I’ve ever had, and one of the kindest, most hilarious, and most talented people I’ve ever met. I’m a better person for having you in my life, and I look forward to many more years of friendship. You’ll always be a Red Bat to me. Sláinte!

Why am I leaving? I’ve long had many personal projects on hold, and the time has come for me to get back to them. Some of those are photography projects, some involve writing, and some are so nebulous and strange that I’m not even sure how to describe them or what they will look like. For a few years, I was okay with having so many projects lying around half-begun. I’ll get back to those eventually, I thought, and accustomed myself to the low-level background buzz inside my brain that indicated the presence of ideas being ignored.

But during 2011 that buzzing increased in volume, as many new ideas were born. It became clear that the only possible solution to the brain-buzz problem was to give myself lots more time to experiment. Sadly, this means letting go of Red Bat Photography and my artistic/commercial partnership with Patrick.

When we started Red Bat Photography in 2007, I had no idea how much I would learn from the experience, and not just about taking pictures (though wedding photography has taught me more about that than any previous photography experience ever did). Being present at important events in peoples’ lives and then poring over their images for weeks afterward has given me many new insights into human relationships, into how we see ourselves and others. The challenge of fitting a photography business into an already full life has taught me how to be organized and creative at the same time, how to take breaks, and how to let go of my impossible expectations. I could list many more things I’ve learned but I’d be exhausted by reading it. I’m sure you get the idea. Red Bat Photography was totally worth doing. All of you lovely clients were worth meeting, and I thank you for how you’ve enriched my life with your presence.

This isn’t my final Red Bat goodbye- after all, it’s still 2011 for a few more months! I’ll pop back in closer to the end of the year to say farewell and provide you with ways to keep track of me and my photography-related activities once I’ve become an emerita Red Bat. In the meantime, here is a photo of me doing what I’ve done so frequently over the last few years: clutching a camera and a crumpled shot list in a dimly lit room, and feeling ridiculously pleased to be a photographer.