Two Thousand Fifteen (with pictures!!)

At the end of every year, I usually sit down and write a long journal entry reflecting on everything I did. The good, the bad, the fun, the scary. I like to learn from my mistakes and reminisce the awesome stuff.

In addition to my secret entry tucked away in a journal my sister gave me a few years ago, I decided I wanted to share some of the same things on my blog.

So here it is. This is what 2015 felt like for me.

In January, I decided to attend an Instameet in town that was held by a guy from Instagram I found myself following one day. I rounded up my only two friends at the time, neither of which were all that interested in photography, and set out for downtown Franklin.

As the year went on, my schedule started to become filled with photography meets, InstaFamily dinners and just plain old hangouts with these people. Suddenly, I had a whole new group of friends who all loved taking pictures as much as I do. Sam and Claire both became apart of the group as well, and have come with me to almost all of the Instameets.

Before this year, I hardly knew anyone. Claire and Sam were the only people I spent time with. Other than that, I didn't do very much. I went to work, came home and wondered what I was gonna do with my life. Through Instagram, I have matched up with old friends and met tons of amazing new people. Some are amateurs or enthusiasts like me, and some are photographers for a living. It's been such a blast getting to know and learn about photography from everyone in the group. You guys are the best. Thanks for being my friends.

Here are some of my favorite photos of us.

Aside from all the Instameets, I've done a lot of other fun stuff this year. In February, my family decided to drive to Destin, FL in the middle of the night because of a snow storm in Nashville. We went to the beach in 55 degree weather and ate donuts. My brother, Kevin, and I made up our own thing called Bankstameets, where the two of us go out and take pictures together at super cool locations. I was a bridesmaid in a fake wedding for April Fools Day. I went to SanFrancisco for the first time and decided that it's my favorite place in the whole world. I saw one of my favorite artists, Jon Foreman, live in Atlanta with my brother, Cam. It was magical. In November, one of my photos was featured in an art gallery for the first time. I turned eighteen, got my first tattoo and realized that I'm still just as confused about what I'm going to do with my life as I was before I was an adult. Hahaha, life is funny.

Anyway, here are some pictures that highlight my favorite moments from this year. You can click on them to see when and where they were.