It is with a mixture of sadness and excitement that I inform you, my delightful, poetry-loving (I assume), ever-supportive Red Bat blog audience, that 2011 is my last year with Red Bat Photography. Yes, that’s right, I’m leaving! Starting in January 2012, Red Bat will be minus the Rebecca Barnes component. Patrick will carry on as a solo Red Bat, though he may bring in Guest Bats for shoots that require it.

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.

Well now here’s a post that would’ve been way more relevant six months ago! But at least the event described here happened within this calendar year. That makes it all okay. Right?

As you may remember, we (or rather, I) photographed the first annual Santa Cruz NEXT awards ceremony back in January 2010- you can see those photos here. On January 23, 2011, the NEXTies happened again, making this the second annual Santa Cruz NEXT awards ceremony, in case you were losing track. This time Patrick was there too, and he got fabulous photos, as you will see.

The 2011 NEXTies happened at the Top of the Ritt, and once again Timerie Gordon made it look space-age-awesome. This time around she included real live humans in her design, because she’s a genius like that. These living statues were brought to us by Santa Cruz Dance. At the start of the event, they posed on scaffolding in the lobby. Later they made their way around the venue and became part of the decor, sometimes holding still and sometimes moving very slowly. They started to seem like some other kind of lifeform, something oceanic. It was a little bit disconcerting, and totally cool.

Many tasty tidbits were offered by local vendors and served on wheels by several Santa Cruz Derby Girls. These tidbits included the teensiest brisket sliders I’ve ever seen (by SmoQe BBQ) and yummy stuff by Coastal Catering and others. Later on Dan P and The Bricks took the stage and got people to do some fancy dancing. The first time I ever saw Dan P and the Bricks was actually in front of that same building, right on the street, where they had a piano and a crowd of pleased tourists around them.

You can read more about the 2011 NEXTies and who was honored there in this article.

On a photographic note: one of my favorite photos that I’ve ever taken is the 12th one down in this post. There’s something so incredibly strange about it. I think I’ve had dreams that looked like that photo and the one after it. Recurring, perplexing, Lynchian dreams. Also, the final photo, the view of Pacific Avenue from the Top of the Ritt, is definitely one of my favorite photos by Patrick.

Overall, I think we did pretty well considering how dark it was in there (low lighting plus no nearby walls plus dark ceilings equals flash frustration!) And now our did-pretty-well-ness is preserved forever on this blog, which means It Officially Happened. Hooray!