When you've been photographing for a while you can get a little "set in your ways".  I have a certain way I set lighting, I am obsessed with accurate skin tones and white balance, my subjects are always the focus of the shot without competing landscapes or props.  I will retake a shot dozens of times until my subject's face finally relaxes for that split second and their eyes allow their personality to fully become realized in my lens.  However, I have to admit that my highly regimented approach to photography can sometimes feel a bit too boxed in, too many rules, not enough free flow.  Anyone that knows me is probably smirking at how life mimics art (or the other way around).   Yoga is the opposite of rigid.  It flows with your breath and energy is created as you unblock (or unbox) yourself.  I've never been good at it, I fight the poses mind, body and soul - no matter how much I want to relax into them and feel the peace and calm that comes from that sort of surrender.  When I was approached by Michelle to do a sunrise yoga photo session I thought it would be a great opportunity to allow myself to play a bit, to throw out my "rules".  I left behind all my heavy, restrictive gear and brought only my camera and one lens... this is what happened.

As the sun peaked out from behind the Mountains, Michelle and I both melded into our respective practices.  She glided from pose to pose as the sun directed her and I allowed the camera to capture her without micro-managing every shadow and highlight.  

We both created space for ourselves that day.  Space to slow down, to create, to be a bit kinder to ourselves and to play.  I fell in love with a new way to photograph that morning. Though I may never be able to downward dog my way to inner peace, I may have just found my own way of unblocking my chokras.