It has been so long since I have logged on to my blog that I had to generate a new password.

I used to think in blog posts…. Now I think in facebook captions, although Instagram is slowly creeping up behind.

But I miss my blog, just like… I miss reading books (that are more than 20 pages long and consist of a topic other than cars and trucks,)

I miss seeing friends…

I miss walking my dog…

And I miss going on dates with my husband (damn, I should have put that first.)

Somewhere along the way life got busy and I just don’t have enough time in the day for it anymore, hence I am starting this post at 1:40am.

But, as it turns out, I also need the blog. I get so lost in the forest of making new work that I forget to look back and see which trail I took and how far I have come… And then the insecurity vines creep up and block my path forward.

That is where I was today, lost in an editing forest, until the mail arrived (meaning: Arann walked in my office and flung a Priority Mail envelope at me.) When I opened the envelope, I got to see some of my portrait work in print, in Bike magazine. A magazine that hired me to take one portrait…

(Executive Director of NorCal High School Cycling League, Vanessa Hauswald)

And then because they liked that portrait they hired me to take another portrait…

(Strava Co-founder and CEO, Michael Horvath.)

And then they hired me to take another portrait…

(The Godfather of mountain biking, Charlie Kelly)

It made me so happy to see photos of PEOPLE published for once that I remembered I had a blog and that I could actually record my excitement in a blog post. While I was digging for photos for that post, I found other portraits that I am proud of…

(Chef and Restaurant Owner, Charlie Hallowell)

and then more portraits that I am proud of…

(Chef and Author, Bryant Terry)

…and suddenly the forest was a little bit brighter.

(Co-founder/co-inventor of Twitter and Jelly, Biz Stone)

And the path forward was a little more clear.

While I really enjoy all the other side projects I have been so lucky to work on… I really love photographing people the most.

Taking really good portraits of people is very, very hard. And I still have a long way to go.

(Lagunitas Founder, Tony Magee)

There are so many things to think about… not only the light, the exposure, the composition, but also making people feel comfortable, especially after they have just finished telling me how much they hate being photographed. (Food never tells me it hates to be photographed. And flowers just beg me not to stop taking photos.)

Photographing people makes me nervous and sweaty… not in a bad lighting-fireworks-illegally-kind-of-way, but in a good exercise-my-brain-kind-of-way.

It means I am being challenged. It means I am doing something I really care about. And that is the goal: Do more projects that challenge me and that I really care about.

(The Big Flip.)

My other goal is to hire an office assistant, so that the editing and book-keeping forest do not get over-grown and swallow me whole anymore. And so my blog can once again have a place in my life.

(Publisher: Chris Gruener)

So if you know anyone looking for part-time work…

I need a very organized, hardworking, self-motivated, left-brained person (sorry no photographers please) who can help me for 10 hrs per week (hours are flexible) with: data entry, organizing files, returning emails, updating social media etc.

If you are interested, please send me an email detailing your approach to organizing and attach your resume to paige(@)paigegreen.com