This past thursday I was honored to hold the RDU Baton again! On my birthday in May, I held the baton for the first time and after meeting the lovely, Susannah Brinkley, at UNC's journalism camp this summer, she asked me to hold it again! I had such a blast with it on my first go-round, I took her up on the challenge! For those new to this, the RDU Baton is a collaborative Instagram project started by Susannah Brinkley & Brittany Iery that showcases the people, lives, and unique spots around North Carolina's Triangle! This day was a very busy one but came out awesome!

Sorry for the late morning post! I’m so honored to hold the baton for a 2nd time! Today is freshman orientation at Northern High School in The Bull City, where I teach photography & it’s been a crazy morning! Although I have lived in Chapel Hill for almost 6 years & am a proud Tar Heel myself, Durham is quickly finding a place in my heart! This is a picture of our school giraffe, Geoffrey! Stolen from an old putt-putt place as a senior prank, NHS bought Geoffrey and made his home the school courtyard. Art club paints him different every year so they went surreal with a Salvador Dalí mustache & zebra stripes. Photo by @viedfinder #durham #school

I stopped today to pick up film from my recent trip to London & Ireland at my favorite camera shop, Southeastern. Tucked away by the farmer’s market in Carrboro, Southeastern is a “dinosaur” store that still offers a large variety of film, photo paper, vintage (and digital!) cameras, and they do specialty developing. The manager, Chris, runs a fantastic shop where photographers, beginning and professional, from all over the Triangle flock to for supplies. I started coming here in undergrad and still go today because of the friendly service, quick turnaround, and for the sake of supporting local businesses! #buylocal #carrboro #camera @SEC_Carrboro photo by @viedfinder

My favorite coffee shop in the triangle is Cocoa Cinnamon in downtown Durham. Their coffee is delectable, their hot chocolate decadent, & their menu offers a huge array of hot and cold coffees! They also partner up with local bakeries to get the best sweet treats, like this chocolate lavender cheesecake! My brand new food & art blog, @treatswelovenc, was born here with the lovely @katiehatfield. Be on the lookout for some new upcoming posts, which have been postponed because of travel! @cocoacinnamon #coffee #durham photo by @viedfinder

I recently took up the JV and assistant competition cheerleading coaching job & I love it! Our team is full of strong, beautiful, and intelligent young ladies & we are pumped for the 2013 football season. Catch us at our next home game next Friday at the Durham County Stadium! #goknights #northerncheer #durham photo by @viedfinder

A student of mine introduced me to Pelican’s Sno-Cones last week on Roxboro Road, and so naturally, today’s hot weather just *forced* me to go grab a kiddie cone. My favorite flavor is the sugar-free sweet cherry (I know, I know, I’m one on those no-sugar-when-I-can-help-it people) but they have a huge menu of flavors! Some of which they claim to be “as dreamy as Zach Efron!” Haha, oh, Durham, you’re great! #durham photo by @viedfinder

I figured I’d give y’all a preview of my scanned film. Its the first time in a while I’ve shot color film & the magic is still there. I chose a shameless selfie for this one but at least it has a shallow depth-of-field and pretty bokeh right?! If y’all want to see the rest you’ll have to check out my blog, viedfinder.com, to see the rest of this photographic adventure in England & Ireland! #shameless #selfie #chapelhill. Photo by @viedfinder

Usually my evenings & weekends are the only time I have to work on my photography business. I recently finished a personal project, which was a short documentary about a dance camp for underprivileged Hispanic girls. Currently, I’m working on scanning film and editing digital photos from my recent trip to Ireland. And then at a certain point, my dog, Eloise, whines enough for me to go cuddle her to sleep. Stay tuned for tomorrow’s adventures of @jtmoore3! Peace, y’all! #adventuresofeloise #chapelhill photo by @viedfinder

I hope you enjoyed my day! If you want, RDU Baton is always looking for people to hold the account! Go sign up here!

This year, my birthday was pretty awesome. Mainly because y'all made it fabulous & because I got to do what I love all day (make pretty photographs...duh)! I held the RDU Baton instagram account, a collaborative photo project held by the wonderful people of the Triangle to let the world see how AWESOME the Triangle-area of N.C. is! I didn't have an unusually eventful day, but worked to make all my shots count! It's definitely nice to have a challenge when shooting since I haven't had that since the good ol' days of Pat the photo professor! I included the original captions beneath each photo for y'all. You can sign up to hold the baton here. Also, if interested, all shots are iPhone and I use a diverse group of photo apps and textures: Mextures, pictwo, pictapgo, vscocam, snapspeed, and squaready (although this is just a handful of what populates my 2 "photo folders" on my phone).

Hello RDU! I’m Lauren V. Allen, a local photographer based out of chapel hill! I’m also a high school photography teacher at Northern High in Durham. I always start my mornings off really early, around 6:45, at work with a cup of coffee in my “great mustaches” mug! #chapelhill #durham #latergram by @viedfinder / on Instagram http://instagram.com/p/YxR9cGjh-z/

My intermediate photography class at #Northern decided it was best to do a crazy class picture! These kids are the next movers and shakers of the photography world and have quite the eye for it! They are my #durham #babyphotoninjaz! check out my blog, viedfinder.com for some upcoming class galleries! Photo by @viedfinder / on Instagram http://instagram.com/p/Yxei5ejh8l/

I’d like to thank @google for making this girl happy with a #google #doodle! By @viedfinder #techgeek / on Instagram http://instagram.com/p/YyKKEMDh55/

I’m always lovingly greeted home by my sweet yorkie, Eloise. Today she fought over a new hair bow while barking at our neighbors at the bus stop. She thinks she’s the biggest dog in all of #chapelhill. Photo by @viedfinder #adventuresofeloise / on Instagram http://instagram.com/p/YyOUsSDhwP/

So freaking excited for my birthday present & good company! I sure do love my husband & his memory of my favorite color :)! #chapelhill photo by @viedfinder / on Instagram http://instagram.com/p/YySIowjh11/

Fresh cut lines for my favorite #chapelhill @thetopofthehill knock-off: Kansas City Ice Water! Love dinner parties! Photo by @viedfinder / on Instagram http://instagram.com/p/YyXa2DDh9O/

Confetti cupcakes with great friends are better than confetti cupcakes alone #ftw. It’s been a great day with you lovely North Carolinians! Couldn’t have had a better social media birthday:) now to spend my time with friends and the hubs! Be on the lookout for Emily @mlelynn and her day with the baton! #chapelhill by @viedfinder / on Instagram http://instagram.com/p/YyjBqBjh9K/

Thanks for all the well wishes! Such a great way to start off a new year!