Part Two

For our fourth day in Mendoza, we walked to two vineyards. The walk was a great way to see the region–the non-touristy side of it. We had to walk through a pretty poor area of Mendoza on our way to the vineyard. I was advised, several times, by concerned citizens to hide my camera. I kept an eye out, but I also kept my camera out. What is the point of owning a fancy camera if you are afraid to use it? I will also add that despite numerous warnings throughout our trip, nobody ever attempted to steal my camera or anything else from us. I did greatly appreciate how concerned perfect strangers were for our safety.

As tough as it can be to see people living in these conditions, it always makes me think twice about my own life when I see how happy some of them seem with so much less.

What always impresses me is how creative people can be in solving unique problems in a  cheap way. For instance, the trash cans in Mendoza were all raised above ground. I suspect it helps keep out pests and stray pups.

The arrangement of these shoes really caught my eye. It is one of those images that only took a minute to make, but was a lucky find.

And then I came across these children and puppies and couldn’t resist. The little girl didn’t want her photo taken but said I could take a photo of her pup and then the little boys came out and were less shy.

It was at this moment that an idea I had been mulling over for the past couple days was solidified. I want to make a photo book called Los Perros de Argentina and dedicate it to Cody. These boys may just make the cover. I have many photos of dogs from this trip and I will post them all in a blog post together soon. To say the least, the walk was inspiring. To those who fear walking off the beaten track, I understand it can be uncomfortable, but for me it is truly worth the risk to feel like you are experiencing a new culture to the fullest extent.

After an hour or so, we reached our first winery for the day. We went on an informative wine tour and then enjoyed a five course lunch. The wine was delicious, some of it coming from their 100-year-old vines, and the food was outstanding. The olive oil was also amazing–we brought home two bottles of it. It was also the setting for one of our most humorous language barrier stories from the trip. One of the courses included a yummy green root of some kind and I didn’t know what it was, so I asked one of the cooks. He told me it was a sweet potato, to which I replied in my poor Spanish, “No es una naranja?” I was trying to say, “It isn’t orange?” I think he heard, “It isn’t AN orange?” or even worse, as Evan heard, “No es una araña?” meaning, “It isn’t a spider?” Either way, he looked at me like I had three heads and then walked away.

After buying some olive oil and wine, we set out for Carmelo Patti’s winery. It is a small place, basically one old guy making wine, and was suggested to us by our brother-in-law John Jordan. We are so glad we went. It truly was a memorable experience. He hardly spoke a word of English, but we communicated as best we could and he was clearly very passionate about the wine he made. It was outstanding. He even signed the bottles we bought. I plan to keep them and make them into vases with the help of my nephew and his new interest in glass cutting.

After a long walk, we made it back to our neighborhood.

We met our new house guests, another American couple, and decided to join them for the evening. We ventured out to the grocery, veg shop and butcher to gather the fixings for a home cooked meal on the grill. Guess who found us as we left the house? Our sweet girl Cody.

She followed us on all of our shopping adventures. She even grabbed my leg at one point with both paws like she was letting me know she didn’t want me to leave. We never fed her because we didn’t want to encourage her. We didn’t give her anything but company. I really wish we could have adopted her. She is a good dog.

The vegetables, fruit and meat we bought were fresh and delicious.

Cody followed us home again and we told our Airbnb owners about her. They said they’d look out for her and check the lost dogs posts online. They couldn’t take her because they already have five dogs. Here is one of our favorite’s of theirs. He loves his football.

Cody climbed her way into the neighbor’s yard (they were out of town) and watched us through the fence. It was heartbreaking and there was nothing we could do. I had to tell her goodbye. I hope she found a family to love her. We will always remember her, our sweet dog for two days, and I will dedicate my book to her.

It  took us a long time to get the grill to work properly, so I think we sat down to eat at about midnight, but it was an enjoyable evening nonetheless. We all had extra wine that we could not carry on our next flight, so we made a night of it.

My advice to fellow photographers and travelers alike, is step away from the tourist meccas whenever you can, meet the real people, and pet a stray dog or two while you are at it.

Part One

Our first real stop during our trip to Argentina was Mendoza.

In what would become a running trend, our visit to this renowned region didn’t start smoothly, but we were able to turn the rocky start to our advantage. We had lined up an Airbnb outside the city, surrounded by vineyards, but we got a message that our Airbnb owners were dealing with a personal emergency and we wouldn’t be able to check in until late that night. They did their best to be accommodating, letting us store our bags at a hostel they operated in the city, and we took the opportunity to explore downtown Mendoza.

We wandered around the city, exchanged some cash for local pesos and then headed back to the hostel to regroup. I have always enjoyed staying in hostels while traveling, because there are usually many interesting people to talk to. Evan has never really traveled this way, so it was a different experience for him. We met a girl from California and she shared a bottle of wine with us on the patio as well as some stories of her own travels and then convinced us to join her for a traditional Argentinian BBQ (called an asado) and a walk around the lively city. It was her last night in Argentina.

After dinner, we were able to get checked into our Airbnb. We woke up well rested, to a beautiful day in our lovely abode. I loved the curious curly leaves on the trees in this region and adored the vines on the window of the house we stayed in.

By way of an apology for the late check-in, our Airbnb owners lent us some bicycles (and a bottle of champagne) and we rode about an hour down rocky, tree covered lanes to a vineyard for a picnic lunch and wine tasting.

Here’s a map of the Mendoza region and the different soils used to make wine in each area.

The lunch was delicious and a nap in the shade was just what we needed. The grounds of the vineyard, Alta Vista, were beautiful. The olive trees, we were told, are more than 100 years old. It was also the first time we tasted Torrontés, a refreshing white wine popular in the region.

Our ride/walk back to our hotel was long, hot and tiring, but beautiful just the same.

Before coming to Argentina, we were advised by multiple friends to watch the show Chef’s Table on Netflix, which features an episode focusing on the world class chef Francis Mallmann. We were able to get a reservation last minute at one of his restaurants in Mendoza. It was a wonderful, unique experience. The kitchen was almost entirely outdoors with dishes being cooked and charred on the open fire or in a clay oven. As we sat in the absolutely stunning environment, we took almost as much pleasure watching the chefs work as we did enjoying our bountiful meals. It was one of the most memorable restaurant experiences we have ever had and recommend it to any who get the chance to travel to the area.

The next day we took a cab into Chacras de Coria, a small town near the capital, to visit an open air market, find some lunch and enjoy a leisurely walk back to our Airbnb.  There I bought a beautiful little soft leather purse and my first mate bombilla and cup.

We enjoyed a bottle of Torrontés at a lovely little spot before heading back.

On our way home, we made a friend. There are a lot of dogs in Argentina and a lot of strays. One of them followed us for over an hour back to our Airbnb. She had a collar, so we figured she wasn’t a stray, but we couldn’t get her to stop following us. A black dog even joined in and followed us part of the way. We later found out that the collar she wore was one that is put on dogs that have been given flea medicine. We affectionately named her Cody, for Codependent. She was very sweet and I wanted to keep her, but we had to leave her outside the fence once we got home.

After relaxing for a bit, we ventured out to find dinner. It was a beautiful evening.

We had adjusted to the later lifestyle of Argentina, where you don’t eat until nine or ten at night, but apparently in the country Sundays are different. Every restaurant we tried was closed and the shops were all closed as well, so cooking was out of the question. To curb our hunger, we did find an ice cream shop that was open. I had a dulce de leche ice cream, the national flavor of Argentina. It was delicious.

Desiring an actual dinner, however, we began walking in the other direction. We came across a gated, fancy hotel and approached the watch tower to ask the guard if he knew of a place that would be open. There was much confusion compounded by the language barrier and our poor Spanish skills, but he ended up letting us into the hotel to dine at their restaurant. We had a tasty meal and spent the evening talking to the excellent bar tender and a New York City couple who were staying at the hotel.

Stay tuned for photos from the second half of our stay in Mendoza. It was such a memorable and photo-rich experience, I decided the post was getting too long and it should be broken up into two. I highly recommend traveling to this area of Argentina. The people, food, wine, and dogs were a delight.

It was literally and figuratively rocky.

We decided to take a trip somewhere before starting new jobs in our new home in Colorado. We chose Argentina and we are so glad that we did, because it turned out to be an amazing experience. Part of what made it so rewarding was how often things went wrong and yet turned out just fine in the end. It was an adventure. When things went wrong, our motto was a line from the cartoon Adventure Time: “It’s fine…it’s fine, it’s fine, it’s fine.” And eventually, it always was.

On January 13, we took a flight from Denver to Orlando and then another one from Orlando to São Paulo, Brazil. That’s when the fun started. Our flight from São Paulo to Buenos Aires was cancelled due to an airline strike in Buenos Aires. We were extra worried because we did not have the required visas to stay in Brazil. We began rebooking our flight to Mendoza from Buenos Aires to the next day and tried to curb our stress with some delicious Brazilian cheese puffs.

After a long wait in the airport, everyone from our cancelled flight was put on a plane to Santiago, Chile. This meant that we got to fly over the Andes Mountains, which was one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen. This was the silver lining in our long travel day.

After being awake for over 30 hours, we arrived at our hotel for one night in Santiago. We have to give the airline TAM credit for putting us up in a nice hotel and giving us a three course meal. It’s a lot more than United ever did for us. We enjoyed a shower, our meal and about four hours of sleep before getting back on a bus with our fellow travelers, who were mostly Argentinians going home.

Finally, we landed in Buenos Aires, made it through customs and grabbed a  taxi to the other airport in the city so we could catch our plane to Mendoza. Stay tuned for photos of Mendoza in my next blog.

Traveler tip: Take the bus from Santiago, Chile to Mendoza if you get the chance. Unfortunately the buses were booked up for us and so we just took the flight that the airline was paying for, but we have heard that the drive through the mountains is stunning.

My life has been a bit crazy lately. I quit my nursing job; my husband and I entertained family for Christmas in New Orleans; and we packed up our whole house into two pods and one car and drove our two cats first to Austin to stay with friends (barely making it in New Years Eve night) and then to Santa Fe to stay with another friend. After about a week of driving across the country and seeing friends, we finally arrived in Colorado, unloaded our pods into my sister’s basement, spent a few nights in her spare room and then packed a couple suitcases to hop on a seemingly endless string of flights down to South America. We traveled around Argentina for an amazing sixteen day adventure (more blogs on that later) and we just got home a couple days ago to a giant snow storm. Yep, that’s been our last month and a half.

For Halloween, I photographed, with the help of my wonderful assistant/husband, Margaret Adler and Walker Saik’s wedding in New Orleans. I finished editing it a while ago, but with the craziness of our lives, I did not get a chance to post it until now.

Let me walk you through my method for approaching coverage of a large wedding. The key is preparation and organization. I met with the bride and groom before the wedding and we settled on a schedule of events and photos. I also visited the ceremony and reception venues ahead of time to plan settings for my lights and locations for portraits.

Without further ado, let’s start with the men getting ready on the day of the wedding. I began by photographing at Walker’s house, where the groomsmen had gathered to tell stories, joke around, relax and oh yea, get dressed.

After saying goodbye to the guys, I headed to Margaret’s to cover the ladies getting ready.

With Margaret fully dressed, it was time for me to race off to the church to get some portraits of the guys. My schedule was planned out to the minute. It is so important to do this when photographing a large wedding. It always makes the day of the wedding far less stressful for everyone involved. When I arrived, the guys had some finishing touches to make.

Once their boutineers were in place, I took a few portraits outside and then Evan helped me quickly set up my new fancy lights (Profoto Cordless lights) in the parlor for more portraits. The lights worked beautifully. I was so happy with the lighting in these portraits.

Next, the ladies arrived and the guys had to scoot out of the way so Walker didn’t see Margaret before the ceremony. I had to keep them inside for their portraits so that no guests would see the bride either, but I was again very pleased with the way my new lights worked.

Finally, I took some bridal portraits, occasionally using the bridesmaids as a sort of backdrop.

And with that, it was time for us all to prepare for the ceremony. They got married in the church attached to the school Margaret went to growing up. It was a very sweet, personal touch. I plugged my lights in to charge them back up a bit during the ceremony (since they are cordless) and began photographing guests arriving and the setting while the wedding party prepared to make their entrance. Evan stayed on the balcony to get some ariel shots for me. It is important to get a variety of shots, from details to overall wide shots. The ceremony is the most stressful part of a wedding for me to shoot, because there are so many key moments that can’t be missed. It was a beautiful ceremony.

After the ceremony, we quickly set up the lights by the altar for portraits of the couple, the couple with their families and the entire wedding party. I was impressed by how well the lights worked for a large group of people. Have I made it clear how much I love these lights? I did not have much time and I had a lot of photos to take, but with some organization and creativity, I tried to take some memorable and well lit photos nonetheless. I put the photos in an order that allowed the older generations to finish first and made the whole process as efficient as possible.

At the conclusion of the portraits, Evan and I packed up our equipment and raced down the street to the Orleans Club for the reception, where I waited for their entrance.

We had gone to the reception hall a few days earlier to test the lights in the space.  We found that putting the power up fairly high on the lights and pointing them to the ceiling provided the most even light for the dance floor. It really worked well from all angles and allowed me to concentrate on catching memorable moments.

After the first dances, we briefly moved the lights outside and we stole the couple for a few private portraits.

Margaret and Walker were then ready for the cutting of the cake. As they mingled and waited for the guests to gather around, the lights were moved next to the cake and I borrowed their rings for the detail shots.

The cake cutting was immediately followed by the bouquet toss. Evan moved the lights back to the dance floor, where they would stay the rest of the night, as I got in position for the bouquet toss. Having cordless lights made all these changes in the position of the lights much easier and quicker.

After that, I used my off camera flash to cover guests in the dining area and details of the unique grilled cheese station. The guests decorated themselves with glow sticks and I used the lights set up by the dance floor for fun crowd shots, posed shots, shots the band (including the bride’s brother-in-law jamming out on stage), and candid moments around the dance floor. I loved a shot I got of one of the guests dancing to Michael Jackson’s Thriller. It was very fitting for a halloween wedding.

After dancing the night away, Margaret and Walker made their exit into the rain- a little good luck sign for their future. Congratulations again, Margaret and Walker, and thank you for trusting me to document your special day. It was truly a pleasure.