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.

I recently had the pleasure of photographing Margaret and Walker Saik’s rehearsal dinner at the famous New Orleans restaurant, Commander’s Palace. It was the perfect setting for the coming together of two New Orleans families.

I arrived early to photograph the setting before guests arrived. From the beautiful yellow flowers to the bride and groom chocolate covered strawberries on the groom’s cake, each refined detail captured the essence of this lovely couple.

This was my first job using my new fancy lights I am super excited about. They are Profoto cordless lights. They came at a high cost, but so far they have been totally worth it. I love not having to worry about outlets and both their battery life and power are amazing. My husband was a huge help assisting me with the lighting at this event. We set the them up by the cake and once the couple arrived, I was able to borrow them briefly to take a few portraits.

There is always a balance at events like this between making sure I get the photos I know they want and making sure the couple has plenty of time to relax and enjoy their evening. After these portraits, I released them and spent the remainder of my time photographing candids and the token posed photos I was asked to take. I focused a lot on the grandparents, as it is very special that these two have so many still in their lives well enough to celebrate with them. Here is a sampling.

I also photographed their wedding on Halloween. I’ll be posting those photos as soon as I finish editing them. Congratulations again, Margaret and Walker!

We just got back from Colorado, where we made a point of seeing the beautiful fall colors of the mountain trees. While the vegetation in Louisiana has its perks- it’s always green, there are beautiful, giant oak trees and it is easy to grow things down here- being in Colorado reminded me how much I miss having four distinct seasons. These are photos taken up at Dillon Lake, where my husband, my sister and I spent an afternoon walking and enjoying the fall colors.

I have been wanting to post my photos from a fun bridal shoot I did with Alicia about a month ago, but I had to wait until her wedding so I wouldn’t spoil the surprise of her wedding dress! 

For the shoot, we drove about an hour outside of New Orleans to the beautiful Blythewood Plantation in Amite, Louisiana, the venue for the wedding and reception. The owners were kind enough to let us use the house and grounds for a couple hours.

The light was beautiful, as were the grounds, so we spent a lot of time shooting outside the plantation. Kate, Alicia’s friend and a past client, was a wonderful assistant throughout the shoot.

We moved inside for the last part of the shoot. We did not get the chance to take as many photos as I wanted to inside, but we had fun being creative with some of the lovely, old features of the home, like the bathtub, beautiful door and old furniture.

It was such a fun shoot. Alicia, thanks again for letting me take part in your bridal portraits and your engagement photos. From the look of the photos appearing on Facebook from last weekend, it looks like the wedding was a blast. A huge congratulations to Alicia and Tyler!

My sister and I went for a walk this evening in Frederick, Colorado and noticed the moon was a beautiful red/orange color. As we walked, it started changing and we realized it was a lunar eclipse. And not only a lunar eclipse, but one in which the moon was particularly close to Earth, and therefore much larger than normal. I did not bring any of my long lenses out for this trip, but when we returned to the house, we grabbed our husbands and enjoyed watching the rest of the eclipse from the yard. Unfortunately I didn’t have my camera for the point when the moon was all orange, but at least I saw it. I did my best to capture it with a shorter lens and spent some time just taking in this unique moment.

The clouds were also really pretty tonight. I liked the way the photo of the moon framed by clouds came out, though you cannot really see the eclipse in this one.

A city is made up of its neighborhoods and the best way to explore a city is to explore the different neighborhoods that make up a city’s unique culture. And for me, the best way to see the different neighborhoods is to look at them with a focused eye through my camera lens. I never finished my blog posts on our summer in Europe and I’ve decided it is time to get back to them.

I enjoyed walking through the different boroughs of London and just taking in their character, a practice my friend Heather introduced me to. Each area has its own personality born of the people who live there, the food and its history. In such a culturally diverse city, elements of many countries from around the world have come together to influence London.

To see an map of the boroughs, click here:

http://londonmap360.com/carte/pdf/carte_arrondissement_londres.pdf

I’ll start with The City, as this is where we lived. The City is London’s business center. It is covered in bizarre looking, modern, tall buildings of all different shapes and the streets are flooded in business people in suits–predominantly black, blue or grey (brown was not popular there). Below shows three of the most recognizable buildings in The City: the Walkie Talkie, the Cheese Grater and the Gherkin. 

I always enjoyed the hodgepodge of new and old buildings jammed up against each other.

The tube stop closest to our apartment was Tower Hill.  We had a beautiful view of The Tower of London.

This is the Lloyds Building, where Evan’s former firm has an office. It was built in the 80’s and is designed to look like it is inside-out.

Near Lloyds is Leadenhall Market, featured (very briefly) in the first Harry Potter film.

Here are a couple of the pubs we frequented in our neighborhood.

The bridge right by us was Tower Bridge, often confused by tourists for London Bridge because it was so beautiful and everyone assumed the prettiest bridge must be the one the song is about. Shown here, Sara and Mick stand in The Tower of London, with Tower Bridge in the background.

If you cross this bridge, you enter Southwark. There are a bunch of public art displays, restaurants and bars lining the river here.

 Walking west along the South Bank, away from Tower Bridge, you run into Borough Market. This was one of my favorite places in London. It is an old open air market filled with delicious food from all over the world and fresh produce. I went often and showed it to everyone who visited. It claims to have existed since at least 1014. I mentioned it in my first blog post on London too, but it deserves mentioning again.

Further south is the borough of Merton. I made friends with a couple Australian twins who lived in this area and Evan and I spent a day there. They took us to a lovely cafe owned by a friend of theirs where I had my first traditional English breakfast.

We also attempted to go into Wimbledon Park. As the line to get in was outrageously long, we didn’t make it in, but we did get to see some of the tennis events outside the park.

Still on the south bank, but further east in Greenwich. We went there one day by riverboat when Jessica and Harry were visiting. Greenwich is rich in maritime history and gave it’s name for the Greenwich Meridian (0 degrees longitude).

Back on the north bank of the Thames, as I walked east from The City, I came to the borough of Tower Hamlets. This area has a lot of character and a totally different vibe. I found this borough to be one of the most diverse- with some areas, like St. Katherine Docks, appearing far more polished compared to Brick Lane.

St. Katherine Docks was right by our house. It is a marina surrounded by restaurants and bars.

Just past the marina is an area I love to go running in. It is an area of small canals cutting through neighborhoods that is far less congested by tourists. It became my happy place to go and think.

Another famous place in this borough is Brick Lane.

Brick Lane has a very interesting history. It was settled by many different cultures through the years. The French settled here in the 17th Century and brought weaving, tailoring and clothing industry to the area. This borough, including the Spitalfields area that I will talk about next, continues to be an area for fashion. Brick Lane is filled with thrift shops and boutiques and has a plethora of art and fashion students.

The 19th Century brought Irish and Ashkenazi Jews, who established the tradition of a Sunday Market in the area. I sadly never went on a Sunday. Finally, in the 20th Century, immigrants from Bangladesh settled here. There are more Indian restaurants on this street then anywhere else I saw in the city and we love Indian food. It may be a bit of a cliché, but we found no reason to disagree with the common claim that the Indian food in London is the best in the world.

Perhaps one of the most recognizable characteristics of Brick Lane, however, is the street art. The street is lined with graffiti from such artists as Banksy, Stik, ROA, D*Face and Ben Eine. It was truly stunning.

I even got to see one artist working on his piece.

Another notable place in this borough is Spitalfields.

As I mentioned earlier, it is home to many young fashion designers.

Spitalfields is also known for its market. It is open seven days a week and each day has a theme.

I bought a shirt from this young designer one day. She let me photograph her with her collection.

Also on the north side of the Thames and adjacent to the borough of Tower Hamlets are the boroughs Islington and Hackney, where my friend Heather and I went on a long walk one day after a lovely lunch at a hidden little gem of a restaurant.

We walked through many interesting old streets, a beautiful park with traditional English style wildflowers, got caught in a downpour and then ended the tour at a delicious bakery.

Heather lived in Islington and we enjoyed walking around her neighborhood when she, Michael and Nick had us over.

The borough next to Islington is Camden. Camden Town has a vibrant and unique culture. It has been home to notables like Dylan Thomas and Amy Winehouse. It also features a market with crafts, jewelry and food.

There is a lovely walk starting at Camden, along the canals. Evan and I did this walk one day. There is an entire community of people who own house boats and live along the canal.

We walked by an interesting community project where passersby were encouraged to write a short message detailing what they want to accomplish before they die. I enjoyed reading everyone’s responses and I did add one of my own.

I’ve never seen anything like this canal community.

Our walk ended in Little Venice.

Also on the north is the borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Evan and I visited this area when we spent a day walking Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park. It was truly beautiful.

I will end this post with the borough of Westminster, sandwiched between Kensington and Chelsea and Camden. This is where my in-laws live, so it seems as fitting a borough as any to end on. This area is home to some of the most iconic buildings in London, including parliament and the Elizabeth Tower (Big Ben).

There is some really interesting architecture in this area. I love this building.

There are also some beautiful and very English looking pubs in the area.

I love this wall of greenery.

And this is an old school house turned into a gown shop.

My mother-in-law took me to Fortum and Mason- a fancy tea store in Westminster.

It is also home to Chinatown, where we had some delicious dim sum.

I really enjoyed exploring the boroughs of London. I did not make it to all of them, but someday I will go back. I think it is a great way to see the real London. So many tourists just run around seeing the landmark sights and they miss the real character and diversity of the city.

Now that I work as a nurse in a neonatal ICU and spend my time helping babies grow healthy and strong enough to go home with their families, I’ve realized how fun and important it is to capture the precious early moments in a child’s life.

Emily and Brian brought their new son, Beauregard, over to my home studio a mere thirteen days after his birth to capture some early memories. Little Beau was not too into the photo shoot at first… or throughout really.

However, with a little patience and after a couple feeding sessions with his mom, I was able to capture some priceless moments of calm.

I find some of the most touching moments are the ones where the parents dote on the newest member of their family.

And I always love the detail shots. Babies grow so fast; I love capturing every little detail of the beginning of their lives.

Beau’s stuffed lamb and Brian’s hands will provide a nice sense of scale as he grows larger.

By the end, he was pretty tuckered out. We swaddled him up, shot a few photos in his blue blanket and then let him sleep. Meanwhile we scarfed down some Vietnamese food, which my husband was nice enough to pick up as the shoot lasted well into the dinner hour. It can certainly take some patience to photograph newborns, but the reward of documenting the beginning of a life is definitely worth it. A huge congrats to our friends Emily and Brian on their beautiful baby Beau.

I have photographed the family of Melanie and Benjamin Kendrick for years now. It all started with covering their wedding. Since then, I have covered their maternity photos and followed Benjamin (the youngest in the photo above) as he grew. He is over a year old now and it was a pleasure to see how big he has gotten and how much personality he has developed. For this most recent session, I also had the joy of photographing Melanie’s sister Janelle and her two boys.

As a thank you for all the business Melanie and Benjamin have given me over the years, I made them a gift. I transposed the above photo onto wood for her and her sister. I love the rustic look it gave the photo. I also made a collage of the photos I have taken of them over the years and put it on a wooden box. I plan to start selling these. Sometimes it is nice to do something with your photos–something beyond the digital print.

Here is little Benjamin through his first year of life. I took a picture of him with his father’s helmet each time to show how much he has grown.

It was a beautiful day on the North Shore for a photo shoot.

It was a bit of a challenge at times to get all the boys to cooperate, but everyone pitched in to get them to smile.

And sometimes they just did adorable poses on their own.

As usual, I loved the candid shots. I think they really show the personality of the boys.

I also got a few cute photos of the two sisters together.

Thanks again for letting me capture some beautiful memories for you!