Monday, May 31, 2010

Print your photography!

So I'm still editing an engagement and the wedding in USVI, but I wanted to post something fun. I should post about my last day in Greece, but instead I'm going to jump ahead to Paris. Something I struggle with is printing off my pictures. I take tons, but I never get them printed in hard copy. Why not? Laziness, maybe? Well about a month ago, I was having a pretty bad week. I just was depressed and upset. When I feel like this, I usually end up spending money. Retail therapy, you know? So I went and bought a bunch of new frames at IKEA, and then printed off some of my Paris pictures in black and white. I LOVE THEM. Here they are...




These top three were taken at Versailles...



These two were at the Louvre...




Obviously, the Eiffel Tower. The last one was taken from the top of the Arc de Triomphe...


This was the coolest little alley in Montmarte...I bought a few paintings just around the corner in Artist's square. If you look closely you can see the Sacre Coer...


One of my favorite parts of Paris, were the bridges and lamp posts. Seriously, I need to go back. Maybe tomorrow? Who's with me?

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Kasey and Chris...

So a few weekends before I went to the Virgin Islands, I took engagement pictures for Kasey and Chris. They are friends of my sister, Jaynie. I can see why photography is such an addiction for people. They were SOOO much fun. I love what I do! I can't wait until I can say it's my job. I'm so excited to take Kasey's bridals. She is so beautiful, like a model. She is the kind of sporty, outdoorsy person I wish I could be, lol. We hiked up to a really beautiful waterfall, and then went to Park City and took pictures. Afterwords, Chris took us to Rodizio Grill, which was AMAZING!!! I've never been there, and the food was just sooo good. Thanks again, Kasey and Chris! I had a blast...





This was the insane mountain we had to climb DOWN! It was like rock climbing to get out. It was actually kind of fun. That one is for you Rachael! And yes, I took pictures in the little lake. My feet almost froze off. How I suffer for my art, lol.


After this lovely ten-minute (yeah right. Only if you are crazy in shape Kasey) hike, we went off and took pictures on Park City's main street. We thought we'd have some variety in the pictures...









Kasey really wanted pictures at this bistro, but they were all packed up, so we went in and asked if we could set up one of their tables to take pictures, and they were so nice about it! We should have ate there for thanks, but we didn't. Rude!

This was the best time. I can't even explain how much fun I had. They are the cutest couple, plus Jaynie was there. It was just amazing.

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Matt and Annie: Preview...

So I was in the Virgin Islands. It was interesting. The first 3 days were awesome, though. It was so great to be able to spend time with a couple as awesome as Matt and Annie. Their families were great too. It was just an awesome weekend. I've never really cried at a wedding, but I did at this one. I was just so happy for Annie. Well here are some pictures. I haven't edited them all, but I wanted to get a few up. I need opinions people!

I'm trying not to be too hard on myself, since I'm my own worst critic. I'm lame, I know. So hear they are! We were going to take some on the beach later in the week, but we got rained out, so hopefully everyone will love these, anyways...


Saturday, May 15, 2010

Greece: Day 11

Day 11 wasn't very eventful. After the drama and craziness of Nafplion, we decided to take a day off and just hang out in Athens. I know, some of you might think boring, but we were okay with it. We decided to figure out which bus to take for our trip to Delphi for the next day, and then go to the National Archaeological museum. I'm so glad we did! I loved it. All of my classes from college come to life! So if museums bore you, then you might want to skip this post.

Like I said, the first thing we did was try and find the right bus station. Now, here is what you need to know about Athens. It looks sketchy. Even the good parts of town look sketchy. I was a little nervous walking around, but it was morning, so I figured we were okay. We found the bus station listed in my book, so we headed over to the ticket booth and asked when the bus left for Delphi. This guy looks at us and was like "Delphi? There is no Delphi!" I was like dude, it's one of the top 10 tourist attractions in your country, there is too a Delphi. So I showed him the book, and Delphi written in Greek. He still didn't know. Another guy came over and told us that we needed to go to another bus station. We found a travel agency that told us to take a taxi. We were like, why can't we walk. They kept telling us to take a taxi. Well, the next morning we decided to follow their advice and took a taxi. It was a good thing we did. We would never have found it. Anyways on to the museum!

After all that drama, we found the museum. It was very stereotypical Greek. Statues on the roof, ect;



The first few rooms were filled with Kouros/Kouri? Anyways, they were used as offerings to the gods in the temples. I was so excited to see these because I have taken years of Greek and Roman history classes.


This guy was huge. Here is Dawn standing next to him, so that you can get some perspective on how huge he was. He was awesome.


I can't remember where these Kouros were found, but the details on them were amazing. The woman is holding a strawberry, and you can see all the designs on her dress. They were really cool.


This is the Poseidon of Cape Artemision. Some archaeologists say that this is Zeus. They don't know if this statue was holding a trident or a lightning bolt. I am on Poseidon's side. I just think it fits more. Isn't it amazing what these old and ancient people could do with bronze? Amazing.


This was my favorite piece in the whole museum. It's the Jockey of Artemision. Just look at the emotions on the little boy's face! You can even see what the horse was feeling. I loved it. I went back and looked at it several times.


This was one of the galleries. The museum is insane. It's really overwhelming, all the marble and bronze everywhere! The big guy at the end is a Zeus statue, I think...


These are busts of all the Roman Emperors. I was being artsy...


The Mask of Agamemnon! I can't even tell you how excited I was to see this guy. Check off one thing on my bucket list!


It looks so huge up close and in pictures you see in textbooks, but it's really so small! This was in the Mycenaean wing. Cool stuff.


The jewelry was amazing! I would wear some of it now! These Mycenaean women were pretty loaded!


This was in the Cyclades exhibit. This fresco was actually from Santorini. The colors are beautiful.


After the museum, we went to Parliment to see the changing of the guard. We missed it, but still got pictures of the guards. If you have been watching the news lately, this is where there was a huge demonstration and protests that killed 3 people in Athens.


Wider view.... After this we found the Hard Rock Cafe. Angela collects the pins, so we had to stop by. It was in a very interesting part of Athens. It was really sketchy. We then went and finally found the Plaka. It was cute, touristy, but cute. On our way back to the subway, we finally found the Temple of Zeus and Hadrian's Arch. We could never find them, but we turned a corner and there they were! Alas, it was night, so my pictures suck.


Above is the Temple of Zeus....below is Hadrian's Arch...


One more day in Greece after this! So sad!


ps...This was a pre-scheduled post. I'm actually in the Virgin Islands right now. Hopefully, I'm having a fabulous time!

Monday, May 10, 2010

It's that time of year...

Friday evening, I had the opportunity to photograph and engagement session for CJ and Morgan. They are high school sweethearts. I have known them forever, it seems like. CJ grew up with my youngest sister, Jaynie. Morgan is even distantly related to me. Fun times. We had a lot of fun, and they were very patient with me since I'm still getting the hang of this photographer thing...

CJ really wanted to incorporate yellow props, so we decided to go with balloons. We met by Temple Square, and walked all around downtown looking for the perfect spots. I had fun, and I hope they did too. I hope they love their pictures...













I'm off to the US Virgin Islands tomorrow for my friend's wedding, so I won't be around for a bit. I'm going to try and post-date some blog posts with some more of Greece, another engagement shoot, and maybe something else. Wahoo for trips! And taking pictures!