Dreaming of Spring

As I mentioned in my last post, I spent the long weekend in dc with my dear friend Meghan.  We had a brief reprieve from the cold, dark winter during my visit.  It was sunny and bright, so Meghan and I took to the streets of the district.  Unfortunately, it was also windy, very windy.  Meghan and I had no choice but to take shelter from the fierce gusts.  Luckily, we were right by the U.S. Botanical Garden.  We quickly decided that these greenhouses would not only be a great way to enjoy the sunlight without the blinding wind but also would give Meghan a chance to cross something off of her dc bucket list of things to do.  Oh, and there was free admission!  I love that about dc museums.     

The many gardens full of colorful blossoms and exotic plants would also give me a chance to break my streak of uninspiring days without photography and start taking some photos again.  (Meghan had thought of that, too, as a reason to visit the gardens.  She's such a great friend).  And boy, did I have fun.  It reminded me of visits to the Mitchell Park Domes -- the botanical gardens in Milwaukee -- with my dad during Christmas breaks when I was younger.  We'd go, cameras in hand, to take a break from the cold winters of Wisconsin and practice taking photographs of flowers. 

My love of taking photos of flowers has not waned since those days with my dad.  I took a lot of photos at the U.S. Botanical Gardens with Meghan (ya, expect more posts on flowers), but what I loved about these is the dream-like composition.  Suits my mood, in which I'm dreaming of spring.

(U.S. Botanical Gardens, DC, photographed February 2011)

Inspiration Station

Hi again.  It's been awhile.

There was a bit of a hiatus in posting.  Three weeks, in fact.  With work and friends and a surprisingly active social calender, I didn't have the time or energy to organize any posts.  What's worse is that I wasn't even taking photos.  I was uninspired.  Blame it on the snow, the cold weather, the grey days...  I didn't feel like taking out my camera, because, really, what was I going to take a photo of? The dirty, slushy streets? The garbage that sat outside for days waiting for pick up?  One word.  Gross.

But then something changed.

The weather became decidedly spring-like.  Mind you, it was only for a weekend.  But what a glorious, lovely, long weekend it was.  I took the train from nyc to dc, to visit my friend Meghan (aka my cruising bestie).  We bopped all around dc, and suddenly I felt inspired.  Maybe it was sun, maybe it was all the time outdoors, but, let me tell you, I took a lot of photos.  Including these.  Which generally don't involve the sun or the outdoors, despite my prior comment.  Apparently, I was also inspired by the dc underground, too. 

FYI - these were all taken with my iphone, using the instagram app (a new favorite of mine). 

 

 

(Metro, Washington D.C., photographed February 2011)

The Great Outdoors

I'm in Portland, Oregon, again this year for Thanksgiving with my sister and brother-in-law.  This is my second Thanksgiving out here and I'm stoked for the company and for the Northwest.  Only problem is, I'm still up to my ears in work (once again, as evidenced by my lack of postings).  But if I work really hard, I might still be able to find time to enjoy the great outdoors like I did last year.  The hiking trails around here are simply breathtaking, especially to a girl who spends most of her time in the concrete jungle of New York City.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

(Portland, Oregon, photographed November 2009)

Street Photography

I had the wonderful opportunity today to do a fashion shoot with Katy of Sugarlaws and Jordan of Ramshackle Glam.  Although I often take Katy's photos (some of my favorites you can see here), this was the first time I did a joint fashion shoot.  The ladies were fabulous - super cute and fun - and the weather couldn't have been any better (perfectly overcast for portraits).  All in all, it was a great day and a great shoot.  

So what does that have to do with the photos on this post, you may ask.  These certainly are not the vogue-esque shots from today.  So what's the connection?  Because it is one thing to do a photo shoot with friends who are eager to be photographed, and a whole different thing to take photos of strangers on the street, who, um, really don't want me taking their picture.  And while I love the staged photo shoots, there's something about taking a photo of an unsuspecting stranger that I just love.  You remember that from this Portugal post (and one of my favorite posts).

These photos were taken while I was in Shanghai a couple years ago.  Most of them are from one afternoon that I wandered around Old Shanghai by myself, camera in hand.  I tried to sneak portraits of the interesting strangers on the street and only occasionally got caught red-handed and shot disapproving looks.  

(Shanghai, photographed February 2008)

Wiesn

This afternoon some of my colleagues headed to a beer garden (in Harlem of all places, but I digress) to celebrate the beautiful fall weather.  And me?  I had to stay in my office.  Working.  I thought about them drinking steins of beer while I made corrections to a client presentation.  Sigh.  

But, really, I shouldn't complain that I missed one outing to a bier garten.  Because I once had the pleasure of going to the ultimate beer party.  Oktoberfest, aka Wiesn, in Munich Germany.  And while I would certainly have loved to raise a stein of beer today, I had my fair share (or maybe more than, but let's not discuss that) of prost-ing with friends during Wiesen.  

And, despite the piles of work, I thought tonight I would dig out a handful of Wiesn photos to share and to remind me of some of the good times I've had.  

And yes, those hot dogs are a meter long.  There's no "foot-long" dog in Germany.  Metric system.  That, and the Germans are really serious about their sausage.  I just don't recommend going on the rides after eating one. 

(Oktoberfest, photographed October 2008)

Studying Portuguese

I had a lovely (and much needed) evening with friends tonight.  Over a couple of glasses of wine, I caught up with some dear friends, including my friend Laura, whom I traveled with in Portugal for my summer vacation.  You may recall various posts about her - including this one dedicated just to traveling with a fellow shutter bug.

Well, Laura and I got to talking about how great our vacation was and how, after the daily toil of our jobs, we really wanted another vacation.  Which, of course, made me start thinking even more about how great our last vacation was.  We traveled through Portugal, without a set itinerary, traveling wherever the road took us.  And we wound up in the great university town of Portugal - Coimbra - where we followed Rick Steves' recommendation to a underground fado club.  Which was perfect, except for the creepy man who wanted to um, let's just say, get to know Laura and I know better and who insisted on "translating" the fado songs for us.  Ya, thanks but no thanks.  But that's a whole 'nother story...

Coimbra was made for black and white pictures.  From our amazing hotel, pictured above, with film noir art deco decor inside, to the cobblestone streets, I just had to take photo after photo.  And it being Wednesday, I figured it was about time to pay homage to Coimbra for Black & White Wednesdays, hosted by the Long Road to China.  I can't imagine what it would be like to actually study in this place -- I can't imagine being anything than a history major here. Or maybe graphic design, with its vivid graffiti.

(Coimbra, Portugal, photographed June 2010)

Shanghai'd by Work

Work this week has been crazy.  I don't even want to begin to think about how many hours I've been billing.  It's kept me from things that I like to do, like bowl in my league with my friends, going to a nyc fashion week party, finish reading "the hunger games" (such a good book!) and update this blog.  Thankfully, today ended mercifully early (relatively speaking that is), giving me a chance to put on my sweats, curl up on my couch and make a new post.

I started flipping through my old photographs, wondering what to share tonight, when I came across these photos.  They were taken when work had taken over my life, but in a slightly different way.  I was on an assignment in China, spending up to three weeks there at a time.  Although some of the days were long, I often had nights to myself to wander around Shanghai by myself.  Well, just me and my camera that is...

(And if you think the smooshed pig face hanging up in the one market picture, just wait until I post my photos of the street "meats").

(Shanghai, photographed February 2008)