Vantage Photography

WE'VE MOVED

2009-01-22T14:30:00.000-08:00

Access our new blog at www.WeddingsByVantage.com/blog from now on. And make sure to subscribe to the new blog so you get all the latest happenings. See you on the flip side!

Three weeks and seven pictures

2009-01-16T17:16:00.000-08:00

So I've been MIA the past three weeks, on a vay-k (vacation) back in Wisconsin for the holidays...what have I been doing?

Michael and I arrived in Mukwonago (my home town) the day before Christmas (celebrated with fervor at our house, as you can tell by this picture of my parents' living room):

We stuffed ourselves silly with lots and lots (and lots) of food, especially on Christmas Day. It's a Caldart (my mom's side of the family) tradition to honor our Italian heritage (my Grandpa was born in Italy) by gathering at my parents' house for a GIGANTORE Italian meal. And mmmmm was it good. My mom cooks for days beforehand and the house smells like lasagna, garlic bread, Italian sausage, gnocchi, ravioli.... We've been doing this since I was a little girl and it's a tradition I look forward to every year. Check out the spread below and you'll understand why:

So on to New Years Eve, spent at my parents' cottage in Northern Wisconsin. In the last couple of years, my parents' have regularly spent New Years Eve here and we decided to join them. Unbenownsted to us, we would get roped into participating in their tradition of creating weird homemade hats and wearing them for the night. Clearly, I got into it. What can I say? I'm never one to back down from making a fool of myself....

I also got spend my birthday up at the cottage; I even got a cake! I'm getting older, as you can see by the difficulty I'm having in blowing out all those candles:

Michael flew back to Wisconsin on the 5th to go back to work and I stayed on an extra week to hang out with the 'rents and visit with friends in Madison.

On my last day in Wisconsin, my parents proposed going for a walk in the field below our house before the sun set for the evening. So we bundled up in thick wool socks and jackets and trudged through the snow. Chloe had a blast stuffing her face into the snow and coming up with powder all over her nose and ears. I didn't realize how beautiful a sunset could be when it sets over the snow....ahhhh....so pretty:

Just as we were heading up the hill back to the house, a mist settled over the river and I snagged one of my favorite pics of the vacation. It was a nice send-off.So I arrived back in San Diego early this week, to be greeted by my birthday present--a brand spankin' new COMPUTER!!!! Clearly, I'm very excited:

So that's my past two weeks in a nutshell.

I've got big plans for the new year (get excited!!!!), including giving the blog a facelift and incorportating it into our home site, www.WeddingsByVantage.com. Yeah, I know, it's probably the most exciting thing that will happen to any of us ALL year...so keep your eyes peeled for that news. I'll also be writing some new informative articles about photojournalism, sending out a fun little "info" packet for brides- and grooms-to-be and who knows what else. Yay!

10...9...8....7.........

2008-12-31T11:23:00.001-08:00

Michael and I are about to jump in the car and head to my parents' cottage in Northern Wisconsin (Three Lakes, to be exact, right outside of Eagle River) for New Year's Eve. We've got a few days of puzzles, reading, more puzzles and more reading to look forward to. Ahhh...gotta love the northwoods pace of life....

Before I leave, I just wanted to extend a HUGE thank you to you, our lovely blog followers, for a wonderful 2008 and wish everyone an incredible 2009. It's been a hard year for a lot of folks due to the economic turmoil, but I have faith that we'll turn this around and make 2009 the best we can.

Happy 2009 and all the best to you!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...Fa la la la la....

2008-12-22T14:13:00.000-08:00

Yippee!! Michael and I are leaving on a jet plane for the winter tundra (Wisconsin) tomorrow! I really do love living in San Diego...but there's something about the snow and cold during the holidays that gets a girl in the mood. I can't help but get all gooey when I think about it--the lights, the fire in the fireplace, the cozy wool socks, the smell of cookies in the oven, the sound of Frank Sinatra crooning "IIIIIIII'm dreeeeeeaming of a whiiiiiiiiite Chriiiiiistmaaaaas...." I just love it!

My friend Kira recently asked how the weather was in S.D. "It's been pretty chilly here lately, actually. I wish it would warm up a bit," I answered. "Hmm," she said. "Chilly as in 5 degrees?" "Ummm, no......." I replied, "More like upper 50s. Ok, point taken."

Yeah, according to my Google weather gadget, here's how Madison and San Diego compare...Brrrr!

So Michael and I are off to the winter tundra that is Wisconsin. Hopefully if my fingers don't fall off from frost bite, I'll be able to check in periodically while we're away.

Until then, Happy Holidays!!!!!!!

Generations Project: Wisconsin

2008-12-16T12:28:00.000-08:00

Hey all, so I have a couple of families that will be participating in my Generations project in Wisconsin while I'm home for the holidays. If YOU want to be a part of it, I'll be in Wisconsin from December 23rd until January 12th and would love love LOVE to take pictures of your family! All it takes is an email/phone call...just let me know you want to be a part of the project and we'll make it happen.

And if this is any incentive, I just bought a new (well, new to me, it's gently used) voice recorder for the interviews......ooo la la, pretty, no?

Why does it take so long to get my photos?

2008-12-08T13:09:00.000-08:00

Ever wonder why it takes a photographer awhile to get you your prints after you order them? After all, everyone shoots digital nowadays and we can all see the picture instantly....

I've been doing some editing on some of the last photos I took of my grandma Frieda and I thought I'd share with you a "before" and "after" of one of my shots so you can see the level of work that goes into an individual image before it's printed.

The image on the left has had minor corrections done like exposure and basic contrast (this is what we call a "proof"). The image on the right is a finished product: I've done careful dodging and burning (lightening and darkening certain areas to bring out details) and increased contrast in certain parts of the image. I even put in subtle reflections of light in her eyes, since that makes for a more pleasing portrait (even though the average person is unconscious to that fact). Usually I'd try to account for these sort of lighting situations beforehand, but since this was a "grab" shot, not a posed portrait, I had to do "post-process" work to make it a stronger image.

Even though it's digital, I haven't done much more to the image than a skilled film technician would do in a professional film lab. Can you see how much stronger the image is with the extra work put into it?

I'm a delinquent....

2008-12-03T19:45:00.001-08:00

...yes, it's true. I'm a blogging delinquent. I know, I know, I've been MIA for the past week (and a half....argggh) but I have a good excuse! I call my excuse "Thanksgiving".

We were lucky enough to snag flights back to Wisconsin to visit family and even luckier to have two (yes, TWO!) Thanksgiving meals in one day. It's one of the benefits of having a partner--two family gatherings for holidays! So we stuffed ourselves silly with turkey and gravy and cranberry sauce and sweet potatoes and pecan pie (mmmmm...pecan pie...).

And, of course, we found time to honor the time-tested Caldart tradition (my mom's side of the family) of playing board games. This year it was Scattergories, one of my favorites. It's one of those games that's just perfect for creating really funny memories that usually involved poking fun at someone because of their answer. If you're not familiar with the game, in a nutshell you have to come up with words starting with a particular letter for a particular category. For example "Boy name starting with the letter F" and I would answer "Fred". Trust me, it's way funner than I just made it sound.

This year's winner for my favorite answer was given by my aunt Carolyn. The category: Famous duos and trios. The letter: P. Carolyn's answer: Pigs, Three Little. Genius!! This is especially remarkable since we still make fun of Carolyn's response in a Scattergories game we played several years ago. The category: Things you shout. The letter: M. Carolyn's answer: Music.

Music?!? Who shouts "Music"?? Apparently Carolyn does. Well, she redeemed herself this year. Congrats Carolyn. And I promise, I have my own ridiculous Scattergories answers--just ask Michael. I'm sure he'd be more than happy to fill you in on the details. :)

Happy (belated) Thanksgiving!

Oooooo....so pretty!

2008-11-20T11:14:00.000-08:00

I'm in the process of updating the Vantage business cards so they're more in line with our image and, needing a bit of inspiration, I googled "Business Card Inspiration". One of the first things that came up was this site: http://dailypoetics.typepad.com/phot...er_/index.html

This one is my favorite of the bunch (you scratch off the feather to get the contact info!) :

And this one was from a different blog:

Aren't the fabulously fun?! ?! I am officially inspired. Thank you Google! :)

Help me with my Generations project.

2008-11-13T13:18:00.000-08:00

As some of you know, my 95 year old ("95 and a half" as she would have said) grandma Frieda passed away two weeks ago. I know I will (and already do) miss her immensely and am so appreciative of the time I was able to spend with her. She was a phenomenal woman who touched many lives.

As a testament to my relationship with her, her love for her family and my appreciation for history, I'm starting a new project with the a working title of "Generations" and am in need of subjects. Please help!

I'm looking for families able to gather at least THREE generations on one side of the family (grandparent, parent, child) in one place for a portrait created in their home (even more generations is great too!). Portraits will be relaxed: no backdrops or lighting. I simply want to document the generations of one family interacting with each other. I will be conducting short recorded interviews of the family members in addition to creating the portrait.

I am interested in creating portraits of all different types of families: adoptive families, LGBT families, all different races, economic backgrounds, abilities, etc.

You will receive a free portrait session and all final images on a CD (with a letter from me giving you full permission to print the images at a photo lab of your choice) in exchange for your time and written permission to use the photo(s) and recordings in my project (I will ask you to sign a model release). You will also have the option of purchasing prints directly from me if you'd like.

I plan to produce the project as a coffee table book, an interactive website and whatever else pops in my head.

I will create portraits wherever I can, whether in San Diego County, southeastern Wisconsin, etc. Even if you're not in San Diego or Wisconsin, contact me since there's a chance I'm traveling out your way in the upcoming months.

I will be working on this project for awhile, meaning long enough until I have a sufficient group of photos for publishing, so even if you won't be getting the whole family together for another 6 months, contact me anyway.

If you are interested, please contact me at info@vantagephotography.com.

GO VOTE.

2008-11-04T09:37:00.000-08:00

That's it, there's not much more to say: VOTE.

Marita and Eric

2008-11-04T09:27:00.000-08:00

Marita and Eric were wed on October 18th surrounded by one of the most warm and welcoming groups of family and friends I've had the pleasure of working with. And Marita and Eric were so warm and welcoming themselves--which I already knew, having had such a great time with them during their engagement session! I had been excited about this wedding for a long time and I certainly wasn't disappointed. Congratulations to both of you, Marita and Eric. I'm so positive that there are many years of happiness awaiting you in your future.

Michelle and Joe's E-Session

2008-10-30T13:18:00.000-07:00

Two posts in one day--aren't you all so lucky! :) The day after Kourtney and Mike's wedding, I did an engagement shoot with Michelle and Joe. These two were great to work with--they were up for anything I suggested, including climbing a tree and having a leaf fight (which they engaged in wholeheartedly, I should add!). I loved that Michelle couldn't stop laughing the whole time and Joe kept looking at her as if to say "You're a goofball...and I love it." I can't wait for the wedding!

Kourtney and Mike

2008-10-30T13:02:00.000-07:00

Kourtney and Mike were married on October 11th in the quintessential Madison, Wisconsin wedding--pictures at the capitol and Mendota Terrace, a stroll through the Farmer's Market to sample Wisconsin cheeses and a round of applause from Badgers fans enjoying beer on the Union Terrace as Kourtney and Mike walked to their reception at Tripp Commons at the Memorial Union. They were blessed with a beautiful fall day and family and friends that flew in from all over the country just to be with them--can't get much better than that...

MC Flow Music Video

2008-10-27T10:05:00.001-07:00

My toes are gonna be famous!! Yes, that's right, my tootsies got their 15 minutes, er, 15 seconds of fame yesterday as they got "in frame" for a music video being shot by the talented Rebecca Joelson and her husband Kevin for MC Flow, a San Diego based hip hop group. I won't tell you *how* they got in frame, you'll just have to watch the video to find out. Hint: the shot involves a kiddie pool and a scuba mask. Hee hee. :) How did that happen, you ask? Michael and I stopped by the shoot yesterday morning to check out the goings-ons (I think I just invented a word), joining the already gathered onlookers. When Rebecca turned to the "crowd" and asked for a volunteer for one of the shots, well, I just couldn't resist. What can I say, I'm vain. :)

Rebecca and I met for coffee about a month ago under the guise of "Hi, I'm new to the area and want to meet other cool photographers here" and we clicked as fellow photographers right away. I'm looking forward to working with her in the upcoming months--we've already got a collaborative photo shoot planned for sometime in November. Stay tuned for pics from that!

Winter Wedding Specials

2008-10-24T12:43:00.001-07:00

Is your wedding scheduled between November 1st and April 1st of '08/'09 or '09/'10? If so, book Vantage for your photography and take $1000 off your total package price. Contact me today to set up your complimentary in-person meeting to get to know me and see more samples of my work!

Ann Marie and Jared

2008-10-22T17:47:00.000-07:00

What do you get when you cross a beautiful Wisconsin fall day with an amazingly fun wedding party and two of the nicest people in the world? Ann Marie and Jared's wedding, of course. It wasn't hard to see the love that existed between these two, not to mention between their families and friends. I ended up sticking around beyond my scheduled time at no charge just because I was having so much fun photographing this crew! Enjoy the sneak peek from Vantage!

Lots'o headshots

2008-10-10T15:20:00.000-07:00

Right before I left for the land of cheese, I was busy building up Vantage's headshots portfolio with some models in the San Diego area. I really like doing headshots--it's a good way for me to change things up from my wedding work, interact with other fun and creative people and, I find, it helps me to create even better portraits during my weddings. Here are some of my favs from those recent sessions:

Helloooooo Wisco!

2008-10-06T10:52:00.000-07:00

I'm back in Wisconsin to shoot three weddings for Vantage (check back regularly for those beloved sneak peeks!) until October 20th. I was greeted by my native state last Thursday with chilly temperatures and on and off drizzle/all-out rain. Gotta love Wisconsin weather! But to Wisconsin's credit, the leaves are just starting to turn and hopefully I'll be here to see the fall colors in all their glory--and it really is my favorite time of year here. I was just saying to Michael the other day "The thing about living in San Diego is you don't get those chilly rainy Sunday afternoons that give you the best excuse to just hole up under a blanket and watch old movies all day". I think I'll get my fix (and then some) over these next couple of weeks. :)

It's been great to be able to go to the final Brewers game with dad (Brew Crew, we love you, even if you didn't make it as far as we had hoped....), play gin rummy with mom, see old friends. And ooo, those fish fries and Brandy Old Fashioneds! To top it all off, my baby sis Sara is even going to be in town from New York City next week! But of course I miss Michael and my puppy, Chloe.

So I'm a cheesehead again until the end of October....and I'll enjoy every minute of it. :)

No travel costs for Wisconsin weddings--it's official!

2008-09-22T10:42:00.003-07:00

There's a new "policy" I wanted to update y'all on. I've made an official decision at Vantage (hear ye hear ye) that I won't charge travel costs for any couples that book with me in Southern Wisconsin. I benefit greatly from shooting in Wisconsin (I get to see family, eat at my favorite restaurants--The Old Fashioned! The Great Dane!--and get coffee dates with old friends--Fair Trade Coffee! Espresso Royale!) and I want to provide an incentive to future clients to keep me coming out there. And no, my mom didn't put me up to this, although I'm sure she's doing a victory dance at the thought of me flying back to Wisconsin regularly. (Hi mom!)

So pass it on to any of those new engaged couples you were thinking about referring to me--I'm up to it! :)

Self-portrait, puppy-portrait

2008-09-20T18:04:00.007-07:00

So as some of you know already, Vantage Photography's website is getting a facelift. Nothing crazy...just updated homepage images, new "about VP" text and pricing information. Which brings me to the title of this post: I also uploaded new "this is who I am" pics. Just thought I'd share with y'all my new self-portrait(s)!

Yes, these really are self-portaits. And, yes, this is me being a goofball and then laughing hysterically at myself. It's not a bad thing to be amused by the stupidest things--you're always laughing!

As I was about to pack up my gear, I noticed Chloe sleeping on the couch. Hmmmm, I thought. This calls for a puppy-portrait! So I picked her up and put her on the chair. Luckily she was a sleepy puppy, so she pretty much sat still for me the whole time. Who knows? Maybe I'll take up pet portraits as my next photography foray!

Kathleen and Mike

2008-09-11T17:53:00.004-07:00

I love Kathleen and Mike! You may remember this duo from the e-session I did with them back in the Spring (check it out here). Well, they're baaaaack, and they're married this time! They're such a beautiful couple, clearly in love, and SO much fun, which is pretty obvious from the pics. And admittedly, I haven't teared up at a wedding since the first one I shot and, well, this one got the water works flowing--seriously, I was like "Jena, you CAN'T cry! You're the photographer!". Thanks to the two of you for a fab day and I'm definitely taking you up on that offer for dinner when I'm back in the Madison area!! :)

Ok, so it's not spidey vision...

2008-09-11T12:48:00.003-07:00

So I'm a member of the Digital Wedding Forum, a great online resource for professional wedding photographers all over the world. And as all good DWFers do, I procrastinate by surfing the site and learning lots of new photography tips, readings posts, etc. :) I just came across a link for the FM 100 Hue Test, an online test that allows you to test your color vision. Ok, so it's totally dorky, but I actually had FUN doing it! I know, I said it was dorky. And, it turns out, I have 100% PERFECT COLOR VISION! All that really means is that I'm good at color correcting to make sure that photos come out the right colors and you don't look purple-ish (or green-ish or red-ish or whatever-ish) in all the pictures. So hooray for my eyes!!! In my head, as I read the test results, I actually said "Good job, guys, keep up the good work!". Somehow my eyes are male in my female body. Go figure. Lol.

We're New Kids On The Block!!

2008-09-04T17:05:00.006-07:00

No, we haven't quit our jobs to become the newest members of my favorite boy band. We're New Kids On The Block because WE MOVED! Michael accepted a marketing position with Intuit (Turbo Tax, Quickbooks, Quicken, etc) in San Diego, California this summer so we picked up our lives and moved clear across the country, puppy and all. We're absolutely thrilled about our new digs and the adventures that await us. The weather is fabulous, the people we've met so far are friendly and we can't wait to explore the surrounding area. Chloe is thrilled, too, because we've shacked up across the street from Balboa Park, the Central Park of San Diego. That means she gets lots of walks with her mom every morning (that's me) and there are plenty of other dogs to sniff and play with.

I'm especially excited about this move because it's allowed me a great excuse to dive in feet first and take the business FULL TIME! That's right, I'm doing this photography gig 24/7. Ok, maybe not that much...but at least 40 hours a week! :) I'm so excited about being able to pursue my passion full time, a chance that a lot of people don't get and/or take. It's been great for me and for my photography, too, since I don't have any other pesky jobs to distract me. I've already scoped out cool places for engagement sessions and have lots of ideas. I also still have a handful of weddings in Wisconsin that I'll be flying back for, so some of you will still see me from time to time. :)

I'm especially excited to be able to take one day a week to dedicate to personal projects, such as documenting, through photography, how life and the concept of family changes when someone makes the decision to go into a nursing home. I even bought my own website (www.jenaolson.com) to show off my work. But don't go there yet...all you'll see are ads from GoDaddy.com, since I've gotten about as far as buying the domain name and that's it. All good things come to those who wait though, right? :)

So a little business plug from me, in light of this big news: we're giving 10% off any package to anyone who books a wedding with us in Southern California during the months of September and October. That's right, 10% off. Tell your friends!

So consider us official Californians--we're here to stay. Yay!!

Marita and Eric are engaged!

2008-09-04T12:51:00.008-07:00

Two weeks ago I had the privilege of spending three hours doing an engagement session with Marita and Eric, two very fun, energetic and in-love people. We hit practically all of Madison, from the Olbrich Gardens to the Overture Center to State Street, and I for one had a blast. I'm also psyched because they want me to use their images to create a custom guest book, my first "real" one (as in, not just a sample book). I love these books and think they're one of the greatest ways to customize your wedding and have an amazing keepsake all at the same time. Yay for Marita and Eric! :)

I can't wait to shoot their wedding in October and share with you even more gorgeous photos from that day...

Click here to view their slideshow (oh so fun!!) and scroll down to view images:

Teresa and Eric

2008-08-28T20:00:00.000-07:00

Teresa and Eric celebrated their wedding on August 22nd at the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts in Milwaukee, WI. Everything went smoothly (not a cloud in the sky, even!) and everyone spent the day laughing and enjoying themselves. A highlight of the day was watching one of Eric's groomsmen get everyone (literally everyone) at the wedding onto the dance floor to sing along to Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline". There was clearly a lot of love in these two newly-joined families and Kate (my second shooter) and I were glad to be a part of it. Thanks for choosing Vantage to shoot your wedding! Enjoy the peek at the pictures, you two!

We're home (and we've banned Alitalia from our lives for good).

2008-08-01T10:15:00.004-07:00

Ok, so we've been home since last Wednesday but life's been a little crazy since then and I haven't had a chance to sit and write. :)

We had a little snafu (is that how you spell that?) with our flight on the way back, which has led us to declare an official boycott on Alitalia. I highly recommend you do the same thing, to avoid the stuff we had to deal with! Now, this isn't to knock Italy--of course we LOVE it there, but we experienced a seemingly typical Italian travel scenario that hopefully you can avoid. So...we show up at the airport 2 hours before our scheduled flight but, hmmmm, our flight isn't on the departures board. That's odd. After flagging down an Alitalia person, and having that person then ask 2 or 3 more people what the heck was going on, we come to discover that our 2:10pm flight doesn't exist. Yes, there was a 10:10am flight but no 2:10pm flight. And, of course, even if it did exist, we apparently didn't have tickets for it. What?? Well, remember way back to one of our first blog posts when our flight got cancelled due to weather and we had that huge debacle between Alitalia, Delta and STA travel trying to schedule another flight? Eventually we got an Alitalia official to deal with it--by cancelling our entire trip and then rescheduling it. But, as we found out when we were in the airport on our way back, she never scheduled a return flight!! Luckily, they didn't put up a fight and paid for a hotel room and meals for the night as well as a ticket for the first flight out of Rome direct to Chicago the next morning. Well, at least we got another story out of it, right? :)

So that's it for our travel stories (for now). Hopefully you had a good read and enjoyed the images that came with it. Not sure when we'll be able to take a trip like this again (Japan and Southeast Asia are high on the list) but we certainly have enough memories to sustain us until the next trip... :) Ciao!!

Santorini, Pompeii and Rome

2008-07-22T08:00:00.000-07:00

It's our last day today. I'm sitting in the kitchen of our Rome hostel, waiting for Michael to finish packing. Our bags are heavier (lots of sovieners!), our skin is tanner (hooray for laying out by the cruise ship pool!) and our portable harddrive is full of photos. We leave Rome and fly to Chicago in a few hours. It feels crazy to be going home after travelling for so long and I imagine it's going to feel crazy to be home for a while afterwards. But, before I get too introspective, I still have three cities to write about.

Santorini:

Unfortunately, Michael wasn't feeling well the day we were in port, so I stole out while he was sleeping and had my own adventure.Santorini is really beautiful and it makes sense why it would be such a huge tourist attraction. There were a TOOOOOOON of tourists--in fact, there were, at one point, seven cruise ships docked that day. This made it pretty hard to see the "real" Santorini, but I made a point of getting lost down little alleyways and trying to get away from the main tourist areas.

Santorini is the Greece we all see in the pictures: whitewashed houses, brightly colored doors and windows, bright blue domes on the churches. The city is located high on a cliff and people need to take either a cable car or a donkey up to the top. The line for the cable car was over 2 hours so I opted for a donkey. So I paid the guy my 5 euro, hopped up on a donkey and expected the donkey owner to walk with me to the top like in Petra (Jordan). But instead, he just gave it a big slap on the butt, yelled something in Greek and the donkey walked away without him. This only worked so well, however, since as soon as we turned a corner and were out of his line of sight, the donkey stopped. Just stopped. I slapped it on its butt, gave it a nudge with my heels, said "let's go" in all the languages I knew, but this donkey was not gonna budge. After 5 minutes of this, I got off and tried pulling him by his harness. As much as I pulled and yanked, this donkey was not going to move for me. Until I went to get back on him, of course, and he walked away from me. Oh, I see how it is, Mr. Donkey. This game of "donkey walks away when Jena tries to get back on" continued for another 5 minutes until the donkey gave up and let me on him. But he still just stood there. More heel nudges, more butt slapping, more yelling (does anyone know how to say "let's go" in Greek?), no moving. Until a pack of about 20 donkeys turned the corner on the way up the hill and Mr. Donkey decided to show his solidarity and walk up with the others. Geesh. I opted not to chance a donkey ride on the way down, needless to say.

Pompeii/Sorrento:

We were excited to visit Pompeii again since we had had so much fun the last time. We did a walking tour with Erin and Josh (our cruise dinner mates) and then wandered the eery streets. If you ever get a chance to visit Pompeii, do it. It's an amazingly preserved city and really gives you a sense of what it must have been like to live so long ago. We also got a chance to hang out in Sorrento, a town about 20 minutes from Pompeii, and the site of the cruise port. Sorrento is a cute Italian town and we were excited to happen upon a famous gelateria while we were there--the owner is in the Guiness Book of World Records for creating the largest ice cream cone ever (based on the pics we saw, it was huge) and the store has been visited by a ton of famous people including the Pope. And the ice cream was pretty good. :)

Rome:

Our last stop of our tour and we weren't disappointed. I enjoy Rome a little more every time I come back and this time was definitely not an exception. We did the normal touristy things (the Forum, Colloseum, Vatican, etc) but then also got to see some things we hadn't seen before such as the Jewish Ghetto and Campo dei Fiori, a colorful piazza where a lot of the young Italians hang out in the evening. We also stopped at a cafe that reportedly has the best espresso in Rome...and we concur. And, of course, we threw a coin into the Trevi fountain guaranteeing that we would return. :)

So now it's time to go. Michael has finished packing, we need to check out of the hostel and catch our train to the airport. Hopefully you've enjoyed reading about our adventures and seeing some of the images we created. Next time I write, I'll be back in the good ol' US of A eating peanut butter and watching reality tv. :) It's been an amazing adventure, an incredible journey. Ma adesso e' il tempo per ritornare alla realita'. Ciao ciao!!

Pictures as promised (Yalta, Odessa, Volos).

2008-07-19T02:36:00.006-07:00

Today we said goodbye to our cruise ship. Sniff sniff. We had an absolutely wonderful time and would definitely do something like it again. We're now in Rome, just arrived about an hour ago. Before we left the shipe, I did have enough foresight to edit some images and put them on my flashdrive in case we stopped at an internet cafe along the way to the hostel.

This first image is from Yalta, a beach resort in the Ukraine.

The second and third are from Odessa, a city with a lot of charm and a lot of history. Unfortunately, much of the city is under construction in order to give the city a facelift but we were still able to get a good sense of the place. We were lucky enough to find a restaurant that served pelmeni (russian dumplings that were oh so yummy) and the Ukrainian specialty of vodka "spiked" with hot peppers. Michael said he could feel the vodka moving down his esophogus into his stomach. It definitely had a kick to it, that's for sure. We also happened to see a TON of weddings going on, being that it was Saturday. Outside of the Opera House, we saw four different bride and groom couples getting their pictures taken. A block away, we saw two more couples. Lots of weddings for a small city

This last image I took at the Archeological Museum in Volos, a small town on the eastern mainland of Greece. Attractions in Volos are few and far between (which makes me question why we stopped there as a part of the cruise, but that's not the point), so before going to the beach we opted to see the museum. Neither of us expected much, since we've been to at least five archeological museums already on this trip and have seen our fair share of old Roman and Greek ceramic pots, ancient jewelry and tombs. But we were in for a pleasant change in archeological museum scenery, as this museum was dedicated mainly to the old (and I mean old, as in ooooooold) settlements that had been discovered around Volos not too long ago. The figurine in this image is thought to have been created between 6500 and 5300 bc. That's between 8500 and 7300 years ago. I told you, oooooold. And there were dozens of these figurines in the museum, plus dozens of cooking items and weapons. Amazing.

We also stopped in Santorini, a famous Greek island, and Sorrento, on the west coast of Italy north of Naples. Unfortunately, Michael came down with the stomach flu the night before Santorini and was quarantined (seriously) to our room for the next 24 hours. I wasn't feeling sick, so I stole out to see the island while Michael was sleeping. Sorrento was cute, exactly what you'd expect from a touristy coastal Italian town. I'll add more narrative once I edit and upload images (hopefully tomorrow).

Michael and I will stay in Rome for three more days before heading back to the States on the 22nd. It's so hard to believe that it's coming to an end! But I won't think about that right now. I've got sightseeing to do. :)

This is the good life.

2008-07-12T03:20:00.005-07:00

Michael and I boarded our cruise ship (named Pacific Princess) on the 7th of July after spending a day in Athens. Athens was somewhat disappointing: the city itself didn't have too much to offer and the Acropolis/ruins were teeming with tourists, covered by a lot of scaffolding and poorly labeled. The one really redeeming thing we experienced was the museum located in the Ancient Agora. It was small (only one long room) but we saw some of the coolest artifacts yet, like election ballots found in ballot boxes, stone tablets/markers used to determine who had to serve jury duty, a big tablet with their city laws written onto it and a collection of ceramic discs with names written on them to indicate an individual's vote for who should get ostracized from Athens (they did this once a month, apparently). Do you think anyone ever voted for themself?

And then it was cruise time. We got all checked in and we were led to our room where, lo and behold, they had hung "Just Married" balloons on our door and, WAY more exciting, we discovered that they had upgraded us from a room with a porthole window to a room with a full balcony! Omigosh, I was so excited and just kept giggling about how wonderful it all was. I still get gushy when I think about it. :)

This life is SO much different than the traveling we had been doing prior to this. Chocolates on our pillows before bed, fresh towels every morning (and afternoon, if we want), FABULOUS food and anytime access to the pool, casino, library, lounge, etc. Perhaps even better is that we get to wake up every morning in a different place, without having to unpack and repack every night (that was starting to get old). We've spent at least an hour every day lounging by the pool and every morning having breakfast on our balcony. It's hard to think that life can get much better or more relaxed than this.

We've also had the good fortune to have met some really good people. For dinner, if we choose to eat in the Club Room (and why wouldn't we? These dinners are wonderful.), we've been assigned to sit at a table with another young couple, Erin and Josh. Definitely a risky situation, if someone doesn't end up getting along, but we love our dinner mates. We spent last night laughing so hard we were practically crying at one of Josh's stories (if you ever meet him, ask him about the moose in the Grand Tetons) and have similar interests and senses of humor. It's been really fun.

So far we've stopped in Istanbul (second time for us) where we randomly ran into Hilary, one of our Intrepid groupmates, on the street (which called for grabbing a cup of tea and smoking a hookah together) as well as Yalta, Ukraine (which Michael aptly called Yawnta) and now Odessa, Ukraine. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures to share, not because I don't have any, but because I wasn't expecting to find an internet point today and don't have any prepared.

By the way, for those of you aware of the shooting that occurred in Istanbul at the American Embassy this week, it did happen on the day we were there. But the Embassy was located far away from where we were and, in fact, we found out about it from the television in the cafe as we were sitting down to tea with Hilary. Of course it was in Turkish, so we didn't have much of an idea of the situation until we got to an internet point to read the news online. But we're safe and sound, no worries.

Well, I'm off. We've got to be back at the ship in a couple hours and there's more touristing to do before then. до свидания! (That's "bubye" in Ukrainian)

"Istanbul was Constantinople, now it's Istanbul not Constantinople..."

2008-07-06T13:44:00.005-07:00

We arrived in Istanbul (not Constantinople) on Friday morning and spent the next two days being the ultimate tourists. Ultimate, as in we rushed from sight to sight trying to see everything in the time we had: Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, the Cistern and Tokapki Palace. Ok, so it's not everything in Istanbul, but it's alot. Initially, we had even intended to see the Archeological Museum but decided that would just be plain crazy (we'll do it when we come back on our cruise).

Istanbul is a really beautiful city, but is definitely packed with tourists in comparison to the other places we've been--it seemed to have more tourists than the other cities combined. It's a double edged sword for us: on one hand, it's easier to navigate the city (maps are readily available) and you can be almost guaranteed that every restaurant you go into will have an english menu, but on the other hand, the city looses some of its "real" feel, as if it were set up just for the tourism industry.

On an upnote, I did find a super cute and super affordable spring dress there. :)

Last night we boarded our overnight train for Athens and said goodbye to our Intrepid group. It was sad to part with them--we had some good times with them and had developed a sense of familiarity and security with the group--but both Michael and I were also excited to be on our own again. The night train proved to be...an experience. It left at 8:30pm and both of us were in bed by about 10pm. However, we had to cross the border into Greece and therefore were awoken at about 1am to hand over our passports for exiting Turkey and entering Greece. From everything we had read, this would be a quick painless process. Everything we read was wrong. The 2 minutes it was supposed to take turned into 4 hours sitting in the no man's land between Turkey and Greece for who knows what reason. What made it twenty times worse is that there were clouds of mosquitoes outside and in order to keep them out of our train compartment, we had to close the window, which resulted in our compartment getting up to about, I'm not exaggerating, at least 100 degrees. For four hours. At one point, we succumbed to the mosquitoes because, really, it was better than the god-awful heat. Needless to say, we didn't sleep much between 1 and 5am. Gotta love train travel. :)

So now we're in Athens, having just come from a great meal of stuffed red peppers and pork kebab. Tomorrow we'll do the tourist thing again by visiting the Acropolis, and then we board our cruise tomorrow evening. I most likely won't be updating the blog as regularly, as I'm not sure of our internet access for the next two weeks, In any event, I'll do my best and will for sure send updates as I'm able...

Fresh trout, underground cities, fairy chimneys and whirling dervishes

2008-07-03T06:20:00.007-07:00

We arrived in the region of Cappadocia on Tuesday and spent the morning exporing the Ilhara Gorge (like a very mini Grand Canyon). What a change from the deserts of Egypt, Syria and Jordan. It was wonderfully green, and we saw frogs and turtles lazing about at the water's edge. For lunch, we stopped at a restaurant located right on the river--in fact, they had piers that led out to covered platforms sitting in the middle of the river on which we sat to eat our lunch. We indulged in the local delicacy, trout caught directly from the river. The trout was cooked in its entirety and presented to us whole, aka with the head still on. Once I got over having my food staring back at me, it was delicious.

We spent the rest of the day with a local guide who took us through the underground cities of Cappadocia. The cities were built starting in 1500bc, directly in the ground down to six stories, and were used as a safe space for townspeople in case they were attacked. We spent an hour and a half exploring and apparently only saw about 10% of the city--our guide told us that the largest city could hold up to 10,000 people if needed. Whoa.

Yesterday, we hiked the areas around the city of Goreme, where we stayed for two nights, still in the Cappadocia region. The landscape was amazing, beautiful, like nothing I'd ever seen. They call the rock formations that exist there "fairy chimneys", for reasons which no one, not even the local guide, could give any definitive answer on. We also spent some time in a nearby village and took a tour of a turkish carpet co-op that sold carpets for over 400 weavers (all women) in the town.

Last night, we went to our first real tourist trap, a dinner and show of Turkish cultural dances. It actually ended up being way more fun than we had anticipated, which was probably influenced considerably by the all-you-can-eat-and-drink (emphasis on the drink part) meal we had, and the good company (about 7 of our group members made the trip). At some point, I'll upload some video of it, but internet is slow here and, in any case, You Tube is censored by the Turkish government. Who knew. The image here is of the famous "whirling dervishes", guys that spin around and around and around in long white gowns. At this dinner, they did a "dance" (aka spun around) for about 2 minutes or so under blacklights. Apparently, a couple group members went to a whirling dervishes show in Cairo and they spun around more or less non-stop for over an hour. That's a little too much spinning for me--I'll take the short version, thank you very much.

Today we lazed about before our trip to Ankara to board an overnight train to Istanbul. Our trip is technically over tomorrow at noon, although a few people will be staying on in Istanbul and we'll see the sights with them. Then we're off the following evening for Athens in order to board our CRUISE! Yay!!!

Palmyra, Crac des Chavliers and Aleppo

2008-06-29T07:12:00.009-07:00

Palmyra:

Rome's got nothing on this place. While the modern town of Palmyra isn't much to write home about, the ruins of the ancient city of Palmyra are outstanding. We spent the (very hot) Thursday morning exploring the area, learning from our guide the history of the place. Afterwards, we had a few hours to kill before our bus arrived to take us to Crac des Chevaliers (more on that later). Michael wanted to write in his journal, so I set off on my own to do some shopping. I didn't get very far, though: at the second shop I went into, the shopkeeper, Mohammed, struck up a conversation with me and offered me tea ("Syrian hospitality"). It was quiet in the shop (tourism is low right now), Mohammed seemed to genuinely want to converse and I had time. Over the course of about 5 cups of tea (he just kept pouring it and even went back to make a second pot after I insisted he shouldn't), we talked about his family, life in America and Syria, why Americans are nervous to travel to Syria (he insisted they shouldn't be and I agreed wholeheartedly) and exchanged lessons in English and Arabic (I learned how to say "nice to meet you" and "cheers"). It was a really wonderful way to spend an hour.

We did make a fun little find, too. At a restaurant we ate at, the owner was selling old Iraqi money--we landed a Iraqi bill with Saddam's pictures on it for $6. Creepy and cool all at the same time.

Crac des Chavliers:

That afternoon, we departed for what Lawrence of Arabia has called the finest castle in all the world. I'm guessing he'd seen a lot of castles and being that this castle *was* pretty cool, he's probably right. We arrived in the evening and got treated to one of our better meals here--cooked eggplant and zucchini, french fries, grilled chicken, pita with hummus and other yummy dips, fresh fruit and tea. Yum.

The next morning, Michael and I rose early to catch the sunrise, then we met up with the group to do a tour of the castle. The castle wasn't the only amazing thing; equally amazing is how laxed they were about safety there. We could climb on top of the outer walls that stood about 100 feet from the ground without a guardrail or rope in sight and scamper down long dark, damp hallways without any lights to speak of. Just as well--it meant we really got to explore and imagine ourselves as knights and kings/queens for a day.

One interesting thing to note: the climate and landscape really changed from Palmyra to the castle. Palmyra was pure desert with a dry heat; the area surrounding the castle was actually green (albiet not like Wisconsin) and was still hot, but humid. It wasn't what I expected of Syria at all--I had expected it to be all desert like, since that's what we'd been experiencing up until that point. But, I stand corrected.

Aleppo:

We stayed in Aleppo, Syria for two days, left this morning. Aleppo competes with Damascus for the "oldest continously inhabited city in the world" title, apparently, but according to Lonely Planet, Damascus wins. Who knows. In any event, Aleppo is like a smaller version of Damascus--smaller population and smaller souqs (markets) to be sure. But it's nice to be in one place for more than a day. We did end up having the best shwarma yet, though, in Aleppo. Fresh pork, fresh veggies and some sort of yogurt sauce that made it lip smacking delicious. Not to mention that it cost us about two dollars each for a shwarma and a can of soda. Yummy.

We crossed the border into Turkey this afternoon where we've been promised the food gets even better and we'll see more and more carpet stores. :) Ciao!

You are now entering Syria...

2008-06-25T08:24:00.010-07:00

We spent Sunday in Amman, Jordan visiting the Roman Ampitheater, getting lost in the city and trying to get into mosques. I say trying, because at the first one we were scolded and told "no women" and at the second, there was a sign at the entrance reading "tourists welcome from 11am to 3:30pm". It was 4:30pm. Oh well. The shining jewel of our day was spending 2 hours or so lounging about at The Blue Fig, a restaurant in what seemed to be the hoity-toity neighborhood of Amman. The food was delicious, the ambiance was spectacular and the prices were cheap. Can't get much better than that.

The next day we left for Syria and arrived in Damascus at about 4pm. We've been hearing all along that Damascus is awesome and we weren't disappointed. This city is amazing. It's bustling, but not chaotic like Cairo. When you get inside the old city walls, it's like getting lost in Venice (without the water and everyone is speaking Arabic). There is so much to see and experience here that has nothing to do with touristy stuff--it's all about walking around the Souqs (markets) to look at the countless shops of clothing, spices, gold jewelry and candy or sitting at a cafe sipping tea, smoking a nargila (hooka) and playing backgammon with friends (which we did both nights we were there). Michael and I kept remarking how cool it was to see how people here really lived, since clearly none of the stuff we were seeing was set up for our benefit, the tourists. I suppose that's what you get for visiting the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world.

The people here are beautiful and friendly. Also, suprisingly to us, there were a noticable number of women who didn't wear a headscarf, much more so than in Egypt or Jordan. And, consistent with what we've experienced before, we were greeted with countless people welcoming us to Damascus as we passed them on the street. We really enjoyed our time in Damascus and could definitely see coming back.

What do Lawrence of Arabia, Indiana Jones and the Dead Sea have in common?

2008-06-22T07:47:00.021-07:00

Not sure? Read on to find the answer...

Lawrence:

Wednesday, we set out for Wadi Rum, a protected desert area in Jordan and about an hour and a half from Aquaba. We spent the afternoon driving around the desert in 4WD vehicles, stopping at points of interest, including a giant sand dune and the house at which Lawrence of Arabia spent a winter. By the end of the day, we were all covered in a fine red sand and all desperately wanted a shower.

There was no shower in sight, however, since we camped that night at a desert camp set up in the traditional Beduoin style. The Beduoins are nomadic tribes that, until recently, set up camps throughout the desert and stay for a couple months at a time wherever they are. Now they tend to stay in one place, relying on tourism to sustain them by running camps like the one we stayed at or working at tourist sites such as Petra. They still tend sheep and maintain traditional lifestyles as much as possible, though.

After a dinner of chicken and potatoes made "hangi" style (or something like that, which means the food was placed on a grill which was then placed in a hole in the ground with coals over it), we sat around and talked under the stars while the Beduoin men sang traditional songs for us. As they sang, Zaid, the head of the camp, periodically "sang" by grunting rhythmically to the music. I think it started off as a traditional part of the song, but he seemed to really ham it up for our benefit. He also (jokingly) started calling Nora, one of the feistier women in our group, his wife, and kept telling Michael not to worry, that I was safe and that he (Zaid) would make sure no one tried to take me as their own wife. He did, in fact, have two wives and eight children between them...

That evening, we watched the sunset over the mountains and then went for a night hike with only the full moon and gazillion (at least) stars as our light source. Michael got some absolutely beautiful shots from that time.

Indiana Jones:

The next morning, we drove to Petra, one of the new seven wonders of the world and, perhaps even more exciting, the location of several scenes in Indian Jones and the Last Crusade. Walking among the ruins is quite unbelievable--the site is the ancient capital city of the Nabateians and was carved from solid rock. They hand carved gigantic columns, tombs, etc out of the beautiful multicolored sandstone so the "buildings" are literally coming out of the mountains behind them. After a guided 4 hour tour throughout the site, we went to dinner and then to a nearby hotel to watch Indiana Jones in the hotel lobby. About an hour into the movie, and just as they were getting to the Petra scenes....the power went out in the entire neighborhood. Crap. We walked back to our hotel in the dark and got ready for bed by candlelight. Just as well, I suppose, since we had an early morning the next day...

We woke at 6:30am to beat the sun and took donkies up to the top of one particular mountain into which was carved a huge monastary. As we enjoyed the view from the shade of a small cave, a little Beduoin girl literally climbed up through a hole in the rock nearby, sat next to us and started chatting away. We found out her name was Tama, she was 8 years old, and she lived nearby in the Beduoin camp with her family. She became entranced with Nora's digital camera and even took some pictures on her own, saying to us "1,2,3, cheeeeeese!". Tama was incredibly bright and very sweet. After she left, one of the women wondered aloud what Tama could have been and done in her life, had she been born into a different situation. We marveled at our own lives, how lucky we all are to have the choices and abilities we do, to get an education, travel, lead extremely comfortable lives. It's just another reason I love traveling--it forces me to put things into perspective and remember not to take my privileges for granted...

Dead Sea:
Last night and tonight we're staying in Madaba, about 2 hours from the Syrian border. It's a great little town and, true to form, everyone keeps smiling at us and saying "Welcome to Jordan!" On the way there, we stopped at several sites, the highlight being the 2 hours we spent at a resort on the Dead Sea. All the stuff you've ever seen or heard about the Dead Sea is true: the water is so salty that you can float with absolutely no effort at all, which is quite a weird feeling. The salt also pours into whatever open wounds you might have and burns the heck out of your eyes if you happen to be unlucky enough to get some there. But, once you get over that, it sure is a cool feeling to be in "normal" water that clearly isn't normal at all. We also all treated ourselves to a mud soak, baked ourselves in the sun, and then rinsed off to leave us with, supposedly, skin that was as smooth as a newborn. None of us really felt that different though...just dirty and funny looking. But it made for good pictures, and in the end that's what matters most, right?

So in the end, what do Lawrence, Indy and the Dead Sea have in common? Not much, except they all got a mention in our blog... :)

Today we took a day trip to Amman, the capital of Jordan, to walk around, get to know the city and do street photography....more to come!

Goodbye Cairo, hello paradise.

2008-06-18T02:21:00.014-07:00

We joined up with our Intrepid group on Sunday. This seems to be a really great group: everyone has a good attitude about things, has a good sense of humor, and interesting life details to discuss. There are two pairs of Aussies (a mother-son pair and a husband-wife pair who found out through casual conversation that they live in the same town and have a mutual friend), a woman from England, three other Americans (a father-daughter duo and another woman), a Kiwi (who currently lives in Australia but quickly corrects you if you make the mistake of calling her an Aussie!), a woman from Guatamala (ask me to share with you my Guatamala story someday) and our trip leader, Tadas, is from Lithuania.

We left Cairo late Sunday night for Nuweiba, a resort town on the Red Sea. We had to take an overnight bus that left at 10:15pm. It was, to say the least, uncomfortable. Babies crying, people talking loudly on their cell phones, veeeeery cramped seats, lights that wouldn't turn off, security check points every hour or so, and a bus driver who couldn't quite figure out where he was supposed to drop us off. At about 6am, the bus came to a stop in the middle of what seemed to be nowhere. "Sawa Camp," he said. That's us! That's us? Where are we?

We got off the bus, unloaded our packs and as we stood and faced the sea, a man walked up and said "Sawa Camp?" "Ok," we replied, and followed him down a long dirt path that led to a sandy beach dotted with bungalows with concrete floors and walls and roofs made of dried palm leaves. He took us to a bungalow right on the edge of the beach, about 20 feet from the waves; it had a "deck" that extended from the front complete with a hammock in the corner. As a soft breeze blew across the sand, the sun crested over the Saudi Arabian mountains across the water. Ahhh, paradise. We had arrived.

The next day and a half consisted of reading, sleeping, swimming, eating and more reading. In the evening the group gathered for dinner and then sat around drinking wine and beer, smoking a sheesha (a hooka) and getting to know each other better.

Some of us stayed up late into the night, and Michael took advantage of the evening to experiment with long exposure photography. The image on this post is a view of the sea and the camp owner's dog. Beautiful, no?

Yesterday we left around 1pm for the ferry that would take us to Jordan. It was supposed to leave at 2pm but it was late and we ended up leaving at...8pm. Whoa. Talk about fashionably late. Luckily everyone stayed in good spirits by reading, playing games and napping in the dingy crowded waiting station. I even taught Tadas how to play cribbage! At one point, Michael looked around and said, "Of the over 100 people in here, I think there are about 10 women, and 7 of them are in our group." Tadas thought that probably, since the ferry cost a considerable amount for an Egyptian (70 American Dollars), they were probably traveling to Jordan for temporary work and therefore, mostly men.

We arrived in Aquaba, Jordan, the only port to the Red Sea, yesterday evening around 10:30pm. Here in the Middle East, foreigners get the premium treatment--they let us board and disembark from the ferry first and gave us a comfortable bus ride to and from the waiting station and the ferry. And, true to form, a majority of the officials we came in contact with said "Welcome to Jordan" just like in Egypt. No, it's not exactly how we treat foreigners in the States, is it? Imagine if we were all so welcoming...it certainly makes a difference in one's perspective of the country.

In a few hours we'll head out for a ride through the Wadi Rum desert in a 4WD to see the landscape. We've been promised sand dunes and sites where Lawrence of Arabia presumably stayed. We've also been promised lots of heat. If the walk to this internet point is any indication, we're in for a broiler...

As I type this, the call to prayer has come over the loudspeakers that blare throughout each city five times a day, at 4:30am, 1:30pm, 4:30pm, 7:30pm and 9:30pm. It's a hauntingly beautiful sound that reminds Muslims of one of the five pillars of Islam, to pray every day 5 times to thank Allah (God) for their existence. It's really a cool thing to hear, not to mention that it's a special little reminder that we're not in Kansas anymore Toto.

Day 2 and 3 in Cairo

2008-06-13T14:39:00.008-07:00

The past few days have been filled with “wow, we're really here” moments. And lots of heat. It is VERY hot here, but we've been managing with sunscreen and big bottles of water. We're staying downtown, on one of the busiest streets in Cairo. And it is VERY busy. There are cars and people everywhere, especially as you get further into the evening. Cars are honking every 3 seconds, since honking is seen more as a polite “hello, I'm passing you” than a “hey, bucko, watch where you're going!” honk that we're used to in the U.S. People cross the street as they're able, without bothering with crosswalks since a) there aren't many and b) cars don't always observe the signs anyway. It's not always apparent that there are even lanes, but somehow they seem to make it work and we have yet to see an accident. There are SO many people out and about, walking the sidewalks with ice cream cones and shopping bags in their hands, window shopping, stopping to say hello to each other. Occasionally, a teenager will yell out “welcome to Cairo!” as we pass, to which we smile and say “shukrun (thank you)”.

Yesterday was spent touring the step pyramids at Sakara (the first pyramids ever) and the Pyramids of Giza (you know, THE pyramids). We hired a guide and private car through the hostel to take us around, which ended up being the best thing we could've done since neither of us knew too much about Egyptian history; we learned a lot from Wudi, our guide. The pyramids are gigantic, way bigger than Michael or I imagined they would be. One of the highlights of the pyramids was getting followed around by a man trying to get us to ride his camel, Charlie Brown. Charlie Brown was very cute, but according to Wudi, the strategy was to get us on the camel, ride us out into the desert and demand we give him a ton of money to get him to take us back to our car. Very sneaky, Charlie Brown. We'll pass on the ride.

Wudi also took us “off the agenda” to see a mustaba, a pre-pyramid tomb with multiple rooms all one level. We were driven into the middle of the desert, about two miles from the step pyramids, to the tomb. Although it was open to the public and technically a tourist spot, there was no one there except an old egyptian man who oversaw the area; Wudi says most people don't know about it. He led us into the first rooms of the tomb, sort of like a “tomb foyer”, which were filled with heiroglyphics and depictions of various scenes on all the walls. It was absolutely breathtaking and felt almost as if we shouldn't be there—this stuff belonged in a museum and we could just go up and touch it! Wudi explained to us the various scenes and depictions as we oooed and ahhhed over everything. There was something very magical about those rooms—they felt alive and real, as opposed to the heiroglyphics and statues and carvings you see behind glass in a museum. It really helped me fee connected to human history in a way I hadn't felt before.

Later that day, we went to a papyrus paper “factory”, which, if anything, was a factory for getting people to hand over their money. Apparently it worked, because after they showed us how papyrus paper is made, we bought two drawings from them. Very sneaky, papyrus man.

Today, we slept in (oh, so nice) and then headed to the Eygptian Museum to see the treasures of Tutankhamen. Unbelievable. I haven't seen so much gold in my life—and the most intricate beadwork and inlays of semi-precious stones imaginable. King Tut's body had been mummified, covered with the famous headpiece we all know as well as layers upon layers of gold and beaded jewelry, put inside a gold coffin which went inside another coffin which was inside of a wooden coffin. The coffin was then put in a big box covered in gold, which was placed inside another gold box which was place in yet another gold box. Talk about being treated like royalty.

Tomorrow we'll try to get to old Cairo, or Copptic Cairo as it's also called. Then we'll meet up with our Intrepid group and head to Mt. Sinai. More to come!!!

We're finally here (Milan/Cairo)

2008-06-11T08:43:00.007-07:00

Who knew getting out of the midwest could be so difficult?? It all started out so well--we grabbed our 5am bus no problem, got to Ohare with time to spare...we were even being nice to each other despite the only 2 hours of sleep we had gotten the night before! Our itinerary looked something like this: depart Ohare, grab a connection flight in JFK airport in New York City, fly to Milan, arrive 8:30am June 9th. We were all set to go, very excited. We boarded the plane.As we sat down, it began to rain. "Will this delay us at all?" Michael asked a flight attendant. "I doubt it," she replied. "It doesn't look bad at all." Everyone took their seats and the plane taxied onto the runway...
But the weather ended up being bad. So bad that we sat on the runway for 4 hours as the wind shook the plane and drove the rain sideways past our windows. So bad that they canceled our fight. So bad that they canceled lots of other flights, too, and thousands of people were delayed at Ohare. We ended up standing in long lines and talking to countless airline representatives at Ohare for about 12 hours, trying to get rerouted. In the end, we had to stay in Chicago for the night and catch the 3pm flight the next day...

So we lost one day in Milan, but when you're traveling for 45 days, one day doesn't feel so bad...and we were just thankful to get out of the States! Who knew that we would start our day at 3:30am, be on a bus for 3 hours and a plane for 4, and only make it as far as Chicago?

Anyway, Milan. Oh, Milan how we love thee! It was wonderful to be able to walk around our old neighborhood (we lived there together in 2003), take in the familiar smells, sounds and sights, and just be back in a place that holds so many memories for us. Oh, and of course we were excited for the food! After we threw down our bags at the hotel, the first place we headed was Pizza OK, our favorite pizzeria. Don't let the name fool you, this place is way more than OK. It's heavenly. The pizzas look huge, and they are, but most people can eat one in a sitting, since the crust is paper thin and it just tastes so darn good. As you can tell in this picture, we are more than happy to be there.

After a full stomach, we did as the Italians do and strolled. Strolled for about 5 hours around the city. And of course we stopped for gelato. Nicciola (hazelnut) and pistachio...delicious. If you've never eaten gelato in Italy, it's worth the cost of a plane ticket to do it here--there's something about the gelato that American gelaterias never can quite capture.

As a part of the day, we stopped at the Duomo in the city center, a gigantic church dating back to the early 14th century. It's one of my favorite churches in Italy and hopefully these pictures will give you a sense of why:

And of course, after a long hard day, we went to Spontini, Michael's favorite pizzeria. They offer two choices, normal and big, and the place is always packed. So packed, in fact, that as soon as they clear your plates, a waiter comes up to you and says something like "Hey, ragazzi, did you like your meal? Great!...now get out." Everyone gets kicked out like that, without fail, if they sit too long. And it's always our favorite part of the meal. :)

This morning, we repacked our bags and boarded another bus, yet again, to take us back to the Milan airport to board a plane, yet again, to take us to Cairo, from where I write this. We honestly haven't done much yet, since, yet again, neither of got much sleep last night and needed a long nap after we arrived at our hostel.

So far, though, I can tell you that people here are friendly and hospitable. Almost too friendy, as we experienced the gazillion people asking us if we needed a taxi or some assistance as we waited for our hostel driver to pick us up...but that's more about us sticking out like sore thumbs and people wanting to make money off the tourist industry...

So now we're relaxing at the hostel (King Tut Hostel, which is, so far, excellent as far as hostels go). We'll take it easy tonight, settling for a venture outside to a falafel stand and an early night in bed. Tomorrow we leave at 9am to view the pyramids (which we saw from our plane and are oh my gosh amazing to see! I kept squealing "oh my gosh, the pyramids! It's really the pyramids!" as I looked out the window.) We're even hiring an english speaking egyptiantologist (or something like that) who can give us the full history of the area. Awesome. We'll have pictures soon, for sure.

And now I'm going to rouse Michael from his deep sleep and grab a bite to eat. Ma'as salaama!

The adventure begins...

2008-06-07T13:39:00.003-07:00

Tomorrow morning at 5am (yes, I said 5am) we'll board a bus that will take us to Chicago to board a plane that will take us across the Atlantic Ocean to start our trip of a lifetime. Michael and I will be traveling in the Eastern Mediterranean, Middle East and the Balkans for the next six weeks. "What's your itinerary?" you ask. "Well," I say, taking a deep breath, "Italy, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria, Ukraine and back to Italy. Oh, and you can click here to see a more detailed itinerary." Yeah, six weeks. :) And you can just imagine how many pictures that translates to. Let's just put it this way--when we spent 3 weeks in Thailand, we took over 2000 images between the two of us. So that means....over 4000?? Whoa.

During the trip, we're gonna do our darndest to keep y'all updated and share some of our photos with you. So check in periodically or, even better, subscribe to this blog (scroll to the bottom of this page and click on "subscribe to posts") so you'll know IMMEDIATELY when we've hit the "publish post" button. That way you don't have to sit in front of your computer all day every day hitting refresh every 30 seconds (Mom, I'm talking to you.) :)

So with that, I'm off to pack my bag, charge our camera batteries and update the music on my iPod. Ciao!!

Erin & Erin

2008-06-06T12:27:00.006-07:00

They're married! And we've got gorgeous pictures to prove it! :) Erin's laughter was infectious--and it seemed she was always laughing! And Eric was always at the ready with a funny comment (or two!). Something tells me there will be a lot of laughter in their new life together...

Thanks to the two of you for allowing Michael and I to document your day. We had a great time.

Kathleen and Mike

2008-04-16T20:57:00.008-07:00

This past Sunday I did an engagement session with Kathleen and Mike. The two of them were hilarious to work with--I was laughing pretty much the whole two hours! I love working with these two: they're easy going, fun, creative and willing to do pretty much anything! And they clearly fit well together. I'm so excited to shoot their wedding in October!

Don't forget to check out the slideshow below!

This is what happens in the wedding off-season...

2008-03-27T18:21:00.003-07:00

Michael and I got a little punchy when we discovered the photo booth application on my mom's iMac while visiting the family for Easter...and we got even punchier when we discovered the "fun mirror" setting. Ladies and gentlemen, meet your Vantage photographers.

We consider ourselves *professionals* in the strictest sense of the word. Ha ha.

Has spring sprung?

2008-03-15T17:14:00.002-07:00

I think spring might be upon us! Today I took Chloe (our lovable beagle puppy) for a walk and I survived with a light jacket and no mittens. Now, being a Wisconsin girl born and bred, I'm not holding my breath. Anyone worth their salt in Wisconsin knows that March is anything but predictable. But, it's been over 40 degrees three days this week and the snow is almost gone from the ground. And the sun has been out, which means Chloe has been in heaven. She loves curling up on the couch in the sunlight, falling into a deep sleep and snoring away. Yes, she's a "snorer". She sounds almost human! Hmmm, you know, a nap sounds like a pretty good idea right now... :)

Favorite 2007 Image

2008-02-27T20:57:00.005-08:00

This morning, as I was perusing the posts of an online professional photographer forum, I came across the thread "what's your favorite image from 2007?". So I got to thinking....and going through all the Vantage photos from the year...wow, it was tough. But I came up with my favorite.

Why this one in particular? Well, I love the juxtaposition of a beautiful, done-up bride and a street scene, particularly the young boys she's passing. The image places their lives in context and speaks to life's stages--adolescence and joining in partnership with another person, all happening at the same time for different people. And I chose it because 2007 marked the year that I tried really really hard to create more images that didn't just capture great moments, but told a story through the image. In essence, to be a true wedding photojournalist.

Snow snow and more snow...

2008-02-16T09:21:00.002-08:00

Who knew one winter could produce SO much snow?!?! A couple days ago, Mother Nature broke her own record for most snow in one winter in Wisconsin. Old record: 76.1 inches in 1978-1979. I think we've broken it already by a few inches and, guess what? More is on the way tonight and tomorrow: 5-7 inches of it! Anyone up for making snow angels with me?? :)

Business cards and a winter wedding...

2008-02-03T21:04:00.001-08:00

With our new look for our websites, OF COURSE I needed to design new business cards, too! Ok, we probably could have used the cards we already have....but any excuse is a good excuse for me to play graphic designer... Here's a sneak peak of the cards from our commercial site for Vantage:

On a wedding note, Michael and I had a WONDERFUL weekend: we attended the wedding of Michael's college roommate, Bridgette, to her husband Kevin in Milwaukee, WI. It was a really beautiful and emotional ceremony and a fun reception at the Performing Arts Center. Bridgette was glowing! It was also so great to be able to hang out with some old friends for the evening and catch up. And since we were guests, we got to kick back and dance the night away. I love dancing with Michael--we end up being such goofballs on the dance floor and we always have a blast! Sorry, no pics...Michael would never forgive me! :)

I love slideshows!

2008-01-17T14:06:00.001-08:00

As one of Vantage's first purchases for 2008, we invested in some really cool new software that allows us to put up beautiful slideshows up on the web. Of course I immediately got addicted to playing around with it--I love this stuff! So of course, I just had to create a slideshow of Ann Marie and Jared's engagement shoot we did back in October--we created some really beautiful images that day.

I love this program, because it really breathes life into the photos and increases their emotional impact. And it's a fabulous way to share your images with family and friends--just by sending a web link. We're going to now be offering an online slideshow with our 2008 wedding packages, so everyone can get in on the fun! Check it out:

Adblock

We've got a new look!

2008-01-10T21:13:00.000-08:00

Hallo everyone! I'm really really excited to be writing this post....because our updated websites are finally live! Once again, we got to work with the fabulous Jon Wohl from Alchemydia Designs (thank you Jon!) to give our websites a look that's more in line with our work and style. So, I present to you the NEW www.weddingsbyvantage.com and www.vantagephotography.com.

As you can see, we've got a range of things we work on with our primary focus being on weddings. I love this set-up, because it allows us to keep "fresh", which only benefits our wedding work. Some folks say that to be really good, you should only focus on one. But I think that the breadth of our work helps us be really really good at weddings. I mean, there's not really any other event where you have to be really good at photojournalism, portraits, food photography and location photography, is there??

So anyway, have at it, and enjoy. I'm really really proud of these "new" sites. Yay for websites! :)

Happy New Year!

2007-12-30T15:08:00.000-08:00

It's the eve of New Year's eve! We hope you're able to celebrate with friends and loved ones--Michael and I will be spending our first New Years as husband and wife dancing up a storm in downtown Madison. We may not be the best dancers, but we have a ton of fun. Some of you know that already, though right? (After we put down our cameras at a wedding, it's not unusual for us to join everyone on the dance floor for a song or two!)

We're really excited about this upcoming year for a variety of reasons. As you might already know, Vantage has been a side gig for both of us for several years now. But I've been doing so well and enjoying it so much that I'll be taking the business full time at the end of Summer 2008. Michael will continue to work on Vantage, but he'll be more of a "behind the scenes" guy, working on things like business development, accounting and marketing. But we're both pretty sure that he won't be able to fully shake his photography addiction, so you'll probably see him at weddings and shoots now and again. :)

Another exciting thing for this year is that we've fully revamped our packages and added some cool new options, including gallery canvas wrapped prints, custom guest books and thank you card inserts. Check out the website for more information. Also, as of 2008, we'll be offering CDs of the high resolution images in each of our clients' packages. You'll still get a credit towards prints, too. Pretty cool, huh?

Once again, happy new year to all of you! We hope that your new year is even better than the last!

WPJA Contest Winner

2007-12-11T19:50:00.001-08:00

Four times a year, the Wedding Photojournalist Association (WPJA) puts on a contest for WPJA members. This quarter, the contest was being judged by some pretty big names, including several photographers from the famous VII photo agency. And hurrah, one of my photos placed in the top ten of the "details" category! This is a huge honor for me, seeing as I am regularly amazed and inspired by the other photographers' images on WPJA. And many thanks to Robbin and Jeff, since it was at their wedding that I took this photo! :)

To see more contest winners, go to the WPJA website: www.wpja.com

Doggie Heaven

2007-12-04T19:40:00.000-08:00

As our wedding season winds down, I got to spice things up a bit with two very energetic and impossibly adorable models: meet Casey and Stanley! These lovable pooches were the stars of their very own shoot (complete with their owners, Sara and Kerri) one fall afternoon. We gathered at one of my favorite dog parks in Madison and spent an hour shooting away. Stanley and Casey weren't exactly willing to pay attention to "tilt your head this way, put your paw a little to the left" but they were more than willing to beg for treats and play ball. I had a blast!!

E-Session: Ann Marie and Jared

2007-10-28T19:57:00.001-07:00

What a perfect day for an engagement shoot! Ann Marie, Jared and I met at a beautiful park in Lake Mills and we spent the crisp fall afternoon creating beautiful portraits. I had so much fun working with them. They're a photographer's dream: fun, photogenic and in love. I can't wait to shoot their wedding!!

Thanks you two for a really fun afternoon! Enjoy your sneak peek!

Jill & Brandon

2007-10-27T10:15:00.000-07:00

We shot Jill and Brandon's wedding three weeks ago (yes, we're behind on our blog, we know...) in beautiful Madison, WI. They were a really fun couple to work with--and Michael and I got the added bonus of being able to hang out with my cousin Barb, too, since she was *in* the wedding! Thanks for a wonderful day!

Our recent weddings

2007-10-18T19:08:00.000-07:00

Hi all! Vantage has been busy busy busy in the past few weeks, either shooting weddings or actual guests at weddings (congrats Dana and Joe!). The last week in September, we shot two weddings:

We had a lot of fun with Diane and Tom--their happiness was contagious! Diane's son was recently called up to Iraq and even though he couldn't physically be present in her wedding, they saved a place for him...The "guy" on the right is a life-sized cutout of Diane's son! :) Congrats to the two of you!

The next day, we shot the wedding of Robbin and Jeff. What a beautiful and heartfelt ceremony--I don't think there was a dry eye in the house....and Robbin and Jeff are such a special couple. We really appreciated being able to share their day with them.

WE GOT HITCHED!!!

2007-09-18T20:28:00.001-07:00

Yes, it's true! We're officially husband and wife!!

Michael and I tied the knot last Saturday, September 8th. It was a perfect day and will be a tough one to beat. We couldn't have asked for better weather for our outdoor Wisconsin wedding (it's always a gamble!) or more supportive and downright fun wedding guests surrounding us on the day. Absolutely perfect. And wow, do we have a better understanding of what our clients are going through now!!

Marc Williams and Ed Bennett flew in from Michigan to do the photography for our wedding. They were wonderful to work with and we cannot wait to see all the photos. Marc sent us a sneak preview (thank you Marc!!) which I've added to this blog for all of you, too! If these two photos are any indication, we're going to have a tough time narrowing down our choices for the album!! :)

Jena's been accepted...

2007-09-04T07:48:00.000-07:00

To the Wedding Photojournalist Association! This is really very exciting for Vantage. In their own words from their website, "Leading the way in Wedding Photojournalism, WPJA represents the most discriminating talent around the world technically, creatively and visually. Qualified members hold industry-leading standards, skills and business integrity." Yeah!!! That's us!!! :)

I'm really honored to be a part of the group--I have a lot of respect for the folks that are a part of it, and look forward to learning a lot and contributing a lot.

Photoshop Love

2007-07-08T14:00:00.000-07:00

In mid-June, I shot the promo pics of a local Madison band, Sound Byte Society. They had asked me to play around with the images in photoshop and here's what I came up with:

Greeny

Creamy Love

Eerie

Old Blue

Used sparingly, these effects would look great in a modern, hip album. I can't wait to find a bride that wants to try some of this! I had so much fun creating these looks!

Jeremy and Kristi (June 16th, 2007)

2007-06-26T19:37:00.000-07:00

What a joyful day! Kristi and Jeremy were married on the 16th of June in the courtyard of Old World Wisconsin and although the weather was hot and sticky, everyone had a wonderful time, thanks in large part to the gracious and fun attitudes of this beautiful couple. Our friend Stacy Hareid, a very talented photographer, stepped in as a second shooter for Vantage (Michael's still in San Diego). Stacey was a BLAST to work with!

Check out some of my favorite images of the day:

Robin and Travis (May 5th, 2007)

2007-06-01T19:45:00.000-07:00

We're back and finally able to post some of our favorite images from Robin and Travis' wedding. Aren't they just the most beautiful couple?! And so amazingly fun to work with, as you can see from these images.

We really did have a wonderful time working with the Robin and Travis and their families. We all just clicked from the beginning; it was like making a good friend in the course of a day! Good luck to both of you from the both of us at Vantage!

California, here we come!

2007-05-20T18:02:00.000-07:00

Hey all! As I type this, I'm sitting in a cute little coffee shop in the middle of Utah near Arches National Park. Michael and I are taking two weeks to drive across the country to take Michael to his internship in San Diego. And yes, life is great right now. We've been shooting photos like mad and trying our hand at landscape photography has been a blast.

We did finish Robin and Travis' wedding from May 5th and I'll post some images as soon as I get back to Madison. Robin and Travis were FABULOUS to work with and their wedding was absolutely beautiful. A storybook wedding in a beautiful Americana town in the middle of Illinois. Pictures coming soon....

Until then, Vantage is on hold and we're driving driving driving...and having a blast. See y'all soon!

More model shoots!

2007-05-02T07:36:00.000-07:00

In the past two weeks, Michael and I have had the privilege to work with 3 different models on 3 different studio shoots. And I got to develop my first set of Medium Format negatives! Here's one of my favorites of Meagan (taken by Michael):

We're still working on the post-processing of those shoots to be able to show you more. Michael's hard at work at school (end of year rush) so it's going a little slower than usual. But that's good, right? It builds up the suspense. ;)

We'll be shooting a wedding this Saturday for Travis and Robin. We are psyched beyond belief--they are a fabulous couple, both laid back, beautiful personalities and beautiful faces, clearly in love. Can't wait to show some pics from that!

Weekend shoot

2007-04-23T07:31:00.000-07:00

Check out the image below from the shoot we did this weekend with Terri Rae. This was taken with the medium format camera. Isn't it amazing what can still be created from an ancient (1970s) camera and film developed in your basement?!

This was great practice, especially for any studio engagement shoots we do. We'll upload a couple more from our DSLRs as we finish them...

2007-04-19T17:06:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile! Michael and I have been really busy the past week and a half--it seems like we're doing a gazillion things at once. But of course we wouldn't have it any other way.

Some of the stuff we're working on:

In addition to working on the weddings we're shooting for Vantage, we've also been busily scheduling a bunch of model shoots for the next few weekends. We're excited to use these shoots to further develop our technical studio skills; the idea is that it'll translate to even better posed work at our engagement sessions and weddings. I'll post some photos soon.

And of course we've been working on our own wedding plans. Whew--it certainly is a lot of work, isn't it?? Brides and grooms out there, we empathize with you!

Michael and I have also been preparing for the end of May when, as some of you already know, Michael will be moving to San Diego for 12 weeks. Michael is currently in the MBA program here at Madison and he'll be working out at Intuit (think TurboTax, Quickbooks, etc) in Cali for his internship. We'll miss each other terribly, of course, but we're also super psyched to be taking a road trip from WI to CA right before he starts work. Grand Canyon, here we come! While Michael's gone, we'll have a couple of women from the area acting as second shooters at the weddings we've scheduled. These women are fabulous--talented, creative, fun. We love 'em.

And last but certainly not least, we spent all of last weekend enjoying the annual WI Film Festival. This was our fifth year of attendance and every year we count down the days until it starts each year. Some people have Christmas...we've got the film festival. :) We both went to 8 films together, and Michael took in a 9th for posterity's sake. Needless to say, we ate a lot of popcorn over those 3 days!

Our new toy

2007-04-08T19:45:00.000-07:00

Recently, Michael bought a Yashica D medium format camera. This thing is great, a real workhorse. Michael's been playing a lot with it, exploring Madison and the surrounding area to find things to photograph. He's found a lot of cool old barns and farmhouses. Here's one of my favorites of his:

He took me on one of his trips and I got to play a bit with the camera. It's fun to notice how my mind has to change the way it thinks when a) I'm using film instead of digital b) I have to "see" in black and white instead of color and c) I have to remember that the Yashica flips the image so when I move the camera to the right, the image moves to the left. Here's one of my photos from that adventure:

I'm sure when the weather gets a little warmer (it's still only in the 30s during the day here in frigid Wisconsin!) we'll go on more expeditions. We'll keep you posted!

Katie and Rob (March 3rd, 2007)

2007-04-06T18:12:00.000-07:00

The photos below are from the wedding we shot most recently. It was actually the wedding of a very good friend of mine, Katie, who was marrying another good friend of mine, Rob. And it was so clear on that day that they were "meant to be". I'm so excited and honored that they choose us to document their day! Isn't Katie a beautiful bride?? Not that I'm biased or anything... ;) Many thanks to them and their families for a beautiful and fun day.

Our first post!

2007-04-05T10:42:00.000-07:00

Michael and I are really excited to be starting this blog. It's our hope that through it, you can get a better sense of the people behind Vantage Photography. It will also be a fun way for you to stay up to date on all the new things happening at Vantage...and it'll probably be pretty fun for us, too. ;)

Our first bit of exciting news is that we have a new website! www.weddingsbyvantage.com We're really proud of this new site. Jon over at Alchemydia Design in Madison developed it from start to finish and he was absolutely great to work with. We would definitely recommend him to anyone looking for a web designer. So go check out the new site--we think you'll like it!