I just learned that I can create embeddable slideshows from Zenfolio, one of my online photo gallery services. (Zenfolio is awesome, by the way) I wanted to test it out so I embedded the Austin pix as a slideshow for the blog.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Keepin it wierd this week in Austin
* First of all I must note that I KNOW there were hardly any Alaska photos posted on here so far. That is because there are just SO many of them to go through, sort and edit. Since life has been splendidly busy these days, I haven't spend as much time on them up until now. Hopefully that'll change this week and more Alaska goodness will show up here *
OK...
Austin, Texas. What a cool town. I spent the last week there for the HOW Design Conference, which was totally great. I know that I post a lot of photos up here, but I AM a graphic designer 9-5 and wanted to really experience this kind of learning. I didn't go to school for design, and at work, I am the ONLY designer there, so I really valued the experience of getting to listen to those speakers and, more importantly I realized, spend time with other designers. This was a total first for me and if I had to pick the greatest thing I took away from this conference, that would be it. I also saw a lot of inspirational work and picked up a lot of cool and inspiring freebies at the expo.
But back to Austin.... and yes, the PHOTOS! The theme in this city is "Keep Austin Wierd." I didn't get it at first, but now I do. It's such a colorful town, both literally and figuratively. There is, of course, 6th street, which is lined with some crazy bars, taco joints and tattoo parlors and full to the brim with live music. And then there is the Congress Street Bridge, under which lives the largest urban bat colony in North America. Every night at sundown, 1.5 million bats fly out in stream-like fashion, off to feed and do whatever else it is that bats do in the middle of the night. I went out there twice to watch this phenomenon - once from the shore and once from a boat. Totally awesome to see! The South Congress St. area, better known as SoCo, has to take the cake though for originality. The food joints and funky stores with their awesome signage was great - I wish I had more time to spend there. I did take a bunch of photos - many of the signs - that I posted up on a gallery site, so if you want a taste of Austin, check it out here: http://karennace.zenfolio.com/austin09
Friday, June 12, 2009
An amazing day in Juneau
I know I'm getting backed up on the blog posts. Basically, that's because I'm in Alaska and there are too many other great things to do! But I did get to some of the Juneau images.
There are so many things to say about the day in Juneau, but neither words nor photos can really do it justice. The first part of the day I did a photo safari tour by land and sea. I saw humpback whales jumping out of the water right in front of my boat! Saw eagles, seals and incredible scenery. The whales totally gave me goosebumps - I cant even describe what it was like - overwhelming.
And as if that wasn't enough for the day, later I took a helicopter that landed on a glacier and I got to get out and walk around on it!
I only got to some of the photos, but heres a sample from the day. More to come...
Monday, June 8, 2009
Ketchikan & Misty Fjords
Today was incredible. The ship pulled into Ketchikan around 5:30 am this morning and I was already out on deck. All the little colored houses among the hills welcomed us into this totally charming town. Today’s excursion was the Misty Fjords Wilderness Explorer, which was a boat ride through the fjords. A fjord is basically a path cut out by a glacier then filled with water. The snow-capped surrounding mountains, waterfalls and greenage all made the trip amazing.
And I was soooo lucky to encounter some wildlife as well - we saw killer whales, seals, and bald eagles! I was constantly changing lenses (which was a bit of a pain, but oh well - I wanted the shots!) and whenever there was a sighting, everyone would get excited and they would slow down the boat so everyone could see.
On the way back they served hot soup and crackers topped with fresh smoked salmon - perfect!
After returning to Ketchikan, I had a bit of time to walk around town, but wish we had stayed longer! Tomorrow is Juneau though, and will be there from early morning until 9 at night. For now, some photos from Ketchikan...
Bon Voyage! Hello, Alaska!
Alaska, here I come! Finally! I’ve been wanting to do this trip for so long and now, here I am, sailing up the coast of Canada, halfway between Vancouver and Ketchikan, Alaska.
I left Jersey on Friday morning, for a long day of travel - I had a layover in Dallas before flying to Vancouver so I literally made a giant V across the country. Second flight was delayed, so by the time I got to Vancouver, we were the last plane in and I was the very LAST person to go through customs that night. Of course the shuttle system was down, and a cab would have cost a fortune, so I made like a local and got on the city buses with my 100 lb of baggage. So not too long after I arrived at the INCREDIBLE Pan Pacific hotel, which also happens to be right on the pier where the ships leave.
Saturday morning I woke up early and met up with Judy, my travel companion, who had arrived a day earlier. Funny story. I never met Judy before. She works with my mom and, like me, is single and loves to travel. So I have heard a lot about her, and she has heard a lot about me (and knew I wanted to go to Alaska). When she told my mom she was planning another trip and asked if I still wanted to go, I was booked about 10 minutes after my mom first called me! So we had some phone chats before the trip but really just met that morning. Went to have breakfast and take a walk through the very popular Gastown, in downtown Vancouver, where the biggest attraction is the old steam clock, mounted on a steam vent. The town was also buzzing with Olympic fever, as Vancouver is hosting next year’s games. I immediately fell in love with Quatchi, the adorable sasquatch mascot for the games. (and since I fall in love with every oddball character I find, I bought lots of stuff featuring Quatchi)
We walked the waterfront in Vancouver for a while, watched the seaplanes land and take off, then finally retrieved our luggage and headed for the ship. The Diamond Princess is absolutely beautiful, elegant and classy. And the passengers are an incredible international mix. So far, we have sat down and chatted with a lot of people, and we haven’t come up with the same nationality twice. There is an equal mix of people from all over the world, and I LOVE it!
So far it has been a lot of on-ship activities since we are still en route to the Alaska goodness. Tomorrow starts Ketchikan, where I am doing the Misty Fjords catamaran excursion.
So here are some photos taken up until now.... More to come!
Above is the steam clock in Gastown, Vancouver.
Bear sighting already! Bet this is one of the only bears shot with a wide angle! :-P
Quatchi, the mascot for the 2010 Olympic Games, which Vancouver is hosting.
Some seaplanes docked in Vancouver. near the Pan Pacific and cruise ports.
A view of the Pan Pacific Hotel and Vancouver skyline, taken from the Diamond Princess, just a few minutes after we set sail from Vancouver.
I left Jersey on Friday morning, for a long day of travel - I had a layover in Dallas before flying to Vancouver so I literally made a giant V across the country. Second flight was delayed, so by the time I got to Vancouver, we were the last plane in and I was the very LAST person to go through customs that night. Of course the shuttle system was down, and a cab would have cost a fortune, so I made like a local and got on the city buses with my 100 lb of baggage. So not too long after I arrived at the INCREDIBLE Pan Pacific hotel, which also happens to be right on the pier where the ships leave.
Saturday morning I woke up early and met up with Judy, my travel companion, who had arrived a day earlier. Funny story. I never met Judy before. She works with my mom and, like me, is single and loves to travel. So I have heard a lot about her, and she has heard a lot about me (and knew I wanted to go to Alaska). When she told my mom she was planning another trip and asked if I still wanted to go, I was booked about 10 minutes after my mom first called me! So we had some phone chats before the trip but really just met that morning. Went to have breakfast and take a walk through the very popular Gastown, in downtown Vancouver, where the biggest attraction is the old steam clock, mounted on a steam vent. The town was also buzzing with Olympic fever, as Vancouver is hosting next year’s games. I immediately fell in love with Quatchi, the adorable sasquatch mascot for the games. (and since I fall in love with every oddball character I find, I bought lots of stuff featuring Quatchi)
We walked the waterfront in Vancouver for a while, watched the seaplanes land and take off, then finally retrieved our luggage and headed for the ship. The Diamond Princess is absolutely beautiful, elegant and classy. And the passengers are an incredible international mix. So far, we have sat down and chatted with a lot of people, and we haven’t come up with the same nationality twice. There is an equal mix of people from all over the world, and I LOVE it!
So far it has been a lot of on-ship activities since we are still en route to the Alaska goodness. Tomorrow starts Ketchikan, where I am doing the Misty Fjords catamaran excursion.
So here are some photos taken up until now.... More to come!
Above is the steam clock in Gastown, Vancouver.
Bear sighting already! Bet this is one of the only bears shot with a wide angle! :-P
Quatchi, the mascot for the 2010 Olympic Games, which Vancouver is hosting.
Some seaplanes docked in Vancouver. near the Pan Pacific and cruise ports.
A view of the Pan Pacific Hotel and Vancouver skyline, taken from the Diamond Princess, just a few minutes after we set sail from Vancouver.Oklahoma Wedding
As I write this I’m sitting in O’Hare waiting for my last connecting flight to Philly, and reflecting on the weekend. Our great friend Lindsay got married on Saturday, in an unconventional fashion, to say the least.
Have you ever heard of Okemah?...Neither have we. In fact neither have most people. Okemah is a tiny, one-traffic light town about 90 minutes outside of Oklahoma City, and you guessed it, the site of the wedding.
After Lindsay told us this was going to be your traditional redneck wedding, we weren’t sure what to expect! We were told the “building” was a lone train car converted into a mini cabin and the directions involved mostly dirt roads.
Well as it turns out, as unconventional as it was, a great time was had by all, and I got some great shots to go with it! Lindsay was beautiful, the weather was great and the whole experience was just so different!
So congratulations to Lindsay, and here are some photos from the weekend.
Have you ever heard of Okemah?...Neither have we. In fact neither have most people. Okemah is a tiny, one-traffic light town about 90 minutes outside of Oklahoma City, and you guessed it, the site of the wedding.
After Lindsay told us this was going to be your traditional redneck wedding, we weren’t sure what to expect! We were told the “building” was a lone train car converted into a mini cabin and the directions involved mostly dirt roads.
Well as it turns out, as unconventional as it was, a great time was had by all, and I got some great shots to go with it! Lindsay was beautiful, the weather was great and the whole experience was just so different!
So congratulations to Lindsay, and here are some photos from the weekend.
Saturday, May 30, 2009
End of Blogging Hiatus (it’s been busy though!)
First of all, I apologize for that weeks-long blogging hiatus. It’s been a while, I know, and I don’t intend on letting that happen again. The blogging thing is good for me - it pushes me to create more, and reflect more on what I’m doing. A lot of the time I learn things about myself and my photography/design/etc. AS im writing in here. So “The Pixel Diaries” is a good title I suppose. Because that’s what this is pretty much. A diary.
Anyway, the lack of blogging by no means reflected a lack in projects, photos, and other new stuff. So here’s a little rundown on what I’ve been up to.
As the weather finally started to get warmer, I shot my first outdoor “kiddie shoot” of the year, which was a lot of fun, and as always with kids, really challenging. Four little kids at once, the youngest 6 mo. old. The whole thing definitely reinforced my idea that it’s good to bring props, because the giant sunflowers I brought ended up really adding to the photos, and the girls loved them. We went to a park, so the sun was tricky, but all in all I think the results were nice:
And of course with the arrival of spring, came prom season. For joy! Having a teen brother results in a lot of photo requests, which is fun. Prom-goers love showing off their black tie attire and are dyin’ to be in front of a camera:
I also just got my first taste at being a wedding shooter. I kind of have mixed feelings about it. It’s a ton of pressure, and can be real high speed at times, as far as trying to catch everything that’s happening. I’m not completely comfortable with using a speedlight in that kind of rapid fire way. I’m cool If I can create a setup, work it til it’s perfect, then bring in the subject(s). In a wedding, you have to be changing the settings constantly, and quickly. It definitely taught me that I need to put myself through speedlight bootcamp though. And I like experiences like that. I screwed up a lot, which it totally ok because I did end up with good shots, but it told me where I need to work. What I did love about it is the high level of emotional energy going on. I mean, It’s a wedding!
So even though it was tough, I’m not one to rule something out after just one experience with it. In fact, I just landed in Oklahoma to shoot a friend’s outdoor [less conventional] wedding. (Totally more on this later)
The other thing Ive been working on is a book project. A big one. For over 30 years, my Uncle Bob has been researching our family history, tracing the name back centuries (he even has some ancestors dating back to the 1600s. Pretty incredible! Well, he has been compiling all of this information, and learning the story of how we ended up where we are today. There are old scanned documents, photos, family trees, wills, etc. I am basically taking all of this information and creating a book with it, in story format (this is how it all began...). More updates later on how this is progressing.
So yes, despite the lack of blogs I have been busy, not to mention spending a week in Chicago work work, and have now just arrived in Oklahoma.
More soon....
Anyway, the lack of blogging by no means reflected a lack in projects, photos, and other new stuff. So here’s a little rundown on what I’ve been up to.
As the weather finally started to get warmer, I shot my first outdoor “kiddie shoot” of the year, which was a lot of fun, and as always with kids, really challenging. Four little kids at once, the youngest 6 mo. old. The whole thing definitely reinforced my idea that it’s good to bring props, because the giant sunflowers I brought ended up really adding to the photos, and the girls loved them. We went to a park, so the sun was tricky, but all in all I think the results were nice:
And of course with the arrival of spring, came prom season. For joy! Having a teen brother results in a lot of photo requests, which is fun. Prom-goers love showing off their black tie attire and are dyin’ to be in front of a camera:
I also just got my first taste at being a wedding shooter. I kind of have mixed feelings about it. It’s a ton of pressure, and can be real high speed at times, as far as trying to catch everything that’s happening. I’m not completely comfortable with using a speedlight in that kind of rapid fire way. I’m cool If I can create a setup, work it til it’s perfect, then bring in the subject(s). In a wedding, you have to be changing the settings constantly, and quickly. It definitely taught me that I need to put myself through speedlight bootcamp though. And I like experiences like that. I screwed up a lot, which it totally ok because I did end up with good shots, but it told me where I need to work. What I did love about it is the high level of emotional energy going on. I mean, It’s a wedding!
So even though it was tough, I’m not one to rule something out after just one experience with it. In fact, I just landed in Oklahoma to shoot a friend’s outdoor [less conventional] wedding. (Totally more on this later)
The other thing Ive been working on is a book project. A big one. For over 30 years, my Uncle Bob has been researching our family history, tracing the name back centuries (he even has some ancestors dating back to the 1600s. Pretty incredible! Well, he has been compiling all of this information, and learning the story of how we ended up where we are today. There are old scanned documents, photos, family trees, wills, etc. I am basically taking all of this information and creating a book with it, in story format (this is how it all began...). More updates later on how this is progressing.
So yes, despite the lack of blogs I have been busy, not to mention spending a week in Chicago work work, and have now just arrived in Oklahoma.
More soon....
Sunday, April 19, 2009
PhillyMINI Lancastrian Rally
Here is a fun slideshow of images from Saturday's incredible Mini rally. Beautiful route, beautiful weather, and a slew of Minis! What could be better!?!?
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Yoouuuu my . . . Brown eye'd girl
It's not every day you find people who absolutely click with the camera. With kids, it's even more rare. I was very lucky the other day to photograph little Gianna, who was an absolute charm. She was totally cool with everything I said and threw in a BUNCH of adorable little poses on her own.
Another interesting thought, while looking back on these photos... In the portrait style shots, they look very simple and peaceful, right? It's amazing what you DONT see in the photographs. Because in that small room, 9x12 if that, there was me and Gianna, a light stand and giant umbrella, my helper, Gianna's mom, Gianna's grandmom, her two 5-month-old twin sisters, who were crying, and my dog, a doberman-pit mix, who wanted to spend the whole time licking gianna and the twins. In other words, total chaos. I'm learning that as photographers, we learn to embrace chaos.
Anyway, I'm very glad that the images are able to completely capture little Gianna, while leaving out the rest. I guess in a way that's one of the things photography is all about.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
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