Category Archives: Photography

Five Very Touristy Things I Did While In New York

If all goes well, I’ll be in flight and on my way back to the West Coast when this post goes live. I have had a wonderful, busy few days in New York City and, while I don’t like to think of myself as the typical “tourist”, I did manage to squeeze in a few very touristy adventures  between work and training commitments.

1. Walked Times Square
Thanks to the location of my hotel, I pretty much had to walk through Times Square any time I ventured outside. Of course I took WAY too many photos and was dying to escape the craziness after just a few minutes, but at least I managed to capture this shot of a very wet Times Square before I escaped for quieter corners of the city.

2. Visited Grand Central Station
This was high on my list of must do’s while I was in town. Conveniently, I had to walk past the station on my way down to visit one of my company’s offices so I was able to stop in and take a few photos. As a bonus, there was an award ceremony underway so my visit was accompanied by the sound of bagpipes. Pretty perfect.

3. Saw the Statue of Liberty (sort of)
Every time I talked to Thomas about my trip to New York he asked if I would see the Eiffel Tower. I think he was getting his cities mixed up so I made sure that I captured a (very distant) shot of the Statue of Liberty to help with his geography. I took this shot from the training room I spent the day in on Wednesday. You may have to squint to spot the Statue.

4. Rode the Subway
I have to admit that I was very nervous about jumping on the Subway. In fact I walked thirty blocks back from the East Village just to avoid it on Wednesday evening. I suppose I’m not as adventurous as I was when I traveled Europe on my own as a 20 year old. But on Thursday I bit the bullet, mainly because my feet really hurt from walking another 30 blocks downtown. And, you know what? It was very easy – especially with my cell phone to guide me.

5. Visited Carrie Bradshaw
I think you’ll agree that this is quite possibly the most dorky tourist adventure on the list.     I just couldn’t help myself, I HAD to see where Carrie lived. In the show, she apparently lived on the Upper East Side but the actual building where they filmed is in the East Village. And before you judge, let me just mention that I was NOT the only tourist visiting this sacred space – a fact that the current owners are trying to remedy with a “keep out” sign across their stoop.

Of course I did so much more not-so-touristy-things during my visit but those photos will have to wait for another post. I have a plane to catch so I can make it home in time for a very special 4th birthday on Saturday.

Bright Lights, Big City, Lots of Rain

I’m in New York City this week for work. The last (and only) time I was here was about 14 years ago over New Years Eve. It was before I had a husband or children and before I considered myself a photographer. It was also the pre-digital era which means I have no idea where my photos from that trip may be stored – likely in one of the boxes that take up (a tiny amount of ) space in my Parent’s garage.

So, between training courses and work, I plan to capture as much of the city as possible in my few hours of free time.

Right now, though, I’m just praying that the rain gods will give me a teeny tiny break.

This is the view from our NY office a couple of hours ago.

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And now…

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The Road to Portland: A Photobook

I want to share a little book that I created as an Anniversary present for Kei (well, it was actually for both of us). We celebrate 13 years of marriage this week and, because I’ll be in NY and was too excited to wait any longer, I gave it to him a little early.

The photos in this book were taken during our year-long journey from Hawaii to Portland almost 10 years ago. During that crazy 12 months we spent 7 months in Honolulu and five on the road. We walked over volcanic lava, saw the stars on Hollywood Boulevard, looked out over the Grand Canyon, toured Graceland, got wet at Niagra Falls, watched the Cubs win at Wrigley Field, ran bases on the field of dreams, took in the beauty of Yellowstone, saw some giant Presidents at Mt Rushmore and so much more. It was an amazing trip and I am so glad I was finally able to pull everything together into one book.

Thankfully, we took this trip in the early days of digital photography so I was spared the chore of scanning in the photos. And I was surprised at the quality of the photos that we got from such an old point and shoot camera (Samuel’s now using it). While the images weren’t big enough for full page spreads, they printed beautifully.

This was also my first time using the Lightroom book module for Blurb and it was fantastic. While it took a little time for me to get used to customizing the layout for text, etc., once I got the hang of it the book came together very quickly. I love that there was no need to export my files to a third party program and that I could easily add additional photos without having to click back into another program.

To begin, I decided on one big wrap around photo of the Waimea Canyon in Kauai for the cover. I like the simplicity of just one photo with a little bit of text.

The first inside page includes one of my favourite pictures of the two of us in Hawaii and a brief intro to the book. What strikes me is how relaxed and happy we look. Ahhh, life before children…

I also kept it simple inside the book with mostly plain white backgrounds and just a caption with the location every now and then. I also included a few section title pages to distinguish between our time in Hawaii, the cruise around the islands and our time on the road.

The rest of the book consists of a variety of multi and single photo pages with a few double-page spreads thrown in where the photo was big enough to span two pages. I put a maximum of four photos on a page to keep it simple and ensure none of the photos were hidden.

I repeated the cover image inside the book. This is one of the few photos that were large enough to fill a double page spread. While most of the pages were plain white, I placed a few with a dark grey background every now and then to make some of the images pop and add a little interest.

I had a vision for the “Road Trip” section title page for a long time. When I showed it to one of my friends at work she said that the Google map put the entire trip in perspective. For this image, I simply created a “my places” map on Google, added location pins for every step on the journey, made it as big as possible on my computer screen and then took a screenshot. Then, in Photoshop, I “drew” lines connecting the dots. I love how this page turned out.

I had to do a few Google searches to work out exactly where we were in some of the photographs – although Kei was very proud of the fact that he made us pose for a photo at the entry to every National Park. I have to admit that it was a huge help while I was pulling the book together to have a big sign spelling out the location.

We went to the actual Field of Dreams. It’s in middle-of-nowhere-Iowa and was well worth the detour.

I organized the book chronologically, except for the last few pages. A couple of months after we arrived in Portland we had to drive to San Francisco to return the rental car. I wanted to include our trip to San Francisco in the book but I also wanted to end the book with the Welcome to Oregon sign, even though we passed it a few months before our trip to San Francisco.

I cheated a little but I think it works better for the story. I love a good ending.

This project has inspired me to get more photos off of the computer and into books. The entire family loves looking through them and there’s really no better way to look at a photo than in print.

So, I’m on a quest to update our annual photo album library and create a few little mini books documenting our trips to Australia and Japan. Although I religiously create a photobook each year for the grandparents, the last one I did for our own bookcase was back in 2009. I best get started…

Karaoke is Good for the Soul

I am convinced that there is nothing quite as good for the soul as gathering a bunch of girlfriends to sing at the top of their lungs, have a few drinks and enjoy a lot of laughs.

I have loved Karaoke since that very first time I went out partying with a group of Japanese Mailmen after my day as the honorary Postmaster General of Sukagawa Japan. (A very long story that I may share on the blog one day). I remember at one point during that evening many (many!) years ago, and likely after more than a few sakes, it suddenly occurred to me that no one cared if I sang out of tune. What they cared about was that we were all having a good time and, for this frustrated High School-musical-star-wanna-be, it was wonderful to feel free enough to sing at the top of my lungs with no judgement. The only danger was that I wouldn’t have enough fun, and that was entirely up to me.

So, when my friends at work look at me like I’m insane every time I tell them I am out for another night of Karaoke, I try to explain that you don’t have to be a great (or even a good) singer to enjoy it. You just need to make sure you’re with great friends who are willing to let go of their fears and inhibitions as much as you are.

And if you have some reservations, a little jalapeno sake can always help get you through the first couple of songs…

Side note: I’m pretty sure this next photo was taken during one of the many Beastie Boys tributes of the evening.

And this next song had a line about tears… or crying. Our performances tend to get more literal as the night goes on.

Thanks for a wonderful night ladies and my apologies for keeping you all out so late. Who knew that a three hour Karaoke session could turn into five hours so easily? I guess that’s what happens when you’re having just TOO much fun.

When Life Gives You Birthday Rain, Make Rainbows

I had big plans for my birthday. I took a couple of days off work to enjoy some relaxation, photography and a little alone time. I mean, it worked last year so why not?

Torrential Portland rain, that’s why not.

So, instead, I worked around the rain and made the best of it. I still managed to do a few things on my checklist (Powells, a brief photo walk, karaoke) and also received a few unexpected surprises (cake!).

Here is my (very long) birthday weekend in photos – part 1.

THURSDAY (my birthday)

9am. Amazing Mexican Mocha Coffee with a ham and cheese croissant. Also managed to read an entire Willamette Week article from beginning to end.

11:00am. Head downtown to return some items at Banana Republic. Contemplate parking at Pioneer Place and consider walking around but decide against when a hurricane begins to blow in (only a slight exaggeration).

12:00pm. Settle for lunch at Violetta which was decadent and delicious. Grateful for my Kindle which enabled me to read and eat at the same time without the pages turning with each gust of wind.

Took a few stealth photos of the city while I protected my camera from the elements.

1:15pm. Drove to the Pearl District with one goal – to browse the Photo book section of Powells. Managed to leave having spent only $13 total for two second hand pocket-sized books. Must be a record of some sort.

2:00pm. Rain stopped for a short while, allowing me to walk around a little. It wasn’t part of the plan, but I decided to step inside Cargo Imports for the very first time. (Look at me being all spontaneous).

A friend mentioned to me a long time ago and, OMG, why didn’t I check it out sooner? Oh, right, probably because it would be a lot less fun saying “don’t touch that” and “stop running” and “look out” every 10 seconds while trying to take in the goodies around every corner. Seeing it on my own was the perfect thing to do and something I plan to relive when I have more than 20 minutes left on the meter.

2:50pm. Made it back to the car with minutes to spare before I was forced to donate to the Portland Parking fund. Headed home for a little downtime (like my entire day hasn’t been downtime).

4:30pm. Collected one of the children from daycare and then kept an eye on him through the door while he watched the neighbor kids throw a ball around in their front yard. Birthday dinner consisted of whatever I could find in the fridge (for me) and canned pasta (for him). I was pacing myself for a big weekend.

Deepest apologies to the neighbors who’s flowers also became a gift for me on the weekend. We put a stop to it as soon as we knew where they came from.

I asked Samuel to let me take his photo as a birthday present to me (I’m not afraid to play it). He gave me this. Love that kid.

Kei and Thomas arrived home a couple of hours later – bringing cake and the promise that I could open the birthday present that the UPS man kindly delivered to my door the previous evening.

Hello, my precious…

FRIDAY (day after my birthday but stopping before Karaoke because it needs a post of its’ own)

I don’t have many photos of Friday because, well, it wasn’t very exciting. It was raining again so I made the most of it with some indoor activities. Yoga in the morning followed by a couple of hours of catching up on some TV and then a lot of tidying up the house before my cleaners arrived.

4:00pm Left the house in the midst of a crazy downpour to pick up one child and then drive to meet the other.

1.5 hours later – finally arrived at the dinner destination about 10 miles away from our house. Thank you Portland traffic that can’t deal with rain even though we drive through it EVERY DAY.

Dinner consisted of reasonably priced, yet delicious, gourmet hot dogs.

After dinner we stopped by a special Art Show for Thomas’ after school program.

Kei took the kids on a (very quick) tour of the candy bus while I quickly headed home to be there in time for my Karaoke carpool.

Apparently I missed seeing the Llama and still only made it back about 10 minutes before the rest of the family. I’m a little sad about that. A Llama would have been a good addition to my birthday story.

OK – even I’m getting tired of the photos at this point so I’ll come back tomorrow to share some more highlights from the weekend. Hint: it includes a lot of singing, a delicious dinner and watching some heroes save the world (or New York, at least) from the front row of a movie theater.

Here’s a sneak peek.

Back soon.

Sunshine and Sing-a-longs

What began on on Thursday as a rainy (torrential) birthday, developed into a long weekend of celebration – filled with fun time with friends (5 hours of Karaoke), loads of family time, a night out with the husband and way too much chocolate cake.

I’m still working on the photos so look for a full report in the next couple of days. In the meantime, I’ll share a quick iphone pic of the cake that single handedly set me back on my goal to lose weight before summer, a fabulous cocktail that I hope to recreate, and a classic video clip of one the songs that kept the Karaoke party going until the wee hours of Saturday morning. The song also seems appropriate for a sunny start to the week (this one’s for you LeeAnn).

Happy Monday!


Wednesday Ramblings

I know everyone’s getting very tired of hearing about how busy I am, so I’m not going to talk about it.

…

OK, because I’m not going to talk about that-thing-I’m-not-going-to-talk-about, instead I’ll share a few random thoughts, musings, updates, photos.

  • Today is Wednesday and I stayed up way too late last night so I’m tired. The kind of tired that makes you drive past Starbucks in auto mode on your way to work and then turn around and head back even though you’re nearly at the office because the thing you really need this morning is coffee.
  • I stayed up late watching Glee with girlfriends whilst drinking glasses of red wine, so don’t feel too bad for me.

 

 

  • Tomorrow is my birthday. I’m going to be… wait for it… 37. Although I have to keep reminding myself of that because I have been thinking that this will be my 36th birthday for some time now. It took the guy at the grocery store who checked my ID (and was born in the same year) to wish me a happy upcoming 37th. I corrected him and then realized my mistake.
  • I don’t feel a day over 35.
  • I think I may have unconsciously given myself a fringe (that’s “bangs” for my American readers), in an effort to hold onto my youth.
  • I’m telling myself that I did it to give myself an edgier look before my upcoming work trip to New York.

  • Speaking of New York. I have about 24 hours of “free” time. Suggestions for how to narrow down a big long list of things I want to do to fill in that time are gladly accepted. There’s a lot to do in NYC.
  • Speaking of flying places, I took this photo with my iphone during my flight home from Seattle last week.

 

  • And speaking of my trip to Seattle, this is the view from one side of our office in Bellevue. The other side has views of the Seattle skyline.

  • My office in Portland has a view of a gold statue on the top of the Mormon temple. Just saying…
  • Thomas found a 1936 penny in our backyard last week. Our house was built in 1923 so it now has me wondering what other treasures might be buried back there. We could be living on a gold mine of worthless (but very interesting) pennies.

 

  • Starting to get very excited about our trip to Australia. It’s only a few weeks away now and I’m trying not to focus too much on all the work I have to do between now and then.
  • I’m taking tomorrow and Friday off so I can have a relaxing and very LONG birthday weekend. On the agenda: A solo photo walk around the city (praying it doesn’t rain too much), an hour or so to browse the photography section of Powells, at least one yoga class and maybe another trip to the gym, getting my house cleaned (by someone else :)), Karaoke with the girls, dinner with my husband while some very kind friends take our kids for the night… and LOTS of time to just relax.

  • 37!

On Being Inspired and Feeling Vulnerable: The TEDx Portland Not-Quite-a-Recap, Recap

I’m traveling again this week, this time to Seattle (well, Bellevue) for just a couple of days for a work event. I’m coming off a busy weekend during which I photographed the TEDx event in Portland on Saturday, trimmed a massive hedge down the side of our house in 85 degree heat on Sunday, spent Monday editing photos from Saturday and then Tuesday getting work done for my real job before watching Thomas test for his Karate yellow belt. And now I’m here in Bellevue.

So that’s my roundabout way of explaining why I haven’t posted in a while. I keep waiting for life to slow down…

I’m working on a recap of some of my favorite talks from Saturday’s TEDx event but I figured it would be much more meaningful if I could actually link to replays, so it may have to wait for a few weeks until they’re posted online. Needless to say, I left feeling inspired and challenged. Nothing like a day of intelligent people talking about amazing projects to get the creative juices flowing.

I can share one presentation from the event right now. It was a replay from another TEdx event that they showed on the screen and, honestly, I felt like this talk was being delivered directly to me. Brene Brown, a researcher in Social Work, talked about the power of being vulnerable (something I struggle with as most of my close family members will attest) and how opening yourself up to vulnerability can open yourself up to so much more of your life. It was funny, poignant and very close to home.

Back soon with more photos and stories. Until then I’ll continue trying to keep my head above water.

T-Ball and Inner Peace

This is what I posted on Facebook over the weekend:

Batter grabs the ball while he’s running to base. Runner hit in the helmet by a flying ball. Thomas runs back to home to drop off his bat politely rather than just dropping it. None of the kids know where to run. First T-ball game is nothing if not entertaining. You never know what’s going to happen.

I wrote a post last year about how I never feel quite as close to being an American mother as I do when I watch Thomas play T-Ball. There’s something uniquely cultural about this sport that draws families together to cheer on their six year old’s as they blindly run from one base to another – or don’t run to base and have to be led there by hand, which happens about 50% of the time during the first game of the season.

This year Thomas is playing for the Giants. I’m a little disappointed that he’s not playing for a team with a more colorful uniform, but I like San Francisco so it’s not all bad.

On second thought, now that I’m looking at those purple uniforms in the background, maybe a whole season of black is not so bad. As you can see, I’m focusing on the important things.

By the way, I’m pretty sure there’s nothing cuter than a bunch of miniature t-ball players on a massive baseball diamond.

Thomas is number 10 this year and, according to him, the best player on the team (no self-esteem issues with my child).

The kid loves to run… after he works out where he’s supposed to be going. Good thing there’s no winners or losers in six-year-old baseball.

The only problem we have this year is that Samuel is suddenly old enough to feel left out. He’s already asked to play T-ball next year. In the meantime, we spend the game hanging out by the fence in his ninja mask and taking breaks every now and then to find a little inner peace. (I promise that I did not set this up).

It occurred to me that next year we’ll have to juggle swimming lessons AND two games of T-Ball each Saturday. I think I’ll be looking for a little inner peace of my own.