Fine Art Adventures

44

2012-02-13T08:23:00.002-07:00

Morning sky... before the rest of the clouds fly in for a winter storm watch.

http://instagr.am/p/G8z4_sDjXp/

43

2012-02-12T14:08:00.002-07:00

Soda loving the fresh snow this morning!

http://instagr.am/p/G64U_GDjYW/

42

2012-02-11T21:16:00.001-07:00

One of my favorite weather occurrences... an inversion; warm day of skiing and beauty.

http://instagr.am/p/G4euUZjjfo/

41

2012-02-10T16:19:00.002-07:00

Some snow has arrived!

day 41

40

2012-02-09T14:41:00.000-07:00

Dust on crust, but the sun is peeking through!

39

2012-02-08T15:47:00.002-07:00

A chilly inversion day with a storm coming in!

38

2012-02-07T10:41:00.002-07:00

A very cold day with lots of rhime- my favorite!

37

2012-02-06T10:21:00.003-07:00

Cold, bluebird day in JH!

Superbowl Sunday, 36

2012-02-05T10:15:00.003-07:00

Homemade tortillas in the colors of the teams- Giants vs. Patriots! Can't wait to put them in the oven and bake them!

35

2012-02-04T20:59:00.000-07:00

This is definitely the most random thing I've ever seen on my dog walk... a deer hanging in a tree!

34

2012-02-03T11:07:00.001-07:00

A centerpiece- when fake flowers actually look somewhat real...

33

2012-02-02T10:05:00.001-07:00

Groundhog day! In honor of the groundhog seeing his shadow and us having 7 more weeks of winter (or really for winter to start here), is my image of the day- some very large icicles!

February 1: Day 32

2012-02-01T15:50:00.001-07:00

I had no idea what water chestnuts looked like before these... how cool! These are fresh organic, delicious water chestnuts.

31

2012-01-31T14:38:00.002-07:00

A perfect day for a little paragliding at the resort. Of course, not me... but someone else is finding it fun! And i'm sure freezing!!!

30

2012-01-30T14:19:00.001-07:00

So the weatherman called for 6 inches of snow! We barely received 1 inch and its beautiful outside!

29

2012-01-29T10:41:00.000-07:00

Love how snow settles on tree branches.

Featured and Interviewed

2012-01-28T18:48:00.003-07:00

Check out a recent interview I was in: http://mappingtheedge.com/2012/01/27/5qs4u-rebecca-stern/

28

2012-01-28T09:30:00.000-07:00

A cold, beautiful morning at the JH mountain resort!

Day 27

2012-01-27T09:22:00.003-07:00

Beautiful Sunshine and Snowy morning! Let the freshies begin!

26

2012-01-26T14:49:00.001-07:00

The best way to describe today is to show you the photograph. It's snowing! And there's no visibility outside.

Day 25

2012-01-25T11:58:00.002-07:00

Since it's sleeting outside, I thought it would be a good time to try and use up some of the oranges and pomegranates I had around the house... here's the final product! Pomegranate, Orange and Apple Chutney courtesy of my awesome Vitamix!

24

2012-01-24T16:27:00.004-07:00

Fresh corduroy on a bluebird day!

23

2012-01-23T17:47:00.002-07:00

Soda may have played a bit too much in the powder today! Or probably, there's never enough powder out there... :)

Photo feature...

2012-01-23T10:28:00.002-07:00

One of my #photoaday photos from this weekend was featured on The Mountain Pulse website... check out the article and see the image at: http://www.themountainpulse.com/2012/01/jackson-hole-grand-targhee-storm-report/

Day 22

2012-01-22T17:41:00.003-07:00

A beautiful day at the resort #jacksonhole.

21

2012-01-21T18:04:00.001-07:00

Stellar day on the mountain at #jacksonhole!

Day 20

2012-01-20T18:08:00.002-07:00

A beautiful day outside with 25" inches of new snow! Loving life...

Day 19... and at least 19" of Snow!

2012-01-19T11:13:00.005-07:00

Snowman type of day with this wet, heavy snow! My lovely dog, Soda helped build this and then climbed up the side ofthe snow man and started digging… chewed the stick arms and spread them aroundthe snow and the tried to jump up to reach the carrot. No luck on the carrotyet!!

Day 18

2012-01-18T17:50:00.002-07:00

Snowy day out in the field. 55" of snow expected over the next few days! Wahoo!

Day 17

2012-01-17T13:36:00.002-07:00

A raven day! Beautiful bird... until they open their beak.

Day 16

2012-01-16T15:36:00.001-07:00

Soda sniffing out the groceries to make sure they're a-ok!

Sunday Jan 15th

2012-01-15T15:13:00.000-07:00

Had a stare down with some cows today!

Day 14

2012-01-14T17:01:00.002-07:00

Beautiful sunset in Jackson Hole!

Friday the 13th!

2012-01-13T14:43:00.000-07:00

This is one good looking dog of mine... i'm only a little bit biased! #photoaday

Day 12

2012-01-12T13:34:00.001-07:00

-15 Degrees F outside today... burr! #photoaday #flowers

Day 11

2012-01-11T11:22:00.003-07:00

I would consider this a blue bird day! What a sky. #jacksonhole #photoaday

Day 10

2012-01-10T11:56:00.000-07:00

On the trail in JH this morning.

Day 9

2012-01-09T15:09:00.001-07:00

A bit of color on a gloomy cold day in WY. A project my husband spent an hour building!

Day 8

2012-01-08T12:32:00.002-07:00

A big horn day in the field.

Day 7

2012-01-07T15:02:00.001-07:00

Veggie Overload thanks to bountiful baskets! Yumm.

Day 6

2012-01-06T19:33:00.000-07:00

Morning view from Snow King.

Day 5

2012-01-05T15:52:00.000-07:00

I never get tired of this view. I'm sure there will be many angles of this beautiful peak throughout the year!

Day 4

2012-01-05T15:51:00.003-07:00

Peace, Love, and nature...

Day 3

2012-01-05T15:51:00.000-07:00

A beautiful flower to cap off a gorgeous day!

Day 2

2012-01-05T15:50:00.002-07:00

First Blossom of the Year!

Day 1

2012-01-05T15:49:00.000-07:00

Dinner for a few.

A Year in Photos!

2012-01-05T15:43:00.000-07:00

I have decided to embark on a journey of a photo a day for 2012; meaning 365 photos of what's around me. Come embark on the journey with me and follow me on twitter @photographybyrs. I will also be posting the photos here.

Teach an old dog new tricks...

2011-11-21T17:42:00.000-07:00

I thought we were doing the right thing by teaching our seven year old lab to open the screen door from the outside to come inside the house. I failed to teach her how to close the door after she came inside. However, that is a different dilemma. Our lab has become so proficient in opening not just the screen door, but every door in our home (using her strong nose, of course) that it has almost become a problem. For example, when I suddenly feel the cold air rushing into the bathroom while i'm taking a shower, it is not fun to have to get out of the shower and shut the door after our dog has entered the room and lied down on the bath mat. While I enjoy the company and protection of my lab, I am ok being in the bathroom without her. Our bathroom door does not lock, otherwise the would keep her out. We now let her outside the house and if the door (screen or heavy glass door) is closed, when she is ready to re-enter our home, she comes inside. Now this is nice, because our dog likes to yelp- loudly- when she's ready to come inside and this alleviates all the noise. Older dogs can learn new tricks and pick them up quickly... and use those tricks for other sources. Way to go!

Traveling to China

2011-03-13T13:12:00.001-06:00

I am traveling to Taiwan and China over the next month. If you'd like to follow along on the journey, i've created another blog just for the trip: http://travelwithrs.blogspot.com
Enjoy!

A nice article about me

2010-10-27T23:22:00.003-06:00

Check out this article that was recently published about myself and my photography! Aperture Jackson Hole.

September 2009

2009-09-30T10:42:00.003-06:00

On this last day of the beautiful month of September, where we finally had a gorgeous fall, we have a winter weather advisory. This summer and fall have been quite busy with working and more working and a little fun too! I have recently accepted a position to become the head of the photography department at a local non-profit art organization. I am also still full steam ahead with my own photography company having clients come to my studio every week to learn new photographic techniques.
I have also just completed the advertising and marketing for Jackson Hole Youth Soccer's Fall Classic tournament where I was able to get over 60 teams to come here to play soccer!
If anyone is interested in learning some photography or needs some consultation, just let me know!
Now, it's off to watch the snow fall.

It's been a while...

2009-04-27T13:05:00.002-06:00

Being connected to the outside world requires time, patience and of course technology, these days. Sometimes though, it's nice not to be connected and apparently while my life has been continuing and doing well, I have been slacking in a few areas of staying connected- such as this blog. Well I will try to get better again and post what's going on... even though i don't think anyone besides for myself and maybe my mom reads this!

My photo company is doing well! I am now planning my schedule for the summer, so if anyone is interested in signing up for private photography lessons, kids or adults, now is the time! As always, you can reach me via my websites: www.rs-photography.com or www.rebeccasternphotography.com

hope everyone has a great day!

New Computer

2009-01-13T22:42:00.001-07:00

So I'm super psyched because I just got my first computer since I was a freshman in college... jeez, can you believe it?!? good ol dell's. this computer rocks and will be perfect for working and etc. like this, blogging... so i can create posts right from my computer and upload them super easily. hopefully it works! and for all of you who had given up on me posting, i'll try and post some more fun things more often now.

Peter Von Tiesenhausen

2008-09-13T11:22:00.001-06:00

First Video from the Closing Reception

2008-05-25T10:23:00.001-06:00

Preview for My Show!

2008-05-13T21:41:00.000-06:00

Thesis Exhibition

2008-04-22T20:27:00.001-06:00

My thesis exhibition will feature work from my project Green Scapes.

The show will be at the Blue Tower Gallery (675 Metropolitan Pkwy, Atlanta, GA) from May 10-May 24. The closing reception/party will be held on the 24th from 7-10pm, so if you're in the area, come check it out.

Blue Tower gallery will also be featuring the work of Walker Pickering, David Allen Jones, Rebecca Stern, Jason Franklin, Sharon Forbus, and Karen Williams.

Me Skiing!!

2008-03-20T20:44:00.002-06:00

Mom Skiing

2008-03-20T20:44:00.001-06:00

Alta Day 2

2008-03-17T22:11:00.000-06:00

So here's our second day of skiing at my favorite place!! :)

Spring Break Day 1

2008-03-16T22:07:00.002-06:00

So i'm in the greatest place on earth skiing... my favorite place, Alta, Utah. Here is a first day quick edit video (with sound that i dont know how to edit...). Enjoy!

Spiral Jetty News

2008-03-09T21:45:00.003-06:00

Unfortunately some bad environmental news about Smithson's Jetty in the Great Salt Lake from the Dia Art Foundation.

My interview with Aliza Lelah at Gallery Stokes!

2008-02-26T10:24:00.001-07:00

Environmental Images on You Tube

2008-02-20T21:52:00.000-07:00

45-er...

2008-02-19T21:47:00.005-07:00

So I have my review coming up next week and I am understandably nervous about it- as one should be. I came across an essay by Robert Adams that I wish were true in the grand scheme of things in a masters program, because I agree with him. I thought i'd post the part of the essay that I read and found to be the most interesting. Enjoy... I also have included a photograph from my new series that is my thesis work.

"Writing" by Robert Adams

from "Why People Photograph"

"Art is by nature self-explanatory. We call it art precisely because of its sufficiency. Its vivid detail and overall cohesion give it a clarity not ordinarily apparent in the rest of life. And so if the audience lives in the same time and culture as does the artist, and if the audience is familiar with the history of the medium, there is no need to append to art a preface or other secondary apparatus.

Successful writing about works of art is accordingly an unusual achievement. It is self-effacing, devoted to establishing the adequacy of the art without the writing. John Szarkowski described an appropriate measure for critical writing; “The better the writing is the more necessary it makes the picture.” There are only a few commentators who can do that – Robert Hughes, for instance, and Szarkowski himself.

Several important artists have been effective critics – the painter Fairfield Porter was, for example, an accomplished writer for the nation – but they have not earned reputations either as artists or critics by explaining their own art. Photographers are quick to note this because they are so often asked to spell out the significance of their pictures, something they resist trying to do. Yes, they can say a little about what brought them to begin, though this is not to discuss what resulted, and they can describe the equipment they used and the processes they followed in the darkroom, but they know that if these are the secrets then the pictures are not very important.
The frequency with which photographers are called upon to talk about their pictures is possibly related to the apparent straightforwardness of their work. Photographers look like they must record what confronts them – as is. Shouldn’t they be expected to compensate for this woodenness by telling us what escaped outside the frame and by explaining why they chose their subject? The assumption is wrong, of course, bu an audience that knows better is small, certainly smaller than for painting. Photographers envy painters because they are usually allowed to get by with gnomic utterances or even silence, something permitted them perhaps because they seem to address their audience more subjectively, leaving it more certain about what the artist intended.

Years ago when I began to enjoy photographs I was struck by the fact that I did not have to read photographers’ statements in order to love the pictures. Sometimes remarks about the profession by people like Stieglitz and Weston were inspiring, but almost nothing they said about specific pictures enriched my experience of those pictures. Photographers seemed so strikingly unable to write at length about what they had made, in face, that I came to wonder if there was any exception at all, a single case where an artist’s writing did not end up making a picture smaller, less complex, less resonant, less worthy of comparison with life.

Part of the reason that these attempts at explanation fail, I think, is that photographers, like all artists, choose their medium because it allows them the most fully truthful expression of their vision. Other ways are relatively imprecise and incomplete. Why try the other ways? As Charles Demuth said, “I have been urged…to write about my paintings…Why? Haven’t I, in a way, painted them?” Or as Robert Frost told a person who asked him what one of his poems meant, “You want me to say it worse?”

Photographers are like other artists too in being reticent because they are afraid that self-analysis will get in the way of making more art. They never fully know how they got the good pictures that they have, but they suspect that a certain innocence may have been necessary. The poet X.J. Kennedy speaks of his in his amusing verse “Ars Poetica”:

The goose that laid the golden egg

Died looking up its crotch

To find out how its sphincter worked.

Would you lay well?

Don’t watch.

The main reston that artists don’t willingly describe or explain what they prodice is, however, that the minute they do so they’ve admitted failure. Words are proof that the vision they had is not, in the opinion of some at least, fully there in the picture. Characterizing in words what they thought they’d shown is an acknowledgement that the photograph is unclear – that it is not art.
Of course if you believe in the merit of your work you reject the accusation of failure that is implied by a request to explain it. In this respect all artists are elitists. They are convinced that some viewers lack patience to see what is clear.

Probably the best way to know what photographers think about their work, beyond consulting the internal evidence in that work, is to read or listen to what they say about pictures made by colleagues or precursors whom they admire. It is as close a photographers usually want to come to talking about their own intensions, though even this testimony must be interpreted carefully because it is guarded (no one undergoes the trouble of serious picture making if he or she believes that anybody else has done exactly what most needs doing). Almost all photographers admire a selection of work by others, though, and sometimes the achievements they notice are closely related to their own.

For photographers, the ideal book of photographs would contain just pictures – no text at all. There have been a few volumes like that, but publishers complain they don’t sell, so not many have been allowed, which leaves photographers to endure the botched clarity and wasted effort required of them. (writing under the best of circumstances is demanding; Red Smith, the eminent sportswriter, addressed everybody who supposes otherwise: “There’s nothing to writing,” he said, “all you do is sit down at the typewriter and open a vein.”) I remember once working through more than a hundred drafts of a four-paragraph statement for a catalog, all to find something that would just keep out of the way of the pictures.

Things are not about to improve either. University presses, for example, which publish some of the best photography, hold increasingly to a policy that requires books of pictures to incorporate “substantial” texts. This often means not only layering together pictures with the photographer’s words, but also sandwiching the concoction betweens slabs of social-scientific balloon bread.

Photographers continue to write because they need to have their pictures reproduced in quantity; it is the only way they can convey an adequately sized vision of things. To get published I have tried every kind of cheating – I have quoted others to the same end as mind, I have talked about photography in general in order to imply what I was attempting personally. Experience has shown, however, that the best way to avoid talking about the pictures is to talk about their subjects – tract houses or fields or tress or any of the myriad and interesting details of life. If you have to fill the quiet of a picture, the least destructive way seems to be to speak about what was in front of the camera rather than about what you made of it. It seems the least a trick, the closet you can get to speaking about the meaning of a picture without actually doing so.

C.S. Lewis admitted, when he was asked to set forth his beliefs, that he never felt less sure of them than when he tried to speak of them. Photographers know this frailty. To them words are a pallid, diffuse way of describing and celebrating what matters. Their gift is to see what will be affecting as a print. Mute."

Jackson Jan 27- Feb 3, 2008

2008-02-06T19:25:00.000-07:00

My bro made some videos of the last week in Jackson of us skiing. I went out to help hang a show and the snow delayed a few things, so I skied, got a real job for when i return (yeah!), did some other things, and skied some more. There are 4 videos, so enjoy! Oh by the way, we got 54 inches in one week. My parents are still out there and I think it's up to about 80 (inches of snow that is).

Video Presentation for Black and White Craft

2008-01-29T22:01:00.000-07:00

Lost Duffel AGAIN!!!!

2008-01-07T18:59:00.000-07:00

Well all was thought to be said and done with losing bags these days, however I was wrong. So to make a somewhat long story short, my duffel from Jackson to Atlanta is lost. And by lost I mean probably still sitting in the Jackson airport. All the flights were cancelled out of Jackson the last few days because of massive amounts of snow that we received and I was lucky to catch a direct flight from Jackson to Atlanta. However because of the snow, the runway was really slick and in order to get enough traction, have enough fuel and take off on the tiny runway, they decided not to put anyone's bags on the plane. That's right, I said NO ONE'S BAGS WERE ON THE PLANE!! POOP. And they didn't bother to tell anyone until we had waited for 1/2 an hour in Atlanta for the bags.... and now, eventhough I was on a direct flight and I know the baggage wasn't loaded on the plane, they apparently can't find the bag... obviously it's still in Jackson. wtf.

Duffel Found!

2007-12-28T11:01:00.000-07:00

Well it's been over a week and our duffel has just been delievered to the house. It is still a duffel but does not resemble the duffel we left at Naples a couple of weeks ago. It has been completely ransacked, destroyed and every bit of our stuff has been gone through, broken, torn and looks like its been thrown in the trash. The lock has disappeared and the color of the duffel is different. So, we have our duffel back, but there is stuff missing, broken and it feels awful. Hopefully the airline will replace the items, but they can't replace the emotional attachments.

Day 16, The Last Day (or so we thought...)

2007-12-18T06:37:00.000-07:00

I have not wanted to write this day for a few days since we’ve been home because the ensuing events of our trip home have been quite frustrating and I wasn’t ready to write about it yet. However as I write this, I am on a plane on my way to Jackson, Wyoming to spend the next three weeks. Well, where to begin. This story is quite long and I will try and keep it short, but provide enough information to understand the circumstances. So mom and I wake up so early on Friday morning around 3:45am and get ready to finish packing the car and make our way to the airport (which as we found out later was right next to the American naval base in Naples)! We eventually find the departures section of this small airport and decide to just leave the car outside while we went inside to check-in. We were scheduled on an Alitalia flight to Rome and then a Delta flight from Rome to JFK and because the two airlines are partners there was not supposed to be any issues with that. So we get to the business class check-in line and wait for about 15 minutes for 1 person in front of us to check-in. Meanwhile, as I should point out, we didn’t have seats on this flight- they were given out as a first come first serve basis (the worst system ever). Well when we finally got to the check-in counter, the man was so rude to us- first he said he couldn’t check us in all the way to JFK because he didn’t have access to finding our tickets and so he wanted to check out bags through to Rome and then we would have to get our bags in Rome, check-in AGAIN and then go through security and still make our flight. This was super frustrating as we were told we could easily check all the way through and not have to do anything in Rome. However, this man was so unaccommodating towards us that he was mean- not even wanting to look for our correct tickets so he could check us in. So mom and I accepted whatever he gave us and went to return the rental car at hertz a few blocks away. A gentleman who was in Naples training people on the Naval Base returned a car at the same time as us and accompanied us back to the airport terminal in the windy, cold, dark morning. We went through security- which was a breeze- and got to our gate. Mom went to the bathroom to wet the washcloth and came back 25 minutes later after having found a wonderful woman who went to her supervisor because she thought it was outrageous that we could not check our baggage and ourselves all the way through to JFK. She checked us in again, gave us new boarding passes and new luggage tags which she said she would run out to the plane to put on our bags! That made mom feel a bit better. The Alitalia flight was packed like sardines and people boarded the plane in a junk show many from the rear of the very old plane. So we make it to Rome, do our tax free stuff and get to the lounge to relax a bit before our next 10 hour flight. When it’s time to board, mom and I walk to our gate and they wouldn’t let us on board because we needed boarding passes (well we thought we had boarding passes, but apparently those didn’t work)- so we had to get new boarding passes at the gate and answer some security questions, then we could board. We get onto the plane and there are people sitting in our seats so the stewardess asks them to move and they were so rude it was quite unpleasant. As we settled into our seats, it became much more pleasant on the flight and mom and I were glad that everyone spoke English (we don’t normally feel like that coming home from Europe). Well I watched 3 movies and slept for about 5 minutes; mom slept for about 2 hours. So we arrive in JFK after 10 hours and make our way through the customs check and then went to get out baggage. 3 pieces of our luggage came out, the fourth was no where to be seen. Only one of our pieces of luggage actually had a baggage tag on it, the second piece had a number on it, but didn’t match any of the luggage tags we had and the third piece had no tags at all on it. We were really surprised that any of the bags actually made it. We were so distressed about the loss of the 4th bag that it was hard to be relieved that we were home. We went to the lost baggage office and the woman was okay, but by no means helpful. We ended up being there for 2 hours as we made the claim and then a nice man said he would go back and look for it in the back. No luck. We arrived at JFK at 2:45, we left the airport close to 5pm and of course was stuck in rush hour traffic on the way home while mom called the delta lost baggage people for the first time to explain the story and make a more complete claim. The man said that they would call us if they heard anything and that we should keep calling to check-in too.

For the next 2 days straight that is exactly what mom did- every 3-4 hours she would call Delta and receive different information every time she called- it got to be so frustrating that it was stressful and annoying. She was getting the run around and even when she talked to some supervisors, they were so incompetent that mom didn’t know what to do. So we still don’t have our bags- I could go into more detail about incompetency and the details surrounding the last few days, but I am too frustrated now writing this to continue. So there might be more later, but for now, we are home, minus one bag and off to the next stage of the adventure. Ciao!

Day 15, Naples

2007-12-18T06:36:00.000-07:00

Naples was not a pleasant city to be in and as we left the beautiful Amalfi Coast and made our ways 2 hours north to Naples, one could clearly see the difference. The people, the buildings, the drivers, and etc. There is no need to go to Naples ever- except that our hotel was nice- a new 3 star on a dead end near the airport. The night before we left, neither mom nor I could fall asleep so a long game of 20 questions was played to try and fall asleep!

Day 14, Positano and Amalfi

2007-12-12T14:59:00.000-07:00

December 12, 2007
Today we visited the towns of Positano and Amalfi. The weather was beautiful today, partly cloudy and a brisk Mediterranean Sea breeze. Mom and I woke up early-ish (7:30 am) to the now usual skype wake-up call from Brendan as he’s about to fall asleep with mountain time. So we got a somewhat early start in Positano and parked as far down along the slopes as we could. We were just about the only tourists there and it was wonderful. The streets were empty, the beach was empty and it was great! We did more shopping today than we have ever done and I will leave it at that as everyone will see mom’s new clothing soon. There were not many good photo ops in Positano which surprised us as it’s supposed to be a photographers dream… hmmm… not really this one. We walked around for a few hours and since our hotel is in between Positano and Amalfi, we stopped on the way to Amalfi to pee and drop off all the bags. We were then off to Amalfi, where we parked on the marina and headed into the ravine of what Amalfi is. The church was huge and one of the most ornate that we’ve seen so far in Italy. We walked all the way up the ravine as far as we could to see the Paper Mills which were closed, but still interesting to see. We wanted to buy some paper (since it’s made in Amalfi) but it was so expensive, we decided it wasn’t worth it. When we finished with Amalfi, we returned back to the hotel to watch the rest of the sunset and go to the Alimentaire for some cheese and bread for dinner- again. We are also trying to finish the 5 pounds of lemons, oranges, clementines and mandarins that we have before we leave on Friday. We leave the coast tomorrow morning and head to Naples, where we will spend our last day before we leave very early Friday morning. So potentially, this could be my last post before we get back to the states on Friday afternoon (depending if we have internet in Naples). Ciao tutti!

Day 13, Pompeii (Pompei in Italian)

2007-12-11T11:37:00.000-07:00

December 11, 2007
Well we woke up today with the plans to explore Amalfi and Postiano. However our plans changed when we talked to the woman who lives and works here and we decided to head to Pompeii instead. She and we were worried about going there on the way to Naples as we had originally planned with all of our luggage in the car, so we decided to get it out the way we would drive the hour and a half today. We got a bit lost getting into Pompeii and ended up going towards Mt. Vesuvius first, which was quite large and since we couldn’t actually find the way to the base of the mountain, we turned around and went back in the historical ruins of Pompeii. The new city of Pompeii is awful and run down, so there is no need to ever go there. The ruins, however were wonderful and amazing that they have been preserved for so long. The people of this time (before AD 79 when Mt. Vesuvius erupted) seemed to be so intelligent, practical, wealthy and much more logical than we are today. They also had many brothels, and I will post an image of a kama sutra position that supposedly men could look at while having sex and get ideas for new positions!! If anyone wants more info on Pompeii, ask my dad. It’s really interesting. Mom and I walked around for 4, yes 4!! hours. We were utterly exhausted at the end, but we saw so much- the houses, ampitheater, theater, roads, casted bodies and much, much more. I will try and post as many photos as possible to show the town. It was also much more expensive to go to Pompeii than we had thought- paying for parking, entrance fees and the audio guide where we received all of our information from (almost 70 dollars… jeez). So after 4 hours, we decided to head home and on the way there was a beautiful sunset and a fair amount of afternoon traffic. We are now home and had another nice cheese and bread dinner with some chocolate mixed in. Only two more days of Italy.. it is sad, but I think we are getting ready to come home too. Ciao.

Day 12, Ravello and the Amalfi Coast

2007-12-10T11:43:00.000-07:00

December 10, 2007
It was raining and mostly cloudy for most of the day today again. However, mom and I decided to go to the town of Ravello, high up on the hill overlooking the entire coast and the Mediterranean Sea. The rain stopped for a couple of hours in the middle of the day that allowed us to walk around the small, cute town (there are no cars allowed in the town). As it started to look like it was going to rain again, mom and I decided to have lunch overlooking the coast. This was the first time we’ve had a real lunch this whole trip, so it was very exciting. It was also our dinner… as our one meal a day budget only allows such. We chose Villa Maria as our lunch spot and it was a beautiful place- also a hotel (4 star). We had a cappuccino to start our meal as we were cold, and then mom had fish and anchovies over a bed of lettuce and lemons and I have linguine and clams with winter tomatoes, yummy. We couldn’t finish the food so we requested to take it home and we ate it when we got home a couple of hours later. As we were eating lunch, it started pouring, so we were very glad we were inside! After we finished lunch, we returned down the long stairs and through a tunnel back to our vehicle where it again started raining as we got into the car (lucky) and we made our way back down the treacherous, tiny road (which I videoed) that was only made really for one car and it was a two-way street. We were planning on stopping in Amalfi on the way back to Praiano (our home base) but it was raining still so we decided just to head home. In our town there are some really neat and original little displays on the side of the road of a miniature town with boats, fisherman, houses, fish and etc. We stopped to take photos of this incredible masterpiece. When we finally got back safely to our hotel, it started pouring again and I really wanted to walk down to the beach (at least 400 steps and quite a cliff), so we waited until there was a lull in the storm. When we finally bundled up, we ventured out on the small pathways to the ocean, where after about 20 minutes we found huge waves, wind and a few fisherman! We took some photos, watched the sunset and made the good stairmaster trek up the hill back to the hotel where a bit later, it started pouring again! I was also craving some chocolate so mom asked the people if they had more of the chocolates that they put on our bed last night and a little while later a tray of chocolate came to our door, with different types of desserts and the chocolate hearts from our bed! It was very cool. Okay, well enough for now. Off to drink wine and edit some photos.

Day 11, Traveling to the Amalfi Coast

2007-12-09T10:19:00.000-07:00

December 9, 2007
Today was a long traveling day for us. We left Martina Franca and our hotel around 9:30 this morning and after much debate and asking everyone, we decided to go a northern route on the Autostrade to the west coast rather than the way we were planning on going through the mountains. So we set off, stopping in Locorotondo on the way at a supermarche to buy some sale marino (the special salt from this area that is soo good), some pasta, a couple of baguette’s and some coffee. On the Autostrade we were able to go faster (about 140-150 km/hr; 90-100mph) so the 300 km to Naples went by fairly quickly… about 2- 3 hours with stopping to fill up with gas and etc. We were told that driving on the Amalfi coast would be difficult and some people couldn’t believe we were even driving on the coast- well as we found out, this drive was nothing compared to what we drove on the Gargano Peninsula. The roads here are curvy and small, but there is a wall before the cliff heading down to the water, so it feels safer. Plus, mom got to use her pista kart (go-cart) skills again. It took us about an hour or so once we got onto the coast to get to Praiano (going through Amalfi and some other smaller towns). It is beautiful here. Our hotel is right on the water and is called Hotel Tramonto D’Oro. We could never afford to stay here during the peak season, so it’s perfect now. We are even in the cheapest room (supposedly without a sea view) but we have a partial sea view and a huge balcony. It will be hard to leave here to go visit anything else, but I know we’ll make our way around and see Positano, Ravello, Amalfi and just explore some of the little towns and the coastline on this peninsula. We will hopefully also be able to go to the restaurant that Omi’s hairdressers family owns in Amalfi. We also now have internet, which is very exciting so we should be able to be online more often. Yeah!
This one above picture is the restaurant at Masseria Chiancone Torricella in the trulli's, where we stayed for the past 5 nights!

Day 10, December 8, 2007

2007-12-08T12:27:00.000-07:00

Day 10, December 8th, 2007
Masseria Mita and the surrounding trulli’s

Today was one of the best days so far this trip. It started out a bit cloudy and rainy and remained that way for most of the day, but the weather in no way affected our nice day. One of the women who works here, Maria, owns a true Masseria (fortified farm) with ancient (seculara) olive trees, a vineyard, and a private orange, mandarin, Clementine and lemon grove. Maria met us at the hotel at 10:30 this morning and we followed her for about ½ an hour south east towards Crispiano where we eventually arrived at a beautiful gate where we turned in and immediately saw a vineyard on the right and an olive tree grove on the left and straight ahead. We followed her down the pathway where her husband (who works on the farm everyday) was waiting. The name of their company is Masseria Mita and in fact they work here year round, but they don’t live on the farm (they live about 20 minutes away in Martina Franca). We had assumed we were just going to taste some wine and olive oil and be off in an hour; however, we were very incorrect and only after 4 hours were we on our way. So when we got there, they gave us a tour (their 10 year old son was there too) of the olive groves with the ancient trees and they showed us the oldest tree on the farm probably dating back to the 1600’s when the farm was created. The trees were beautiful and had enormous trunks that were just amazing. After we walked around the groves, we went into one of the old farm houses where they used to make the wine and we were explained the process of how they pressed the grapes and how the wine traveled into barrels underneath the farm to stay until they were ready to drink. We then went into their private garden which had orange, mandarine, Clementine, rose bushes and lemon trees. We smelled the fruit and it smelled delicious, so they picked some fruit for us and put them in a bag- we have about 5 pounds of citrus that we have to eat in the next week before we come home! They taste wonderful. Finally, we went into their farm house, which they now use for entertaining in the summertime and have invited us back to stay there and to have meals with them under the olive trees in the summertime. There was a platter of bread with tomatoes, olive oil and salt (which we have found out is different here than anywhere else) and some vino rosso (red wine). So we ate and talked for a while and it was so good, so we ended up buying a fair amount of the olive oil and the wine to take home. They also showed us their old wood oven (like a brick oven) that they still use to cook with outside of their house. So after 4 hours of spending time with them, we left and followed them back to Martina Franca where they showed us the best specialty store to buy provincial items, but it was closed. Oh well, we don’t need to spend any more money. So we drove around a little bit more and I took some more Trulli photos and then we came home. I should also mention that today is a large religious holiday here celebrating St. Maria. I don’t know anything else about it, except that everything is closed and our hotel is packed full of Italians eating lunch and dinner here! We have decided not to partake in the expensive price fixe meal and eat cheese and bread in the room for dinner- yummy! Wish we could bring back some cheese- it’s very good.
Someone has pointed out that he didn’t know what a trullo was when I wrote about them before, so I will clarify what they are now. Trulli’s (plural; trullo, singular) are round, stone houses that were built between the 15th and 18th centuries by everyone in this region. They were built in a certain way so that there was one loose stone on top that they could pull out and their entire house would fall down. They would do this in situations when tax men came to collect money or for other purposes to evade paying and getting into trouble. So after these men had left the premises, they would rebuild their home. Very interesting structures and we will miss them when we leave this region tomorrow morning.
Mom has fallen in love as well. With our car. She hugs every corner, drives quickly, and is becoming an Italian. She will be very sad when she has to part with it next Friday.

Day 9, December 7, 2007

2007-12-07T14:08:00.001-07:00

Day 9, Exploring the South and the Ionic Sea

The most exciting adventure for today was finding these 4 pigs, who were very big, a bit smelly and kind of cute. Mom was very attracted to them. The plan for today was to go wine tasting, yet we are now going tomorrow with someone to guide us. So we decided to explore around Taranto and the Ionic Coast. We were hoping to find some small fishing villages, but never found them and instead found some industrial areas and an interesting coast line. We did venture into the Costco-esque store of Italy and found our way around to buy water, pasta, cream some Italian paper and some other goodies. Also it was extremely important to find a bathroom as both mom and I need to go pee so badly. So after 4 hours of driving around, seeing the coast and getting a bit lost, we decided to head back towards Martina Franca where we were hoping to find a restaurant that would be open around 4 or 5 (the restaurants here only open between 8 and 9pm for dinner). Well after driving around for ½ an hour trying to find the centro storico (historical center) we gave up and headed home. So our nice driving day ended up with both mom and I exhausted taking a nap when we got home. We’re not sure we’re eating dinner tonight because it’s a prefix menu and it’s expensive, so we’ll nibble on the breadsticks we bought today at the grocery store! Tomorrow is our last day in the Puglia region with the trulli’s and then we head over to the west coast to the Campagnia region and Amalfi.

Day 8, Matera

2007-12-07T14:04:00.001-07:00

Day 8, Thursday December 6, 2007:

Today we were supposed to go to the Taranto area and go wine tasting, but plans changed this morning when we found out that the Masseria for the wine tasting was closed today, so we decided to head to Matera instead and do the wine tasting on Friday. I forget to mention in the previous days that we are staying in a Masseria which means a fortified farmhouse just outside of Martina Franca. This fortified farmhouse is surrounded by a large stone wall, a gated entrance and exit, and they are in the process of building a huge spa in the back of ‘hotel.’ In our room, we have these beautiful high ceiling (like in the trulli’s) and wooded windows with lace curtains. Outside the windows there are covers to keep the warm air in because it is freezing here (average of 2-8 degrees Celsius) and we couldn’t figure out how to open them so we tried lifting them to see out the window but we couldn’t get very far up. So yesterday for the first time, mom hit a switch by mistake and it automatically opened the shades so we now know how to open them! So today we ventured to Matera, a unique town in the Basilicata region filled with Sassi’s (stone dwellings carved into ravines dating back to the 8th century B.C.). It took us about 2 hours to drive there (mom practicing her go cart racing) and we drove around the city first to find the two parts of town with the Sassi’s: the Sasso Barisano and the Sasso Caveoso (the older and prettier one). This area was really interesting especially since the area has been inhabited since the 8th century B.C. until the 1950’s. Yes, you are reading that correctly- people lived in the cave, stone houses until the 1950’s when they became so overrun with Malaria that the government forcibly removed over 15,000 people from the cave to houses outside the town. Only in 1993 was the site named a Unesco World Heritage Site. We went inside one too (it was 1.50 Euros) and saw what it was like to live in these caves- it was quite cool. After we walked around for a few hours, we started to leave and found an area across the ravine from the Sassi’s to take some nice evening photos called the Chiese Rupestri, where I think we took more photos of these cool looking cows than we did of the sassi’s! It took us much less time to get home than it did to get there as we went a different way, but overall it was a nice, historical day and very interesting.

Day 7: Puglia

2007-12-05T14:40:00.000-07:00

Day 7, December 5, 2007: Exploring the Trulli Area

Today was an exciting and fun day exploring the Puglia region (the region in which we are staying on the ‘heel’ of Italy). Breakfast started this morning in the hotel restaurant in the same trulli where we had dinner last night, with some nice croissants, incredible chocolate spread (like nutella but sooo much better) and our daily dose of caffeine. Our first adventure of the day was trying to find the market in Martina Franca, which we eventually found (and even found a free parking space). The market was huge and apparently Martina Franca is known for its homemade designer clothing and its white wine. We were not aware of the clothing fact before we got there and actually both mom and I bought a skirt that was very cute at the market. We had to of course speak in Italian, or at least try, so we’ve learned a few necessary numbers in Italian and we are getting much better at ‘grazie’ and ‘buongiornio.’ After the market, we decided to make our way to Alberobello which is know for its over a thousand trulli’s. There is a special area even for pedestrian’s only in a Unesco site where many of the trulli’s are. There are stores, houses, restaurants and etc located in the trulli’s and we explored all of the streets with them. We found one store that had hand made linens that looked beautiful, but we weren’t going to enter because there was a sign all in Japanese and we figured it was a Japanese weaver, so there was no need to buy the linens in Italy. However, we were welcomed inside one of the trulli’s to see the loom and the linens were beautiful so we asked to see some more. The woman said the weaver was world famous and a terrific weaver and she was Italian. The sign was only in Japanese because during the summertime the majority of the tourists in this area are Japanese. So we ended up spending almost an hour in this store trying to decide which pattern and style we liked and bought too much, but they will become family heirlooms. We also learned that the whistle in this area is a sign of fertility. After we left Alberobello we made our way a few kilometers to the town of Locorotondo, famous for its white wine, trulli’s and ‘round’ hillside roads. We ended up just driving through, but will probably go through again to take some more photos. We headed to the towns of Crispiano and Ostuni, which showed the Greek influence on the area with white washed walls and more trulli’s. On the way to Ostuni, we found an Olive Oil Factory, which we decided to stop in, as we’ve been looking for actual factories to buy olive oil and wine in. We didn’t know what to do, so we walked into a door and saw men working- so we took some photos, a video and mom decided to ask whether we could buy a small olive oil compared to the huge jugs of olive oil that we saw there (all of this in Italian, by the way). So the man said to go to the main office and ask, but we didn’t know where that was, so he actually took us there and told the women that we wanted to buy smaller jugs of olive oil. She was lovely and took us over to their store for the factory and we tasted a few different varieties of oil which were delicious and we bought a few kinds to bring home! She also went through the entire process of making olive oil, from the olives (with the pits, or as they call it, nuts) to the final production. I have the whole thing videoed and in fact the process takes only 4 hours!! At this point in the day, mom and I were getting a bit tired from our exploring and decided because the sun was setting to make our way back home. We made it home to our hotel for the first time without the GPS, so we were very excited! Tomorrow we have plans to go to the Ionio Coast near Taranto and we are going to visit a few wineries and a few small fishing villages. A doppo. A domain. (until tomorrow, 2 ways of saying it)

Day 6: Adventures to Martina Franca

2007-12-04T12:40:00.000-07:00

Day 6: Gargano Peninsula to Martina Franca

We left the Peninsula this morning with overcast skies and drove down the Adriatic coast for a while until we reached Barletta when we decided to get on the Autoroute till we reached the town of Trani. Trani is called the “Pearl of Puglia” and as we drove off the exit both mom and I wondered why- it was industrial, ugly and busy. Mom was honked at in this town for the first time this whole trip! As we drove closer to the water, the streets became narrower and it became much nicer. We found a parking spot (a feat within itself) and walked out towards a beautiful cathedral right on the water with a castle next door. It was beautiful- we were the only tourists- but freezing… the wind was so strong we hid behind the stones as we walked around it to protect us from the howling wind. When we finally found our way back to the Autoroute, we were on our way again heading south bound. We decided to try and fill up with fuel at a self service place and as we began to try to read the instructions, the full service guy came over to try and help us figure it out. So we did it and then we had to go inside and tell them how much we pumped for them to charge us. Well, neither mom nor I knew how to say 35, so we tried. In the end, the woman was very nice and taught us how to say it (if we remember it or not is a different question)! As we left the gas station, a nice windy thunderstorm decided to open up and for the next hour or so until we got to our hotel it was raining/hailing. Our hotel is called Masseria Chiancone Torricella, which had no sign outside and mom didn’t even think we were in the right place until we eventually found an entrance. Once inside, however, it is beautiful and comfortable. There are trulli’s everwhere around here and the restaurant we are eating in this evening is in a Trulli! For the next few days, all we are going to see are Trulli’s so you will see lots of photos.
I would like to mention an incredibly funny story from last night so we don’t forget it. So as you know, we didn’t stay in the scheduled hotel, but stayed in another wonderful hotel, where the food was excellent (I had linguine with mussles, mom had a white fish of sorts that we don’t know what it was, but it was good) and there was no English spoken at all! In the evenings, dad and jeff have been calling us at the hotels and then usually the concierge connects them to our room. Well last night, they both tried to call and couldn’t be connected for some reason and they both tried their best in Italian. The man asked dad about a camera and dad said yes thinking that they knew I was a photographer. Actually “camera” means room in Italian and so dad got no where when he called the hotel. Jeff at least was able to say uno, uno, uno (111) instead of one hundred and eleven (which we didn’t know how to say at the time) and the hotel owner came knocking at our door around 12:30 at night. So a fast asleep mom went to the door and he said something to her that we didn’t understand, but then our cell phone rang and it was Jeff. He said he could hear mom talking to the man and she realized that he was holding the phone talking about jeff asking for our room. Quite funny, because he couldn’t transfer phone calls and it seemed that he was using a cell phone or something similar to receive phone calls to the hotel. So, back to the cell phones we went. We have an hour of free internet for the next five days, so I will try and post a couple of days at a time probably to save time, just fyi for those readers looking in everyday.

Day 5: Gargano Peninsula

2007-12-04T12:38:00.001-07:00

I think mom has gotten the hang of the continuous go-kart driving that we endured today. We left San Vito del Mare this morning after having a nice breakfast and drove along the coast for the next 7 hours. We drove through Vasto, Termoli, and several other small towns including Campomarino, which was a cute Albanian town where supposedly they speak in such a dialect that the Italians consider it foreign and cannot understand, so mom and I felt right at home! After leaving there, we decided to drive around the entire Gargano Peninsula, which is part of the Nationale Parco of Gargano, which was beautiful. It took forever as the roads were super narrow, windy, and right on the edge of a large cliff. I even had to put on my motion sickness bands as I wasn’t driving, but trying to look for nice places to stop and take photos. Throughout the whole peninsula, we could hear the ringing of cow bells along side the ocean and it was great. We arrived at the hotel we were supposed to stay at (la veranda hotel), right on the ocean, but it seemed that we were the only ones there and a bit creepy, so we decided to try and get some dinner in the nearby town of Mattinata and found a hotel and restaurant there that seemed much more our style- so it was a bit more expensive, but mom and I both felt much more comfortable and we will go downstairs in a bit to have dinner.

Day 4

2007-12-04T12:35:00.001-07:00

Day 4: Rome to San Vito Marina

Today, mom and I drove from Rome to our hotel on the east coast of Italy in the town of San Vito Marina (San Vito Chietino). It was an adventure just leaving Rome. We took a Taxi to the Hertz rental car agency from our hotel (15 E, 5 mins away); it was about 1.3 miles away and we were going to walk, but we were told it was hard to find our way back in Rome driving, so we decided just to bring all of our stuff with us. We got there and the car was all ready for us (with mom’s name on the screen)- the guy was very nice and gave us directions out of Rome, though we still got a little lost and the GPS helped us get back on track and on the A24 heading East. Mom says that driving a stick is like riding a bike: you don’t forget! And she did very well driving in Rome and on the highways. In fact, we both think that Italians are more cautious than the French and so far it’s been easier to drive here than in France (knock on wood, because it was Sunday today). We drove on the Autoroute for about 100 km until we then switched to the A25 towards Pescara and we got off the Autoroute to go to the town of Scanno. There are a few videos of the drive through the steep cliffs and mountains! We saw snow too for the first time today in the mountains which were beautiful. We went through one town, Albruzzo Al’bergo or something like that, that was a charming little town with tiny streets. It was great leaving Rome- I think mom and I were both ready to get out of the touristy area. So we have now arrived in San Vito Marina and are staying in a nice hotel called Hotel Garden right across the street from the water. We tried to find a restaurant for dinner this evening, but had no luck as it was Sunday. We did meet this lovely man who spoke a little broken English and he helped us find a Pizzeria so at least we have some Pizza for dinner. We also learned that the fish (pesche) is brought in daily only Monday through Friday so we should not eat fish on the weekends and that most Italians (at least on this side of the country) eat meat on Sunday’s only. Tomorrow we will drive down the coast to our next one night stop in Mattinata.

Roma, Day 3

2007-12-01T11:20:00.000-07:00

I forgot to mention yesterday in my tiredness that there is a photo of mom pretending to ride a Ferrari bike from the Ferrari store that we went into right near the Spanish Steps! Today was still a fair amount of walking for us and a long day, but not as long as yesterday. We only walked for 6 hours today; yesterday was about 8! We ventured to the Roman Forum today and the area of the Coliseum. We came upon a march of what we think were the Polizia marching for some reason and using air horns, whistles and mega phones. I took a video of it, so when I get a chance I’ll post it up here. The massive size of the buildings, or maybe I should say the remaining buildings of the Roman Forum were just unbelievable. It’s difficult to imagine that people lived, worked and did everything in this place where we were today so many years ago. We went to a cemetery there that was used during 20-10 B.C. The Temple of Romulus and some of the other Temples were beautiful. The Coliseum was so touristy that we decided it was better not to enter and just take photographs from the outside. After a few hours of touring this area, we decided to go to the Jewish Ghetto and see the Synagogue, which we were informed was one of the oldest Synagogues in the world. This Jewish section also has the largest number of Jews outside of Israel. On our way in the morning too we came upon a man walking his cat that looked so funny I had to take a photo. We decided to eat at a little place close to the hotel on Via Sistina where we had our first pizza (4 cheese, yummy!)- even mom had some of it! Tonight is our last night in Rome and tomorrow we are bravely going to pick up the rental car and venture East. I do not know if we will have internet for the next few days, so this might be the last post for a bit. Ciao!

Day 2: Roma

2007-11-30T12:59:00.000-07:00

We had a truly exhausting day today walking around. We left the hotel around 10:30 this morning and returned home around 8:30 this evening. We walked everywhere... First we ventured to the Vatican which is located about a mile or so from our hotel across the river (Tibere) and we spent most of the day there until around 3ish. We ended up taking a tour from this terrific south african who took us to the Sistine Chapel, Basilica de San Pietro and etc around the Vatican. We sent a few postcards as the Vatican has its own postal service, which is very neat. Afterwards, we headed sort of towards home, but got a bit lost and went to the Pantheon, Piazza Navons, Palazzo Madama, Palazzo Venezia, Montumento a Vittoria Emanuele II, Piazza Barberini and the Spanish Steps. So quite a filling day of tourist things... it will be nice when we don't do as many touristy things and can just walk around and explore- that will probably happen when we leave Rome! We are hear for one more full day and then we leave Rome for the eastern coast- well hopefully, if we can somehow find a way to drive out of Rome!! (We've heard it's quite difficult, so wish us luck!) Here are a few images of our tour guide and a little from today, completely unedited as will be the case with all the images.

Roma: Day 1

2007-11-29T11:32:00.000-07:00

Well, we have safely arrived in Rome… after a nice and almost too short flight because neither mom nor I could sleep very much. We did watch Ocean’s Thirteen and I listened to the In flight Italian twice, but not sure I have retained anything yet. So we were picked up by this guy holding mom’s name and whisked away into the city- mom and I were holding hands because we thought we might die in this one car ride. Apparently we have arrived in Rome in the middle of a Taxi strike, so there is a tremendous amount of traffic and apparently tomorrow (Friday) there is an all public transportation strike, which means we will be walking everywhere- which we were planning on doing anyways, except that the Vatican is somewhat far from where we are staying near the Spanish Steps. We made it to our hotel and decided to take a quick nap before we went out to explore, except we were so exhausted that we ended up sleeping for 4 hours! We still made it out though for a few hours in the afternoon to explore, see a few sights (like the Fontana de Trevi) and a few Piazza’s that we stumbled upon; mom lost her sense of direction, we recharged the cell phone and found a nice place to eat that was a bit pricey. Mom ordered a Coke Light (diet coke) for 5 Euro’s and I had tea for 6 Euro’s- holy crap… no more drinks for us! That was more expensive than a bottle of wine, so from now on, we will just be drinking alcohol! Our hotel is very cozy on a one way street that is quiet and nice. Here are some images from our travels so far:

Today's the Day...

2007-11-28T08:15:00.000-07:00

My mom and I are about to leave the house to fly from jfk to rome this afternoon. Nothing like an 8 hour flight to kick off the trip. Because we are using miles to fly there, we have the luxury of flying business class- so we are both super excited about that... in fact probably equally as excited to fly business as we are to go to Italy! We are supposed to arrive at 7:30 in the morning Rome time and then will freshen up and explore Rome. Mom, of course, as everyone should know by now, has brought too much stuff and has a suitcase, a duffel, a rolly poley (sp?), a backpack and her purse, which is huge itself. I am traveling much lighter- with one suitcase and a rolly poley with all my camera gear in it. Go figure?!?! We have a "Learn Italian on the Plane" podcast that both mom and I will have to master by the time we get there. Wish us luck. And so the trip begins.

Italia here we come!!

2007-11-23T10:11:00.000-07:00

For those of you who are interested, my mom and I are going on a trip to Italy starting on November 28th. When we have internet access, I will be updating this blog to the events and happenings of our trip. For a brief overview of our itinerary, here goes:

Arrive in Rome and stay for 3 nights.

Drive East to the adriatic coast line and drive down the coast for 3 nights.

Stay a bit inland on the heel of the boot for 5 nights.

Drive back West towards Amalfi and stay on the Amalfi coast for 4 nights.

Our last night will be in Naples.

I will try and update as much as possible, so feel free to follow along!

Defoor Centre Opening!

2007-11-18T18:58:00.001-07:00

Kyle and I couldn't make it to this opening, so others went in our place and Steve made a great Rebecca and Lee made a great Kyle! Enjoy.

Art House Opening!

2007-11-12T13:25:00.000-07:00

Final Project Shots

2007-11-03T13:05:00.000-06:00

Here is a selection of images from my studio shoot for my final project. Most of the images taken were shot with the Canon 5D with an iso of 100, f-stop of 11 (bracketed from 9 to 13), and a shutter speed of 100-125th of a second. I used 2 strobe pro-photo lights: a small softbox and a grid light with 5 degrees. The last shot is of the studio setup.

More Final Project Ideas

2007-10-31T12:18:00.000-06:00

Here are some more examples of miniatures for my final project. They do not include body's in these images, but i'm hoping to incorporate both into this. I have gone out an bought a few miniatures, but am still looking for more to help with my scenes. The lighting in this first image appears to be light from the right side by by a grid and from the left side by a small softbox. I will probably have a similar lighting setup for my shoot.

Project 5: Final Portraits

2007-10-24T13:49:00.000-06:00

For this project, I produced a series of 3 portraits using short, broad and glamour lighting techniques. The settings for the shots were bracketed from f11 at 1/125 of a second using the Canon 5d with an iso of 100. The flash settings were A (lightbox) at 1/2, B (grid at 5 degrees) at 1/4; the bracket was at 1 stop and the flash was A+B. Here is the setup shot and the final other images- i can't decide which ones exactly to use, so i'll post them all here:

Allan deSouza Review

2007-10-16T11:49:00.000-06:00

Allan deSouza has incorporated a variety of differing tools in his photography/mixed media. His lecture Rituals in Transfigured Time, presented at Savannah College of Art and Design-Atlanta on October 3, showcased many different series of his works. DeSouza described both the techniques he used as well as more in-depth interpretations that focused on the unwritten histories hidden in the images.

His series Threshold includes 24 images of airports, train and bus stations. The series focused on waiting areas and transitions between places in time where one has left behind the familiar, but has not yet arrived at the new venue. DeSouza mentioned that he wanted the viewers to imagine a first encounter with a new place and how they might emotionally engage with the physical space presented. The goal of the work is to demonstrate the promise of the West and this goal is achievable if we use Orientalism as the primary interpretation tool.

Orientalism can be loosely defined as the study of Far Eastern cultures by Westerners. Edward Said calls into question the very definition of Orientalism by pondering this fundamental assumption. “The interpreter’s mind actively makes a place in it for a foreign Other. And this creative making of a place for works that are otherwise alien and distant is the most important facet of the interpreter’s mission.” (Said, Orientalism, 25 Years Later, 2003) DeSouza’s artwork tries to show the relation between the East and West in his subtle imagery.

In his series In search of divine, deSouza searches for the hidden essence of a divine presence in the mundane components of ordinary existence. He relies on the viewer to ask, “What am I looking at?” and anticipates that the viewer will be capable of seeing beyond the ordinary and approach the divine essence present in the objects. In many of his photographs, deSouza’s own body provides the key elements - blood, hair, earwax, toenails and fingernails - and challenges the viewer to see behind the physical reality of these objects.

DeSouza uses these materials because they are organic and will eventually decompose, decay and disintegrate. He creates spaces that might look epic and immense, yet are really the opposite. He asks, “What does it mean to the viewer to be confronted with a landscape that is made out of blood?” The use of his shavings, his bodily fluids and discarded parts acts as a form of cleansing and purification for him, yet might be dirty and contaminating for another. Perhaps this technique enables him to focus on the differences in the perceptions and appearances of the body in the various geographic locales of his images. Our social space is marked by the way we move within it. DeSouza elaborates on the process of the movement.

Project 5 Ideas

2007-10-15T17:35:00.001-06:00

Project 5 is a Studio Portrait/ People assignment. Here are some sample images of portraits that I would like to emulate in the studio. I am going to photograph Robert is a low light environment. One shot will be a sad pose of his face with him on the right side of the frame, another will be him with his blue guitar and the third will be a full body shot.

Project 4 Final

2007-10-15T17:20:00.000-06:00

Project 4 went well today. I set up everything early and felt comfortable and organized by the time class started, we were well on our way to our final shot. We set up as a Tarot Card Reader's desk and had 2 lights- one softbox on the left front side (set at 1/4) and a grid light on the right rear side (set at 1/2). We first took test shots without the lite candles and then with the lite candles. We used f 22 at 1/2 a second. Our bracketing therefore was f22 at 0"5; f22 at 0"3; f22 at 0"8. Our lights were set at A<->B with the flash bracket at 2 stops. We also repeated the above exposures with the bracket at A+B just to see the difference. Here is the final shot, the setup shot and our contact sheets!Also, after having critique today, Judith suggested I try cropping the image, so here is the cropped and lightened image as well:

Cannonball Press Review

2007-10-14T11:25:00.000-06:00

I figure since this is not only my studio blog, I should probably post some of the reviews i've been writing, so here is one that I wrote for the Cannonball Press Lecture at SCAD. It is posted on photoawesome.com and artrelish.com.

On a Thursday night with so many events to choose from in the Atlanta area, I chose to attend the Cannonball Press Lecture entitled, Woodcutology at the Savannah College of Art and Design Printmaking Workshop. I was greeted by a crowd of people eager to listen to a PowerPoint presentation by two men who had been extremely productive for the past week in the workshop. As Richard Gere, department chair of Printmaking, so eloquently stated, “these guys are here to create a stir of creativity.” Hopefully their creativity will provide the impetus for the students to be creative and productive.

These two fun-loving guys are in love with what they do and want to spread the word and inspire others. Martin Mazorra and Mike Houston are the two creators and owners of Cannonball Press, a small, well known press in Brooklyn, New York. In their small space, Martin and Mike, along with many other artists whom they represent, create magnificent woodcut prints. The prints are sold at reasonable prices that the average person can afford, without breaking the bank. The artists at Cannonball Press create work that is political, humorous, entertaining, religious and educational. Their “recipe” for success, appropriate for all artists is, “a down home dish that is tasty hot or cold.”
The lecture, overflowing with people, provided an insight into the philosophical practices of Mike and Martin. Their passion, beliefs, and values provided a solid ground for paving the road for a successful career. Their work and the work of the artists they represent is exciting and their craftsmanship is worth checking out. Also their prices are still a bargain and remarkable when compared to a market in which artwork can be sold for thousands to millions of dollars. They are trying to create a market where artwork is affordable for the commoner. Their works sell for as little as $25.00 and are worth much more than that.

You can find their website and more information at www.cannoballpress.com

Final Project Ideas

2007-10-14T08:40:00.000-06:00

I know that we are supposed to be thinking about ideas for our final project. For a while now, I have wanted to take images of small people (toy statues of sorts) on body parts. So a close up, dark-ish color shot. For one of the shots, I will use someone's foot and have a small ladder and a guy on the ladder pretending to climb up the toe. For another shot, I will use a hand and will have a statue of someone fishing off the fingernails. So there are some of my ideas for the shoot- I have not decided yet whether to use real, small figures or use something like lego men for the people. Here are some examples of a photographer's work that I absolutely love:

Project 3 Final

2007-10-14T08:39:00.000-06:00

Project 3 turned out great! I'm happy with the final result- I have scanned in the 4x5 chrome (iso 64) and adjusted the curves a bit. Here is the final shot:
The settings for the bracket were: Normal: f 8 1/3 at 1/2 a second; f 83/4 at 1/2 a second; f 6 3/4 at 1/2 a second and we also took a shot at f 8 1/3 at 1 second.

Ideas for project 4!

2007-10-08T14:33:00.000-06:00

Project 4 is supposed to be a photographic illustration of a desk, with illumination. Beatriz and I have come up with the idea of a tarot card readers desk. We will have tarot cards, candles, feathers, and a tarot book all on a black background. Here are some examples:

Project 3 Polaroids

2007-10-08T14:06:00.000-06:00

Here is the black and white scanned image from Kyle's and my photo shoot today with the martini glass mardi gras theme. Since polaroid film has an iso of 100, we shot this image with f8 and 1/2 a second and the second shot with f8 and a 1/4 of a second. The film version will follow once developed, but here are some digital test shots from the shoot and our setup image as well.