Posts filed under 'Travel'
So, going backwards, many of you have been asking about my infamous trip to Cuba in November. With the book project ending and the Christmas rush upon us, I never did post any images. Look for the vacation pics on tomorrow’s blog entry.
Cuba was a somewhat “restful” vacation - although not much sleeping went on! The trouble is, I met a wonderful group of people who’s young spirit kept me on my toes and reminded me of my University days. In the end, I photographed the wedding of a young Toronto couple and have gained some great friends out of the trip. The images aren’t representative of our signature “Veridamo moody” style since I didn’t pack my suitcase with the usual tools of choice but it is the couple that makes them special!
Tonja & Robert on the beach of the Playa Pesquero Resort in Holguin, Cuba
A toast to a long and happy marriage!
Jeff and Kim… will wedding bells ring next for them?
Isabelle and Roy came all the way from Newfoundland.
Jeff, These boys could get into some serious trouble together!
The whole gang… so many it took a train to bring them all over!
The Wedding Party…
February 22nd, 2010
Once again we attended the WPPI - Wedding Portrait Photographers International convention in Las Vegas. This year the convention moved from Balley’s/Paris to a larger venue at the MGM Grand. It was refreshing to be in a new place - we stayed at Signature Suites - which we highly recommend.
This year we brought our dear daughter with us again (she’s just too cute to leave home). As well we brought our nanny - you’ll have to wait to see why until the last image in this post :). Having our nanny there enabled us to reconnect with our photographer friends around the world and socialize past Alexia’s 8pm curfew without worrying about our little girl - after all Vegas is a wild place!
We left Las Vegas with new ideas, new friends and amazing mentors to help us grow our business this year. Stay tuned for some exciting projects and announcements to come.
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The MGM has the coolest decor. I love the glitz and glam and the lights, mirrors and ambiance. It is such an amazing place to photograph.
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This is the inside of Rouge - one of the nightly hangout spots.
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MGM Grand Hotel and Casino has created a one-of-a-kind Lion Habitat as a showcase for public education and appreciation for this majestic creature of nature. The lion has been a part of the MGM heritage for many years, beginning with the legendary Leo, whose roars have welcomed generations of moviegoers to epics of the silver screen.
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The lions live in custom accommodations on an 8.5-acre ranch 12 miles from the MGM Grand. They are owned and cared for by noted feline expert Keith Evans, who has been training exotic animals for more than 30 years. Each day 2-3 of the lions make their way to the MGM Grand to hang out!
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A trip to Vegas wouldn’t be the same without a walk down the Legendary Strip at night!
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Vegas was very quiet - as you can see - not alot of traffic! That all changed on Valentine’s Day! You couldn’t get into any restaurant if you tried - most were completely reserved. So we starved that night well, not really - we used our preferred customer card at the Rainforest Cafe!
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The lovely Eiffel tower at Paris Hotel/Casino at night. Close your eyes ladies and picture yourself in France!
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The New York, New York. One of my personal favorites to photograph!
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The Skyline is forever changing on the strip. This is part of CityCenter, the 18.6 million-square-foot, $7.4 billion hotel, casino, retail and residential complex on 76 prime acres of this city’s legendary Strip. This glitzy mega project will hold the Vdara Condo Hotel, (1543 residences), The Veer Towers (2 of them) will house 337 residence each both inclined at a 5 degree angle! The Mandarin Oriental (400 hotel rooms and 227 private residence) and finally the Harmon Hotel (400 hotel rooms and 228 condos). You can be the happy owner of a one bedroom flat for the bargain price of $1.24 million!
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One evening we walked, baby, nanny and all to the famous Welcome to Las Vegas sign. Photo taken by Nanny Christina
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Another photo courtessy of Nanny Christina!
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Doesn’t she look impressed to be with us? And she isn’t even close to being 16 yet!
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Our nanny Christina is fun to photograph and a great photogenic test subject. I saw this wall and instantly had an idea for a photo. Usually Alexia is my model so it was nice to have someone new to work with that takes direction well!
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Jeff and myself with friends Jim and Katarina who own a successful studio in Seattle. Jim was a platform speaker at WPPI this year and he and Katarina have designed photography lens bags called Boda Bags www.goboda.com.
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Aussie mates, Julie & Tero Sade from down unda, down unda in Hobart,Tasmania.
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Ok, so this is my favorite shot taken at WPPI. We spent many hours walking back and forth from our suite at Signature to the Conference Centre at MGM Grand and Alexia loved the moveaters!
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What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas!
And for those of you brave enough to wait till the end, this is why we brought our nanny to Vegas!
Tanya
March 4th, 2009
Hey all,
We’re back from an annual trip to Vegas where we attend the WPPI convention and tradeshow. It’s one of the biggest photography conventions of the year, with over 10,000 photographers attending this year.
The conference is in Bally’s while the tradeshow is actually in Paris. The two hotels are connected, meaning you don’t even need to bother to step out into that nasty fresh air when they make it so convenient for you to spend all your time inside, breathing recirculated, recycled, stale smokey air.
I went out with Greg Dries from Australia to do some early morning Saturday shooting on the strip while Tanya was treated (by moi) to a deluxe pedicure at the Paris spa (which of course she loved). It wasn’t until Thursday that we even managed to step outside. Yup, more than 5 straight days inside. Why?? Well, we’re not quite sure how it happened, other than there were some late seminars, evening events, and the Tequila Bar where we and the Aussies tended to congregate each evening.
We thought we’d get out one evening to see a show. So we ended up going to see the local production of “The Producers”. It was a great show with the only problem being that it was held in the Paris. Another night without fresh air…..
But The Producers starred David Hasslehoff, who makes his first appearence in the play while wearing an outrageous dress. The hoffman in a musical comedy wearing a dress in Vegas. If that isn’t a good time, well then we just don’t know what a good time is then do we!!!
Oh, and a congratulations to our friend Tero Sade for picking up the award for best Bridal Group photo.
Though photo opportunities are there if we want them, WPPI for us is more about the seminars, socializing, meeting, drinking, socializing, learning, ummm….. all that. But we did manage to eek out a few images to share:
The balloon thing at the front of the Paris hotel, with the afternoon sun peeking through
Bally’s is just north of the Paris along the strip. They are actually connected hotels.
Coming down the escalator in the extremely colourful M&M candy store
Long outdoor escalator in front of Bally’s
The Eiffel tower peeking from behind the thing-a-ma-bobs outside the front of Bally’s
The serenity of the fountains outside Caesar’s palace
Stevie Nicks is headlining at Caesar’s Palace
Statue outside the Caesar’s Forum shops, with Harrah’s in the background across the street
The mirage
They say that Vegas can get a little wild at times. I didn’t realize they meant wildlife!! These little guys setup shop right outside the Mirage
One of the gondola’s available for a low-low price at the Venetian
A buddha statue in a chinese restaurant in the Venetian hotel (which is actually in the desert). Vegas is interesting!
Litter left behind on the strip after a typical Friday night in Vegas. If you’ve been to Vegas, you know what the litter is…..
Caesar pointing the way to Harrah’s for a cheap buffet dinner
Yet another shot of the Eiffel tower
Celebration drinks after Tero won his Bridal Group award.
Vegas beauties. Katarina, Dawn, and Tanya. Oh, and that’s John Garner from Bookcrafts in Australia. He’s a great guy and one of our Album suppliers. Though he’s looking a little red in the face. Must be the drinking ! 
Oh yes, and congratulations to Katarina and Jim (and 2nd shooter Ben) for picking up Best Album award in the multi-shooter category.
And if you’ve got this far, next time you talk to Tanya, ask her about meeting David Hasselhoff in the elevator
April 4th, 2007
And so we arrive in Brisbane having completed our workshop with Yervant and Anie.
We were up late Saturday night, meaning we weren’t too enthused about catching an early Sunday morning flight to Brisbane. The reason for our 8am flight was so that we could arrive in Brisbane in time to catch the last two days of the annual Hair of the Dog conference. This is a photography conference put on by the Queensland AIPP (Australian Institute of Professional Photography).
We met some more photographers, sat in a few seminars, wrote some notes, and passed on the unlabeled sandwhiches (but did eat the cookies).
Aside from a wonderment that we would travel to Australia and spend 6 straight days in workshops and conferences, you’re wondering what a “hair of the dog” is? According to this wikipedia entry, it refers to “an expression predominantly used to refer to ingestion of alcohol as treatment for a hangover”. Like we said earlier, those Aussie’s have a great sense of humour.
After the conference, that left us three days in Brisbane to see the sights. As our trip was winding down, the camera was tucked away more than it had been during the previous part of the trip, but we still managed to take a few shots….
Now, one thing you hear repeatedly in Australia is how hot and humid Brisbane is. People move out of Brisbane to escape the heat. People move into Brisbane to bask in the heat. What we experienced was a mild amount of humidity and high 20’s temperature. Certainly not the 40 degree melting rubber temperate that people outside of Brisbane warned us to expect. Apparently Brisbane is experiencing a mild summer, and we are grateful. Well mostly….
On Thursday we set out for the beach, heading north up the Sunshine Coast to Noosa, a popular Australian vacation spot. Can you guess what happened? Go ahead, take a guess.
These shots below should tell the story…
A view out the car window at Noosa
A break in the rain allowed us to actually venture onto the beach
I guess surfers don’t care if it rains or not - either way they get wet.
A shot of downtown at night
A popular brand of beer brewed in Brisbane - we have no idea if it is any good or not
Here’s a couple shots near downtown Brisbane. Don’t know anything about the building or the bridge, but they looked interesting
And finally our host during our stay, master photographer Jason Starr. He and his wife Sal kindly put up with us for our last week in Australia. This is an ‘interpretive’ shot of Jason, taken with a special lens that distorts the image a little.
A big thank you to everyone we met in Australia who helped give us a fantastic trip and lots of memories (and pictures).
Next stop…… home (whew)…
February 27th, 2007
One of our primary purposes for travelling to Australia was to attend a 4 day workshop hosted by Yervant and his wife Anie. Yervant is a ridiculously good wedding photographer, with Anie being the brains behind the organization. We covered everything: sales, marketing, production techniques, editing, photoshop, albums, ….
Being a photography workshop, the main highlights were a walk about town with Yervant and a past bride and grown - watching him set-up shots as he explained his thinking and methodology, and the following day us students setting out to photograph three past brides who were gracious enough to volunteer for a few hours.
We’ve included some of our favourite images below. It’s hard to narrow them down to just a few as the beautiful brides and the wonderful shooting locations make for great images.
For the next bride, this is her original wedding dress (I think she got married in November). Lots of Yervant’s brides wear these stylized or couture dresses. We loved this retro 20’s look.
We’d like to publicly thank Yervant and Anie for hosting the workshop during the busy wedding season in Melbourne. We had a great experience, learned lots, appreciated everything they shared with us, and are looking forward to implement many of the suggestions offered not only by them but also the other photographers we had a chance to visit during our Australia 2007 tour. Stay tuned for exciting changes to our business….
And a special shout-out to Wil and Reg of Saxon Cole Photography, a husband/wife team out of Sydney that also attended the workshop. We got to know them quite well as we Canadians gave them a tour of Melbourne (an extended tour as it turns out, as we jumped on the wrong Tram not once, but twice…. Jeff claims the Trams were mis-numbered and not following the map).
Here’s pretty much the worst picture I think the 4 of us have ever had taken. It’s at 6:30 am Sunday morning at the Melbourne airport just before they head back to Sydney and we jump up to Brisbane. All of us on very little sleep from a week-long workshop plus we didn’t get to our hotel room until 1:30am the previous night. We’ll see you guys next year. 
Last stop… Brisbane
February 24th, 2007
And again we find ourselves in Melbourne, definitely one of our favourite cities in the world.
We caught an early flight from Hobart to Melbourne. A real early flight - it left at 6am - landed at 7am and we were back in our original hotel room from our first day in Melbourne by 8am.
We spent the day wondering around downtown (what they call the CBD - Central Business District). And talk about a small world. One of Tanya’s best friends, Jen, from high school is a forest fire fighter and has been on loan to Australia to help with some larger fires here. Our time in Melbourne happened to coincide with a few days that she had here before returning to Canada (Salmon Arm actually).
So we went to a Japanese restaurant called the Chocolate Buddha to meet her and her group for drinks. We managed to snap some more night shots.
Tuesday was spent at the beach and wandering through St. Kilda’s south of Melbourne.
The big reason for heading over here was to attending a workshop and that began Tuesday night. We’ll post some images that we took as part of the workshop later. For now though we’ll include some shots from the bay that we took on Thursday night (a little boat cruise for us attendees)
Spend all that money and you pick the colour orange… hmmm…. At one point a silver one pulled up right beside it. Oh yes, let’s not forget the Ferrari parked behind it as well
An ‘illustrative’ picture of a tram about to run me over
Southern Cross train station - on the west side of the CBD. Again, some very modern architecture in Melbourne
Night shot taken from near the entrance to the Chocolate Buddha showing the Flinders Street Station.
The Federation Square courtyard and a lone Vespa, waiting for its driver…
Tanya and Jen
A view of the city with the Telstra dome
Passing under the bridge from the previous shot. No idea what the bridge is.
Another shot of the city
An evening shot looking back west - the previous images where north or northwest.
February 22nd, 2007
Hobart Tasmania (aka “Down unda, down unda”). Population 126,000. We arrived on Wednesday evening and were met at the airport by Tero Sade - one of Australia’s premier portrait photographers (oops, we mean THE premier portrait photographer ). We are fortunate enough to be staying with Tero and his family at their home which sits atop a hillside about 20 minutes outside of the city of Hobart.
Tasmania is separated by the Mainland by 240 km of water known as Bass Strait. It is known for its majestic photographic landscapes. At first glance the terrain looks much like that of Vancouver but with more rolling hills. It was mostly sunny with clouds moving about making it a bit of a toss up whether you wore pants or shorts.
We visited Mount Wellington, which is a favourite excursion of the locals. The mountain rises 1270 metres (around 4000 feet) above Hobart’s harbour and the Derwent River. Because it is within 20 minutes of the city it is easy to get to but be prepared for the winding road which stretches 21 kms. The trek itself reminded me much of the Road to Hana in Maui - those of you who have survived that trek would understand. The drive to the summit provided majectic views and photographic opportunities including temperate rain forest, sub-alpine flora and glacial rock. All I can say is the lighting there was unbelieveable!
On our last full day on the island we drove down to visit Port Arthur with Tero’s son acting as our tour guide. Port Arthur is a national historic site, having been Australia’s largest prison (penal colony). Though thriving in the mid 1800’s, it now stands as a series of ruins and restored buildings, which of course makes for great photography.
The rest of the time it was relaxing on the homestead with our bellies full of “shrimp on the barbi” (well, not exactly as we don’t like shrimp but you get the idea)
“God Rays” near Tero’s home in the valley (just outside of Hobart)
More rays from the big man
A view from the top, Mt. Wellington (I think this is Hobart). The clouds are just a few feet above us.
Um, our professional portrait taken by a master
Cool shot of Jeff taking an photo of something or other
It’s kind-of a foreign landscape up there, kinda Moon-ish or Mars-ish. This was as the “fog” was rolling in. We lucked out by getting there before it got socked in.
Another vista from near the top, showing some wind-swept trees
Tero’s backyard. It’s a tough life out there, having to wake up every morning to fresh air and the cherry orchard next door.
One of the two horses on his property, taken just before we had to clean the lens.
The road to Port Arthur has its share of majestic cliffs. This was taken near an area known as the ‘blowhole’. It wasn’t blowing too hard this day - so we’ll show you images of cliffs instead.
Another view of the coastline further down the road
An image of the penitentiary at Port Arthur. Not much left but a brick shell now but it housed 480 prisoners in its hay-day. This shot was taken from the bay while on a quick loop around to get a closer look at the “Isle of the Dead” (it’s where the prisoners were buried when they died).
A shot of the hospital (burnt in two seperate fires)
The church (destroyed in an 1884 fire) just visible through a grove of trees
The eluive Tasmanian Tero - rarely photographed as it is usually found behind a camera
Next destination - back to Melbourne….
February 19th, 2007
More of our 4 days in Sydney. Here are some of our favourite shots of Sydney at night (pretty much mostly in and around the main harbour).
We were lucky enough to capture an almost full moon (bright orange) rising over the Opera House
February 10th, 2007
So one of our day trips in Sydney was to the Taronga Zoo. We embarked on a ferry ride to the zoo from Manly Wharf which took us to the docks at Circular Quay located in the heart of Sydney close to the Sydney Opera House. From there we took another ferry to the Zoo which is located in Mosman.
As we found out, the best time to visit the zoo is in the morning when the animals are most active or around feeding times. We arrived in the late afternoon and on a hot day so many of the animals were napping.
Some of the most entertaining on our visit were the Orang-utans (Pongo pygmaeus). Taronga Zoo has four Orang-utans; males Jantan and Kluet and females Judy and Willow. When we visited, they were hiding/playing under potato sacs to shield themselves from the hot sun.
One of the biggest reasons that I wanted to visit the Zoo was to see the Koalas up close. Taronga is currently home to 14 koalas and visitors can have a close encounter with the famous Australian icon every day. Unfortunately, we arrived at the Zoo just 15 minutes after the “close encounter” opportunity and instead had to settle for photographing them at distance.
My favourite to photograph were the Giraffes. Giraffes are born to enjoy the view and Taronga’s have the best view in Sydney; they overlook the Sydney Harbour and the Opera House! We saw4 Giraffes on our visit: ‘Hope’ (the oldest of the group) followed by ‘Niota’ and ‘Charity’ (the only male) - and ‘Andara’.
One of my favourite images from the trip was actually of Jeff and not the zoo animals (although some would say that Jeff exudes behavior of a different primate….)
The Chimpanzee habitat had Mirrors so that its visitors could mimick chimpanzee facial expressions (or is it that chimps mimics human expressions???).
A few more creatures…
Crikey…
A Fairy Penguin - just chill’n and relax’n
Not a “Tiger Shark”, but just a Tiger
The obvious title for this one: “Monkeying around”. Runner up: “Down Under Monkey”
February 9th, 2007
Next stop - Sydney…
First off, Sydney is a bloody huge city. There are something like 5 million people here. And the main business area (referred to as the Central Business District or CBD) easily dwarfs Vancouver.
Sydney is about a 1.5 hour flight from Melbourne - so it was a nice quick flight. Our flight left at 10:15am but we arrived unusually late to the airport at 9:45am. Sweated it a little bit, but we managed to catch the flight and were one of the last to board.
Sydney is afflicted with the same condition as Vancouver though - onewayitis. Driving around downtown especially is a two person job - one person to drive and the other to consult the map and yell at the driver for looking at the pretty girls and missing the street. Of course the diver is busy cursing because the street signs aren’t exactly easy to find. But we’re proud to report that though we missed a few turns, we were never lost and never once had to ask for help. Still, virtually everyone said we were brave to drive at all.
A few tidbits we take away with us:
- Way too much for a tourist to do here. We had 4 days in Sydney and figure another 3 or 4 would have got us close to visiting and doing all the things on our list.
- It’s a big city. Really big.
- Lots of beaches with really nice sand and beautiful bodies (of water )
- It’s more hilly and more lush than we expected. One can see the parallels between Sydney, Vancouver, and San Francisco. Definitely more humid than SF or Van, but it wasn’t bad.
- Parking is difficult to find and beyond ridiculous in price. To park near the Opera House was $9 for 0-30 minutes. To park for 5 hours was something like $45.
- Why is parking expensive? To discourage driving. During rush hour, there is a lot of traffic. Yup - traffic is a problem here as well - we found out as it took us two hours to get to the airport.
- We’d like to thank Barb and Jim Kent for hosting us at their house and for taking us on a driving tour of the south coast on our last day. A nice relaxing way to end this leg of the trip.
Main tourist area in Sydney - the “Circular Quay” between the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge
Couple of aboriginal’s playing for the crowd. Note the coffee on the right.
Next to the Circular Quay is an area called “The Rocks”. This is a view north with the bridge in the background.
The opera house with cafe tents in the foreground
The mandatory self portrait shot that all tourists have to take, including professional photographers
Looking north at the opera house with the Harbour Bridge to the left
Another view of the opera house, this time looking south from a ferry taking us to the zoo (that’s not a metaphor, we really went to the zoo - pictures to follow)
Downtown in the background (the opera house is hidden to the right of the image.
The world famous Bondi beach. It’s a lot quieter during the week day - but apparently jam packed on weekends.
The north end of Bondi beach, with a little pool for the kiddies and probably multi-million dollar condos right on the bluff.
A couple of crazy locals trying to cool off in the heat by standing in the way of waves crashing into the cliff. We assume they are still alive.
Lifeguard putting out the Bluebottle warnings on the main beach in Manly (north end of Sydney). Lots of people getting stung this day, with the beach littered with dead little blue jellyfish kinda things. Lovely.
A view looking south down the Australian coast. Taken on our last day during a trip south of Sydney
More of Sydney still to come….
February 9th, 2007
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