amsterdam: no. 3

This is a shot of the Haarlem train station. After the morning walk, this is where we picked up the train to head into downtown Amsterdam for the morning. What I like about this shot is seeing the textures and lines of the iron work in the old station. I also like the silhouette of the older gentleman standing about halfway down the track. We spent quite a lot of time in train stations during the trip because we had Eurail passes and used them to get from city to city. It was convenient for all the places we wanted to travel, though the next time I go back to Europe, I probably won't try to fit so many different cities into one trip.

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iTunes: Circus Band, by Charles Ives

amsterdam: no. 2

This shot was another one that I snagged on my morning walk along the canal. I loved seeing the reflection of the houses in the water, and I love how the black-and-white brings out the various textures in this image.

People have sometimes asked me which I prefer, color images or black-and-white images. It's hard to say, and impossible to really decide. But I must say that I love the classic crispness of a good black-and-white shot.

Often, when I'm out shooting, I know as soon as I frame the shot whether I want it in color or in black-and-white. I always shoot in color, because I like the flexibility that the color data gives me in editing a photo to be black-and-white, but sometime I frame a shot knowing that it will eventually not be in color.

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iTunes: Sometimes I'm Happy, by Sarah Vaughan

amsterdam: no. 1

It's been almost six months since the last post, and I'm long overdue for an update. Such is the life of a graduate student, though. There is no sign of the work letting up anytime in the near future, but I'll attempt to periodically share a few shots from the archives -- hopefully with more regularity than I've been posting.

To start with: here is one of my first shots from my trip to Europe last summer. The first stop was Amsterdam, but because of hiccups in our travel plans and nasty weather as soon as we arrived, I didn't pull out my camera until the day after we arrived. We took a walk around the outskirts of the city, close to where we stayed the night before, before taking the train into Amsterdam. Don't you love the early morning light here?

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iTunes: Beethoven, Missa Solemnis

europe 2010: trip #1

Reality #1 of life as a graduate student: procrastination happens.

Reality #2 of life as a graduate student: procrastination doesn't happen as often as you'd like.

But a peek at my life lately will show you this lovely shot taken at the Vienna Opera House.  This spring I had the opportunity to go to Vienna and Berlin as part of a graduate seminar I took in the Art History department.  Even though I've been to Europe many times and even lived there for a little while, this was my first time in Europe with my Nikon D-80!  Trip #2, incidentally, will be starting next week!

Life as a photographer-turned-graduate-student is good.  Busy, but good.  Not as many picture-taking opportunities (really, who wants to see pictures of all the papers I write?), but I am enjoying the new direction life has gone.  Photography still happens, it is just much more under-the-radar these days.

Before I sign off, I will share a few more photos.  Here is a VERY truncated survey of some of the pictures I took on my trip.  Reality #2 keeps me from uploading more pictures and writing more blog posts about it, but I have put all the images on Flickr in case any of my former readers wish to see more.  Enjoy!

 

The Postsparkasse, Vienna -- everything inside is in black-and-white, so this picture almost looks like real life.

 

The streets of Vienna -- quite lovely!

 

Though there are some interesting signs -- any fun commentary on what this one might mean?  I think my favorite interpretation is "no heterosexual couples."  (Incidentally, these are all over the old city of Vienna.)

 

And graffiti -- I always take graffiti pictures.  Odd taste of mine I suppose.

 

Inside the Rathaus -- gorgeous, right?

 

One of my favorite shots of the Vienna streets.  I like the lighting and the colors in it, plus how overtly European it feels.

 

Another shot, taken during a brief lunch break.

 

Walking through the Belvedere gardens.  Snazzy in black-and-white, yes?

 

En-route to Berlin!

 

The sign on our very hipster hotel in Berlin.  Cracks me up!

 

Museums.  This is representative of where we spent most of our time.

 

Inside the Berlin opera house.  Have to get as many opera-related pictures in as I can :)

 

View up to a monument.

 

Berlin streets.  This is one of the very nice neighborhoods.

 

A model of the famous gate in Berlin.  There was an exhibit with a model of what the city used to look like, and it was a neat way to access an understanding of the historical city.

 

Another Berlin neighborhood.  A bit different from the other shot, yes?

 

Outside the city -- water and openness was nice after all the time in urban areas!

 

Picturesque, I thought.

 

Love the three doors here and the warm colors.

 

Quite enjoyed my macro lens on this excursion!

 

Potsdam!  Great fountain in the square.

 

Love it.

 

Our breakfast table from the aforementioned hipster hotel :)  Wish my breakfast table always looked this fabulous!

 

Love the gallery shot.

 

Reminds me of a picture I took close to my old apartment.  But this is clearly much more fabulous :)

 

Hope all is well for my readers!  Auf Wiedersehen!

photoshoot: X and Z

Two of my favorite kids, X and Z are both adopted from China -- and don't they have the coolest first initials?  I've posted some pictures of X before and since that post, she and her family went back to China to adopt Z.  X has grown up so much and is becoming such a beautiful young lady, and Z is just the cutest little guy ever.  I've known their family for years now, so it was bittersweet that I moved several states away just before they got Z.  But in the short time I've had to get to know him, he has totally claimed a special place in my heart.  How could he not?

We got to do a short photoshoot this afternoon -- and by short, I mean short.  We were done in about 10-15 minutes.  This is my favorite shot of the afternoon.  It's faces like these that make leaving so hard.
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iTunes: Cavalleria rusticana

roses are red...

Roses on Valentine's Day are nice, aren't they?  It's a toss up whether I like the roses, the chocolate, or the champagne best.  It was a pleasant treat to have all three this year, thanks to a great group of guys who got together and made a lovely dinner for the ladies!
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My iTunes: You Belong to Me by Carla Bruni

special delivery

3 months and 7 days since my last post.  Clearly, I have been shamefully lax in my posting.  Sadly to say, I have also been shamefully lax in my shooting.  What can I say -- the life of a graduate student is busier than I expected.  I'm hoping to do more shooting this term now that I have my feet under me.

The start of a new term inevitably means purchasing books.  In the past two weeks, I think I have come close to literally purchasing my weight in books.  I love it.  This special delivery, however, practically screamed to be photographed, so I grabbed my trusty Nikon off the shelf and had some fun before opening it.  I wish all my mail looked as great as this package:

In the end, it was graduate school that kept me from my camera and graduate school that compelled me to get it out again.  Ironic?

But speaking of graduate school, I have to go read that book that I opened yesterday...

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iTunes: Figli del mesto cor by Handel, performed by Jochen Kowalski

new haven: part 2

I spent last weekend back down in Baltimore, and it was wonderful to be "home" again. I've missed the people who became family to me over the past few years, and it was really nice to see some of them. It was a whirlwind weekend, though, and sleep has not been a big part of my life for the past week or so. Last week was the big crunch to get everything done before the weekend, and when I was in Baltimore, the days were absolutely crammed with visiting people. Dinner with parents, grandparents, and my youngest brother, hair cut, opera night with Brittney, stopped by to see Rachel, breakfast with Kelley, visiting Betsy, coffee with Julie... Non stop fun! Plus doing some errands since I don't have my car with me in CT. I now have warm clothes (hooray for sweaters!) and shoes that will not make my feet blister and bleed every time I walk to class. Perhaps the best part was my voice lesson and then hanging out with the best three-year-old ever.

New Haven is starting to feel like home, too. Getting back to my apartment after a busy weekend was really nice, and I was glad that I had a home-made frozen pizza ready to pop in the oven before retiring to my wonderful mattress (which I missed when I was in Baltimore). Although it was "a dark and stormy night" by the time I arrived on this corner, this is "my corner." Thought it would be a nice shot to share.

Fall has officially arrived, and it's in the low 50's today. I'm curious to see how quickly it gets really cold and if it will be noticeably different than what I'm used to...

And now, back to the grind...
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My iTunes: Cara Sposa, Amante Cara from Handel's Rinaldo

new haven: part 1

I know it's long overdue, but I finally got to walk around my new town a bit and take pictures. Three weeks into the semester, my brain finally told me I needed a break. Instead of the short breaks I've been taking each day, I decided to give myself the whole day off from any sort of brain work. Well, a whole day split between two -- I took off Friday evening until Saturday evening.

After getting back from my last class on Friday, I make some comfort food, played a little (okay, a lot of) piano, then curled up and watched about six episodes of Bones, then hit the sack. Saturday I slept in, watched more Bones, played more piano, then went on my photo adventure. (Yes, I think I am now addicted to the show...) This was one of my favorite spots to photograph -- they're the stairs to the University Chapel, and I love how the steps are bowed with age. Convenient that the chapel is free for Yale students to use for weddings. Now all I have to do is locate a groom, right?

Well, since I was lazy for most of the weekend thus far, it's back to the grind for me. Finished Ives reading earlier, almost done with Schenker, still have to pull together a presentation for tomorrow, then start on Nazis. Time for more coffee...
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My iTunes: Welche wonne, welche lust from Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail

my favorite 3-year-old

Meet C. My favorite 3-year-old and one of my favorite people ever! I miss her very much since I moved away. She apparently asks for me all the time, and her new obsession is "Rice Christy Treats."

Sorry for my tardiness in posting -- what with moving and everything I've been short on time. And internet -- it's taken almost 3 weeks, 21 customer representatives, 2 installers, 1 non-showing-up installer, 3 dropped calls, 2 hours on hold, 2 more hours talking on the phone, and 1 official complaint before getting the internet working. Ridiculous...

Anyway, postings may be fewer and farther between now. I'm anticipating the work load for this graduate program to be pretty hefty, and am hoping to pick up a choir job that I'll hear back about soon. Plus after moving, I lost my client base, so there will be less opportunity for lucrative photography. I'll still put forth and effort to post, however!

See you around the internet!
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My iTunes: Nessun Dorma by Luciano Pavarotti
(My neighbor's iTunes: The Electric Slide)