A Picture, Please

(Photos taken with iPhone 6 and edited in Instagram)

When I was little my father used to travel a lot. Before he would leave each time he would ask us what we wanted him to bring back for us. I always looked forward to whatever surprise he would return with. Since I have been traveling a lot lately I thought I would asked my daughters what they wanted me to bring back for them. To my surprise my youngest asked for pictures of landmarks. 

While flying to Seattle I managed to snap a picture of the Space Needle which she thought was pretty cool. Shortly after that trip, we ended up taking both our girls on an over night trip to Seattle by train which was pretty spectacular. We walked a lot and the girls took tons of pictures. At one point we passed an art gallery and my oldest was happily snapping away with my Nikon D40, there must have been an opening that day as there were a lot of people mingling inside. My daughter stopped right in the middle of the doorway and started snapping photos. One of the people who appeared to worked for the gallery looked up at her. I thought for sure we were in trouble for taking the pictures. Instead of the negative reaction I expected she gave my daughter the biggest smile and two thumbs up. It made my day. I love the support of the artist community and was happy to see it carry over into a setting like that. I can't wait to look at all the pictures they took that day. Especially the ones at the gallery. 

The photo collage above is from another business trip I took recently. Again I was asked to bring back pictures of land marks. You can see the Grand Canyon in the second picture and all the places between Phoenix, AZ and Portland, OR. One of my favorite things is to take pictures of the landscape as I fly so I honestly love that she asks me for these pictures. 

Scribble of Trees

I needed a mini vacation so I scribbled these trees on a lake. 

Somehow it helped, but now I want to go camping. 

Medium: Permanent Marker on White Paper with Digital Finishing

Paris in Las Vegas

Here is photo I took on my phone the last time we were in Las Vegas, NV. Despite the graininess of it I really love the illusion of lightning the branch has created. 

Medium: Digital Photography

Winter Moss

I took these photos last fall in the Eastern Oregon wilderness. I just love the contrast between the moss, snow, and weathered fence. 

Medium: Digital Photography

Traveling - New Orleans, LA

Continuing with my favorite travel photos, here are some I took in New Orleans earlier this year.

Traveling - Las Vegas, NV

Here are some more of my favorite travel photos. These are from our trip to Las Vegas, NV last year. As you can probably tell, I am often drawn to architecture and water.

Photography and Traveling

I am not sure if I am the only one with this problem, but I often struggle with documenting my travels. I am not good with journals and deciding what to take pictures of has always frustrated me. However, within the last five years I have discovered a new approach to photographing my travels. My goal is to seek out images which inspire me or capture my attention, rather than images which I think represent the location I am visiting. You know the ones, the stereotypical photographs you could easily purchase a postcard of instead of actually visiting the landmark. I have been amazed at how liberating this approach is. The pressure to capture the typical touristic image is gone and what is left is the desire to find new and exciting inspirations without worrying about relevance to location. Last year I had the chance to visit San Fransisco for a second time in my life, the first was in high school.While the pictures I took on my second trip may not represent the San Fransisco image, they do inspire me. It is through that inspiration I am able to connect to the memories of my trip. A much better outcome than those wannabe postcard images I used to strive for.