[{-log] » Journey Diary

Random Kaua’i | On the move

Klo — Fri, 22 May 2009 02:40:27 +0000

I’m back from Kaua’i. Sigh.

We flew back to Cali on Monday. Yes, quite some days but I haven’t had a spare second to update this blog. Between catching up with emails and returnig phone calls, updating clients’ orders, prenatal visits and looking for a pediatrician for our soon to be born baby… days have gone by really quickly.

Today, while organizing folders and downloading all the images shot during our little vacation I picked some random ones to edit and share.
I didn’t take many pictures though, I was ‘focused’ on enjoying our last vacation before the baby comes and I must say we feel so much more relaxed right now. It was a much needed vacation.

All (or almost) of the following images were randomly taken while Markino and I went geocaching (go on geocaching.com if you don’t know what I’m talking about) around the island. We spent most of our time there driving around and looking for this tech ‘treasures’ as I could barely stand the heat under the sun (despite my limited sun exposure by the pool I am about 5-6 shades darker now than when I got there! yes, I tan very easily).

On of the last caches we found on the island, a couple of hours before heading to the airport, was at the Waimea Canyon Lookout. The place offered breathtaking views.

Some more of my ‘Flower Power‘ series…

A gorgeous lizard.

This bird seemed fake, he didn’t move a bit… exception made for the eyes which kept rolling to follow Markino and me.

On our way to the next geocache! Renting that Jeep was the best thing we ever did!

My brand new grey Converse after a day of geocaching in tons of red dirt… picture taken right before getting ready to head to the airport. I, the 7 months pregnant lady, ended up doing all the travel on my high wedged sandals! I’ll let you imagine how comfortable it was… but there was no way for me to go around in muddy converse (trust me, the picture doesn’t do justice, neither does it show how the dirt ended up inside and onto my white socks… and I won’t even start talking about my jeans).

Aloha! | On the move

Klo — Fri, 15 May 2009 10:10:42 +0000

As we enjoy our getaway in Kaua’i, here is a little something to see:

You were probably expecting a colorful beach but it is way too easy to get sunny and colorful shots here in Hawaii, you can see those on countless postcards… I like challenges better. :)

It’s Friday

Klo — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 00:33:53 +0000

As I was sitting here at my desk, editing countless pictures, it hit me! There’s a picture I took while I was in Tirana that I haven’t posted yet (well, there are many that I haven’t posted, but this is different). It’s not much about the pictures as about the subjects that are potrayed in there.

So here, is the picture… and then follows the explanation:

Two shots actually. I know, nothing special up to here…
I was going around the main streets of Tirana that afternoon, shooting a last-minute portrait session when these guys found us. As we were all chicks (and chicks don’t go unnoticed in Albania!) they came around… and were impressed by how BIG my camera was, asking me to take a picture of them. So I did.
To my surprise, they are like: When are e-mailing the picture to us?
Wait, aren’t they like 8 or 9 years old? At their age I didn’t even have a Barbie doll to play with (I hated Barbies, but that’s beside the point).
The first time I saw a computer in my life was at the age of 14, 11 years ago, shortly after the first PCs hit the Albanian land! They are already chatting and emailing?
I’m impressed!
Ugh, getting old I guess…

————–

The other day I got Markino something he had been wanting all his life… :P Well, not exactly but he had mentioned it a couple of times.
The wine journal, so he can take note of the wines we try… much needed here, so that we don’t get the same bad wine twice in the process of getting to know the local market :D

In Europe for 1 more night

Klo — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 15:20:07 +0000

I’m still in Milan but will be flying back to San Francisco tomorrow at noon. My trip here has gone amazing but I just can’t wait to get back home and finally start sharing some of the great stuff I’ve been shooting here during this part business part vacation-home trip.

Right now I’m hoping jetlag doesn’t kill me like it did when I came here 4 weeks ago. I love travelling, if I could just find an easy way out of having to deal with sleeping issues I would be around the world 24/7.

And again, like when we moved to California Jan/Feb 2008, I’ll so be missing the food. Sigh…
Uhm, and of course the shopping… I did some pretty amazing shopping down here. I’m addicted to shoes!

Well, gotta go and pack up my things, hoping I don’t forget anything here.

In Milan

Klo — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 17:09:32 +0000

Here I am, devastated, sleep-deprived and already about to jump onto another plane tomorrow. Jetlag is killing me, I cannot even figure out what time it is, if I have to eat, drink, sleep… or anything else.

Too bad I already had the tickets to Tirana when I got an invitation for a couple of runways in the Milan Fashion Week… oh, well.

At least I’ll go and pampered at home. Can’t wait to see my friends. I’ll be busy doing nothing for the next couple of days :)

Travel Itinerary

Klo — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 07:18:37 +0000

It’s past midnight and I still have to put a couple of things in my suitcase. I can’t believe I left so many last minute stuff to do…

My flight is scheduled at 8.30am, meaning I’ll have to be out of here be 6am. OUCH! This is so NOT me, I am unable to function properly before 9am. But this is barely the hard part. It’s the 15 hours flight that will destroy me. Oh right, I didn’t mention where I’m off to. Destination: Milan, ITALY.
I’m connecting in Chicago, where I’ll have to wait for a couple o hours before my next flight.

I’ll finally land on earth, losing 9 hours (which I will suffer jetlag conseguences for), Fri 19th, at 8.30am (local time).

My Friday will already busy with work: meet with a client, check a studio, rent lighting for an upcoming photoshoot and maybe finally rest.

Sunday: Off to take another plane, going in Albania. A little visit home for a week or so.

I hope I can drop by for some more updates on my travels and post new pictures!

Back from Vegas

Klo — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 18:10:43 +0000

I’ve been back for a couple of days. Had to catch up with emails, mail, prints I had to deliver and finally today I have a couple of minutes.

Not much to say about Vegas:

- I have no pictures to show, didn’t even get my 5D out of the bag. Sorry, I was busy doing else :)
- I didn’t relax, AT ALL
- I didn’t even get a little tan poolside (it was hot as hell, but cloudy all the time)
- Last but not least, I didn’t get filthy rich (I can’t deny I hoped for it!!)

Huh, this came out as “what I didn’t do in Vegas”. :P

One thing is a bit weird though: we had one of the most delicious sushi dinners in the middle of the desert. I don’t even wanna know where that tender fresh fish came from, but Shibuya is a great place (your bank account may have a stroke but you’ll have an absolutely great experience).

Vegas, baby!!

Klo — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 21:32:40 +0000

Tomorrow morning I’ll be headed for Las Vegas with Markino. Taking a couple of days off :) since we have the catsitter (mother-in-law) we thought we might as well take advantage of that!!

Maybe I’ll write sth here on the blog, maybe I won’t… in any casy, we’ll be back home on Tuesday night.
Anyone else in Vegas this weekend? :)

Carmel by-the-sea Part II: fine dining

Klo — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 02:30:28 +0000

So we arrived in Carmel in the late afternoon (see Part I) and were just a tad hungry. Since we were by-the-sea what’s better for lunch than seafood? So we searched for places to eat and found one pretty interesting looking… the only problem: they were already closed for lunch and were reaopening for dinner at 5.30PM (I really don’t understand who has dinner at 5.30 in the afternoon… but whatever…). We had a little tour around the place and got back when the restaurant opened, to finally have our LUNCH. Yes, at 6PM.

While waiting for the food to come:

I love tiny details like fresh flowers… and I love bread:

The list of wines was incredibile, we didn’t know what to get… but finally I decided for a local (Napa Valley) Sauvignon Blanc. Great tasting.
There were only 2 things I didn’t understand:
1. why do they always suppose it’s the guy that tastes the wine? can’t women know about the wine too?
2. white wine needs to stay cool but I didn’t see any basket of ice around the place. after a certain point I couldn’t drink my wine anymore, too sour beacuse of the temperature. good we only got the half bottle as we were to drive back home

Well, there might be a 3rd thing I didn’t get, which is: all around us people got RED wine with fish (is known that red wine kills the taste of fish, covers it completely). Anyways.

If you ever go to this place or any other that has it, get a good glass of Napa Frog’s Leap:

Here comes the food. My Lobster Spring Roll (served with an interesting apricot cream) was delicious:

Markino got himself an Endive Salad:
Menu said it was made with Gorgonzola cheese, only it was a simple blue cheese (good but not Gorgonzola). I assume this plate had like 2000 calories, I tasted the pecans and there was a lot of butter around them… but we’re not on diet right now :D

Unfortunately, when we got the rest of the food (Gulf Prawns risotto with artichoke and red bell pepper; and the pasta special), I forgot to take the pictures. Guess I was really hungry!!!

We called it a “day” with a couple of Creme Bruleè:

Anton & Michel <— visit the website for more info on this restaurant.

We can’t wait to get back and taste some more delicious food!

Carmel by-the-sea part I

Klo — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 01:36:30 +0000

Yesterday was a really hot day here in the Bay Area, so me and my husband decided to drive to Carmel. Lucky for us the weather was getting cooler as we drove south (at a certain point, I think somewhere near Gilroy it even started raining).

Here are some pictures from the day…

Still driving, shot from the car window (at 70mph :P)

Look at the sky:

My precious better half didn’t wanna come anywhere near the sand…

But when I INSIST, I can be very convincing!!

Looks like EVERYBODY has a dog in Carmel…

Crazy couple inside the freezing cold waters :O

And… this is me…

I’m the worst model ever. I can’t stand people taking pictures of me. Maybe that’s why I chose to stay behind the camera :)

As I was saying, there were A LOT of dogs around… some of them came pretty close, but this one managed to leave humid proof of presence on Markino’s T-shirt.

We had a look at the shops too. Here’s some window glamour/retro flare.

And an car-antenna buddy :P

I’d love to shoot a wedding in this small but colorful place.
Delicious shots coming soon… on part II.