Next Destination: India

With some extra money and spare time coming up in September, I have been diligently researching where to go for my next trip abroad. Travel is a bit like crack. Once you get a taste of it, you can't imagining spending the rest of your life with out it. You can see it in the eyes of the young, spaced out backpackers who wander the streets because they can't afford to actually do anything once they get there. You can see it in the eyes of the older, "Abercrombie and Kent" travelers, with their brand spanking new cargo pants and sun hats. Although these groups are worlds apart, they share the common love of leaving everything you own at home for some far-flung destination, never to return home the same.

My first thought was to go back to South East Asia. I truly love Asia... the masses of people and motor bikes, the food, the scenery, and the history all combine in a slurry of exotic perfection. I initially set my sights to Thailand, since the cheapest plane tickets are to Bangkok, but where to go then?

Burma. A couple of years ago, I was searching through travel photos at PBase.com, a common passtime of mine, and I stumbled upon a photo of Bagan at sunset. If you've never seen or heard of Bagan, please do a search. You will be rewarded kindly. This particular photo showed an ethereal, misty landscape dotted with hundreds of conical-shaped golden temples. It's the type of image that will be burned in my memory forever.

Unfortunately, shortly after I started researching the moral and physical logistics of traveling to such a country, they were struck by the devastating force of Cyclone Nargis. My heart just breaks for the people of Myanmar.

The next destination I decided to research was Cambodia and Laos, which are also very accessible from Bangkok. These are two countries that I very much want to visit. Luang Prabang, in Northern Laos, gets rave reviews from fellow travelers and is still relatively undiscovered (although that is quickly changing). And of course, in Cambodia, there is the famous Angkor Wat. My plan was to go to Laos to do some trekking to some of the more remote hill tribes in the northern mountains, and then fly down to Siem Reap and spend some time at Angkor Wat and on the beaches of Kep, Cambodia. The problem with this plan was that September is the height of the rainy season over there, which normally wouldn't be a problem if it weren't for that trekking part. Hiking through the tropical jungles of Laos with all of my camera equipment, in the middle of the rainy season, is a little too adventurous... even for me. I will go there though. And soon.

I toyed briefly with the idea of taking a group photography tour to China. I was lured in by the promise of being able to hug a Panda Bear at the reasonable rate of $150 per minute. I just couldn't get past the idea of doing a group tour. Not. Fun.

So, all of this is a really long away of saying that I finally decided upon India for my next destination. Because it is the end of the monsoon season there, I chose the northern desert state of Rajasthan. I will be flying in to Delhi on September 11th, and spend the next 17 days in the cities and villages of the area, ending it with a visit to iconic Taj Mahal. As the dates near, I will post more information about my itinerary and the places to which I will be traveling.

One Blue Moon

My photos are like children in that I try not to make favorites, but some of them are always a little more attractive then others and you just can't help but to like those ones best!

I just love this new set of photos that I've taken for One Blue Moon Charms. She told me she wanted a vintage (but not doily) look and this is what we came up with:

Volunteer Travel

Want to take an exotic holiday, meet new people from all over the world, and make a difference at the same time? Check out GAP Adventure's group of volunteer travel tours. These trips are available to a host of different countries in South America, Africa and Southeast Asia. You can help put together wheelchairs in Cambodia, help a village in Africa start an organic farm, or even work with Sea Turtles in Costa Rica (I plan on doing this one with my family next year!). The trips seem to be well split up between volunteer time and holiday time, and would be a great way to help out a community and really see the side of a country that tourists rarely see. And the prices are very reasonable! I traveled with Gap to the Galapagos Islands in 2005, so I can personally vouch for them.

Sleepy Moon

Recently my friend Winter from Sleepy Moon Soaps contacted me about doing some product photos for her. You might recognize her soap from the Coventry Farmers Market photos I did last summer. Winter and her husband just purchased a fabulous new home in eastern Connecticut, and she had the brilliant idea of incorporating her new farmhouse into her business image. The property, complete with extensive rock walls and stone bridges, flowering trees and even a waterfall, made the perfect backdrop for some on-location photography. I always say that the best photos come about when the client brings strong ideas to the table, and these photos are a perfect example of that.

Irony

For some odd reason, if you do a search for "photographer's copyright statement" on Google, my site is #2 in the results. I get at least 2-3 hits to my site from people using those search terms. So on a whim one day, I ran that page through Copyscape and found several instances of people using my exact wording for their own COPYRIGHT DISCLAIMERS! Seriously. Am I going to need to create a copyright statement for my copyright statement?

New stuff

These are some recent photos I did for Andrea Kane of Signature Scents by Kane. I really enjoyed this photo shoot because it gave me the opportunity to work with a black background, which isn't something I do very often. I love how the colors pop, and they work great on her website.