Europe Trip Day 4

Unlike all the mornings so far, we did not have to pack today. We ate a nice breakfast and made our way back to the bus for a 45 minute drive to a town called Eze. This small town is known for its Perfumerie, Fragonard, and we got a tour of the factory.

 

They showed us how they extract the essence of the local flowers, and how they make the perfume and soaps. We then spent some time in their shop, where we all realized that it was a bit more expensive than we thought. I bought a ducky shaped lemon soap for a little kid I babysit and a bottle of lemon verbena cheap perfume. A 1 oz bottle of the good stuff was €35, close to $50 USD. Not happening.

We were then given an hour of free time to hike to the small town of Eze, which was truly a hike. There were decrepit stairs carved into the mountain, and we finally zig zagged our way to the top. We walked through a castle built for defense of the hilltop town, and through a couple small shops built within the caverns of the mountain. It took so long to hike up we had to head back fairly soon, but not before we got some photos of the incredible view.

Once we got back on the bus, we headed to Monaco, which somehow is it’s own country no matter that it is 1 sq mile. Home to the rich and famous and the Monte Carlo casino, we were in for a treat.

We parked the bus in a parking garage and walked to the top via botanical gardens which were stunning. The Mediterranean Sea was finally what I remembered it to be, and I was again mesmerized by the vivid varying shades of blue.

We had 2 hours of free time to shop, eat, and explore. We watched the pomp and circumstance changing of the guards at their parliament building, and then explored a bunch of touristy shops. I didn’t love the stores or the glamour, but there were the best views of the water so far. I got a ham and cheese sandwich for lunch, and a hat for my friend. I caught up with a different group and we tried to get away from the touristy parts and find cooler areas. We found an adorable crepe shop inside this alleyway and indulged in a giant Nutella crepe. We then walked to the park bordering the water for more incredible views, and took our time getting back to the bus. My friends and I found our tour guide and hung out with her for a while on an overlook before heading back. I’m still amazed how much freedom we are given, and even more amazed that we are always able to find our way back to the meeting places, the bus, or the hotels totally on our own.

We left Monaco around 2 and headed back toward Nice. We stopped at Florian Chocolate Factory and got a tour and some time in their gift shop. Like the perfumerie, they use local flowers in some of their chocolates and sweets. I was able to try sugar coated flower petals and violet and rose chocolate. After buying a few goodies, we boarded the bus again back to the center of town. We stopped at the main square, where we could then choose whether or not we wanted to go to the New Town, or the Old Town for 3 hours of free time. The New Town consisted of shows like you would find on 5th avenue, and Old Town were the unique boutiques and cobblestone alleys. We headed for Old Town and ended up finding the beach, which was a natural pebble beach. We collected some cool stones and then hiked the mountain behind Old Town toward a waterfall. We asked for directions in French multiple times and made our way.

 

We discovered a lot of beautiful lookout posts and a Jewish cemetery with quite a view. We eventually made it to the waterfall at the top and hung out after getting some great photos. We made our way back down the way we came and had a few minutes to shop in Old Town. We then walked a couple blocks back to our meeting place and then headed to dinner as a group. A vegetable quiche was followed by a meat dish and caramel covered sponge cake. We got back to our hotel at a record early of 8:30, and hung out in our room and on our balcony with friends. By 10:30 we all had to be in our own rooms to prepare for the early wake up of 6 to head to the bus for Provence!

I’ve never been nowhere before…

I’ve never been nowhere before. I have traveled a lot, but most of my actual time has been spent on coasts or at least in bigger cities. Today, my dad and I decided to go check out Kenyon College, which I’ve been considering for a while. And wow, is it nowhere.

We got to Mt. Vernon, OH and just drove through, with the destination of campus in mind. It looked like a cute, normal town and I was happy about that. As we followed the signs for Kenyon, I was praying I’d see a hill or something soon. You see, Kenyon is advertised as a school literally by itself on a hill. Named the most beautiful campus in the country, I was expecting the marketing to be correct this time. We finally started ascending a mountain of sorts and I saw the entrance to Kenyon. Just from the sign and the way you enter, you know it’s going to knock your socks off. With only 1600 students, it is a tiny school that has created it’s own little world atop a mountain. The buildings and the ground seep an aura of utter intelligence and global consciousness that’s infectious. It is unlike any college or university I’ve ever been to. John Green, one of my favorite authors and basically one of my favorite human beings on the planet, went to Kenyon and describes it as “incredible minds flourishing on a hilltop, away from the noise of the world so as better to hear the world for what it truly is.” Anyway, I couldn’t have loved it more.

Shockingly, the more amazing part of this adventure was when we descended from the hill top of Kenyon back in to Mt. Vernon for what appeared to be an art festival. Now, my dad and I are into art fests – like real ones. We, of course, weren’t expecting anything grand, but we had no idea what we were walking into.

I must have said “I’m so confused” 50 times. As we walked around what turned out to be more of an odd fair, I was completely stunned. It was like the twilight zone. I think we were tripping on 5 hour energy, but my imagination isn’t creative enough to hallucinate this “art festival.” As we walked in, we were greeted by a stage with approximately 20 randomly dispersed people listening to what appeared to be a family sing a song about how many pickled peppers Peter Piper picked, while wearing such old fashion clothing it seemed they may have robbed a museum to find them. The audience seemed to be enjoying it, which was equally strange. As we walked down the half block of tents, I couldn’t help but notice that every 5 seconds someone was shouting across a crowd because they saw someone they knew and they were saying hi. I think everyone literally knew everyone else there. Also, not a single person was on their phones. No calls, texts, time checks – nothing.  The entire time we were there, I didn’t see a single electronic device with any of these people. I also didn’t really see any brands, I think they really may sew all their clothes themselves. After all, they do have a Singer store on their main square. The next thing I noticed was the diversity, or should I say, lack there of. Black, hispanic, asian – nothing. It was startling. As we walked toward another awkward bandshell of sorts, we contemplated getting something to eat. Shall we eat fried pie, fried waffles, fried veggies, or fried salami? You get the drift.

1/3 of the population doesn’t know who our Vice President is. I think most of those people come from places like this. I felt like I was in a time warp, or possibly on a movie set. I’ve never been anywhere like it. I feel like all of these people are still in the darkness of the cave, to use Plato’s analogy. It was not my kinda place, but thankfully when you go to Kenyon, I think you rarely come down from the hilltop.

Here are a few shots from our trip, which also included going to Oberlin College.

Peace-

He was the only person I ever saw using a phone…

This made my day! A church on gay street.

Farm Life

Forgotten photos

Hipstamatic double exposure. Exposure 1= camera lens Exposure 2= quote

A few iPhone/DSLR shots I haven’t gotten around to posting. Have a great holiday!

Christmas bouquet

A Final Farewell

A few weeks ago, I wrote of a dear family friend that passed away from ALS. On his birthday, which was only a few weeks after his passing, his wife hosted a celebration of his life for family and friends. The photos I’m posting are mainly of a surprise dove releasing that her sister arranged, which was truly beautiful. Also, we all signed balloons and released them. It was really a beautiful day.

Madison day 2- iPhone

A look to the past…Italy 2005

Far left (me), my dad, Joyce, and Ed

In 2005, my family and two of our good friends, Ed & Joyce, went to Italy together. It was the second day of 4th grade, and off I went. Two weeks ago, Ed died of a 6-month battle with ALS. For the wake, his wife did the normal photo boards, and we looked through ours too from the trip we took together. I think my mom did most of the shooting. I wasn’t into photography until the end of my eighth grade year (now a junior). Anyway, I will do my best to caption them from my memory!

Ed, looking out from a water taxi in Capri, Italy

Coast of Positano, Italy

My dad and I on the water taxi in Capri

Gardens in Ravello, Italy

Doorway to room at hotel in Capri

Me, in Ravello, Italy

Water taxi

Zip line up Anacapri

Me, resting in the Vatican

 

I think this had something to do with government…remember it was nicknamed the wedding cake. Rome, Italy

A photo taken by Ed of my mom, dad, me and Joyce on water taxi

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cousin Photo Shoot

Just finished watching the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics. I would not consider myself overly patriotic, but I do love the Olympics. It seems to me it is the only time that the entire planet is truly united. All of the countries march together, smiling and proud. I bet you could research it and find a country in line next to one they are at war with. And yet, they march on. We put aside our differences and send our people out to test the limits of something we all undeniably share – the human body. I’m also a sucker for tradition and you can’t get anything more tradition based than the Olympics. Also, it’s a blast to see parts of London and point out things to my family. Even back in March when I was there, people were buzzing about the Olympics. Anyway, on to the point of this post! Today, I took my two cousins to Pleasant Valley Conservation District to photograph them. It was a total blast, and toward the end I found an incredible circular stone stage area in complete shade. Here are a few of my favorites!

Wedding!

I had another opportunity to tag along to a wedding reception with a lady that I am interning with. We had a total blast. It was in “Little Italy,” in Chicago, and at a beautiful restaurant. Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Buddha Day

I received the opportunity to photograph and attend the opening ceremony at Blue Lotus Temple in Woodstock, IL and it was held on “Buddha Day,” which is a celebration in honor of Buddha’s birthday.

d47 Art Show

Recently, I became the Event Photographer for the Lakeside Legacy Arts Park. This will be a job that I maintain into the next school year I think, however, I also have a position there during the summer as a marketing intern. Should be an adventure!

The most recent show I shot was the District 47 art show. This event is special for two reasons: 1, I was in it at one point and remember how proud I was of my piece and 2, kids run around proud of everything – showing their family’s their artwork and their friends artwork. The beautiful, happy things that are so evidently going through these kids minds when they created these pieces is inspiring and beautiful.

Peace!

coloring pages

Dachau

Modern mutilated body statue

 

Every time I have shown someone my photo album from my trip to London, Paris, Switzerland and Germany, they are most affected by my photographs of Dachau, Hitler’s first concentration camp. This is not surprising I guess, but it is interesting to watch everyone’s different reactions. Some sigh, some say they would have cried, all say “wow.” Being there, I can say that this statue, even though modern, was the most unnerving. Against the still blue sky, it just spoke wonders. I didn’t have my camera out. I wanted to experience it and not just try to capture it, except what I learned a few moments later was that searching for the shot made me SEE more. Anyway, the photographs really speak for themselves, so I’ll shut up now.

 

 

Boy in the Striped Pajamas - like scene

 

 

 

 

Claimed to be lockers, but now historians think they were chambers and the holes were of which to breathe

 

Original beds

 

 

Poles on which people were hung cast an eerie shadow.

 

Swamps & Ray-Bans

College adventures

This past weekend, the snow storm detoured us from our original plan of checking out the university of Michigan. Instead we drove down to U of I and explored.
Here’s some photos from the trip!

Angel crossing!

h

Wedding!!!

Yesterday, I was able to help a local photographer shoot another wedding. It was a blast! It was a smaller one, but still very nice. Also, I got to use my new lens, a Canon ultrasonic L f2.8 IS 70-200mm. It’s awesome!!
Here’s a few of my favorites!

happy birthday to me

 Occupy Wall Street Rally

We went to Madison this weekend to celebrate my 16th birthday. My birthday is actually on Monday, so I’ll take this chance to publicly thank Columbus for giving me a day off of school for my birthday for 11 year straight. I’ll let the photos tell the story of our adventure…

We spent the evening walking around town and had a blast.

  

Totally natural lighting... LOVE!

Saturday morning, we went to the huge farmers market that surrounds the capital.

To me, not posting for a while means one of two things; either I’m living in a gross cycle of redundancy that isn’t worth talking about let alone taking a photo of, or I’m so busy I just physically can’t find the time.

Lately, it’s been because I’m way too busy. But today, on the day I have the most homework of all the days this week, I decide to have fun. My friend and I ran home, grabbed my camera, and drove to our favorite farm market to get the best apple cider in the world. His birthday was on Monday and mine is coming up, so we did it as a present to ourselves. We were little kids again, running around the corn maze and totally not getting lost because I’m such control freak. It was a blast. Then we drove back toward home, drinking apple cider out of our individual ‘birthday’ gallons and eating warm apple cider doughnuts instead of cake. On the way, we pulled into a conservation district where I got a few shots, but it reminded me of my favorite one that we haven’t been to in a while. We got completely and utterly lost, but eventually made it right at sunset. It was beautiful and all in all a great afternoon. Tomorrow we’ve decided to go to the apple orchard we saw when we were lost. If you can’t tell, fall is my favorite season… : )

Here’s a few shots from the day!

Wedding!!!

Saturday night, I did what I always do – in a sense. Not be a normal kid. Yep, I was very not normal. Skipped homecoming dance to intern with a local photographer. It was a beautiful little wedding on a farm. She normally does much bigger, more extravagant weddings, however this was a friend of hers and it was a good small one for me to start on.

Here’s a few (ok, a lot) of my favorites!

The bride's little boy, Rider.

 

f

LOVE... Should totally be a coke add...

New family!

Ringed hands through crowd

Brides' grandfather was into photography...

Happy new family!

photography 101

 My friend is getting a camera sometime next week, so today he came over and wanted to walk around and shoot with mine. I couldn’t let him have all the fun, so here are a few that I caught through out our walk around town.

 

sunflower

 

Today I met with a local photographer who I will be interning with soon. My first “gig” with her will be a wedding on Saturday. It’s pretty unusual; on a farm in Harvard. I’m pretty excited! She is okay with me sticking to the more candid style, which I’m grateful for. I can’t wait to learn and have fun!

 As I was driving home, I saw this cool sunflower so my mom and I walked over to it later. Enjoy!