I had fun the other evening trudging through the snow to the grocery store up the street and taking some night photos.  The way the snow lights up everything even at night and the quiet streets felt surreal, but beautiful.

The buried cars actually gave me the creeps.  They seem dead. Here is the street we have to take to get to the main road with a tree down across it.  Fortunately someone came and moved it within a couple days…I don’t know if it was the city, a private contractor, or a neighbor, but it got done. The view from my front porch today: I’m standing in the middle of my street here.  No plows hit this block, but the neighbors banded together on Monday and we moved the cars on my side over to the Rotunda parking lot one at a time like a parade.
This is the sidewalk in front of my house with snow piled higher than my head.  I bet we’ll still have piles left all the way through the beginning of summer. I hope everyone stayed safe this week.  I felt so bad for those who lost power!  I also thought often of all the people who worked so hard to clear the roads, fought fires, cared for the sick, fixed broken utilities, and more!  Thanks to everyone for keeping us going.

Moving on….it seems appropriate that my first post on my new site is featuring little man Jack considering that he was the star of my first real blog post back in 2007.  He was on here again at 8 months old and then 1 year.  Not only is Jack back here again at 2.5 years old, but he has been joined by little sis, Anika!

I had such a nice time last weekend hanging out with this wonderful family again.  I was excited to meet Jack’s grandparents who were in town for the weekend for Vicki’s birthday.  Jack was so cute with his “Pa”…pulling his mustache, giggling, and snuggling up on the couch with him.

Here she is….sweetie-pie drool-monster Ani:
This is Jack’s piggy face.  I’ve seen this before at past sessions…he’s an old pro now. Gettin’ serious with mommy: This was so cute.  Jack’s grandpa made a pretend “ouch” sound when Jack pulled his mustache and Jack thought he had really hurt him and started crying. Silly tears: I always love the family pics that capture the chaos….that’s real life. Vicki took this one with my camera.  I love these kids!

Yes, it’s the back of her head….but isn’t it just so fuzzy and adorable???

Snuggles from Mommy:

Now this is one of the best parts about being a photographer.I loved seeing this collage that Becky put together of some of the photos I took of Bailey as a newborn.

Yay, love me some babies!

I got to visit with my cousin, her hubby and baby Bailey who is 8 months old now and as cute as can be.

I think Scooby is wondering what the return policy is on babies:

I also got to hang out with Julian this weekend, who is 20 months old now and super-energized.  In this first shot, I imagine that he is challenging me to try and get a nice holiday shot of him.

Gotcha!

More later!

This was part business, part pleasure, as my employer sent me to Scottsdale for a healthcare webmaster workshop.  I have to admit that the desert doesn’t excite me too much, but I decided to add a few personal days to my trip and hop on a flight to San Francisco before heading back home. I had never been any further west than Denver (hi Sarah!), so this was pretty exciting. It was also a new experience to sight-see alone, but at least I got to do exactly what I felt like doing without checking in with anyone else.  It felt empowering to face a new city on my own two feet.

I’d also like to mention that I had to remove a lot of specks and smudges from these photos.  I’m sure those of you who have spent more time in San Francisco know to clean your lenses often, but I was just a silly tourist walking around with the foggy dampness and water spray covering my lens. Live and learn, right?  Chilly + Windy + Wet = San Francisco.

I found it difficult to really show how steep the streets were.  I’ve seen the movies and heard about the area, but I still was not really prepared for the madness of San Francisco.  I definitely got a good workout wandering around.

I took a ferry ride to Sausalito on one gorgeous day.  I was wishing I could be on one of those sailboats!

Sausalito is such a cute town. I had lunch at a little cafe with outdoor seating and walked around.

Before leaving on this trip, I made a reservation with Adventures Aloft for a hot air balloon ride over Napa Valley, which is about a 90 minute drive from San Fran.  I think I had to get up around 5am, but it was worth it.

My view of some horses in a field:

Back on the ground:

Okay, okay, here’s a photo of me.  There was a family on board with me from Bethesda, Maryland.  Small world!

My next post will be back in present time!

I love how this shot of one of the volunteers turned out. He is standing between two of the modular townhomes being built on a formerly vacant lot on East Fayette Street. These 9 homes are almost complete and will be ready for the families to move in by October 17th.

This is a fisheye shot of the whole row of houses from the back alley:

Here is a Habitat staff  member exhibiting the positive attitude that everyone seems to have on these sites:

This hardworking volunteer is still managing to look glam in a hardhat and toolbelt:

Volunteers from Verizon doing some painting:

Here’s a happy volunteer from a local high school at an almost-completed home in Brooklyn:

Here are two happy new homeowners taking a break from painting.  All homeowners contribute at least 350 hours of time to the construction of their homes – Habitat calls these “sweat equity” hours.

Here is another house from the same block that is a bit earlier in the construction stage.  It’s amazing how Habitat can take these shells and turn them into wonderful homes.

Towanda and Tyrone just moved into their new home and were nice enough to let us stop by. Tyrone actually proposed to Towanda at the celebration where the keys were handed over to them, so we were joking that these would be their engagement photos. You can read their story here.

Sweetie-pie in the new house:

Check out the Habitat for Humanity of the Chesapeake website if you’d be interested in volunteering or donating.  No skills required!

Here’s to fuzzy blankets, fireplaces burning, crunchy leaves, hot mochas, warm socks, pumpkin patches, hiking in the woods, movie nights, baking cookies, sweaters, and snuggling.

We’ve still got some warm days left, so enjoy those flip-flops while you can!

Amy and Marty had a traditional Hindu Bengali wedding that spanned the whole weekend.  I don’t know if that’s the right way to put it, but I’m learning! Check out “Bengali wedding” on Wikipedia to learn more.  I’m also learning about Indian food, though some of it is a bit too spicy for my palette.

I made my first details collage – it’s neat to see how everything really fits together.  Lots of warm colors and sophisticated graphic design courtesy of the super-talented bride.

They had an Ashirvad the evening before the wedding, which is a ceremony for blessing the bride.  Someone please correct me if I describe anything incorrectly. This was held at a contemporary Indian restaurant called Clay Pit, and included lots of food and mingling.

Here is Amy getting some encouragement from a family member:

Gotta love this face:

Getting ready on her wedding day!

Bridesmaids doing some primping of their own:

Here is Amy having her bindi applied….so sparkly and pretty!

Anxiously awaiting Amy’s entrance at the ceremony:

Amy’s brother escorted her in while she hid her eyes with a betel leaf as tradition dictates.  She was having a hard time walking while hiding her face and wearing heels all while wrapped up in her sari, which led to some laughter.  She had to make it down the aisle and circle around Marty seven times before removing the leaf for their first glance at each other.

Look!  My name in English and Bengali (or Hindi?)!

I always find the cuties!

Speech time….I love the warm light surrounding them.  I still can’t get over how gorgeous Amy looked!

I hung out with some of Amy’s super-cool friends who went to the University of Texas together most of the weekend…some I had already met before.  I’m only 5’7″, really.  Thanks to Regan for taking this pic with my camera!

Check out these little guys with the cell phone cameras!  Madness!

 The cake was really yummmy…better than most I’ve had!

Caught Amy doing this cute little wave from the dance floor:

Congrats Amy & Marty!  Have fun in Spain!

Here is the pool on the ship.  I think we’re actually still docked in Baltimore in this photo, so you can see that nobody wasted time getting their vacations started.

Here is a photo taken by budding photographer, Caroline, using my camera. It looks like something I would take, doesn’t it?  That’s me and my sister in the background.

My sister, Amy, took this one of me and the kids. We’re all dressed up for dinner onboard, and no, Caroline and I were not trying to match.

After 2.5 days at sea, our first stop was San Juan, Puerto Rico. Here is our foggy view as we entered the port.

This is the bow (front) of our ship with a Carnival ship in the distance.

I made Caroline and Scott go stand in this apartment complex entrance.  It just grabbed my eye.

My fave pics of this stop were taken at and around Fort San Cristobal.  The stone walls and breaking ocean were breathtaking.

A rare, quiet moment for Scotty, who recently turned 5:

Still San Juan.  You can see a cruise ship docked in the distance if you look close…not sure if that is ours.

This guy on the street was putting his parrots on people and selling photos that he would take. I have to apologize for taking this shot as I didn’t realize at the time that I was stealing his business!

After San Juan, we headed to St. Thomas. Rather than stay and shop there, we went on our own adventure to Trunk Bay on St. John. I didn’t take many photos as it was raining on and off, plus I was in the water most of the time!  Here is my mom lounging on the beach with my dad.

Here is a pic from Labadee, which is Royal Caribbean’s private beach in Haiti.  So, technically we went to Haiti and the Dominican Republic, but we didn’t actually see much of either….just these guarded tourist traps, lovely as they were.

The other budding photographer:

Here are my mom and dad on the evening I squeezed in some posed family photos.  Thanks for a wonderful trip!

I didn’t get even one shot of Scott behaving.  Not one!  What a goofball.

My sister has a Creative Memories T-shirt that says something like “Be nice to me, or I’ll crop you out of my photos.”  Scott was axed from this one, though I think he was actually hiding.

Here is me trying to get a nice photo with my darling niece and nephew.

]]> http://jmyersphoto.com/2009/07/21/my-familys-caribbean-cruise/feed/ 1 http://jmyersphoto.com/2009/05/15/art-with-a-heart-party-at-silo-point/ http://jmyersphoto.com/2009/05/15/art-with-a-heart-party-at-silo-point/#comments Fri, 15 May 2009 15:42:04 +0000 Jill http://jmyersphoto.wordpress.com/?p=420 Art with a Heart had its annual fundraiser party last weekend at Silo Point in Baltimore (Locust Point).  There was yummy food, great music from The Motorettes, a silent auction, and art activities that everyone could get involved in.  I was helping guests work on decorating a kid-sized table and chairs to be put in the House of Ruth shelter in Baltimore, which is a wonderful resource for battered women and children.  Art with a Heart provides art classes at the shelter in addition to tons of other locations around the city including group homes, homeless shelters, community centers, public schools, and more.

Silo Point was an amazing location for this event.  It is a new condo community and has a huge lobby and cool outdoor space, not to mention a stunning view of the harbor.  I brought my camera to just take a few pics and was wishing I had brought some other lenses with me!  No wide shots of the space, but I think you can still get a feel for the atmosphere.  Hopefully I can shoot some engagement portraits there sometime.

Here is the sign out front.  You can see part of the rustic original silo behind it:

I couldn’t decide which of the following two pics of The Motorettes lead singer to include, so here are both!

Here is the table I mentioned.  We were covering it with pieces of colored stickers which is easy to do, but still makes a dramatic statement.

Playing with my 50mm lens at 1.4.

Sweet looking cake!

There is a killer sky lounge on the 19th floor.  It has two levels and is very swanky….would be a perfect place for a smaller private event.

More sky lounge shots: