A New Perspective

  My grandfather passed away 2 years ago and it was a time of perspective and learning for me.  Each person understands death, and life, so differently.  We react and cope differently.  Some people reach out and want love and comfort, want to come together and a family and feel the closeness and reassurance of love.  Some people prefer to separate themselves from life, to look inside and evaluate emotions and memories for a while, and wait a while before reaching out to people.  It's often a time of spirituality in reflection - what does death mean and is there a God?  I've only had a couple experiences with people close to me passing away, and it's always been difficult.  I don't like the idea of funerals or cemeteries, I find myself feeling bitter, feeling the loss of this person in my life.  But I've wanted to learn a new perspective, the perspective of rejoicing in their life even after they are gone.

The most interesting thing to me when my grandfather passed away is how my mom and her siblings used to talk about taking walks through the cemetery when they were growing up. Grandpa would even take a picnic lunch and go with them on a Sunday, it was almost like a park.  My described something beautiful that I couldn't begin to understand. Death is painful, I've always wanted to tried places that represent death in my life.  But my last day in London, I saw a new perspective.

I love to get lost in a new city.  So many people just hop on the tube (the underground train system) when the destination would've been less than a 10 minute walk.  I had about an hour, so I opted to walk this time.  Turned out I walked in exactly the wrong direction, but I keep telling myself I enjoy being lost, it worked out :)

I stumbled across a beautiful stone archway that led into a picturesque park, flowers and trees and everything was so green.  There was an older couple walking arm in arm down a dirt path and I couldn't help but smile.  So I said "hey, I'm lost anyway.  May as well take my time and walk through the park".  Relax, breath, clear my head, and take a few pictures.  A few steps in and I saw a tour group , with the tour guide pointing to headstones and crosses and talking about something.  I got really confused.  If this was a cemetery, why would people other than family members of those buried here come visit? But dozens were just walking around, so I convinced myself to keep going. And it was beautiful. And heartwarming. Walking past the gravestones and the flowers placed by the cross, I felt peace.  I felt something about death that wasn't just uncomfortable.  And I'm grateful for that.  There was something so perfectly beautiful about the way in which these people's lives were honored with this atmosphere that was more like a park.  Seemed perfect to me.

I took a few photos for istock as well, you can purchase them here

 

And I walked away with a new perspective, a new appreciation, and greater understanding.  I hope to hold it in my heart forever so I can remember the beauty and the peace, the joy that can be found in celebrating someone's life even after they have passed.

London Bridge is Falling Down

  My mom's originally from England, so I always took a little bit of pride in being half-British.  I've been to England once before with my family (when I was about 9), we saw Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, and all the ABC tours as I heard them called (apparently stands for the not-completely polite phrase "another bloody castle" but as an American, it was always funny and never seemed crude)...  I have a few distinct memories from the trip when I was 9.  Visiting my cousins, collecting a souvenir pin from each castle I went to, fish and chips, crepes, the awesome candy store... One day my cousin convinced me to go to school with her.  It was interesting, and I liked meeting her friends and getting attention as the American, but my older sisters and Dad used that day... wait for it... to go to Paris.  I wonder which I would have chosen if I were given all the information before making my choice ;)  Oh well, one day I'll make it to France also.  I also remember standing in front of a castle... I think the Tower of London, but I'm not sure... and this guy in the photo below asked me where I was from.  I told him and he said "TEXAS!  Your house must be bigger than this.  Everything's bigger in Texas!"  I'm sure I stood there awkwardly and giggled as a response.

It was interesting coming back as an adult though.  I'm much less of a tourist in that I want to see all the famous sites, but I did want to see people, culture, and have a chance for some good photography and food.  All in all, London didn't impress me nearly as much as Ireland.  But it was interesting and I'm glad to have taken the two days to stop there on my way to Spain.

The tunnel to the tube (subway, metro... everyone has a name for it!)  London's was a bit cleaner than New York's but not much!  I saw mice on several occasions and no matter how tired I was, I always stood when waiting for the train, I didn't want to sit on the dirty benches or floor... The colors and walls, however, were very cool.

From my perspective, life was much more fast paced and impersonal in London.  Even when compared to my experience in NYC, people in New York seemed interested in me and willing to chat, London people seemed very focused and annoyed if I got in the way.    Certainly when compared to Ireland.  Friendly people everywhere in Ireland, I only had 2 real conversations in England.  One of them I was pretty excited about, though.  There was a man staying at my hostel who worked as a butler.  Actually, he used to work as a butler, now he was interviewing for short-term positions where he trains the household hotel staff.  He made the joke  (note: numbers have been changed to protect their identity.  Ok, ok, I lied.  Numbers have been changed because my memory is terrible) that in England the glasses were supposed to be at 4 o'clock in relation to the plates, in Italy they were supposed to be at 3 o'clock, in America, you can put it wherever you want on the table.  That felt like a very British experience, though, talking to a Butler.  I wanted to say "that's so cool!  I call my GPS Jeeves" but realized that it would be a rather odd comment to make... just because it's the only connection in my life to British butlers doesn't mean he wanted to hear it!

Ok, more photos from my walk through the city:

 

Some of the little restaurants were very British...

...and others were not.  Doesn't matter where you go, it seems there is no escaping of the fast food!

We saw the show "We Will Rock You" that evening, the musical set to Queen's music. Now, I have studied music all my life, but I seem completely illiterate when it comes to knowing pop culture, artists, songs, and name of songs.  I've tried to educate myself over the last year or so, studying up on the artists that I like, learning the music and lyrics and learning to identify the song when it's playing.  I'm pretty successful with recognizing Beatles and Queen now.  So I was thrilled to hear about this show!  And next I need to go see Cirque du Soleil LOVE with the Beatles music in Vegas.  We Will Rock You was full of British pop culture jokes that went right over my head and it was all a little cheesy, but incredible talent and I thought it was cute.  Music by Queen warms my heart and makes me smile (speaking of cheesy... haha)  And the verdict is: I would definitely see this show again!

And some cool night shots.  I have no idea what this building below is, but they had flags strung up across the streets in celebration of the queen's 60th Anniversary as queen.  If I understood correctly, she is one of two queens who have ever reached the 60 year mark, so it's a pretty big deal! Between that and the olympics coming up, London was ready to have a party!

The Tower of London

And the famous London Bridge.  Not falling down.  But looking pretty amazing at night.  Some of the photos showed the towers lit up with that blue light, some of my photos didn't.  I didn't remember it changing as I took the photos, but I'm on a quest to find out what/why/how they light up the bridge there.  Anyone know?  (p.s. I secretly wanted to dive in and swim over to that ship, I have no idea why, but I had to fight that urge all evening, haha)

Cheers

  Sitting in the Dublin airport waiting to hop on my plane to London and watching the sunrise.  I couldn't wait to share this photo.

I have to admit, I really am sad to be leaving Ireland.  But on to new adventures, and I hope to return again soon.  I love the people, the music, the culture, and the countryside.  Nothing quite like it.  I definitely left part of my heart there.

The Cliffs of Moher

  I think there are four movies that define my cinema education as a child: Chitty Chitty Bang Bang,  Cool Runnings, Dunstin Checks In, and The Princess Bride.  Oh, how I loved the Princess Bride.  As a teenager, I once found two friends as passionate as I and we quoted the entire movie from beginning to end.  Pathetic?  Maybe.  But really satisfying.  And it was fun.  So when I found out that the actual "Cliffs of Insanity" were in Ireland, I did a little giggly dance of excited.  "Really???  Are you sure?  I get to see them?" :)  And for those of you who have never seen the movie, that is your homework for this weekend.

They are taking a boat across the ocean after kidnapping the princess and discover someone following them.  Worried they'll be discovered, this is the conversation that follows:

  INIGO

             Look! He's right on top of us. I
             wonder if he is using the same
             wind we are using.

 VIZZINI

             Whoever he is, he's too late --
             (pointing ahead of them)
             -- see?
            The Cliffs of Insanity.

 VIZZINI

 Hurry up. Move the thing! Um ...

             that other thing. Move it!

             We're safe -- only FEZZIK is
             strong enough to go up our way --
             he'll have to sail around for
             hours 'til he finds a harbor.

And this is what they were talking about! I'm told it looks much more dramatic if you take a boat out on the water, but we didn't have time for that this time.  Next time, definitely.

It was VERY windy.  A little nerve-racking to be honest, the wind threw off my balance a couple times, and that's not exactly the best idea when walking next to a cliff...

 

Ok, this is funny!  This sign was at the end of the pathway, well, the end of the first pathway.  I got to the end, and there was this sign, a small rock wall, and something else about Danger or Do Not Enter, didn't seem important at the time.  It seemed that 75% of the people who walked there just hopped the wall and continued on the next path.  The next path had the best views anyway.  So, mob mentality got to me and I joined the masses. But I lived to tell about it, so in the end, that's the important thing.

At one point, I'm walking along the edge of the cliff and I turn to my right and see a cool rock formation.  Then I turn to my left... and see a field with cows.  I have no idea why someone had a field of cows at the top of the cliff, but I found it very entertaining.

 

Laurie trying to get as far over the edge as possible without taking the strap off his neck... pretty sure red flashing lights and warning sirens would go off if you did that and held the camera over the side...

And my view down from that same spot:

 

Well, what an experience!  That's Ireland, folks.  In all its glory and beauty.  Hope to be back soon.

Ireland - a sight to see

Travel for me is 98% about the people and culture.  But every once in a while I come across a breath-taking view, an unbelievable sight, something that looks like it belongs in a painting or a movie... and then I love to stop and sit, reflect on the beauty in the world, and try to show that the best way I know how - photography.

Annie and I took a bus tour from Galway to see the Cliffs of Moher (if you've seen The Princess Bride, these cliffs were featured as The Cliffs of Insanity) and today I want to post the views from the trip to and from the cliffs.  Tomorrow I'll post the cliffs themselves.

This is what I imagined of Ireland, why just staying in the city for the whole trip simply isn't good enough.  And our journey begins:

 

It was cold and rainy.  And WINDY.  Very windy.  Most of us fell over at one point unless we properly braced ourselves against the wind.  Now, when I travel, I often have trouble getting photos of myself and whoever I'm traveling with because I don't want to just hand my camera to a stranger walking by - "Here's a camera worth several thousand dollars.  You can try to take a photo of us or you can walk away with it while we pose here and let you get away.  And by the way, you know how to get this thing in focus, right?"  Ok, so that's a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the point. So I try to keep my eyes open for competent camera users I'd trust.  Sign number one - I saw this kid with a Nikon camera.  3 points in his favor :)  Sign number two - posture when he took pictures.  He actually created a tripod for himself and held still and all that.

Sign number three - his equipment was entry level (D5100 and a kit lens) but his composition and the photos I saw were phenomenal.  Showed me he knew how to use it, not just have it. And when I finally decided to trust him was when he stood in the middle of the road because that was the only place to get the angle he wanted.  Sound like anyone else y'all know??? ;)  I fully support risking your life for the perfect shot.  Anyway, handed him my camera so Annie and I could be in a photo together with the beautiful countryside behind us.  It was cold and rainy and extremely windy, so everyone else had gotten back on the bus and was watched us from my right.  Laurie struggling a little bit figuring out how to get the photo in focus with my d800, but I was so impressed that he recognized the difference and wanted to try again! Ended up with some of my favorite photos from the trip.  Annie and I are laughing because the wind is knocking us off balance and trying to steal her hat.

There are a couple other photos I liked from this trip, but my wi-fi is struggling, so I'm going to leave it at this for now and come back later to add a few more.  It's interesting going to McDonald's more than ever before in my life - in Europe, that's one of the best places for internet connection, but I still find it difficult to want to spend that much time there.  Oh well!  Enjoy the photos, and watch for the cliffs tomorrow.

Lindy Hop

  There is a sense of community among swing dancers across the world.  We are all like family in a way.  I can travel anywhere in the world and be part of the club with instant friends.  These people are fun.  Interesting, adventurous, stylish, friendly, and everyone feels passionately about the emotions in the music.  That's what we share.  When that perfect song is playing, it's almost impossible to stay in your chair.  Everyone dances with everyone, and you don't have to know each other.  Here are the photos from day 2 of the Galway Lindyfest 2012.

 

Chris and Hazel (above right and below) were two of my favorite people from Ireland.  Hazel is an amazing dancer and actually an instructor for circus. Very talented girl!  And Chris was one of the first people Annie and I met in Dublin. If you look really closely, you can see that his bow tie is actually made out of wooden dice.  So classy, I love it :)

WIth this kind of dance, the choreography isn't planned out ahead of time, you don't even need to "learn the moves."  Everything is about connection.  When the lead moves this direction, the follow can feel it, so she moves as well.  In this way, I've found that the dancers are like two more musicians added into the music.  They can add embellishments or keep things simple, but they are contributing something to the feeling and style of the song.  It's difficult to find the right words to describe this feeling accurately, but it's the number one reason I love dance.  10 talented dancers at the same skill level will each have a completely different dance to the same song.

Below is Annie dancing with another of my favorite Irishmen, named Oisin. He is a professional traditional Irish musician and only got into swing dance about 6 months ago.  But he's doing so well and was a pleasure to be around.  It's funny though, because technically I know English but several times I had no idea what these people were saying because of their Irish accents!  Oisin joked that they should have streaming subtitled for us Americans.  I'll definitely have to look into that next time I come back!  I found myself smiling and laughing and nodding often... and having no clue what I was responding too.  Oh well.

I pulled out my camera to get a shot of the room and didn't realize that all the humidity and body heat from the dancing had fogged up my lens.  I'm thinkin' maybe I should charge extra for the not-quite-intentional-but-pretty-cool-anyway effect it created for the photo below!

Thank you dancers and friends from Ireland for making me feel welcome.  Check out the galleries of photos and feel free to purchase prints or right click and download for facebook here:

May 11 Galway Lindyfest

May 12 Galway Lindyfest

Happy People

 

Sitting in a McDonald's in Dublin, watching the sky go from sunny, to cloudy, to rainy, to dark, to sunny, to rainy... etc.  I have one more day in Ireland, then headed to London in the morning! I don't have tons of time, but I just wanted to say how much I love happy people.  I've had the chance to meet up with swing dancers several times this week, and there are people who are amazing dancers, and there are people who are beginners. The people I enjoy the most though, fit into both categories - they are the people who love the music and have fun.

As a photographer, there is nothing better.  Real emotion.  Real people.  Loving life.  And I'm so grateful for this community of swing dancers also.  I was introduced to the Lindy hop scene during high school in Austin, TX, but really got into it with the swing club at BYU about 6 years ago.  I was dancing 15+ hours a week in Utah, but also took weekends to travel to other cities for Lindy Exchanges, where a city would host a weekend of dancing with workshops and classes and people traveling in.  It was a thrill to meet the people, have such an intense training of the technique, and usually some good live music also.  As luck would have it, Annie and I ended up in Galway on the same weekend as one of these events, the Galway Lindyfest 2012.  There were amazing dancers, lots of events, and everyone was so accepting.  We have something in common which makes us all like family.  I feel so grateful for all these awesome people we got to meet, the great dances, and a new experience.

  

These are the photos from day 1 of the event, my favorites are from day 2, so check back tomorrow for more fun and style!  People got a little more dressed up for the next dance also, it was fun to see all the outfits.

The End of Dublin (Night Life)

  Well, Ireland certainly has a night life.  I asked someone in a store for a recommendation of things to do in the afternoon and she said "oh, I don't know. Go get a drink.  Not much else to do."  Kind of depressing since I don't drink, but they've got music in almost every pub!  So I had a blast.

I sat at the bar of a Japanese restaurant, chatted with the sushi chefs, and ate gyoza.  It was delicious.  There was a large window to my left, so I watched as all the people hurried by.  It's just a lot of tourists, but that's ok.  They're all happy and going to food and music and, most importantly for the area, drinks.  Giant "Guinness" signs everywhere, I don't know if it's actually the Irish people or just the people visiting Ireland, but whoever it is sure likes to drink!

 

Had some awesome traditional Irish music at a pub called the Globe.  This is Fred, who we met on Tuesday, playing the bodhrán.  He gave me a mini-lesson on how to play it and I decided that it's more complicated than people think to play it well.

Before the band started playing, I ordered my non-alcoholic beverage at the bar and chatted with a few people around there.  This guy in the photo below, though, heard something about me being a photographer and said "OH! Take a picture of me.  Right here." My eyes darted around uncomfortably, but the bar was pretty empty, so I pulled out the lens and flash and took a photo.  Of course he wanted to see it.  "Hrmmm... how about another one.  I'll do my George Clooney pose."  I have no idea what he meant by that, but after 15 minutes of his entertaining drunk ramblings and wanting to pose for the camera, this is what we ended up with:

I really enjoyed the trad group, because they had three of them and they all played instruments and could sang.  This meant the sound of the song changed as they switched lead or instruments.  Made it interesting!

After a bit there, we went down the street to a pub with a blues band. I drank an orange juice with nothing in it and was told that was an insult to the Irish.  I wasn't sure whether to laugh or feel really uncomfortable, so I tried to be really polite and understanding while still explaining I wasn't interested in drinking alcohol...  Oh well...  Met some other awesome people, the lead singer and harmonica player in the band was a friend of Fred's and a great musician! They had more of a Texas blues style and it really made me want to dance.  Just listening was almost as good :)

Here's the vocalist from their group.  I didn't get a good picture of it, but the coolest thing about him was he also played the harmonica!  I've met people who could kind of play, but this guy was wailing on it! So much fun.

And now we're in Galway.  Stay tuned :)

The End of Dublin (part 1)

Not really the end of Dublin, just the end of my days in Dublin on this trip.  Much less dramatic than it sounds.  I'm sitting on a bus right now on my way to Galway, it's about 11am here, 4am Utah time.  Rain is pounding on the windows, I feel like I should be in an old fashioned car driving along these picturesque roads.  The atmosphere around just makes me smile.

Luckily they have internet on the bus, so I can finish uploading photos from yesterday and write some of my thoughts about it.  It really was a perfect day.  I forgot to sleep that night due to jet lag and uploading photos, so around 6am I finally gave up on the idea and went to walk around the city.  Now, there are a couple things you should know for the stories today to have significance.

#1 - I have the world's worst internal compass.  Seriously, I'm terrible with directions.  I don't know how I lived before GPS.

#2 - I love to meet new people.

#3 - Traveling for me is about the adventure, not the sites.

So, back to my day.  Annie decided to go on a tour bus and see the Giant's Causeway.  I opted to stay in Dublin and explore.  I had three goals - first, to get to know my way around the city.  I did this by hours and hours of walking.  Getting lost on purpose.  Occasionally asking for directions, and when all else fails, run into an internet cafe and look up the address for my hostel. I wish I could say this last one was a hypothetical situation, but unfortunately it was not.  I had spent 5 hours walking around the city and I knew where Temple Bar was, where the castle was, where the mall was, but I had no clue where my hostel was.  And after 30 hours of no sleep I needed to find it.  Quickly.  I am pleased to report, however, that I now know the city of Dublin pretty well.  Just in time to leave :)  I'll have to repeat the same process in Galway next.  Then London and Madrid... oh let's face it.  I will have to work hard for the rest of my life to try and figure out where I am and how to get where I want to go.  But as long as I keep perspective and remember that I can enjoy the journey, not just the destination, I'm ok with that.  Right now, I'm just riding the bus, but the hills and villages and clouds - it's beautiful.

When I was a teenager, I used to climb out my window at night after everyone went to sleep and just sit on the roof alone.  I would write music, poems, stories, letters or just sit and feel the wind, the heat, or the rain, whatever the weather was at the time.  (Mom, I realized I'm not sure if you knew I did this... if you're reading this, well, we can just look back and laugh now, right?  Hope you didn't have to replace too many of the shingles on the roof up there :D)  I always felt the most at peace just sitting there, quiet, thoughtful, alone, artistic juices flowing.  And I would dream about sitting at a cafe in Paris for a day doing the same thing.  Something so perfect about Europe in my mind, I don't know why.  But yesterday I figured it out.  I didn't have a pen and paper, but I had my camera instead.  And I sat there outside the cafe on a brick road, rain lightly falling, the air brisk, and no one around.  It was early in the morning, so it was quiet.  I haven't felt that peaceful and inspired in years.  Breakfast was freshly squeezed orange juice and a gourmet ham and cheese crescent.

This was where I sat:

This was my view to the right:

And to the left:

And some more photos from my walk around the city during the day:

 

 

 

I walked around for about 5 hours (my calves are killing me!), explored, observed, got wet, smiled, watched people, took photos, and loved every minute of it.  Then I went back for an afternoon nap or whatever you call "the sleep for a few hours during the day that replaced the sleep I didn't get the night before."

I have many more stories I'd like to share, but I think I'm going to save them for another day.  As a preview to the next chapter, I woke up from my nap in time for food and music.  Lots of music.

And now I'm signing off.  Cheers!