When Life Delays Your Flight... Make Lemonade!

When life delays your flight... make lemonade.  I think that's how the saying goes, anyway, right?  Or maybe they say "go to New York City".  Let me think about that for a minute...

Today has been insane.  And I am full of energy and thrilled for the adventure.  It's quite a ride.  For the last week and a half, I've been here in upstate New York, in the Adirondacks - by Lake George.  It was the ultimate escape with no cell service, no worries, very little internet, hardly any people for miles.  Just lots and lots of nature.  What an experience!  And it drove me crazy to be that disconnected...  I have work to do!  People to call, photos to upload, and blog posts to write!  Well, I found a little bit of internet to check in from time to time and I went through all the withdrawal symptoms from the phone.  It was remote and beautiful.  I feel much more peaceful now.

Today, that visit came to an end when I rode the 3 hours with my little sister and her family to Albany airport, several hours early because they were on a different flight.

Their flight left at 1 and mine left at 5:15, so I located a great little place called Blu Stone Bistro on Yelp with internet so I could work, eat, drink, and experience something about Albany other than the airport.  Then I was going to walk the 2 miles with my 3 bags to the airport.  Sounded like an experience worth having.  Maybe even fun.  The address was wrong, my brother in law was running late, and when they finally found it and dropped me off, the bistro was closed.  I had 3 hours to kill, then I would have 30 minutes with the bistro open until I needed to start walking.  It's almost comical how everything went wrong.  So I went to the lobby of this beautiful hotel and awkwardly piled my luggage on the floor of their cafe - this cafe was also closed.  Aaaaand the internet required a password, so I edited photos and made my work to do list for the next 3 days while listening in on a job interview and an awkward family fight also in the lobby.  Then I got a call - my flight was delayed an hour and a half!  This means I have an extra hour to enjoy the Blu Stone Bistro while it was open! :)  I will miss my connecting flight in Chicago and I'll figure that out when I get there!  I grabbed my bags and walked along the rather busy highway to find something, anything with wifi until 3 pm.  I ended up at a Starbucks for a couple hours, then back to the bistro.  Now, I love days like this.  In one sense, everything goes wrong.  In another sense, it's an unexpected adventure where nothing goes as planned - which is perfect.  I thrive off of that energy.  And all the people on the highway in Albany, NY waving to the girl walking on the shoulder laughing to herself because there is nothing to do but laugh.

All of a sudden, I get an ingenious idea!  instead of going to Chicago and figuring it out, why don't I try to go somewhere awesome for the night?  I have always wanted to see the Tuesday night jazz club at Mona's in NYC.  And indeed, we have lemonade.  I actually get money back from the airline by hopping on a bus and flying out of New York tomorrow instead of sleeping in the Chicago airport and flying out there tomorrow... So here I am, on a bus on my way to New York City with more money in my pocket, drinking my figurative lemonade (from the lemons I was given) and watching the real sunset go down over the city.  I get to go dancing, listen to incredible jazz, meet up with some childhood friends, take photos, and feed off of the energy of this incredible city.

From one perfect escape in the middle of nowhere to the exact opposite with the rush of people and crazy everywhere - and also perfect.

Now, last time I was in New York City was 2012, on the way to and from Europe.  I photographed a beautiful wedding in Holland, and spent an month discovering NYC, Ireland, England, Spain, Holland, and NYC again.  A few of my photos from that trip here:

  

Wish me luck!  And I'll see y'all again in Salt Lake in a couple days :)

A Beautiful Place to Rest

 

The power of a name, a title - this is a still a concept I'm working on.  Yet assigning a few simple words to a photo can amplify its impact.

This photo was in the middle of the night right after a rain storm, the bright moon was shining through the trees.  I lay on the hammock and look through a perfect opening in the leaves to watch the clouds pass in front of the moon.  Then I stepped back to take the photo then sleep in a real bed that night...  I've named the photo "A Beautiful Place to Rest" for now... What would you name this photo?

Upstate New York - Life as a photographer in the Adirondacks

I've got a week and a half in upstate New York.  I've been looking forward to this time, but I've also been nervous about it.  There are a few reasons:  being away from my computer (I have a beautiful iMac with a second monitor that I edit all my photos on.  I spend more time with my computer than anything else - it's a huge part of the life as a photographer!), being so off the grid with no cell service and minimal wifi, and a little stress about family dynamics.  I love my family and I love seeing them!  I get nervous because I often become the 14 year old Whitney when we get together and the progress in becoming who I am as an adult goes out the window.  It is interesting to step back and observe this!  I am now Whitney, a professional photographer, and someone who loves learning, people, nature, and arts.

I’ve been here before, but I don’t feel like I’ve ever really SEEN it.  My goal in photography is to show people what a beautiful world is out there and how to open their eyes to it.  Well I’ve been here 3 times in the last 10 years and this week, I finally finally opened my eyes and saw it.  We drove in at 4 am and I was exhausted.  But I saw the room, the view of the lake, and the super moon that night, and I was so inspired that I couldn’t sleep, so I started hiking around with my camera.  This photo above is the very first photo I took here.  That's part of the magic in it for me.  I enjoy looking through 100 photos and finding the best ones (I have 500 photos from this night, and others that I think are prettier) but when it is the very first exposure, it feels different.  I often debate whether to post the photos that I connect most to or the photos I believe that you will connect most to.  Today, this one is impactful to me and I wanted to share.

I stayed out for 4 hours running around the lake, finding reflections, in awe of the fog, and taking photos the whole time.  It felt like a sacred space for me.  For miles and miles, I was the only one awake.  Except for a few animals - there were squirrels or chipmunks or something in the trees literally throwing pine cones at me.  The grass was wet from the dew, and the moon was so bright.  I lifted a beautiful old wooden canoe, much too heavy for one person, but somehow managed it and saw the sunrise from the water.  It’s a large lake with a couple little islands, but I was there in complete solitude.

I watched the sunrise from the middle of the lake on a beautiful old canoe with fog surrounding me.  Yes, I was brave and took my camera with me, just trusting that that the canoe wouldn’t tip. :)  And it was worth it -  The lake was golden, and I have never seen anything like it.

 

I feel I am finding a piece of myself out here.  The beauty, the connection with nature, the lack of connection to technology.  It's almost like a creative retreat.  I have much to be grateful for today.