Belfast, Ireland – Titanic Experience and Crown Liquor Saloon

While we didn’t originally have the Titanic Experience on our to-do list with the wedding dress, when Stewart at the Guinness Storehouse suggested it would make a great shoot we reached out to them. They were very enthusiastic about our coming so we made it our first stop. Titanic is one of Jennifer’s favorite movies. For me, the technical aspects of why the luxury liner sunk and the challenges associated with its rediscovery and recovery have fascinated me for years. The Titanic Experience which opened four years ago does a wonderful job satisfying all facets of interest in the titanic in a wonderfully immersive way. Below is just one of the many exhibits. This one surrounds you with three walls of video to take you virtual walkthrough of the historic ship. Another great exhibit takes you with a floor view of the explore the wreck of the Titanic as the underwater submersible would have seen it 12,500′ (3,800 meters) below sea level. We were too tired to wait for blue light and photograph the building properly, but we did snap a shot from above so show you the amazing internal architecture. The endless amount of detail was overloading in an […]

Northern Ireland – Coastal Causeway Route

Next we headed north to Northern Ireland, country #34 and the Coastal Causeway Route. We stayed at a wonderful bed and breakfast called Wanderin Heights. It was run by the sweetest older woman who made breakfast and all your time there feel like you were visiting you dear, sweet grandmother. Our reservation was completely messed up, not her fault, and she fixed everything including giving us the best room in the house. Complete with an ocean view. We had a busy agenda that was shortened when we saw scaffolding over the Dunluce Castle. Still there was plenty to do. We spent a day or so scouting our locations and the best time of day to do each shoot. Sadly, it rained a lot. Like most of the day every day. So we had to balance light with the weather forecast. First up, was an early morning shoot at the Dark Hedges (also known as the King’s Road in Game of Thrones). Unfortunately for us, getting morning light this far north in the summer meant getting up at 4:30 AM and hitting the road immediately. We had a difficult time deciding which shot we liked the best, so please help us by voting […]

West Coast of Ireland – Cliffs of Moher, Ballinalacken Castle and Doolin Cave

Going into our trip, the Cliffs of Moher were certainly one of the most anticipated and challenging photo shoots. To find a great location without hoards of people and the proper light was going to be difficult. Looking at the weather forecast we knew the evening we arrived was out best and possibly only chance to get decent lighting. Apparently it rains a lot in Ireland. A lot! On our way we had a few challenges. The roads out of Dublin were reasonably wide and well paved, however as we got closer to the cliffs, the roads became unforgiving, literally. It was hard enough driving on the wrong side of the road, but when there were centimeters of space on either side of the car. Next thing we knew, we blew a tire. Spare you ask, yes, but there were funky caps over the lug nuts and we sat puzzled and called for help. All the while, our precious light was mocking us. Perfect skies, but for how long? Fortunately, we figured it out, swapped on the donut and frighteningly putted down the road. If it was bad before, it was far worse on a donut. We eventually arrived at the Elements B&B with the sun […]

Dublin, Ireland – 2016

Before marrying Jennifer, I had the opportunity to visit Dublin, Ireland 4 times for the World’s Friendliest Marathon when I coached for the Leukemia Society. It’s odd to have visited a country/city for the 5th time, but since Jennifer had not been to Ireland we decided to go along with our friend Mike who traveled with us to Jordan. While Dublin is known for many things, it is the home of my favorite beer, Guinness. While one might say I am biased by the creamy goodness in a glass, both Jennifer and Mike were notably impressed by the seven story experience at the Guinness Storehouse. Indeed, even I was blown away by the upgrades to the tour. Guinness was kind enough to allow us early entry and provide an escort to help us get the photos we wanted. We were met at 9AM by Stewart, who enthusiastically embraced our challenges. Our first, attempt was the dimly lit, majestic waterfall which presented many lighting challenges. Stewart watched and Mike and I set up and adjusted multiple remote flashes to capture Jennifer, the dress and the waterfall in one click. Many clicks later, we got our keeper just as the hordes of people […]

Cruising with the Family – 2016

Once every decade or so the sun, moon and stars align and Jennifer and my spring breaks fall on the same week. This was that year. Unlike many of our far out adventures, we spent the week participating in a relatively tame cruise through the Caribbean. The best part of the trip was spending time with our extended family. Yes, it is possible to travel with family, even in-laws, and all have a great time. We often met for breakfast and always met for dinner. In between, we explored and of course had the dress in hand. This was our second trip with Holland America and we highly recommend them as a cruise line. The food was great, the staff very friendly and helpful, rooms were clean and reasonably spacious, and the selection of excursions was extensive enough to give us some options for interesting photo shoots. Our first was swimming, playing and kissing wild stingrays. The excursion started just off the boat where we were walked over to a smaller boat. First, we headed out to the reef for a bit of snorkeling. Given that we were getting wet anyway and we’ve had plenty of underwater scuba shots previously, […]

Christmas Lights in Medford, NJ

After 1,500 miles of driving (3,000 if you consider the round trip) we came home and had to do one more photo shoot. Our neighbor from across the lake, Amber Merefield, has the best Christmas (yes the local Jewish man refers to it as Christmas 😉 display in all of Medford, maybe all of NJ. This is the last year for the display and Amber was kind enough to have us do a shoot. Coincidently, Fox News showed up and did a dual interview, but then said they want us to do a separate interview. Perhaps for Valentines Day. Until then, Enjoy photo shoot 229, Amber’s Christmas Lights!

Key West

For something a little different, we drove down to Key West this Christmas with Munson. We had many breaks on the way down, stopping with family, but also to charge our electric car. Driving to the southern most tip of the USA in an electric car was full of highlights both good and bad. You can read about them on our Tesla blog if you like. Our first stop was Robbie’s Marina in Islamorada   Shortly after, we arrived at the Gates Hotel. We originally had booked a room using Flip Key and got totally screwed when they cancelled our fully paid room less than a month prior to our dates. Given that we were traveling on the busiest week of the season and with a 50+ pound dog our options were limited. We rebooked at a dumpy, way-overpriced Holiday Inn Express for way too much money. However, on Cyber Monday I found a flash sale for the Gates Hotel. It looked gorgeous and was not more expensive so we cancelled the Holiday in and upgraded to the Gates. We arrived at noon and they let us check in early. We were not disappointed. Not only did the rooms and décor live […]

Cyber Monday Deal

Get all three books for $25 + $5 S&H. That’s the original One Dress, One Woman, One World hardcover, Jennifer’s new memoir When it Clicks, and the companion smaller full color photo book also called When it Click. Deals are good thru December 1st.  

Slovakia and Spain

Given our car issues we decided to book a second night at the airport hotel (originally we planned just one for our flight). From there we figured we would take a train to Slovakia. In one way, this was our one big mistake of the trip (Not that we had much of a choice). Cheap, yes. Location, yes. Everything else a big no. Noisy, smoky, cruddy, and exactly what you’d expect from an airport hotel. However, we weren’t doing much there other than sleeping so we made the best of it. Also, we grossly underestimated how long it would take to get back to Vienna. What should have been a 5 ½ hour drive turned into a 10 hour, four border-crossing ordeal. So in some ways we were lucky we didn’t add a fifth crossing into Slovakia.  We had a crappy dinner at a local restaurant and crashed for the night. The next day we headed to the train station to navigate our way to Slovenia. We purchased the tickets from a machine without a hitch, but figuring out the right way to go was problematic. Either option seemed to get us close, but not there without some level of […]

Bosnia

We were sad to leave Croatia and Carlo’s hospitality, but excited for our next stop, Bosnia. It wasn’t on our original itinerary, but it was only about 10 miles out of the way. How could we pass up the opportunity to see a country we normally wouldn’t have a chance to experience? Our jubilation ended quickly though, because as we crossed the border, the guard asked for the car’s registration, which turned out to be expired. We were both at a loss for words. What do you do now? The guard repeated to us, “It’s expired.” We gave him a dumbfounded look. Really, what are we supposed to do? He directed us to a building and said buy one there. OK, not the end of the world, but when I headed in no one spoke English. I held up the registration. “No here,” was the response. I tried a few more doors, but had no success. So we went back to the guard, got the look, and he waved us on. Fortunately, it was only a few miles to the hotel. However, we hadn’t listed Bosnia as a country we were visiting so we didn’t know the ramifications if we […]