One Dress, One Woman, One World

Parable of the Peacock

by jsalvage in What's Up 0 comments tags: peacock trump zojjed

For our 295th photo shoot, we did a project crossover. While typically our publishing company publishes race walking, photography and computer science books, we’ve recently created a new imprint called Salvage America Publications. Given the horrendous political situation in our country, we decided instead of simply reposting other people’s meme’s we would take personal action. In our photoshoot Jennifer is reading from one of our two new project, The Parable of the Peacock. Even Munson is enjoying the reading. Although created in the form of a children’s read-aloud picture book with rhyming couplets, the satire carries a serious message for adult readers. The book uses animal caricatures to represent individuals and generalized populations in contemporary American politics. A prideful, orange-faced peacock is the main character, and a mean, bare-chested weasel from “a far-off land” has an important supporting role. This was a project written by a close friend, Brent Bohlen but published by us. You can order The Parable of the Peacock directly from Amazon or get more information including sample pages from www.peacockparable.com. T-shirts with the graphics on the TV are also available from the peacock site. About the AuthorBrent Bohlen of Springfield, Illinois, retired from a career in […]

A Ride in the Goodyear Blimp, Almost :(

by jsalvage in What's Up 0 comments tags: Good Year Blimp, Wedding Dress

We almost got to ride in the Goodyear Blimp thanks to our friend Mike R. and Pep Boys. He won a contest and we were literally headed out on the tarmac when they called it. We did get to sit in the inflated blimp, so technically wedding dress shot #294, but not quite as an exhilarating experience as we were hoping for.

Lebanon

by jsalvage in What's Up 0 comments tags: Baalbek, Baatara Gorge, Bride, Byblos, Chouwen Lake, Knefeh, Ksara, Lebanon ', The Cedars

The best laid plans, …. And that’s how our planned trip to Lebanon started. When we first looked at places to visit before heading to Montenegro, I swear we found easy flights from Montenegro to Beirut for our visit to our friend Sandy who we met when she was an exchange student in the USA. In addition to taking in a local’s view of Lebanon I was also planning on giving a talk on race walking. Apparently, they either changed the entire schedule or I was having a senior moment because the only flights into Lebanon landed at 3 AM. Not wanting to do that to Sandy, or us for that matter, we decided to burn a day with a pit stop in Athens. This made the flights easy and we got to have a great dinner and sneak in a photo shoot at the Athens Luxury Suites. A small hotel, they had a simple, wide open rooftop that we could relax on while taking in the Parthenon. The owner couldn’t have been more lovely. It was just a shame we had to leave so quickly. Arriving in Lebanon, we were worried if we’d have any trouble getting through customs. […]

Lake Skadar, Montenagro

by jsalvage in What's Up 0 comments tags: Lake Skadar, Montenegro, Sinjon

For a well-seasoned traveler, the greatest joy is stumbling upon a hidden gem. A place ripe for tourism, but unspoiled by the negative aspects of hordes of people descending upon an idyllic spot that taint and can destroy the very aspects that make a location great. Such is the case with Lake Skadar in Montenegro. Just an hour outside Kotor and Podgorica we were attracted by the natural unspoiled beauty of the lakes, rivers, islands and lily pads. However, it has the hospitality and kindness that matched the sights that made Lake Skadar one of our favorite stops. Our journey there wasn’t direct. We were only an hour out of the way to hit Albania. It was cloudy and rain was in the forecast so we figured we’d take a nice countryside drive. We quickly ran into challenges as roads disappeared into construction pits. Apparently, they hired the same people that have been “fixing” 295 in NJ for the last decade. The drive was enjoyable otherwise with views of rural farm life and towards the end Lake Skadar itself. We crossed over the border, did a quick dress shot and had some Albanian soup before heading back over to Montenegro […]

Kotor, Montenegro

by jsalvage in What's Up 0 comments

Hopping from one country to another, one really doesn’t know what to expect. We had very high expectations of our upcoming stay in Kotor, Montenegro. The walled city, towering fortress, and ancient churches all were a strong draw. However, our optimism quickly waned at the airport when the couple in front of us in line for the rental car were visibility irritated with the staff. When it was our turn in front, we discovered why. The dishonest dramatic upsell began immediately, with the agent purporting that we needed insurance because he would have to put 12,000 euro on the card as a deposit otherwise. He was shocked when I said no worries, I have more than one credit card. Dejected he said he only needed to hold 5,000 euro. Our issues did not subside though. When we walked to get lot for our car, the couple ahead of us seemed more upset and the woman stomped back to the office. When we stepped up, they informed us the car wasn’t here and it would get here eventually, it was being washed. “How long” we asked? We were not given any real answer. So, I joined the woman at the office […]

Serbia

by jsalvage in What's Up 0 comments tags: Belgrade, Fortress, Serbia, Tesla

The next leg of our trip was to explore Montenegro and Albania for close to a week. However, once we realized that in order to get to our destination of Tivat/Kotor we needed to fly through Serbia and the Nicola Tesla Airport we thought why not pit-stop for a day in Belgrade. We didn’t know much about the country other than it being the birthplace of Jeff’s childhood hero, the one and only Nicola Tesla. Serbia was dramatically cheaper than any other location we are travelling to, so we stayed in a Hilton that cost less than $100. It was fantastic, completely modern and importantly well-soundproofed. Every staff member we interacted with, was kind and helpful. From advice on where to shoot and eat, to help with a difficult online check-in, they met all of our needs. A special shout out to both Andrea the shift leader and the numerous concierges. In an extremely rare occasion, we decided to go separate ways for part of the afternoon. Jeff claims it was coincidence that the Telsa museum was less than 500m from our hotel and he ventured forth on his own while I took myself on a self-guided walking tour of […]

Istanbul

by jsalvage in What's Up 0 comments

Amazingly, it’s been a year since we’ve worked on our “One Dress” project. But as the summer rolls in so does our journey. This year’s adventure is a bit off the beaten path with our end goal to visit our friend Sandy in Lebanon while our friend Ro house sits for us taking care of our fur child Munson. Our first stop is Istanbul. On our bucket list since the beginning of the project, we are excited to finally be in position to cross it off our list. After a lonnnnng day of flying, we landed in Istanbul and hopped a cab to our hotel. With less than three days to explore the 4th largest city in the world, we amazingly ignored our fatigue and went scouting. Without pausing for even a shower, we ventured forth to the legendary Grand Bazaar. It was not nearly as chaotic as one imagines, however the constant parade of endless vendors attempting to snare you into their shops is tiring. We had a goal in mind, to find a Turkish carpet store that would allow us to do a photo shoot. As we ambled down the lane of seemingly identical shops we were reminded […]

Onward to Alaska

by jsalvage in What's Up 1 comments tags: Alaska, Cruise, Glacier, Holland America

After beating our bodies up hiking around Whistler, we headed to the port of Vancouver to hop about the Nieuw Amsterdam ship from Holland America. This was my 3rd family cruise with the Jennifer’s immediate and extended family. We are one of those rare families where all the in-laws get along. This included, my brother and sister-in-law, their kids, and parents. The cruise was a round trip up the Alaskan coastline. Passengers disembarking joked, or maybe seriously, stated they had rain all 7 days. We hoped for the former as we boarded. The ship was the one that we first cruised together on, but it had be tastefully renovated. Our goal for the first stop was an ice cave in Juneau. Unfortunately, everyone we asked said any cave that would be accessible already melted. The idea of hiking up a muddy trail without a reasonable probability of success didn’t thrill us. It was also raining, so we opted for a tamer suggestion, a photo with the fire weed. Our taxi driver was a bit perplexed by us and crowned us the most interesting ride of the day. Unfortunately, with the rain came the clouds, so we didn’t get a great […]

A Trip Ending in a Train Wreck (Whistler, Canada), Photo Shoots 269-273

by jsalvage in What's Up 2 comments tags: Canada, High Note Trail, Train Wreck, Whistler

Our summer trip this year is focused around a family cruise to Alaska. However, for Jennifer and myself, we needed a little more activity to start the trip. Amazingly, our 43rd country is actually Canada. For all our travels, Jennifer and myself have not been to Canada together. We remedied that with a four day stop at Whistler mountain to get in some hiking. Ten years earlier, when we were newlyweds, we hiked through the Alps for nearly a month straight. The thought of taking a gondola to the top of the mountain would have been met with laughter. We were purists that had to walk every step. Ten years later, we were happy to ride the Whistler Express and the Peak Express to the start of our hike on the High Note Trail. It was also the site of our first photo shoots with the Inuksuk, a large stone cairn used by the Inuit and other artic region natives. We hiked on the trail, a black diamond for hiking and quickly were humbled by how much we’ve lost our hiking legs. Once past a steep, rocky decline, the trail leveled off to a more enjoyable grade. Wildflowers and random […]

R and R in Tobago

by jsalvage in What's Up 2 comments

After a long, hard year, the stars aligned for Jennifer and my spring breaks from school and we decided to head to an island and do almost nothing with great friends Rich and Wendy. Wendy is Jennifer’s college roommate and we’ve travelled with her before. She was our grip in Egypt. More importantly, we went to Rich and Wendy’s wedding in Jamaica where I was their wedding photographer. Wendy was even a sport and posed with Jennifer in a double Maggie Sottero wedding dress shot. Yes, she also saw the amazing quality in a Maggie Sottero dress and got one herself. When we joked that she should bring the dress with us to Tobago, she didn’t flinch. Thus wedding dress shot # 266 was born. We hoped for bluer skies, but unfortunately the latter part of the week went cloudy on us. You can see the results below and yes the guys didn’t bring their tuxes! Treating our women right! No picture, but island life started with an interesting twist. When we rented the car, the woman at the counter said don’t worry about scratches on the car, it’s already scratched everywhere (she was not exaggerating), but make sure […]