Following a remarkable breakfast overlooking the entire city from the Eden’s rooftop terrace, we left to get lost in the city. Although we’d both been to Rome on our own a few times before, it’s always fun exploring a city with your best friend in one hand & your 5D in the other! A couple of Europe trips ago we came up with the phrase “sight-shooting”, which I think perfectly suits us! All of our exploring is done through a lens. And while it’s always great to get those famous landmark shots that are unique to each city, so much of the fun (for me at least) is finding those little hidden gems in the details.  Whether it’s a quiet little cobblestone street off the beaten bath, a memorable meal or maybe even just a different perspective, I think that’s what makes travel photography so great. You can visit a place a dozen times and still manage to find new shots or still not even get the one you want. One of my biggest inspirations of all times is a husband & wife travel photography duo called Scanlan. They once shared with me that sometimes it will take them four or five different trips to a destination before they get that ONE shot that they want; a lifestyle that requires an unbelievable amount of practice, dedication & patience. I think about that concept often, especially when I’m traveling abroad to shoot. I sometimes find myself getting frustrated or anxious about getting “the shot”. Whether it’s the lighting that’s unfavorable, bad weather or a scene that’s over crowded with people, I sometimes start slipping into the mindset that I get one chance to get it right and one chance only. And sometimes that’s true. But more often than not we have more second chances than we realize, we just fail to see the grace of the moment. Sometimes that moment requires us to take a step back, take a deep breath, readjust our focus & wait for the distraction to pass through the view finder. More often than not, when you do that, things will look a little differently.

Thanks again for sharing in our Journey. Up next on the blog: shooting at the Coliseum at 4am in the pouring rain! Till next time…

Vatican at Midnight

Bike in the Street

The Trevi

Waiting for the shot

Heaven

We’ve since been reunited with our bags & can now look back & laugh at how for the first 3 days of our trip we are both wearing the exact same thing in every picture. And of course, the image of both us in our matching size XL undershirts & shorts from our amazingly handy little Iberia toiletries bags is priceless. Having to make do with whatever we could find & not worry about what we didn’t have was in a way, surprisingly refreshing; you can’t be tied down to what you don’t have. We are excited now for all the amazing destinations through Italy, Greece & Turkey that are ahead of us. After catching up on some much needed sleep & working through this jet lag I hope to be able to write more and post some of the amazing photos we’ve been able to capture thus far!! Tomorrow we head to Istanbul, which should be absolutely fascinating!

So today, take a minute to reflect on what’s going on at this moment. Can you find simplicity in the midst of chaos? Perhaps there’s a bigger purpose at work around you. Thanks for taking the time to read about the exciting start to our trip & I hope you’ll follow us through this amazing Journey we’re on.

Early morning on the Spanish Steps

Here’s what is being said about this fantastic bridal network:

Newsweek: “Other ‘wed’ sites aspire to be The Knot.”
Vogue: “The chicest wed site in cyberspace.”
Business Week: “Don’t get hitched without The Knot.”
Wall Street Journal: “The best-known wedding site on the Web.”

Secondly, and more importantly, Happy New Year!! With the holidays now behind us & a new year ahead of us, I’m looking forward to finally sharing a TON of overdue work, as well as update you as to where this exciting Journey will take us in 2010! (Greece, Turkey & Italy are just a few destinations on the horizon, along with some very cool shoots & events already in the works!) Please check back soon for a bunch of new posts featuring some fantastic recent shoots!

On a totally different note, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking, a lot of soul searching over the last few months. Ryan & I have had a lot of conversations lately about what it truly means to live each day with joy & contentment, regardless of what seems to be going on in or around our lives. And not just an attitude of “getting through something” or “figuring it out” but actually embracing the struggles, the questions, the whys. Learning to be ON the Journey and not just where you want to end up. Does that make sense? So much of how we’ve viewed success has been wrapped up in the arrival destination….but maybe we’re getting that wrong. Maybe success actually looks more like patience. Or joy. Or hope. Maybe it’s stepping out in faith when it seems impossible. Maybe it’s making yourself be still when all you want to do is run. What does success look like to you?

So, welcome back to the blog. It’s good to see you again. May your Journey in 2010 be full of beauty, life, hope, contentment and most of all real joy.

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, Journey of the Lens is going to be taking part in a very exciting event hosted by Posh Paperie at THE most fabulous wine bar in town, Wine Steals Liberty Station. The evening will feature the release of Posh’s 2009 Christmas Card Line, as well as an assortment of custom handmade stationary, invitations, gift tags, greeting cards, personal monogram & more! If you haven’t yet seen their AMAZING work, check out their website! In addition to Journey of the Lens, other top-of-the-industry contributors to the evening will include the lovely girls of Carter & Cook Event Co. & also the delicacies of renowned pastry chef Melody Brandon of Sweet & Saucy.

The September 30th event will be from 7pm~10pm, held in the private VIP room of the wine bar. RSVP to Posh is requested. Special packages & deals from several of the vendors will be featured that night only, so start thinking ahead for those holiday gifts! And for one night only, Journey of the Lens will be offering a $50 discount off any holiday card photo shoot! Don’t miss out! If you would like more info about the event or have any other questions please ask! We look forward to seeing you there!

Ps. We’d like to remind our guests that this event is hosted at wine bar, which means ages 21 & up only. Unfortunately that means no children. Thank you for your understanding!

If you have not yet met the amazingly talented girls of Posh Paperie then please allow me to introduce them to you. I recently had the chance to design a photo shoot for these lovely girls & it was so much fun to see that concept from start to finish. Not to mention I love photo shoots were you just end up laughing the whole time! Creating a sort of “downtown-sidewalk-office space”, I really wanted to capture the personality, the creativity and just the joy of these amazingly talented ladies & what they do so extremely well.

Specializing in all forms of handmade paper goods, they are currently THE industry leader for everything from custom invitations, announcements, bridal suites, custom logo & monogram design, to all forms of stylized correspondence. Even major publications such as The Knot & Ceremony Magazine are raving about these girls! Everything they do is a custom creation. If you can dream it, they can create it. I hope you enjoy a little look at the fun, style & creativity we captured that day & be sure to check out their phenomenal work!