wbw - in the monkee grass

is where Piper belongs.

WBW - my favorite show friend returns to the south

My favorite concert-goer has returned to the South, just in time for a weekend filled with Widespread Panic. We have six houseguests coming in from across the Southeast tomorrow to spend the weekend. It's a reunion, of sorts.

Indiana

Santa Rosa Beach, FL. Yes, you can see my tonsils in this picture, and the woman on the right is my Mama's cousin whom we randomly ran into at this show.
Always some good times watching the Loonies.


Looking through these photos makes me super excited for this weekend :)

WBW - Where They Do the Boogie

Boogie woogie woogie woogie.

I've been practicing some new tricks lately. I have become fascinated with iMovie, and the ability it gives me to present my photos and video in new and fun ways.

A year and a half ago we took these photos up in the Alabama countryside, and until recently, I had no idea how to present them in such a way to make it "work." As single shots they were fun, yes, but you really needed to see the progression to appreciate them. So Monday I sat down and played with them, and this is what I came up with:

Yes, I am wearing red underwear. But aren't you glad I decided to wear them at all?! It was a Sunday, after all! I wish that the video could have been longer, but this clip alone comprises over 50 photographs! So now I have new motivation for shooting on continuous mode on my camera :)

Some technical specs for those interested:
Camera - Nikon D200
Lens - Nikkor 24mm f/2.8
ISO - 200mm
Manual Focus (using Chap's nifty hyperfocal focusing technique)
Aperture - F/11
Shutter Speed - 1/250
White Balance - Auto

WBW - flickr

I started my flickr account back in 2005 and have been uploading off and on ever since. I credit a lot of my knowledge about the technical aspects of photography to flickr and the sharing of EXIF data from other members. Flickr gave me the boost of confidence I needed to share my images and openly ask for critiques and criticism. So here are a few photos from my first upload to flickr, the images that I credit with the turning point in my photography. One where I stopped taking photos for fun with friends, and started taking photos to capture ephemeral moments of beauty in the world.



I've been spending a lot of time with my flickr photostream lately, with my 365 day challenge. It's been an interesting way to define my days this year. One photo per day to capture what's happening in my life, my mood, etc. It's a challenge, for sure, but it's a fun one. And it helps to keep me interested in my camera.

To follow my 365 project, you can bookmark this photoset: http://www.flickr.com/photos/libbadibbado/sets/72157625785048741/

WBW - Dreaming of Palm Trees and Sunny Skies

Three years ago today I was celebrating Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent in the tropical islands of Trinidad and Tobago. It seems like the sun hasn't shined much in Birmingham the past week and we've got another day of rain ahead of us. This photo warms me up a bit.

WBW - The Biltmore

I figured I should probably just combine this week's WBW with current events, so here we go, the Biltmore Edition.

My only other trip to the Biltmore was a rather strange experience. I was there on a magazine assignment in which my SLR BROKE. So I relied heavily on my point and shoot, which was rather crummy at the time. I was there to photograph the Land Rover Driving School, where people learn to offroad in Land Rovers. For example:
I stayed at the Biltmore Inn, and I have traditionally ALWAYS loved having a hotel room to myself. But maybe it was that Gomar had just passed, or that I was not used to being in Asheville away from my sister, but it was just a little sad. So I decided to use my free pass to the Biltmore House.
I entered as they were closing the doors for the day, and I had the entire house to myself, aside from the staff. I breezed through the rooms like they were my own, not having to fight crowds, lingering where I felt like lingering and bypassing what didn't interest me in the slightest. Oh, and I was able to pull out the little point and shoot and grab some photos (which are strictly prohibited). Like this:
When Brooke told me that her sweet friend Chele was able to secure us day passes to the Estate and that we could tour the house if we wanted to, I was all for it. Not only so that I could take photos with my big camera, but also because I wanted to share the awe that is that mansion with someone else. And once we told Taylor that she was going to visit a castle, she was all for it.
It was a little breezy, and T kept saying, "Get out of my face, Hair!" Ha!
She was very impressed with herself on these steps.
We got there early, so we had the lawn to ourselves for photos.





The light was perfect for exterior shots, and I'm refalling in love with the D200 kit lens (18-70mm). It's not super sharp, but as Chap would say, it also doesn't way as much as an "anchor".
Then we headed to lunch at Cedric's Tavern, where Taylor rode Cedric the Saint Bernard.
And then she got ice cream for being such a good girl. Except, she picked out the pinkest one {of course} which was actually a raspberry sorbet instead of ice cream. I don't think she minded.

I was so fortunate that I was able to replay this Biltmore experience. The first time was very introspective, the second was just outright fun. I wish that someone would make a movie or write a book about what it was like to be a servant in that house. Brooke? Wanna volunteer?

WBW - Phish

I've always taken certain photos with song lyrics in mind. Or poems. Or quotes. Lyrical or melodic musings that could make good titles and/or captions. This photo was taken in the fall of 2007, and I will always think back fondly on this trip. It was my first visit to Oklahoma, for one. Two, I met some amazing writers and photographers who I am still in contact with today {shout out to the Robinsons and Elaine!}. And three, I was in the midst of reading John Steinbeck's "Grapes of Wrath" and we spent the majority of the trip following Route 66. This was a stop along the way, the Arcadia Round Barn. It was at this site that I discovered that Iowa has many of these round barns. I would one day like to photograph them all.

Anyway, this photo was taken, and every time I look at it, I start singing a song by Phish: "Round Room":"Right angle rooms drive me crazier each day
Put me in a box I know I'm never going to play
Put me in a square room and I won't know what to say
I want a round room at the end of the day.

If I pass out take me to the round church
Where echoes resound
And my spirit is found
And when I float high
Take my arm and I'll fly you by
The outskirts of town, to a garden that's round

I went to the lighthouse and I liked the view
I looked out the window and I could see you
Put me in a square house and I won't have a clue
I want a round room just to be with you."

I decided to post this photo on this week's Way Back Wednesday because Phish announced their Summer 2011 tour yesterday, which includes a two-night run two hours from us. The only thing is, the shows are on week nights and it would be impossible to take time off since we're already planning to take off for our honeymoon in June. So when Dirk suggested that we rearrange our plans to include the shows, I immediately said YES! We fell in love at a Phish show in June in 2004 {I'm sure I haven't mentioned that before, right? HA!} And I am at my best when dancing to those sweet tunes in my Sunday dress.

WBW - Let's talk about food.

My family has always been obsessed with food. We plan every day of every vacation around what and where we're going to eat. Once we have that figured out, then we are free to relax. We plan our menus the week beforehand. I wake up in the morning and know exactly what I'm going to put into my body on any given day. It's one thing I have complete control over. And I love it.

I've been thinking a lot about food lately, partly because Dirk and I are on a diet, partly because I am just like my mother, but also because being a vegetarian makes eating a lot more difficult. I have to think about things like iron and protein and to make sure I'm getting enough of everything. I am so much more conscious about what goes into my body now. And it's a good thing. But it's not easy.

I've also been thinking about how certain meals or foods can bring back memories, and how a lot of my memories are triggered by these things.

Picking strawberries out of the garden is one of my earliest memories. And the raspberries and how there were always tons of wasps to run from in the raspberry bushes.
Brooke and I used to plan parties for Mama while she and Jane Fonda were sweating in the living room. These consisted of a lot of marshmallows and peanuts. This one was a little bit more elaborate with the grape juice and streamers.
Vacation meals have the most sentimental value, because we were allowed to eat things we didn't get at home: white bread and raspberry jelly, for instance. My Gomar made an amazing PBJ with white bread, raspberry jam, and creamy peanut butter. Oh, and we got lemonade and cheese curls, too. This lunch can always make me nostalgic for eating on the balcony with my cousins, overlooking the gulf of Mexico. Always in a hurry to get back out to the beach.
Another delicacy that these beach vacations provided was fresh seafood, mostly shrimp. Fresh boiled shrimp with a french baguette, and drawn butter is about as good as it gets.
I've been a little bored with my lunch routine, lately. I have no problem switching up breakfasts every week, but lunch is tricky for me. I can't just slap a slice of ham and some cheese on bread and call it a day, oh, no. I usually eat a packet of mixed nuts, a string cheese, and a mango smoothie {mmmmm}, but this week, I went out on a limb and created this yummy chickpea sandwich spread. Paired with broccoli sprouts, cucumber slices, and some lettuce on a sandwich thin, it's pretty tasty. Although today I found a recipe for a vegetarian asian pita that I'm going to try next week.

So what meals make you bloggers nostalgic? Are there certain comfort foods that your family thrives on {grilled cheese and tomato soup, for instance?} What is your lunch of choice? Motivate me!

WBW/TftB - Rooms with a View

The Theme from the Bottom this week is "Room with a View", and it's all photos that are taken through windows. I decided to tie this into this week's WBW, and also to challenge you all to post a blog entry with a view from a window in your house! I'd LOVE to see what all of you see when you look outside (of your kitchen, for instance.) I know that Steph should have some awesome window photos :)

While compiling this post, I realized that I took a photo from a hotel room window on almost EVERY single trip I went on during my traveling days. Here are a select few.

Trinidad - view from the Hyatt.
Stockholm - view from the Grand Hotel
Puerto Rico - view from Rio Mar
St. Lucia - view from Royal St. Lucian
New Orleans - view from Windsor Court
Carmel - view from Bernardus Lodge
London - view from One Aldwych
London - view from the Athenaeum
Key West - view from Beachside
Hawaii - view from Kona Village
Copenhagen - view from Sankt Petri

WBW - New Mexico Skies

It's the dead of winter. And a lot of us are cold. When I think back to a moment when my heart was at it's warmest, my mind immediately travels back to New Mexico. To the Ghost Ranch, in particular. I learned a lot about myself there. Sometimes, I need to think about my time in that place to keep me going. To remind me of the friends I made, the self I connected with, and the enlightenment I felt surrounded by this landscape. Part of my heart belongs in the desert.

WBW

This was taken on my third press trip through Executive Traveler magazine, along Highway 1 on the Big Sur Peninsula. I was lucky enough to be given the royal treatment on this trip, along with my best pal, Collins, who celebrated her 30th birthday Monday (woot woot!) We traveled by stretch limo along the coast, sipping champagne, having our driver stop any 'ol time we wanted, taking photos, pinching ourselves in disbelief as to the awesomeness of our surroundings.

We actually hiked to this spot overlooking the falls (tipsy on all that champagne, mind you.) I fell in love with this view. Not only because I'd never seen a waterfall drop directly into an ocean, but also because the wild flowers were in FULL force! This is Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park. She was apparently an amazing woman. Living alone with no electricity, traveling by horseback, days each way to gather goods to supply her homestead for months, at least, that's what our limo driver told us, but who knows how hard he'd been hitting the bottle on our journey :)

(click on this picture to really take it all in)

This photo also reminds me that, regardless of fancy lenses or cameras, a photo is all about capturing memories, random moments in time. It's amazing the feelings and sounds and smells that come flooding over me when I see this, and it's great confirmation that I took amazing photos back before the super cool camera and the expensive lenses. It's all about how I, personally, view the world and my surroundings. And how I can share that with you.

Here's one last photo from that journey along Big Sur. Happy Birthday, Cole!

Way Back Wednesday

Today, we travel way far back in time to 1996, when Mama Sharon's Aerostar traveled to Iowa City. Yes, Billi, Laura, Meghann, & I decided to try out college for a weekend. I hope you get as big of a kick out of these photos as I did while scanning them.

Oh yeah. Remember making banners and crap in computers class?! (they should have called it Typewriting Class.) It was on that paper where you had the rip the edges off? Ha! I remember Meghann (or someone) making up a song to the Red Hot Chili Peppers song "It's my Airplane" and instead we sang "It's my Aerostar!"
I remember Melody being around that weekend, but I never really married that Mel to the Mel here on the blogosphere until recently. These photos reminded me of how awesome it has been to reconnect with all of you G-H Pirates via blogger. It is also proof that we all have a shared history, memories that only we understand. I love you girls.
Oh, Billi's big yellow coat. How awesome was that thing!? And Meghann is wearing a down coat that we found in my dad's closet from the late 70's. Sweet.
Yes, we are drinking wine coolers, I am wearing camouflage, and we are sharing a recliner. And Brooke is wearing lipstick. Crazy! Brooke & I always laugh that in a lot of our photos together I look like I am her "bitch." She always has an arm around me or is showing some sort of possession. I like to think of myself as a trophy sister.
This was also the weekend that we went to a football game and Brooke had an allergic reaction to something (what's new, right?) and her lips blew up as big as Camille Grammer's! She had to walk back to the dorms and everyone she encountered along the way told her so she should dump that prick.
I remember that we thought that it was awesome that everyone had dry erase boards on their dorm room doors. Billi decided to decorated the Tamster's (that was Brooke's secret nickname for her freshman year roommate.) Be sure to look closely to see what she has drawn on the board. Surprisingly accurate, Billi.
We thought we were so cool taking public transportation places. Ha!
Ahhhh, Pokey Sticks from Gumby's! The best part of visiting Brooke in Iowa City. Pizza Delivery! What a fascination for us small-town gals. You mean, they'll deliver pizza right to your dorm room?!

Galva Holstein, Galva Holstein
Is our battle cry!
Come on, Black Pirates
Fight for G-H High!