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(One of) My Photography Mecca(s)

The other day Sebastien sent me a message and asked about my favorite places in New York City to park it and shoot with camera in hand. This question sparked a couple of things for me. In truth photography has taken somewhat of a backseat in my life lately, which I try not to think about too much because it makes me sad. I excuse it with the same old nonsense (work, priorities, lack of inspirational situations), but the truth is I simply have felt like it was one more thing I had to do. Enter my growing interest in using an iPhone rather than lugging around multiple lenses, cameras, and film. By no means am I swearing off my Nikon dslr or trusty Polaroid SX-70, but the camera that’s in my pocket right now and everywhere I go is definitely worth exploring. Side-note: it’s a sad state of affairs when something you are passionate about becomes a chore. This post is the beginning of my quest to turn this around.

I wish I had some kind of heartwarming story about how a camera came into my life as a present from a well-loved relative and then turned into a great passion for me as an adult. The truth is I came to it later, in my mid-twenties on my honeymoon in Bermuda, in fact. The first photo I uploaded to Flickr on August 27, 2005 was a picture of a plumeria flower (of course it was) that I took with my point-and-shoot Canon Powershot A80, which I bought because it had a pretty sweet rotating digital screen…..I may be a nerd.

The truth is I don’t go to the City nearly as much as I’d like to. I know I take it for granted because it’s essentially in Albany’s backyard, and it often ends up being overshadowed by more “exotic” locales. However, as I thought about it, some of my favorite shots have occurred in NYC. It’s got everything you could want in a photographic environment: urban grit, a stunning variety of architecture, people galore (if you’re able to take photos of random strangers without looking like a creepy stalker – not something I have mastered yet), and an entire environment underground that offers a whole different view on society apart from it’s neighbor upstairs. In short, as I thought about it, New York City really is one of my photography meccas, and here are my favorite places to venerate it:

1) The Subway- I love public transportation no matter where I am, and if you are comfortable enough it can generate some pretty cool, slightly dangerous, usually unpredictable (depending on the subject) street photography. I’m a big baby and usually rely on the ability to snap on my iPhone without anyone knowing. Kind of creepy, I know. I can’t ignore the stations themselves, either. Lots going on there to be captured. Bonus: It’ll get you to all of these other places.

2) The Brooklyn Bridge – This is my #1 most favorite place in all of NYC. The lines are great, the light is awesome depending on what time of day you go, and you can never go wrong with the view, especially if you decide to make the approximately 1 mile stroll over to Brooklyn.

3) Chinatown – The clash of cultures fighting for dominance in this part of NYC is always good camera fodder. Plus, you can pick up some of my favorite NYC snack food, baked pork buns, at any of the seemingly hundreds of Chinese bakeries scattered throughout the area.

4) Grand Central Station – Every photog and their grandmother in NYC makes their way to GCS at some point. It may be cliche, but it’s totally worth it if you can figure out how to capture the light within the cavernous arrivals area. Also, great for people watching.

5) Central Park – Plan for a couple of hours and bring a willingness to walk. There is so much going on here, from a small zoo to Strawberry Fields, the makeshift John Lennon memorial, and even a castle (of sorts). I haven’t spent nearly enough time exploring the photograph-able nooks and crannies of this massive space, but it would be a shame to leave it off of the list.

6) Times Square at night – I know its totally touristy, but it’s also completely bright, shiny, and magical in that capitalist western society way that we Americans love so much (even if we pretend to have nothing but disdain for it). It can be as overwhelming as…well it’s overwhelming, but there are plenty of opportunities for some exciting nighttime street photography, especially as the weather gets warmer.

Obviously there are many more opportunities for exercising your shutter finger throughout the City, and these are just a sample of some places that have worked well for me in the past. Luckily, I can continue to hone my urban photography skills in one if the best cities in the world because this version of mecca is only a quick train ride away.

Tags: iPhone, new york city, Nikon, photography, subway, urban

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Categories iPhone, New York City, People, Travel

Ciao, Italia!

11 Dec

So listen, my wife and I spent two weeks in an apartment in a small town called Praiano, Italy this summer, and I also started a new job. These are the two things that have defined my existence for the past five months. Because nobody wants to see pictures of my new job, I’m going to share only a sampling of the 600+ shots I took while immersing myself in the most beautiful place on Earth that I’ve seen so far, the Amalfi Coast. There are so many stories hidden here in these pictures, and I promise I’ll get to them one day. For now, join me as I go to my happy place. I think you’ll like it there.

Tags: Amalfi Coast, Europe, Italy, summer, travel

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Categories Europe, Travel

Standing on History

19 Jan

Do you know what it’s like to walk across history? Have you experienced standing on the centuries, touching time? There are places on the Earth that I swear are some kind of gateway to the soul of our planet. The Great Wall of China is one of these. You can sense a strange energy coursing through the stone walls and uneven stairways of this ancient monument, an odd sort of memorial to the blood, sweat, and tears of the people who gave their lives to this crazy work of timeless engineering.

I had never climbed a mountain, never had a reason to, until I found myself at the bottom of this wall. It took me nearly two hours to get to the top. It was worth every sweaty, wind-sucking moment. Being at the top of the Great Wall puts the size of things into perspective. Take my word for it: nothing is insurmountable.

Tags: ancient, Chinese, Great wall of China, history, travel

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Categories China, Travel

Multicol(or)tured Montreal

5 Jan

I took this shot at the Palais de Congres, a sort of convention center in the downtown area of Montreal, Quebec, in July of 2011. It is probably my second most favorite shot of the year, and I sat on the floor in this entrance lobby for over an hour waiting for the perfect situation to present itself. I’d actually been eyeing up this building for years as I drove past it on my way out of the city, and i finally took an opportunity to explore it with camera in hand. Incidentally, I shot this “from the hip,” as they say, and I couldn’t have been any luckier. The lighting was exactly as I’d hoped (it was late afternoon), and the angle was perfect. Every time I look at this photo now I wonder what this woman would think of me broadcasting her picture for everyone to see.

Montreal is one of my favorite cities in North America. I’ve been going there to escape the humdrum of everyday life since one of my closest friends from high school started college at McGill University back I’m 1998. Since then I have been enticed by the urban landscape of this very European city so close to the US.

There’s a sort of dichotomy that happens in Montreal that I haven’t experienced in any other city. Perhaps it’s because I’ve spent so much time there, but I swear there is a small town hidden among the skyscrapers and asphalt built in the shadow of Mont Royal. I’ve never felt unsafe walking around this city, no matter what time of day, and late at night there is an eerie absence of automobile traffic like I’ve never seen in a place that is equally as loud and fast paced when the sun is up. Additionally, it is one of the easiest cities to drive in, and I’ve (mostly) never felt on edge while navigating its streets by car.

I have many happy memories of times spent exploring all that Montreal has to offer. I still remember my first taste of poutine, the real food of the gods, and I’ll never forget the first time I was cut off by several rude Québécois drivers as I found my way to my friends apartment in my 1993 Toyota Paseo (a very small car when you’re 6’5″) while slowly (too slowly) realizing that the blinking green light is equivalent to our traffic light turn arrow in a left turn lane. Who knew? I am still intrigued by the maze of underground shopping malls that wind through the downtown area allowing even the hardiest French-Canadian commercialized respite from the brutal winter winds north of the border. Whoever came up with that idea was a genius.

I’ve had plenty of people over the years tell me I am crazy for choosing Montreal over Toronto as best Canadian city, but I stand by my choice. I have too many good memories over too many years to turn my back on a city that’s been very good to me. Sure it may not have the hustle and bustle of some of its larger cousins, but I’m ok with that. Give me some culturally sanctioned cheese fries, people with just enough chip on their shoulder to make socialization a healthy gamble, and a place to buy Chinese pork buns or Vietnamese banh mi sandwiches, and I’m in heaven. Je t’aime, Montreal. Je t’aime.

Tags: Canada, Canadian, city, color, French, Montreal, Palais de congres, photography, rainbow, travel, urban

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Categories Photo Stories, Travel

Multicolored Montreal

2 Aug

One of my flaws is that when I am visiting a place, whether it is somewhere that I have been many times before or a new location that I have yet to explore, I feel the need to see everything and push my camera’s memory card to its limit. One of my photographic resolutions that I’m finding difficult to stick to is focusing on one or two locations, sitting for a while with camera in hand, and really attempting to capture a clear sense of place. So on a trip to Montreal with my wife and some friends this past weekend, one of my most favorite cities in the world and place where I have been many times before, I decided to visit a building that would stand out in any urban landscape: The Palais des congrès de Montréal.

I’ve been wanting to photograph this building ever since I first drove by it on my way out of the city probably 12 years ago. It’s located in the downtown area (aka Centre Ville) and was built right above a Metro stop in 1983. I imagine I’m not the only person who has been intrigued by the multi-colored windows, and a search on Flickr definitely supports that theory. Regardless of its photographic popularity, I was determined to shoot something unique. The secret is arriving at the right moment of the day, just as the sun is beginning its descent. I took all of these shots over the course of an hour starting at around 4:30pm. I expected it to be much busier, but it was actually very quiet.

I always feel a bit creepy snapping pics of people on the street, but I just couldn’t resist doing it while sitting on the floor of the Palais. I tried to be sly about it by not putting the camera up to my face. Meanwhile, the sound of the shutter likely gave me away. Oh well. The above photos were actually shot with the camera at knee level. Sometimes things work out the way they are supposed to.

If you enjoy playing with light in your photos, this is the place to be. I imagine it’s pretty boring at night, though. Also, fun with reflections!

If you happen to find yourself in Montreal with camera in hand (or not), get off at the Place d’Armes Metro stop, hop on the escalator, and follow the colorful light. Sit for a while and see what happens. I think you’ll be happy you did.

You can see all of my Palais des congrès pictures here.

Tags: Canada, color, Montreal, Palais de congres, Quebec, rainbow, urban

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Categories Travel

Nice is nice.

13 Apr

(cont. from my previous post…)

Still not convinced that France is for you? Are you worried that the Parisians just aren’t ready to accept that your grasp of French is about as strong as your understanding of Kantian ethics? Maybe navigating a large European city isn’t how you’d like to spend your time away. You’d rather relax, lay back, and take it all in without feeling as if you’re your missing out on something? Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you The Côte d’Azur!

Also known far and wide as the French Riviera, the “Azure Coast” is located in the southeast portion of the country where land meets the Mediterranean Sea. I can honestly say that I have never been any place more beautiful in my entire life. Everything amazing about European travel can be boiled down to a stay in this area of the continent. Do you enjoy warm ocean breezes? Check. Shopping? Check. Amazing food? Check. Friendly people? Check. The ability to visit other countries in a matter of minutes? Check. History? Mystery? Stone villages perched precariously on a cliff overlooking the sea? Check. Check. Check. In short, get your behind on the next plane to Nice (pronounce like niece), and start your adventure!

Seriously people, look at this pile of spices. Any country that is in love with spices enough to let you shovel them out of a bucket into bags of all sizes is alright with me! This shot was taken in an area of the city called Old Nice. It is, by all visual observations, wicked old. If I could afford to buy a house here I would do so immediately. No question, no thought, no debate. The streets of Old Nice are teeming with life, and the retail options are endless. On any given walk you can pick up dinner, have a belt custom made, stop by the artisan liqueur shop, and have a quick cup of coffee not necessarily in that order. While the people here are not as well-versed in English as the Parisians are, they are much more ready and willing to forgive your linguistic fumbling if you can forgive theirs.

Minutes away from the outskirts of Nice you enter the principality of Monaco. Big boats, big cars, and big wallets populate this tiny principality on the Mediterranean coast, as does the Oceanographic Museum, once run by famous oceanic explorer Jacques Cousteau. I only spent a could of hours in Monaco, and that was plenty. If you’re not a gambler or a shopper there isn’t a whole lot to do here, but it is a good place to get caught up in staring at exactly how much happiness money can buy (a whole lot).

Pictured above from top to bottom: 1) Monaco Oceanographic Museum 2) Quiet residential area of Monte Carlo 3) Yeah, that’s a mall.

I don’t know who this kid is, but he was really having fun throwing rocks into the Mediterranean. Who WOULDN’T?! Hello! It’s the MEDITERRANEAN! I can personally vouch for the fact that doing anything while on the beach of The Côte d’Azur is better than doing it at home. I would do your taxes for you if it meant I could do them with that particular body of water in eyeshot. I settled for tossing a few rocks in, too. Don’t worry, there’s enough to go around.

Are you convinced yet?

Even the view on the way home is amazing. Those are the Italian Alps, positioned perfectly to remind you exactly what you are leaving behind as you fly away. But you’ll be back. And, as always, let me know when you’re going. Maybe I’ll meet you there (but pick me up some balsamic vinegar just in case).

** Don’t forget – you can leave me a comment below, and check out my entire set of France photos on Flickr

Tags: coast, cote d'azur, Europe, France, mediterranean sea, monaco, monte carlo, nice, travel

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Categories Europe, Travel

Give France a Chance

3 Apr

Out of all of the places I have been over the years, I find that Americans in general have a fairly strong reaction one way or another to France and its culture. They either love it or hate it. There doesn’t seem to be any in-between. I think these feelings stem from a number of places; some are misconceptions strung together from other people’s stories, some are exaggerations, and some are based in truth (i.e. read he book Talk to the Snail by Stephen Clarke). Unfortunately it is the usually embellished negative experiences or simple misunderstandings of friends and friends of friends that keep some people from experiencing what I believe is one of the most beautiful countries in all of Europe. There is a feeling of national pride running deep within the veins of the French that has resulted in one of the most varied and intricate cultural experiences you can have on the continent, not to mention the food. Seriously, the cheese alone is reason enough to get there immediately. Don’t even get me started on the crepe stands. Or the open air markets. Bread!!!

In my experience, the French people in general are misunderstood. I have found them to be mostly helpful and willing to share their culture as long as you are willing to take a risk. Of course you’re going to run into some crabby characters, but that happens to me on a regular basis here in Upstate New York. It’s certainly not unique to France. Meanwhile, my French is terrible. I’m pretty sure I do that thing where I think I am pronouncing words with the proper accent but end up sounding akin to a German man with bronchitis. Either way, it is so true that making an attempt to communicate in the language of the country you are visiting, no matter how much you massacre subject-verb agreement, breaks down walls. There is only one time that I had a Parisian laugh at me as I made an attempt to ask for three peaches at a market, and in hindsight it was probably warranted and mostly good natured. In the end I got my peaches, he got his money, and I learned that I can take a little constructive criticism when it comes to asking for produce.

For me, traveling is about taking a risk. Sometimes that risk involves stepping out of your comfort zone and “bonjour-ing” instead of “hello-ing”. Give it a try. It’s not really as scary as you think. Ask me, and I might even go with you!

Note: The pictures below are from in and around Paris. Check out my entire France collection on Flickr, and stay tuned for a post about southern France and the Cote d’Azur.

Not sure you believe that there is actually such a thing as a Napolean Complex? Check out these pictures I took of his tomb inside Les Invalides. Even in death he wanted to be larger than everyone else around him. In fact, the tomb is designed so that you first have to look down on it from above, which, in Napoleon’s mind meant that everyone would have to bow to observe his final resting place. Awesome.

The French know how to do a lot of things with style, but if I someone told me that I could only do one thing in France it would surely be to eat everything in site. I don’t even like pickles and olives, and looking at this picture still makes me want to dive into these. There are outdoor markets that pop up all over Paris, and this one appeared right outside of our hotel on the first day we were there.

True, there are a lot of bizarre things going on in this picture taken in the town of Giverny near Monet’s home. Another reason I love France – even the livestock eat baguettes!! Also, inter-species lovin’! This is totally the French pig-ostrich version of the spaghetti scene from Lady and the Tramp.

The Eiffel Tower. Reason enough.

Speaking of the Eiffel Tower, sometimes getting the shot means laying on the ground underneath an iconic structure while groups of tourists stare at you. But it usually ends up being totally totally worth it.

OK fine. One more tower shot, and this one of my favorites. It’s from a previous 12 hour stop-over in Paris in 2007. I love the scale. It illustrates just how enormous the structure really is.

One of my favorite neighborhoods in Paris is Montmartre. Home to the Sacre Couer (seen lit up in the background) and the nearby infamous Moulin Rouge, this area of the city is defined by a more bohemian element.

Le Chat Noir, staring at you, thoughtfully, wondering when you’ll be back.

Tags: Eiffel Tower, Europe, food, France, French, Le Chat Noir, Montmartre, Napoleon, Paris, Sacre Couer, travel

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Categories Europe, Travel

Le Tour Eiffel

20 Mar

Often you hear about people having recurring nightmares. Sometimes they involve standing in front of a crowd naked or showing up to school and forgetting where they’re supposed to be. My recurring nightmare involves getting onto an airplane to head to some distant country and realizing that I have forgotten my camera. Seriously. I typically have this dream around the time I am getting ready to leave on a trip, naturally. It never fails. I wake up in a panic soon to realize that I haven’t left yet. That, of course, is met both with a feeling of relief and with the realization that I am a bit obsessive. I take thousands of pictures when I travel. My array of photography tools are constantly being rotated out of my backpack, and I rarely travel with less than three types of cameras. Additionally, before I leave on a trip I already have set in my mind which shots I am going to try and get with each camera. I don’t plan every shot that way, but you can be certain that I have already thought about how I am going to capture the big landmarks. Like I said, obsessive.

I set out to France as a chaperone on a school trip in April of 2008 with the above Polaroid photo collage on my mind from the moment I was asked to go. I had recently purchased a Polaroid Autofocus 660 from Ebay for $0.99 (no lie), and it was the first non-digital camera that I fell in love with. As soon as this clunky contraption arrived in the mail I was running around Saratoga taking pictures of anything I could. Nothing was off limits, and I was stared at wherever I went. Admittedly this got kind of expensive since Polaroid film at that point, before it was discontinued, was around $10 for 10 shots. Of course once they decided to stop making their instant film cameras and focus on digital, the 600 film became a hot commodity. Also, my heart broke, but that’s another story. I immediately stocked up. Whenever I saw it being sold I bought one or two packs. In the end I think I ended up hoarding around 20 packs of film, and I have been slowly rationing it from the crisper drawer of our refrigerator for the last several years. At this point I’ve got around 5 packs of expired film left. In my eyes that makes the above shot even more precious. It’s a relic.

I am including only one photo today because this shot of the Eiffel Tower is, above all, representative my most favorite photographic endeavor. Every time I look at it I am transported back to Paris on that breezy April afternoon, the sun just getting ready to set. I remember walking along the Champs de Mars, approaching the tower from a distance, and deciding to take a three tiered shot. The excitement of watching the photos develop was immediate, hoping that I got the exposure right because the film I had brought to France was limited. I remember the random stares I got from the people, tourists and natives alike, as I composed the three shots on my knees to remain as steady as possible. I didn’t care. Getting the perfect composition was the only thing that mattered to me at that moment.

Now, three years later, I couldn’t be happier with the final product. Out of everything I brought home with me from that trip, every little trinket or souvenir, this is truly the only one that matters. I have taken a lot of pictures since then, but none so far have knocked this one out of the first place position. Meanwhile, if you’ve got any Polaroid film laying around I’d be happy to take it off your hands.

Tags: 660 film, Champ de Mars, collage, Eiffel Tower, Europe, France, instant, Paris, photography, Polaroid, travel

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Categories Europe, Polaroid, Travel

The Face of China

6 Mar

A group of Chinese tourists in Beijing

I thought I would continue on my current Chinese theme with some photos of the people that I encountered while I was on my trip. Admittedly I had no idea what to expect upon my arrival in China, with pictures of soldiers carrying automatic weapons and Communist Party members keeping a watchful eye on the populace flickering in my overactive brain. Since my previous travels had really been confined to Europe where, as Americans, we get mixed reactions depending on the location, I was not prepared for the greeting we received. No matter where we went as a group or individually (for those of you reading this who don’t know me, I went on this tour as a chaperone with two other teachers, 15 high school juniors and seniors, and three parents), we were greeted with excitement, smiles, and open arms. The Chinese people were some of the friendliest I have encountered anywhere, and they were genuinely intrigued by our presence in their country. I’m sure we were a sight to behold: 21 Americans moving in unison, all with our cameras out, staring wide-eyed at everything we encountered. It was pretty commonplace for the Chinese to follow us around like paparazzi, snapping photos of us in many different states of tourist-ness. We were as foreign to them as they were to us, and it created a sort of sightseeing ballet. We would move forward and they would move around us, always smiling, always interested in where we would go next. I am convinced that there are pictures of me on some Chinese blog somewhere, and underneath a caption that reads “Goofy American with big ears at the Great Wall.” Let me explain.

One thing that I learned about the Chinese is that they are always eager to practice their English, especially the kids. They would come up to us and immediately start asking questions, sometimes more personal questions than we are typically used to in our reserved western culture. At one point on our trip we had the pirvilege of visiting a school in the central Chinese city of Xi’an. The day we went was actually a national holiday, but about half of the students and their teachers showed up to spend several hours with us anyway. It was a unique experience, for sure. At this school I learned first hand how honest and up front the Chinese can be. They believe you are who you are, and you should be proud of it. The conversation went like this:

Chinese student: Hello, you are very tall!

Me: Yes I am.

Student: Are you a student? How old are you?

Me: (slightly flattered to be mistaken for a student) No, I’m a teacher. I’m 29. ( I was really holding on to that last month of my 20′s)

Student: Oh (looking up at my face and squinting, almost as if she didn’t believe me). You know, your ears are very large!

Me: (definitely surprised) Well, uh, yes (laughing now, with my colleagues who found it particularly entertaining). So I’ve been told!

This was not an isolated incident. I got used to being stared at and even touched by any number of people I encountered on the trip. At one point our tour bus driver stopped me on my way off of the bus, looked up at me, smiled, and rubbed my belly like I was some fat Buddha crossing his path to give him good fortune. In that moment I tried to figure out how I should react to the very odd invasion of my personal space. Obviously he didn’t speak English, so maybe this was his (odd) way of saying hello. Apparently the best response I could come up with was to say “Uh, thanks” and continue down the stairs in confusion. Another time, while visiting the Forbidden City in Beijing, I felt a strange presence while taking a picture of some architecture, almost as if I was being watched. I turned my head to see a very elderly Chinese man standing next to me having his picture taken by his entire family with my backside. I guess there is a drought of 6’5″, 250lb white men in China. At least that is what I told myself each time this happened.

I have many more stories like this. Maybe I’ll share them in another post. In the meantime, I thought I would post some photos of the people that I encountered along the way. China was the first place I visited where I finally felt comfortable enough to start using people as subjects instead of just the buildings and landscapes that I am so comfortable with. I hope you enjoy looking at them as much as I enjoyed interacting with them!

Remember to click the thumbnail for the larger version.

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Categories China, People, Travel

Instant China

26 Feb

There are places in the world where I am fairly certain I will never set foot. They are completely foreign places where the people speak languages that bear no resemblance to my own, the smells are as strange to my nose as the language is to my ears, and the food touches taste buds that have sat around bored for my entire life. These are places where the people look at me as if to say “Where did you come from, big goofy white man?” China is one of these places.

For some people a trip to China is a commonplace occurrence. More often, as formerly closed economies embrace capitalism, the world opens up to big business and the employees that do their bidding. For me, however, China was about as far away from home as I could ever think of traveling. If you had asked me several years ago what the likelihood was that I would be walking around a WalMart in central China getting yelled at for taking pictures of my friends in the check-out lane, I would have answered definitively “none”‘ (those pictures will not be on the site). Now, here I am almost a year later, and I am still regularly amazed at all that I experienced during the 10 day trip.

I have been very lucky. I’ve stood under the Eiffel Tower, kissed the Blarney Stone at age 12 (which, now that I think about it as an adult, is pretty gross), and stood in awe of Stonehenge. I’ve sat and listened in on debates at the European Union in Brussels, and I’ve ridden a bike by the windmills and canals in Belgium. But for whatever reason, all of those amazing places put together pale in comparison to the feeling of taking almost two hours to climb to the top of a mountain on the centuries old steps of the Great Wall of China to survey the land below. It really was one of the single most unforgettable experiences so far.

What I’m saying is that life is full of surprises. Some are good and some are not so good. I would do well to remind myself that we never know what the future has in store, and there’s even a chance that it might be something amazing.

*A note about the pictures in this post: If I had to pick one camera format to use for the rest of my life, hands down my choice would be a Polaroid Land Camera, specifically the Sx-70, but any will do in a pinch. No matter what I am snapping a picture of, they have a magical ability to make any subject look old and mysterious. I was heartbroken when Polaroid announced that they were discontinuing production of their instant line, although I have discovered that Fuji still makes a decent replacement. I am still hanging on to the last few packs of original Polaroid 600 film in the crisper drawer of the refrigerator in my garage. Each picture is a story that develops in front of your eyes, and I can’t bear to think about running out. That being said, these are only a fraction of the shots I took while in China. I have literally hundreds of digital pictures, each with their own story, that I will most certainly be sharing here at different points. In the meantime, click on each thumbnail to get a closer look.