Tag Archives: Photography

A stroll through Montmartre

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One of my absolute favorite places in Paris is the lovely, picturesque Montmartre. Once a place of artistic gathering of the brilliant minds of Van Gogh, Renoir, Picasso and Dali, today Montmartre is a major tourist attraction that still continues to captivate the soul with its unique beauty, charm and bohemian feel.

A walk up to Montmartre through its winding cobblestone streets with expansive views of Paris is the best way to explore this area. However, you can also head straight up via a set of steep stairs or a funnicular to the creamy white Sacré Cœur and Montmartre as well. Once on top, you have a spectacular view of Paris in all her glory.  You can take a walk inside the gorgeous Basilique du Sacré Cœur (constructed in 1919), and then walk around the Place du Tetre which has local artists and goods for sale. There are numerous restaurants, outdoor cafes and shops to keep you entertained as well as many little streets to get lost in.  You could spend hours exploring Montmartre and being seduced by her charm. Unfortunately for us, it was raining thus we had to eat inside and my photos didn’t turn out as well as expected.

Just when we reached the bottom of Montmartre, the skies began to clear up illuminating Montmartre in all her loveliness.

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Mothers around the world

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In honor of Mother’s Day, I thought I’d post some photos of the mother’s around the world I’ve seen. The more I travel and learn about mother’s in other countries through my advocacy work, the more and more I realize that we are all the same. We are all mothers whose number one priority in life is our children. Nurturing, loving, holding, and caring for our babies from the first time we birth them to the time they leave us to start a family of their own. Motherhood is a beautiful thing that transcends boundaries and our differences and instead brings us together.

The mothers I met and saw in Guatemala…

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A walk through the right bank of Paris

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Our first full day in Paris was spent walking. I find walking to be the best way of exploring a city old or new. I had spent six months living in Paris over twenty years ago and have been fortunate to have been back several times since then. It is a city I know and love yet there is always something new to discover and surprise. Perhaps that is why I find Paris to be one of the most magnificent, breathtaking cities in the world. You can never ever tire of looking at her gorgeous architecture, pristine parks, spectacular sculptures and delightful shops and outdoor cafes. It is a city that will never cease to captivate and stir my soul.

Here are some photos from the morning of our walk starting in the Marais and walking through the Jardin des Tuileries past the world-famous Louvre and up the Champs Élysées to the Arc de Triomphe.  This was the same walk I took many years ago as an impressionable 13-year-old girl on the first time I’d ever seen Paris. I will never forget singing the lyrics of Aux Champs-Élysées…a song I learned in French class, and making a promise to myself that I would someday live in this amazing city. That promise was kept and fulfilled eight years after I laid eyes on Paris. 

A walk through Paris….starting near the Louvre

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Inspiration

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“It is impossible to live without failing at something – unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all, in which case you have failed by default”. – J.K. Rowling

This week has been a bit hairy so I thought I’d post some of my favorite photos of mountains I’ve hiked as they always calm my soul. Photos above from France, Nepal and Guatemala. This fall, I will be adding Bolivia to my list of great hikes. 

Stay tuned…

Paris through an Olloclip lens

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“Look at everything as though you were seeing it for either the first or last time. Then your life on earth will be filled with glory”. -Betty Smith

Before heading to France, I purchased an olloclip three-in-one lens for my beloved iPhone. As an avid Instagram follower, I began to notice all the incredibly cool travel shots with funky angles. I asked a fellow Instagrammer and blogger, 2Summers, who told me about the olloclip. The olloclip is a quick-connect lens solution for the iPhone 5, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S and iPod touch that includes fisheye, wide-angle and macro lenses packaged all in the size of large gum ball. For the size of the lens and the price ($69.99), it is an amazing little lens that is so easy to carry and convenient, that it beat dragging around bigger lens for my “real” camera as I walked for hours upon hours in Paris.

Here are some of the shots I got with my olloclip. I didn’t take as many as planned since I used my main camera way more than my iPhone, however, these shots should give you a feel for what this little guy can do. Pretty amazing, huh?

The first three photos are all taken out of my hotel room window in the Marais, looking down at the street below and the last two are in lovely Montmartre. (Note: I didn’t take any pictures with the macro lens yet, just the fish eye and wide angle).

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The Culture of Paris

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This week’s photo challenge, Culture, is quite fitting since I literally just got off the plane from Paris which is perhaps the culture capital of the world. Still jet-lagged and behind, I had a chance to upload my photos from my trip to France and have an astounding number to sort through: 1,400 taken in nine days flat! (I broke my record!).

I only went through the first set of photos this morning but feel they portray an excellent look into the immense, fantastic culture of lovely, worldly Paris. Here are a few to whet your appetite and prepare you for the weeks to come on my blog. Bon chance!!!

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Finding liberation at Liberty Bowl

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“We have always been dreamers in Montana”. – Brian Schweitzer

Big Sky trail map. Photo credit: bigskyresort.com

Day three skiing at Big Sky meant it was time to pick it up a notch and hit the bowls. There is nothing more liberating and invigorating than physically challenging your body. It was time to hit the blacks.

We traveled with another family to Montana and my friend and I rode the gondola up to the top to hit the back bowls. It was another sensational, postcard perfect day. I felt more alive than I had in months.

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Big Sky Bliss

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“I’m in love with Montana. For other States I have admiration, respect, recognition, even some affection. But with Montana it is love. And it’s difficult to analyze love when you’re in it”. – John Steinbeck

I have always loved mountains for as long as I can remember. Starting at the mere age of three, I begin skiing with my parents which over the years blossomed into a life long love of  downhill skiing. Today, decades later I’m in my parents boots and am skiing with my own children. It is quite a joy to see them go down the hill and develop the same love of the mountains and great outdoors as I have.

This week we are in Big Sky, Montana for our first-ever family ski trip. We’re here for an entire week of Spring skiing and you couldn’t ask for better weather. It has been absolutely brilliant. Bursting mountain blue sky, bright, joyous sunlight and deliciously soft, silky snow. What more could you ask for than a stint enjoying Big Sky’s bliss? Not much in my opinion.

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Home in the mountains

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Yesterday we left for a long awaited vacation and I can’t tell you how incredibly ready I was to get out of town. The last few weeks have been a bit difficult especially given our recent family stint with the stomach flu. Spring has not even attempted to visit and the weather has been unseasonably cold. All in all, my spirits were sinking and it was time to leave.

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A visual feast at Macy’s Painted Garden

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This year’s Macy’s Flower Show is a definite stunner to the senses. The theme is The Painted Garden and is inspired by the colorful, brilliant flowers, jewels and market hues of India and Southern Asia. For most Minnesotans like myself, who are literally starved of color right now, the rainbow hues of the Painted Garden offer a visual feast to our hungry eyes.

As you walk through the room, all at once you are at peace as you smell the fragrance of a thousand flowers. Gentle background music lightly hums in your ears, and the room is an elaborate display of colors ranging from a magnificent variety of tropical flowers to the brightly colored hanging umbrellas and gorgeous paintings along the walls.

I still can’t decide what my favorite flower or work of art is at the Painted Garden. But I’d have to vote either for the centerpiece of the show, the elaborate, exotic elephant sculpture which proudly wears a blanket made of 20 different species of dried and fresh plant material or the insanely surreal Phalaenopsis Blue Orchids which are out of this world.

Come, take a look for yourself at some of the gorgeous flowers that paint the 8th floor of Macy’s department store in downtown Minneapolis. You will not leave this post disappointed!

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Eye candy: A glimpse into the Painted Garden

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Today I decided that I’d had it with winter. I picked my daughter Sophia up from Kindergarten and we headed to downtown Minneapolis for the Macy’s Painted Garden Orchid Show. It was exactly what the doctor had in order.

We stepped inside this tropical paradise on the 8th floor of the Macy’s department store and were transported into a tropical garden more likely found in India or Thailand. Of course, given how much I adore flowers I snapped away like mad and then we walked around the show another time so 6-year-old Sophia could take some shots.

Here is just a teaser of some of the gorgeous flowers we saw. Once I have a chance to process all the photos, I will for sure give you a full report filled with color….a post not to be missed.

In honor of WordPress’ iPhonography month, all these photos were taken with my tiny iPhone and processed on Instagram. Hope you enjoyed them!