365 - Week 26......Catching up!

The day after the wedding I headed out to one of my cousin's house. He recently designed and built his own house and it's beautiful! And yes, it helps that he's an architect and I really enjoyed seeing all the neat details he thought of in the design. These are his two dogs and one is a new addition, a cute little puppy. The older dog isn't too sure of the little one, but the latest report is that she's warming up to the little pup. The little girl is another one of my cousins but I didn't even recognize her because it been about 12 years since I last saw her. The bottom two shots were taken outside the house at night when I was just playing around with some long exposures.


Monday morning, several of us headed out of the city to visit a farm-ranch-thing that belongs to another cousin's in-laws. I could go into more detail about how people are related, but just know that I have lots and lots of cousins (1st, 2nd, and 3rd generation) so it just helps to say "cousin" and leave it at that. Ha!
On our way out there, we stopped several times to get out of the cars and walk around and take pictures. WOW. It's lovely out in the countryside. And yes, in case you're wondering, it DID rain that day. Gloomy but beautiful.



I don't know what these flowers are called but I found them on the side of the road. Again, Google needs to get moving with my idea.


In the first shot, that's my cousin on the left and my dad on the right. Once we finally arrived, we were immediately greeted by this cute little thing, the puppy.
Ok, the bottom right picture - they served this to us with crackers as a snack. It was amazing! It's mango ceviche and so easy to make. I will definitely have to try making this again some time.


Ok, random shots of people. In the first one, that's two of my aunts and a cousin. In the top right one, my mom, sister, cousin, and cousins's brother in-law in-law. No, that's not a typo. In the bottom left, that cute little kid lives there. He wouldn't talk to me - I'm so sad. Bottom left - my cousin again. We were both standing in windows and we both looked out at the same time.



After a great lunch, we went out to see the land and to see what they produce. Heaven!! They grow rosemary and roses and corn. Two of those things are way high on my favorites list! The rosemary field smelled amazing and it was so fresh. I wanted to just sit in the field and start nibbling. But I controlled myself.
Then we entered into the rose greenhouse-thingie. They had about three of these!


The top left is what I call the Rose Graveyard. It's a pile of old roses that just didn't make the cut. But I managed to find a few nice ones even if they didn't have any stems. Top right - do we look village-ified or what?


Back at the house, the guys were packaging the rosemary to be sold. Loved the smell! The far right shot is the owner of the land, my cousin's father-in-law. He was jolly and a delight to be around.


My trip was too short and alas I had to leave. The morning I left, I wanted to get a few last shots. I don't know if it was there before if I'd never noticed in previous years, but my aunt's bridal picture was hanging in the guest room. I don't remember how old it is but I'm guess it's something like 60 years old or so. I just HAD to get a shot of it so I moved it to a different room and moved furniture. And then I asked her to get in. It's so important to preserve history.
As you may know, I tend to like dogs. I mean, like, a lot. This little character, Bonnie, took a while to warm up to me but she finally did.

365 - Week 25.....Catching up! (Continued)

The wedding day! There are several from this day and they're just from the ceremony. I attend many weddings, as you very well may know, but this one was slightly different for me because I guess that's just how they do things in Colombia. Nothing majorly different, just some of the logistics that would have thrown me off if I'd actually been shooting the wedding myself.

This chapel had beautiful stained glass! The bride showed up in a vintage car with her mom and the ring bearer. Don't get me started on the ring bearer! He's too cute for words! The groom eagerly awaited the bride halfway down the aisle with his mom and dad by his side and with the bouquet to give the bride. I'd never seen that before.


She made her entrance with my uncle and with the flower girls and ring bearer.


Her twin sister gave a reading. Now, I'm not sure if this is the same for all weddings or just this one, but there wasn't a bridal party standing up there with her other than the kids.


For those of you that shoot weddings, you'll appreciate this. There were no "church ladies," no rules, no restrictions. The camera and video guys plus guests went wherever they wanted to. Kind of distracting but I got great light!





This little flower girl was fun to watch. She didn't hold still much at all. Immediately after the ceremony ends, the bride and groom walk up to the front and turn around for pictures while everyone watches. And they only take a few pictures with the flowergirls/ring bearer, and then with parents, and then godparents, and then they're done and they walk down the aisle and out the doors.

365 - Week 25......Catching up!

It seems I made a promise back in June that I didn't keep. I'm so ashamed! I promised to not neglect my "365" picture-a-day project but alas, I slipped again. However, I have managed to somewhat catch up and now I'll be blogging the past few weeks in the next week. Get ready!

So let's start with the week I went to Colombia. I went for just a week to go to my cousin's wedding so I'll show you the wedding pictures tomorrow. No, I didn't shoot her wedding. I just sat and enjoyed the evening and took a few pictures from where I was sitting.

(Hey, if you're reading this, don't be silent! Leave a comment down below so I know you're here. Thanks!)

My day of traveling. I don't often (ever) eat corn dogs, even though I LOVE them. So I decided to have a corn dog and lemonade for lunch in Miami. It was delicious! I also carried a version of trail mix with me to munch on the rest of the day. I looked at the back and saw this information. It's one of the most international foods I've ever eaten!


Each morning I was greeted with a glass of very fresh squeezed orange juice. We went on a road trip to visit a very small village about two hours from the city and yes, we were up in the mountains on a foggy morning.


I don't know what this flower is called but I thought it was beautiful. It was in my uncle and aunt's house right outside the room I stayed in. I wish I could google it by just submitting the picture of the flower. Google needs to come up with something like that so that you can find out names for objects that you are unfamiliar with.



The night before the wedding we gathered at one of my aunt's house and awaited the surprise serenade that the groom had put together for my cousin. It was so sweet! And she didn't know why we were all there that night and why we weren't leaving. She was surprised, I think.....
In the picture on the left, we were hanging out and watching a baby as he fell asleep. She didn't know what awaited her. In the middle shot, the singers and musicians entered and the groom made his entrance, too. In the right shot, she's taking it all in.


We enjoyed the serenade and also enjoyed meeting the other family. My cousin's twin sister is in the middle of the middle shot. The shot on the right has the happy couple and my mom and some of my aunts.

My little guy, Deiner

Meet Deiner. He's the little guy that I support in Colombia through Compassion International. I started sponsoring a child late in 2004 and then that little boy's family moved so I was assigned Deiner. I originally received the first picture and then received an updated photograph of him last year. I try to write him letters as often as I can but I'm not the best writer and sometimes I don't know what to say (I need suggestions and ideas, thanks).
I'm hoping to meet him next year!!!!

I'm out!

.....of town. I'm leaving very, very early tomorrow morning for a missions trip to Barranquilla Colombia. I'll be gone for a week and will very limited, if any, internet access.



At this very moment, I'm frantically trying to finish packing, shutting everything down, and replying to every last email that has come my way in the past few days.



To see the pictures from last year's trip, go to my website http://www.karellephotography.com/ and click on 'Digital Studio' on the far right. From there, follow the instructions and look for Barranquilla Colomba 2008 (or something like that).

A few from Colombia

These are a few shots from the trip. I'll post the rest on my website when I get back. If your monitor is as dark as the one I'm using right now, you might be able to see some of the pictures very well.
All the rest of the pictures can be seen on my website:
http://www.karellephotography.com (Full screen or Same Window)
click on 'Digital Studio', click on 'HERE', and then find 'Barranquilla, Colombia 2007'

This was inside our hotel.

We saw these kids playing when we came out of our church service on Sunday. Notice they're barefoot....

One afternoon, it rained really hard and the street looked like a river. This little kid came over and played 'Slip and Slide' across the front porch.

This is Eduardo from the church in Buena Esperanza. One of my favorite shots.

Meet cute little Sarai. Another favorite of mine.

This shot is from the service in Sabanalarga, and I took it sitting among the kids. I spent a day with the medical team taking photographs. Here you can see the optical team praying with the translators before starting their day.

I think this might be my favorite shot from the whole trip.
These people were waiting in line to see the doctors on the medical team.

I love this picture.
Ted is a team member that paints each day while we talk to people. This little boy was intrigued.

Sam, our fearless leader!
This is what medical school does to you???

Extremes in Colombia

Saturday was a crazy day. I left Barranquilla, which is hot and very humid, and then ended up in Bogota where they had the worst hail storm in 30 years. I've never seen hail that big and I wasn't sure we would make it home without a cracked windshield or something.