Loved this shot (above), and it didn’t hurt that the creek was chock-full of fatty crawdads!

I have to say, Henry is quite the stud (above).  With blue eyes it’s hard to go wrong.

Again, soccer is a huge part of the family.  Nathan is top-notch, and his kids are following suit (even Henry!).

I have to say this was a really fun time, and I’m grateful to get to photograph so many awesome families!  Shout out to the Murrays in the comments!

I’ve been involved in many different photographic endeavors recently, ranging (as stated above) across the board.  Here’s a quick preview of a couple things I’ve been seeing through my camera.

I had the great opportunity to work with one of Cherice’s professors, Dr. Charlesworth, for whom I photographed a couple of his ancient pieces.  The below photo is of an early Roman piece of glass with serpentine decorations, found in Jerusalem.  There were other amazing antiquities as well, but this one was particularly beautiful with the glass polished.  I’m extremely grateful to Charlesworth for the opportunity to see and photograph such amazing antiquities.

The other thing I had a lot of fun participating in was our good friends’ daughter’s birthday party…

Above is the birthday girl, herself.  Happy birthday, Abigail!

Continuing on the journey, we decided to take a hike along the Appalachian Trail in the Delaware Water Gap.  Although it was very cold, it was nice to get out and hike.  It’s a spot we’ve been to before, where I’ve done some fly fishing with a good friend.  The trip mainly consisted of a fairly short hike, in which my dad and I took many pictures and then hustled to catch up with the others, then to turn around and head back to the car due to the cold.

Here is a great shot of where a lot of my photographic inspiration came from as I grew up (above).  We were mainly taking pictures of a small fall in the rocks, which had icicles hanging on the under side of a huge boulder.

As there was a very observant comment in the previous post about the absence of my face from the photos, I have included this shot to affirm that I was indeed present and enjoying the company.

After a good day of hiking it’s best finished off with doing some hammering.  We all sat around very amused, every once in a while dozing off into the cracks of the couch.

The other big trip we made was into NY.  We decided to go up the Rockafeller building for the view, as it was the same price as the Empire State building, but from the Rock you could see and take pictures of the Empire, as well as have a much better view of Central Park.  At the base where the famous ice skating rink used in o-so-many movies is located, we ran into some good friends from Idaho.  Now we’ve experienced it all, having ran into someone we know in the city of millions of people.  Crazy.

The elevator that takes you up the Rock goes dark when it starts up, then these really cool lights shoot up the elevator rails above you through the transparent ceiling, and images and words are displayed in a laser-light show tradition.  It was very entertaining, and Espen smiled the whole way up.

One of the great things about the observation deck is that they have 2 inch plexiglass around the whole area.  This is great when you’re concerned about a rambunctious 2 year old.  They proved more than useful, as the moment we stepped outside he started running around and ran face first into the glass, giving him his best bruise yet!  It really surprised him, but it was great to know they were there as the edge dropped off about a foot past where he had been running full steam!

Upon touchdown we found it necessary to instill within ourselves a sense of food.  We hiked around to the nearest stands and experienced the NY street vendors.

From there we went to time square, where we enjoyed a very friendly horse, and the stimulation of marketing on steroids to the 10th degree.  It’s really hard to grasp the atmosphere until you visit it, and it’s worth visiting to see what they hype is about, and whether you feel it’s truly worth it or not.  After all, this whole area (NY city) is considered by many to be the “heart” of America, so it’s worth taking a trip to see where the blood is being pumped from and decide whether it’s your blood type or not.  Below you can see Espen in his new hat that his grandpa (and life long Yankee fan) bought.  He kept looking at himself in the reflections of the buildings because he somehow knew that wearing it backwards made him cool or something.

We finished off the trip with a walk through Central Park.  We saw some open green areas, got some ice cream, watched some youth climbing around the structures of arches and stairs, and enjoyed a couple of trips to the bathroom when the little one was blowing the whistle.  All in all it was a great trip, and a good balance of touring and resting.  I regret forgetting my circular polarizer at home for our trip to the top of the Rock, but I am grateful for the chance to be with family and explore a bit.

There’s a really good explanation for the long delay on any posts, and that is due to an expected visit from my folks.  They hadn’t been out to Princeton before, so we had a great time showing them not only around the local area, but up in NY and down in Philly, as well as a few other spots in between.  One of the first and most prominent events of the visit was reading books, as pictured below.  Following that was a great week of relaxation and touring the area, which we all agreed was very well balanced.

We went for the historic Philly trip, which was the first time I was able to actually go into Independence Hall.  I like how the above photo really captures the recent changes to the Liberty Bell, in that instead of a piece of metal to ring the bell there are now legs.  Ha!  When we walked outside I saw my first batch of daffodils, so I of course had to snatch a shot.

We then went in reverse order and went to the visitor center, where EP found this big duck and proceeded to knock off the left arm.

One of the highlights was eating in Philly, which consisted of some Mac & Cheese, but more importantly Philly Cheese Steaks!  Mmmm….

We visited one of the older churches, which turned out to be the one that all the older founding fathers and mothers went to.  People like George Washington, etc.

Following this, we took a trip over to the Arch Street meeting house, pictured below.  The pews are over 300 years old, which made the wood really nice and soft to sit on…well, maybe not quite, but it’s cool to think about people gathered and being led to things like anti-slavery, the suffrage movement, etc., in this place.

Above you can see one of the old banks.

We later walked through the park next to Independence Hall, which proved a great place to put ones child to sleep in a stroller when their afternoon nap is long overdue.

To back track a bit, below begins our first full day in which we went to Princeton Friends Meeting.  Somewhere on the side of the building is a mark where a cannonball from the Civil War hit the building.

We then took the usual Princeton University tour, and it didn’t let us down.

There will be more images coming, but I wanted to give an update post to say I’m still around.

ISO 50, f/1.4, 1/400, 24mm

I found four crocuses yesterday evening, one of which Espen promptly uprooted to show me that yes indeed, Spring had poked out to blink in the evening light.  Aaah, spring.  I’m always reminded how much I appreciate it out in New Jersey.  The colors truly are a sharp relief to the dull grey-brown of the deciduous backdrop.  I hope others are beginning to see color in their area as well!

(and for the photo geeks =) f/1.4, 1/250, ISO 250, 24mm

I haven’t forgotten about keeping folks updated on Espen, but in case you’ve been wondering we’ve been posting a bit to his new site which can be found on the links page.  Today we were learning checkers after he spotted someone playing the game in a magazine.  We had fun making columns of checkers, and I had fun trying out my new 24 1.4 lens on my favorite subject.

That’s right, friends.  Espen’s own blog has arrived at a url near you!  You can either reach it through the above Links page, or click here.  I’ll also continue to post photos from time to time here, but feel free to add that blog to your rss or whatever other blog reader you use to subscribe.  Here’s a fun shot to help round this post out a bit…

It should suffice to say that Espen will be getting his own photo blog.  I will be posting a photo or two over here when I feel it’s worth posting twice, but from here on out I will be posting to the other blog…still yet to be made…so, I’ll let you know where it is when it’s up and running.

Here’s a great photo of us doing the laundry the other day.  He was getting a kick out of his toes popping through the clothes.  The folding process was much longer than usual, but we got it done in the end.

We were having fun flipping on the cushions the other day, and here we took a brief breather before pushing on into the aerial realm that could some day save his life (it’s saved mine a number of times so far!  Thanks for teaching me this, Dad!).  I realize an Espen of the week has been a long time coming, but if I post too many my guess is it might lose the impact of his “coolness”, his handsome edge might grow dull on the viewers eye, even though he stays just as much a stud….actually, I’m sure there are some of you who could take a site devoted to only Espen photos!  So…I’ll take a vote.  If you’d like a site where myself (and perhaps my lovely and amazing wife) can post photos of only EP I’d be more than happy to get that going.  I’m assuming not everyone would be interested in this, so there are no hard feelings if you don’t, but I figured I should offer based off a few responses I’ve had in the past revolving around this “cat’s” photos.  I’ve inserted a poll below for folks to vote on, so share your thoughts if you have a moment.