Sorry for the delay in posts!   The week has been busy, and we’re trying to adjust to NO SCHOOL!!!  It’s hard remembering what to do in its absence, but were trying our best.  So, here’s what I HAVE been doing with some of my time.  I had the privilege of hanging out with the Pritchett family at the University this last week for a portrait session. We discovered we share the west coast in common, always a good thing (no offense to the east!).  I loved seeing how much fun they had together;  truly a happy family.  We had a lot of fun using Gummy Bears throughout the shoot, whether to bribe or just for eating.  You two are great parents, and have some amazing kids!  Thanks again for inviting me to photograph your family, it was a lot of fun!

It was an amazing day.  Although it was leaning on some high temperatures for most of the day, by the time Nate and I hit this local run to do some fly fishing it had cooled to a bearable degree, and the warm water eased against the rubber of our sandals.  We had decided to make a last run at fishing in Jersey before we moved, and this spot had recently popped up on the radar.  Although we knew there were trout, we ended up settling for 2 blue gills each.  This was actually my first time on barbless hooks, so it was exciting to experience a catch with the added challenge.  However, the post-hook experience was less than eventful compared with the tail-dancing numbers any trout will put on for you.  My first catch was literally on the heels of a comment from my fishing partner, which pointed out he had just seen a water snake, and by the way, but did I know that New Jersey has water moccasins?  I had not realized this.  Immediately the waters began to teem with writhing shapes around my skinny ankles.  But before I could do a spot check my line went taught and I was whisked away 15 feet at the base of a fallen tree to where  my first catch gently tugged on the line.  All in all it was a great time, good to be out on the water (and in the water…is that a good thing out here?  I don’t know, I took a shower), be with a good friend, and not be skunked.  We even got to witness a trout flop up a shallow rifle after a minnow, just after I was noting how we hadn’t seen many trout rise.  As if it was rubbing it in.  And we threw in a line, but to no avail.  Oh, well.  It was good to be outdoors.  Here is a photo I took of Nate after wading and looking out for snakes.

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