Travel &amp; Photo Goddess

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Photography & Travel

I hope you all had a great weekend. We had a lot of fun at the Bars And Cars event on Saturday. It was sponsored by the Lake Havasu Drag Strip which being built on the North side of town. They had some of the Dragsters there and even started them up which made all the men happy. Many Thanks go out to our friend, Eddie and Georgean for treating us to cocktails.
On the travel front here is a Blog by a gentlemen who puts me to shame as far as traveling. He is a former executive from the Midwest who quite his job in 2007 and has been traveling ever since. He has been to 116 countries and has taken some award winning photos. You can travel the world vicariously through his Blog.
http://www.everything-everywhere.com
Here are some things to avoid when planning your next trip. My best piece of advise is to do your airfare first and then add in your hotels, car rentals, etc or better yet give me a call.
http://www.independenttraveler.com/travel-tips/troubleshooting/five-worst-trip-planning-mistakes-and-how-to-avoid-them
Here is a great article from our friends at Picture Correct. It explains the use of Depth Of Field which is how much of your shot is in focus. Understanding this concept will help you to create the feeling you want your photograph to convey.
http://www.picturecorrect.com/tips/how-to-use-lens-aperture-to-demonstrate-importance-and-tell-stories/
If you are still not sure if you understand Depth Of Field here is another article that applies it to Portrait Photography. For even more on this subject check out the links at the bottom of the page too.
http://digital-photography-school.com/how-to-achieve-blurred-backgrounds-in-portraits?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+DigitalPhotographySchool+%28Digital+Photography+School%29
Check out this UTube video and enjoy the amazing music of these young men.
http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=CLThl6xEYBM
The Thought For Today comes from one of my favorite authors, Leo Buscaglia:
"Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around."
Many Thanks go out to the folks at Positively Positive for posting this one on Facebook.
Thank you for reading my Blog!

Becky McGuire, CTC, MCC
Vacation Travel Specialist

612-490-0359

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

October Dreaming

Happy "Hump Day" everyone. This week is flying by as usual. I know it has been chilly in many parts of the country but here is the low desert of Arizona the weather is glorious. My favorite time of year here. I do miss the fall colors of my home state of Minnesota though.
We had a great weekend. We had lunch at our favorite hamburger joint, The Sand Bar, which is right on the beach. We ran into some friends and had a great time visiting. Sunday we went to the Havasu Flea Market and walked around and met some very creative artists and vendors.

Last night we attended an unveiling party for a car our friend restored for a customer of his. It is a 1966 Ford Mustang GT. There were a lot of people from our car club so it made it a lot of fun. Here is a link to some of the shots I took last night.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/26332264@N03/sets/72157626861943694/
This article is about how to handle other people's comments about your photos. Most people are trying to be nice and really don't say anything that helps you to improve your shots. Photography is art and is very subjective. You need to trust your instincts and shoot the images you love.
http://digital-photography-school.com/how-to-filter-feedback-about-your-photography
I am a big fan of do it yourseld projects and repurposing objects. I ran across this new product called Thomas' Liquid Stainless Steel Paint. You can use it to redo your appliances or make a cool backsplash. Here is a link to their website:
http://www.liquidstainlesssteel.com/
One of the hardest parts of planning vacations for people is choosing a resort or hotel. People's opinions about hotels are quite subjective. The biggest factor is the management of the hotel and that can changIe at any time. I try to go with properties I am familiar with but that is not always possible. I try to find out if a tour company uses the property because then I know someone has inspected the property within the last six monthes. I do look at at Trip Advisor sometimes but I like Hotel Chatter a lot better. It does over emphasis new properties and there are some people who do not like the chain hotels but it gives you more inside information. Give it a try and see what you think.
http://www.hotelchatter.com
Here is today's Thought For The Day:
"Man's life is a a progress, not a station." Ralph Waldo Emerson courtesy of the Happiness Project.
Thank you for reading my Blog!

Becky McGuire, CTC, MCC
Vacation Travel Specialist

612-490-0359

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Autumn Blog

I am writing this while I listen to the rain outside. It does not rain very often here in the low desert so it is kind of soothing except for the occasional clap of thunder. It reminds me of Minnesota where I grew up where it rains a lot.
This photo was taken from my backyard. We get such beautiful sunsets here is Arizona.

I like to get my Blog done early in the week but we did not have internet service. It took several phone calls and two technitions to finally get it working again. It is extremely frustrating to me.
This is for all of you out there that think your camera is not good enough. In this video they took away this professional photographer's expensive camera and gave him an old IPhone. He had to do a portrait session with it. You will see some techniques that you can use with any camera.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGsmVw4tCWY&feature=BFa&list=SP7ECB90D96DF59DE5
Once your photography gets to a higher level you may be asked by friends to shoot a wedding. Be aware that this can be big undertaking. For most brides it is one of the most important days of their lives so there is a lot pressure to perform. Remember there are no do overs so you have to make sure you get it right. I would recommend having a second photographer go with you as a back up. If at all possible take two or even three cameras in case one of them fails on you. Extra batteries and memory cards are a must as well. Bring with you hair spray, bobby pins, safety pins, a hand steamer, Tide Stick, comb and a sewing kit. Scout out the locations you will be shooting at the same time of day so you can address any lighting issues that you are going to have to deal with. Have the Bride & Groom make a list of the shots they want.
Here is a link to an article with more tips on shooting wedddings:
http://www.picturecorrect.com/tips/wedding-photography-guidelines-for-amateur-photographers/
Here is a cool website I found that could save you some money. It is called Wegolo.com and it's focus is budget airlines serving European markets. They currently feature over 70 different budget carriers. Here is a link to their website.
http://www.wegolo.com
Here is today's Thought For The Day:
"Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases from being shared." Buddha courtesy of A Peaceful Mind Peaceful Life.
Thank you for reading my Blog!

Becky McGuire, CTC, MCC
Vacation Travel Specialist

612-490-0359

Monday, October 1, 2012

Kicks On Route 66

Happy Monday everyone. I hope you had a great weekend. We went to a Celebration Of Life on Saturday for a friend of ours who passed away. It was a great tribute to his life. We went out to dinner with friends at our favorite restaurant, Shabones in Lake Havasu City. I highly recommend you try it. Here is a link to Shabone's website
http://www.chabones.com/

As promised, I am going to tell you about our day trip to Seligman, Arizona via the old Route 66. We read an article about Lilo's Westside Cafe in Seligman in the Arizona Highways magazine so we thought we would check it out. We drove my husband's 1935 Ford Cabriolet so we could feature it in some of the photos. We headed North on AZ95 to I40 East to Kingman and got on the old Route 66 headed Northeast. We stopped at the historic and quirky Hackberry General Store. It was quite a unique place with all kinds of antiques and collectables. They sell tshirts, posters, souvenirs, antiques, you name it. We met some people from New Zealand and France who were touring the United State on motorcycles. It was interesting to here there observations about our country. They said the Grand Canyon was the highlight of their trip.

From Hackberry we continued on going through tiny towns and through the Hualapai Indian Reservation. Peach Springs had some cool old buildings. We got to Seligman around 2PM and had a great lunch at Lilo's Westside Cafe. The weather was so nice we decided to eat on their outdoor patio. I highly recommend their burgers and fries. We spent some time wondering around town and going through the shops before we headed back the same way we came. It was a really fun day!
Here is a link to some of the pictures I took on Route 66:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/26332264@N03/
We stopped in Kingman to visit some friends and did not get home after dark. We got stopped by a policeman when we got onto 95 but he did not give us a ticket. He told my husband to slow down and take his "daughter " home. I got a chuckle out of that one. He was a really nice man.
Today's Thought For The Day:
"Everyone thinks of changing the world but no thinks of changing themselves." by Leo Tolstoy.
Thank you for reading my Blog!

Becky McGuire, CTC, MCC
Vacation Travel Specialist

612-490-0359