Travel &amp; Photo Goddess

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

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Photography Fun

Today's Blog is devoted to Photography which has become one of my passions. I hope these articles will inspire you to get out and shoot and try some new things. Practice is one of the things that has helped me to improve my shots and become more comfortable with my camera.
Yesterday my husband and I took a roadtrip in our Streetrod to Seligman, Arizona. We headed West on I40 to Kingman and took the old Route 66 the rest of the way. We stopped at the quirky Hackberry Store along the way. We had lunch at Lilo's Cafe which was featured in the latest Arizona Highways magazine. I took a lot of pictures so I have a lot of editing to do. I will post some shots on Facebook and my next Blog so stay tuned.
Here is a great article about changing your prospective when you are out shooting photos. I read a
book about the famous landscape Photographer, Ansel Adams, and the one tip that I have used is to get down low and have something in the fore ground.
http://digital-photography-school.com/get-down-low-for-a-unique-perspective?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+DigitalPhotographySchool+%28Digital+Photography+School%29
This article is about a really fun photography technique. A tripod is critical to get this effect.
http://www.picturecorrect.com/tips/light-trail-photography-tutorial/

Here is a fun way to show off your work from our friends at Woodsnap. You can up load a photo or artwork and they will print it on wood for you. They prices start at $39.95 which is not a bad price. Check out some examples on their website:
https://www.woodsnap.com
Here is an article about the Photo sharing Ap called Instagram. I have not used this but I am seeing a lot of people who are embracing it. It was so popular that Facebook bought the company. I am going to download the Ap to my IPhone and give it a try. If you are using it, let me know what you think of it.
http://www.dpmag.com/how-to/tip-of-the-week/photo-tips-for-mastering-instagram-09-03-12.html?utm_source=newslettertotw&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=DPTOTWeNews_090412
The Thought For The Day:
"...the true secret of happiness lies in the taking a genuine interest in all the details of daily life." by William Morris courtesy of the Happiness Project. Remember this when you are shooting your next photo.
Thank you for reading my Blog!

Becky McGuire, CTC, MCC
Vacation Travel Specialist

612-490-0359

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.4180189034978.159986.1591991790&type=3&l=bcd03463d5

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Last Part Of Our Trip

Today's Blog is about the last few days of our 48 day Motorhome journey. It was sad to see it end but so nice to get back home to Lake Havasu City.
After leaving beautiful Winchester Bay, Oregon we drove down the coast stopping now and then to enjoy the ocean views. It was foggy day which made for an interesting drive through the Redwood Forest. We stopped to see the Drive Through Redwood Tree. We found some unique items in the gift shop.
http://www.drivethrutree.com/
We spent the night at the Marin RV Park in San Rafel, California. It is a very an OK place for one night. Most of the spots are back ins on gravel. The best feature is you can walk to the ferry that takes you over to San Francisco. It does have a pool, WiFi, laundry & showers.
After getting settled at our RV Park we took a short walk to the ferry and spent the rest of the day in San Francisco. We really enjoyed the twenty minute ride across the bay. We did a lot of walking around the piers in San Francisco watching the street performers. We had a fabulous dinner at Scomma's Seafood Restaurant. After the big dinner none of us wanted to do any more walking so we hired a couple of Rickshaws to get us back to the ferry. It was so much fun. I highly recommend it. Here is a link to some of the photos I took that day:

The next day we packed up and drove across the Richmond Bridge past San Quentin Prison on our way out of the city. We drove through Berkley to get on the 580 South to I5. We enjoyed seeing the Wind Farms, orchards and wineries. There many large farms growing vegtables and flowers as well.

We spent the night in Bakersfield, California which is known for it's oil wells. We stayed at the River Run RV Park. It is located in an industrial area which is strange. It is a very nice RV park with large lots with cement patios. It is on the Kern River. It is beautifully landscaped with tar roads. It has a convience store, good Wifi, pool and cable TV.

We had dinner at the Wool Growers restaurant. It specializes in Basque style food served family style. It is a mix of French, Spanish & Italian food. The food was wonderful and most of the dishes were new to me.

The next day we headed for home. Driving by the wineries and orchards of Tehachapi, California. We continued on across the dessert passing large Wind Farms, Joshua Trees and even an Airplane Grave Yard.

The Thought For The Day:

"The secret of success is constancy of purpose." by Disraeli courtesy of The Happiness Project.

Thank you for reading my Blog!

Becky McGuire, CTC, MCC

Vacation Travel Specialist

612-490-0359

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.4160062011815.159409.1591991790&type=3&l=ad8506b216

Monday, September 10, 2012

Oregon

Greetings everyone! I hope you had a great weekend. My husband has been cleaning out his garage and finding all kinds of car parts leftover from past projects. I spent Sunday afternoon listing things on Ebay.

More from our Motorhome Adventure: We left Washington State and drove to Oregon. We spent one night at White Salmon, OR. We stayed at the Bridge RV Park which is on the Columbia River but there was no access down to the river. It was beautifully landscaped and immaculate park. Internet access was good, there were full hook ups, pull throughs and laundry on site. There is a train track that is very close and the first train goes by at 4:00AM!
We delayed leaving in the next morning so we could visit a couple of waterfalls that were nearby. The first stop we made was at Horse Tail Falls and then we continued on to Multnomah Falls which is the second highest falls in the United States. Below is a link to some of my shots that I posted on my Facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.4208600385244.160551.1591991790&type=1&l=bada529a23
Next we drove West and South to Winchester Bay which is on the coast. We met up with up our friends at the Winchester Bay RV Park which is on a bay. This is a large RV park and it is very well maintained. There are full hook ups, pull through sites and laundry on site. The internet connection quality depended on what site you were in but we lucked and had a good signal.
It was quite cool (in the 60's) and foggy while we were there. I got some cool pictures of the boats in the marina one foggy morning. Here is a link to some of my shots:

We drove up to Coos Bay to do some shopping and had lunch at the Shark Bite restaurant. There is a an Indian Casino called the Coquille Casino there. There are the typical tourist shops.

The next day we drove North up the coast to Newport, OR. There are lots of fun shops and great restaurants. We bought at candles at he Newport Candle Company and had a fabulous seafood lunch at Local Seafood. We then drove a little farther North to Depoe Bay for more shopping and sight seeing. We had a great day! Here is a link to some of my shots from that day:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.4208691427520.160553.1591991790&type=1&l=37d58ab418

Here is an article about using a tripod. A lot of beginners wonder if they really need one or not. Once you make the investment it opens up a whole new world of Photography techniques.

http://www.picturecorrect.com/tips/photography-for-beginners-using-a-tripod/

Today's Thought For The Day:

"Worry is the misuse of imagination." by Dan Zadra. My friend, Joan Steffen, posted this on Facebook. June Rosier Paul made this comment: "Worry is the opposite of praying." So true!

Thank you for reading my Blog!

Becky McGuire, CTC, MCC

Vacation Travel Specialist

612-490-0359

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Stbmzv3afzM

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Omak Washington State

Happy Tuesday everyone. It is hard to believe it is September already. The summers always go by so fast. I am looking forward to cooler weather her in Arizona. Fall is one of my favorite times of the year here. The weather is beautiful and the sunsets are gorgeous.

After we left Coeur d' Alene we drove to Omak Washington. We stopped to see Coullee Dam along the way. Omak is home to what is called the Omak Stampede which is in it's 79th year. There are a lot of activities including a rodeo, christian live music, art show, indian dancing and a carnival. The unusual thing is they do a horse race down a very steep hill and then across a river. The race ends in the arena which is part of the rodeo. I did not get any pictures because when we watched it was after dark and there was not enough light to get a good shot. Here is a Utube video of the race:

Here are a couple of links to the shots I took at the event:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.4142502612841.158951.1591991790&type=3&l=4d3027cd52

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.4142495812671.158949.1591991790&type=3&l=5b7391ea8c

After we left Omak we drove to White Salmon Oregon. We saw Mt. Hood and drove by Lake Chelan. We passed many wineries, apple orchards as well as peach and cherry orchards along the way. We drove along the Okanagan and Columbia rivers as we went through the Wenatchee Mountains.

When I first started to learn Photography I often had to stop reading an article and look up a word or acronym that I did not know. It can be daunting when you first start out to figure out what all the jargon means. This article will define some of these for you:

http://www.picturecorrect.com/tips/photography-acronyms/

Here is today's Thought For The Day:

"To know anything about oneself one must know all about others." by Oscar Wilde courtesy of The Happiness Project.

Thank you for reading my Blog!

Becky McGuire, CTC, MCC
Vacation Travel Specialist

612-490-0359