Just dreamin' the day away…
Written by Mel McLellan
We just got back from an awesome, relaxing, wonderful time at the beach with friends. The weather was perfect, and thanks to umbrellas, even the pastiest of us (read: me) can sit on the beach all day long. Most of us thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Others however, remained skeptical of this foreign terrain...
Happy early Easter everyone! :0)
- Mel
Our adventures as photographers traveling in China
Written by Mel McLellan
I've been sorting through our personal photographs over the past week. It's something I rarely get to, but I'm trying my best to stay on top of them as best I can now that we have our son. While I was sorting, I came across some images from our trip to China last fall where we photographed Gladys and Henry's Engagement/Us session. Now that I have a little bit of ever-so-very-semi down time, I thought I'd share a handful with all of you. :0)
We often hear how lucky we are to travel the world as wedding photographers, and to be sure - it is an awesome opportunity. We've been able to see amazing places that we never would have gone to on our own and have experiences that we never would have had otherwise. Still, visiting a place to see it for yourself and traveling there to work are two very different beasts and the latter, while still full of exciting new places and adventures, doesn't allow for nearly the same amount of sight-seeing and leisurely activities.
Sean and I have walked the streets of Europe, while pulling bags of gear for miles over the cobblestone streets. We've made a mad dash through the Sistine Chapel in the precious little time we had, just so that we could say we'd seen it. We saw Iceland through car windows and camera lenses, and we've discovered the Mexican landscape and ruins, but with looking for photographically pleasing places for couples in mind. China was no different as we viewed the entire city of Beijing in an afternoon, running through the Emperor's Palaces and Gardens to see where the most image-worthy locations would be. It was a whirlwind 5 days! I say all of this to excuse us, I suppose, for being such poor documenters of our own journey when abroad. ;0) I like to think that our images are just true to our experiences though -- the majority being a test frame that one of us happens to be in, a sample image for a possible location for a future shoot, or a quick grip and grin as we move from place to place. That's what travel looks like for us in this season of our life: fast-paced, always moving, never dull. :0)
Seven went with us everywhere for his first year of life. Here he is scouting the Forbidden City.
We were so fortunate that my best friend was able to come along with us to help with our boy. She and he spent their days wandering around Beijing together, or chasing after us while scoped out locations. Below you see Rachel with Seven in his typical sight-seeing stance: asleep! We've taken him to all of these amazing places and he slept through most of them. :0)
We needed a few props for the shoot the next day so we ventured into this crazy little to find them. This place is tucked away right in the middle of the huge modern metropolis of Beijing's downtown. You just turn a corner down a tiny alley and suddenly you're in a different world. It's like discovering Diagon Alley in the middle of London. (Harry Potter geek-revealing reference inserted here.) Seven is, of course,what? Asleep.
The history you see around you in so much of the rest of the world is just amazing to me. You're surrounded by these structures that have outlasted generations upon generations and I love the way it enriches everyday life in these places. Age is such a beautiful thing.
Shooting on the Great Wall/ Sean testing lighting for his shot.
Speaking of the Great Wall, Holy Smokes! The particular portion of the wall that we went to required you to climb The Infinite Staircase to get to it. Was it actually called The Infinite Staircase? No. That's just what I've named it because seriously, those stairs seemed like they would never end. The view you see below repeated itself about 10 times before we reached the top. As you can see, Sean was feeling pretty proud of himself for how well he was taking it. I, on the other hand, was not taking it so well.
Another test shot I was caught in. I find these regularly as I'm culling our shoots. They always get tagged and then passed off as personal photos. :0)
You may recognize this as being pretty similar to the image of Gladys and Henry from a previous post. Again, test shot = personal photo.
Bottom left: our makeshift dressing room on the Great Wall.
The Emperor's Gardens...
Whenever we get back from a trip to a non-English speaking country, I always find several of these in the photo mix. Sean can't help himself. He just loves a bad English translation or ridiculous admonition...
One of the beautiful scenes on a dreary day at Summer Palace.
Rickshaw ride in the Hutong...
Rachel had been to China before, but never to the Great Wall so on our final day, we made time to get back out with her and Seven. He may not remember it, but at least we do have actual touristy photos to prove that he's been there!
We went to a different portion of the Wall this time around. Easier and more immediate access, but I'm not sure which steps were worse. I pulled the "better stay with the baby" card for this one and let Sean and Rachel have all the fun.
One from our shoot to show off the amazing views...
And there you have it. Our trip into the amazing, exotic, ancient world of China-land. :0) Hope you've enjoyed it! Thanks for looking.
Angelina & Brad's Antarctic Portrait Session
Written by Sean McLellan
A portrait session in Antarctica?
Yes.
We've been holding off on posting these due to having been required to sign a confidentiality agreement. After a bit of back and forth negotiation, we've been allowed to share two of the images under the condition that we're only allowed to use the couple's first names, so as to help conceal their identity.
Getting to Antarctica isn't easy. Nor is it inexpensive. Many of those ways involve being required to secure employment in various science related jobs. Luckily Angelina & Brad are rather well connected and we were able to skip past those methods and we sailed straight down on a boat they were able to borrow from friends. We brought Seven with us, and they also have SIX kids that all came along as well--that might sound crazy; but it was a very large boat and they played well together spending a lot of time entertaining themselves and watching humpback whales... and pieces of ice... and more humpback whales.
Many cruise ships only venture as far as the Antarctic Peninsula; but we were able to sail all the way into the southern Ross Sea.
Ok, enough of that. Let's get to some images!
There are some images that we're REALLY excited about; but unfortunately we aren't allowed to share everything we wanted. Having said that, this is one we were allowed to share because it's one of our large landscape images where Angelina & Brad are in the distance so you can't really identify them by their faces.
I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this shot. Such gorgeous views, we just had to get them out on that ice and get some imagery featuring the location. The lines and curves of the ice were so fantastic--and they look so beautiful together. The weather was very harsh at this point in time, so they had to put on large thick white parkas to keep from freezing.
And here's one more--the only closeup we were allowed to share. The wind really started blowing right before Mel got this image. The snow is obscuring their faces a bit--which is why we got this one approved--but I think it really adds to the artistic feel, anyway. And the emotion is just so powerful that it cuts through the snow obscured portions. Look at how they are looking into each other's eyes. I don't think any words I could write can say it any better than the passion and intensity you can just feel by looking at it.
So glad we were finally able to post these! Thank you for looking. To you and your family: Have a great April 1st!