The Flower Basket Boutique

Had the joy of photographing this lovely little flower boutique specializing in artistic floral arrangements. This shop is a hidden gem among the small town of downtown provo. Along with flowers this store offers quite the selection of handmade accessories, candles, foreign confectionaries and aromatherapy collections. With such colorful displays all over the store, I found many things that inspired me. I also could not escape without the purchase of a beautiful pair of loop jade earrings (shown in the last image of this post) made by a local company named "Phyllis & Larue."

My Grandma Joanie

Joan Sondra Inman Butchar

January 1, 1933 - October 25th, 2011

I finally went through the images from Grandma Joanies funeral service

Isn't she stunning! We will sure miss her but I'm so happy she is back together with my Grandpa Sam in Heaven.

St. Peter & Paul Orthodox Church

With my recent find of the Cathedral of the Madeleine, I started out on an adventure to uncover other religious treasures located in Salt Lake City. Just 3 blocks South East of the epicenter of downtown is a small hidden masterpiece. Walking through the doors of the chapel you come across a painted blue sky surround with beautiful icons reminiscent of the byzantine era.

Two of the 30'ish Saints painted on the walls around the room

Fall Portraits: The Rigby's

Cathedral's South Facade

Mesmerized by the interior of the Cathedral of the Madeleine,  I went back for a second trip to photograph the beautiful details laid in stone. Above the main door of the Cathedral lays a intricate facade. It amazes me that there is such talent that can carve this massive art by hand.

The Cathedral of the Madeleine

  

Located in downtown Salt Lake is a stone Cathedral with massive gargoyles. When one walks through the doors they stumble across an overlooked treasure in the community. The interior is exquisitely painted with rich colors and massive murals. 

Altar Piece

Residential Interiors

Some facts that many don't know. When photographing interiors one must use a very wide angle lens to capture as much space in a room as possible. The down side is when you use a wide angel lens the images are skewed. Straight lines start to bend and objects get malformed. The dilemma photographers have is to attempt to correct these deformities in Photoshop without destroying the quality of the image.

Look how cute my tent is!!! 

I just love camping!

One Image...or Three

Oh the art of Architectural Photography. This one image of the Exterior of a House is actually 3 images. The first for the exposure of the house, second the exposure for the interior lights of the house and third the exposure of the sky. A lot more work than you would think!

Kolob Reservoir

Please forgive me for the delay in my blogging, I take full responsibility. Here is some photos that I took over the summer at Kolob Reservoir.

Shinkansen

During my adventure in Japan, I traveled to and from places by taxi, metro, ferry, train and the Shinkansen (Japanese Bullet Train). Unlike the states, I found the public transportation clean, efficient and plush. Stations were full of people briskly walking to there destination and people waiting politely in line. I spent some time waiting for my trains to arrive and explored the many kiosks selling bento boxes, treats, papers, magazines and many other things. My exploration brought back memories from my NYC Subway Musicians Project. As I sat waiting for my train to arrive, I watched a women work at her kiosk with such poise. I snapped a couple of shots of her and wondered what her story was. I would love to go back to Japan and create a project that tells the story of these kiosk workers. 

Aoi Festival - Kyoto, Japan

Out of pure luck I was in Kyoto on a special day - May 15th. This day is a celebration of the Aoi Festival. The whole city was filled with people squeezing into ever crevice along the parade route. Temporarily I left my travel buddies to find the perfect position. I squeezed and shimmied my way through the crowd, got yelled at by some kyoto policemen for standing in the street, climbed up a wall but it was all worth it. I took my professors advice whenever I was yelled at, "Smile, wave and pretend like you don't understand." (which actually wasn't that far off from the truth, being that everyone was talking in Japanese). Above are some photos from the parade. The top shows the parade line exiting the Imperial Gates.

Some Info about the Aoi Festival

The Aoi festival also known as the Kamo festival, is held at both the Kamigamo and Shimogamo Shrine. The origin of the festival dates back to the time of the Kinmei Emperor (approximately 1400 years ago). The grain at the time was not ripening, and this was seen as a curse from the Kamo-god. A horse was made to run with bells attached, and an abundant harvest resulted. This tradition continued unbroken, and came to be celebrated on a grand scale from the Fujiwara era.

The name of the Aoi Festival originated from the tradition of offering geraniums (aoi) to the gods, and decorating the temple, attendees and ox carriages with geranium leaves. Wearing elegant costumes of the Ocho era, the refined charm of the envoy and public servants parading through the city represents old-style Kyoto.

Tenryu-ji Zen Temple

One May 15th, I found myself arriving by streetcar to Arashiyama Region in Kyoto, Japan. Streets were lined with stores selling trinkets and the sidewalks were speckled with tourist. Along the way I grabbed myself a cucumber Popsicle (literally a cold cucumber on a stick).  Located in this community I explored the grounds of Tenryuji Temple. Tenryuji Temple (天龍寺, Tenryū-ji) is the head temple of the Tenryū sect of Rinzai Zen Buddhism. It was founded by Ashikaga Takauji in 1339, primarily to venerate Gautama Buddha, and its first chief priest was Musō Soskice.  In 1994, it was registered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, as one of the "Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto"


Entering the grounds along a gravel path, I discovered myself walking past small enclosed gardens with places of worship inside. While many rushed by these small enclosure and onto the main attraction, I took a moment to explore. However, it was just a brief moment compared to what I wished I had time for. The enclosures were all unique, some filled with alters of worship, others with statues of Buddhas and some containing pieces of paper fortunes.

Shioir Pond at Hama-rikyu Gardens

Shioir Pond, Hama-rikyu Gardens is a public park in Chuo, Tokyo, Japan. Located on the Sumida river the Gardens were opened April 1st, 1946. The Park was remodeled as a public garden n the site of a villa of the Shogun Tokugawa family in the 17th century.

Healing Points

For my editorial class last semester, I was working on a story involving photographing alternative medicine. I really had this urge to photograph an acupuncturist. Acupuncturist Nina at Healing Point located in Spanish Fork, Utah was very willing to let me photograph her at work. Thank you Nina.

Festival of Colors

After rigging up my camera with a plastic bag and tons of tapes, I experienced my 2nd time attending the Festival of Colors. I probably consumed my weight in color chalk but it was fun.

Nephew & Cupcakes

Happy St. Patrick's Day. My niece Hana's birthday is on St. Patrick's day and this year she requested a St. Patricks Day theme. My nephew Will just looked so funny in this picture I had to show it. My sister made rainbow cupcakes using Airhead Extreme Sour Belts for the rainbows. I think I ate more of the sour belts than the actual cupcake.

Sunbreeze Herb Shop

Sunbreeze Herb Shop and it's owner Suzan located in Orem, Utah. 

Nieces & Cupcakes

My niece asked for popcorn cupcakes for her birthday and her wish came true. Believe it or not but these popcorn cupcakes contains popcorn in the cake. They actually didn't taste too bad.