Wow…getting back into photography has been one of the best decisions I have made in a loooooooong time! This time is a bit different, I am actually committing to it. Taking photos have become practice, photo books have become homework, and thankfully its all so exciting.
Sooo…lets just get started. My first couple photos are from downtown…black and white – high contrast. I think they are pretty sweet!
This slideshow requires JavaScript.
much….MUCH…more to come!
WOW….
I should probably start with a thankful heart. God blessed me during this trip, almost around every corner. Interestingly enough, my heart, mind, and soul have never been more focused more keen to the voice of God, and yet the challenges were tremendous. So, i will attempt to give you a begginning, middle, and end to this experience…HA…I’ll even try and split it up so it wont seem so lengthy…ill even add in pictures….that usually helps the ADD people like me! Just when you get bored from the story…your brain will get interrupted and go….”ooOOOO look at the pretty pictures”
1 Thing you must understand is….FSWD means we are fast forwarding through boring story telling…its for your own good!
SO….family and friends, please enjoy! I will definitley have to refer back to my journal, so bear with me!
Saturday 8/16
Well I guess every trip, every good story, starts with some hiccups. So originally we thought that our flight wasnt leaving till 10am, but last minute we just happened to look at our confirmation to find out that it left at 6am….hmmm nice piece of info Delta THANKS! Much to my roomate Ian’s displeasure, we got a ride to the airport from him. So FSWD to baggage checkin…she takes Erich’s Passport, WHICH by the way is the new model and so much cooler looking with the nifty computer chip in the cover…mine…not so cool. Anyway…she slides his right through…DING! Heres your boarding pass sir….she takes mine! beep…..beep….hmmmm beep….nothing. She asks, “Do you have your VISA sir?” ….Ha…I hope your are talking about my credit card…cuz I have no visa to go to Argentina…FSWD…I am not going to Brazil…im going to Argentina! Big difference in paper work apparently!
FSWD…flight to Atlanta…nothing special! FSWD to Atlanta….LONGEST lay over in LIFE !! 8 hrs of laying over….AGH shoot me in the face! So I took some sleeping pills…which weird…gave me spidey senses! I closed my eyes and the mixture of sound slowly seperated out EVERY single noise perfectly…I could hear a baby, the tv, like 7 different conversations, planes, rain, footsteps, ringing, beeping…I could hear each one seperately as the clear as the other….THIS = NO SLEEP!
FSWD….to HEAVEN! First, I have NEVER flown 1st class and I might not ever again…but this experience will stick with me FOREVER! First ones to board…and as all “the rest” were boarding….(thats what us 1st class fliers call all those that arent worthy for 1st class)…we offered a glass of champagne. The seats were a leatherly heaven….free movies…free drinks…someone anticipating your every need….what else do ya need! I ate an amazing meal, watching a movie…What Happens in Las Vegas…VERY funny by the way! And fell asleep to Kung Fu Panda.
Sunday 8/17
Ummm…I open my eyes…lean up in my bed/chair hybrid and as soon as I put my glasses on….a tray is put in front of me asking me if Id like some orange juice! HA…I dont think you could wake up a better way! With a fantastic meal and great cup of coffee…we regretebly left our flight from heaven to the freazing morning air of Buenos Aires!
FSWD….OK FIIIIINE…I got free breakfast at the Four Seasons because we had to wait for our room for 20 minutes because we were there 8 hrs early. I have never seen more marble everywhere, I dont think I have ever been in a nicer hotel. I think this is going to be the start of a beautiful relationship with Argentina, I might even bring her back home and make her a US citizen!
FSWD….1st…I saw Nightcrawler and his girlfriend at the Recoleta Cementary…they were vamping by and with my quick photo skills I was able to catch him! 2nd…man this cementary is amazing! I guess I never really realized all this beauty last time I was here. Its interesting how such extravagance is spent in remembrance of those lost and loved, just such a difference here in the states. There’s part of me that is so saddened by how the world spends all this money, time, and effort in mourning and remembrance. Their physical bodies are so sacred and special, it almost reminded me of acient tombs from Egypt. My physical body is nothing, and I thank God everyday that I have hope after this life, an eternal life apart from this physical representation of who I am. But apart from those thoughts, I was outstanded by the sheer construction and extravagance of it all.
SEEEE...told you! Its Nightcrawler!
FSWD….tiiiiiiiired! We have toured almost ALL of Recoleta! I have seen more monuments than I probably wished to have seen…ha! I did see the Hard Rock Cafe and that was pretty cool, they actually spoke english there but there shirts were too fat for me….LAME! MAn…I also saw this couple that was sitting together on the roof right next to these big angel statues that I totally wanted to take pictures of them but they kept looking at me every time I went to snap a photo…im not a very good stalker….its sad 
FSWD….So the lounge is DEAD empty. but I had a pretty bomb martini…it has crushed ginger! AND…we had Matte for the 1st time….not too impressed with the Four Seasons skill at this. But wow…what an amazing first day in Buenos Aires. The lounge server Pablo…hes my new best friend. He convinced us to stay a night in the Four Seasons in Uruguay. ANNNNND…tomorrow morning we are going to meet two ladies we do not know, on a street corner where we dont know where it is, across from a popular sports store that I have never heard of. So ya im pretty excited about it!
Coffee...Alcohol...Should I be tired or awake?
Monday 8/18
Ummm….shower can I take you home? mmmm….argentine cartoons are pretty crappy..HA. They have this one where its like these animated trolls in actual video footage of a forest…OH how it angers me and im not sure why, but you cants stop staring…
Wait…hello Memo! Whats that? We need to be at that random street corned to meet up with those random women that DONT speak english in 30 min? NICE….FSWD….Yes Anette you ARE very nice but i cant understand a WORD you are saying! haha…we had the taxi drop us off on these street corner with a description of a car and a license plate, ofcourse all we had to do was to find her and WALAAA….we are Americans so we are a bit easy to spot. This is where i should remind you NEVER DRIVE IN ARGENTINA. The taxi drivers are one thing….AGH the personal drivers are way worse. There are NO lanes on the highway, people just push eachother out of the way on the highway. It is pretty much a constant game of Chicken. HA….I am so glad we didnt get a car to rent, I would have freaked out and crashed the very first day…FSWD….YES…time for our first Esado while back in Argentina. If your not sure what that is….it is like a bbq with EVERY kind of meat imaginable. Close friends everywhere and a huge picnic table. Much like a big family get together with your closest friends. AMAZING!
FSWD….soooo tired and tomorrow we wake up to go to Uruguay! Seeya there!
So this was a welcome to the wonderful wide world of weddings for me. I had a great opportunity to meet Jeremy and Katie and experience and share a very special day for this young couple. What a great expression of the love that God has intended for us! Congratulations you two!
If there were ever a Dr. Jeckyl to Christopher’s Mr. Hyde photography, this would be it! I caught some of the funnier sides of people…ha and I loved it. For a full slideshow of the wedding go to christopher’s blog.
gomaddphotography.wordpress.com
HA…funny cuz its true! How often is God asking us to just STOP….collaborate and listen to him! I have found myself stopping over and over just even in this past week.
Im a doubter people…I doubt cuz I think I am wise…I doubt cuz I dont trust. I dont trust God to take care of me and for me, to fight for me and defend me, to love me and forgive me. So I doubt me…I doubt him…I doubt you! I doubt my integral role in my own story.
What do you wish most of all? What do I fear most of all? My FEARS are wrapped around doubt, dis-trust, and despair and how desperately pathetic I am. Does my fear conquer my hope? YES So….heres where my STOP begins!
“If God is for us, than who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?…Who shall seperate us for the LOVE of Christ.”
get this now…
not DEATH…LIFE…ANGELS….RULERS…THINGS NOW…OR THINGS TO COME….NOT HEIGHT…NOT DEPTH….NO…..not ANYTHING in all of CREATION.
STOP YOU…collaborate and LISTEN!!!! God is telling me…WHAT do you have to fear…WHAT do you have to WORRY….who am I to ever doubt the God that gave his one and only son for ME. The wretch that I am…a heart who has turned and engulfed itself with this world OVER and OVER again. That was for me!
“But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us!!! Do I get this?? God Beat me down! My foolish heart has become darkened and like in Romans …”thinking myself as wise, I became foolish!”
So I have stopped…now What? Who am I to be? How am I to act? Read Romans 12:9-22 and YOU tell me!!
So here are the beginnings of what I hope becomes I shear addicition of mine! A way to share my thoughts, expressions, prayers, passions, concerns, and everything in between through photography. I want to see God glorified in this!
Here are some great pics for Flagstaff Downtown with my friend Lindsey…a great subject! It was my first real good chance to use my camera. These are some of the better pics.
I have such a longing to return to flag! It’s so easy to experience God in the simpliest things there. Is the city, ha cleaner air, beautiful landscapes, or memories….I’m not sure…but I do miss it!
