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Thirsty Thursday: Portland Wandering

Rambler: Beth

Drink at Hand: Tablas Creek 2011 Mourvedre 

Thirsty Thursday here again, time to pour something yummy and make those weekend plans! And if you are thirsty and you like Rhone varietals, I highly recommend anything from Tablas Creek. Great winery outside Paso Robles. Now, back to the photos...

I had my final Portland State MBA residency weekend last weekend. Yay for a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel (I'll finish in December), but boo for no more required trips to Portland. I've had fun exploring the city and enjoying its quirkiness. Its an urban wilderness for me...a place I can wander and be in my own head without anyone bothering me, much like being out in an actual wilderness. 

I had a flight to catch at 10, but when I woke up and peeked outside, I wanted to go wander with camera in hand. It wasn't raining too much and the soft light was calling me. 

The view from my hotel room that coaxed me outside. 

I had about an hour, so I quickly grabbed the camera and headed out. I just wandered, slightly rushed with only an hour so I didn't have time to immerse myself in many scenes, but I found a few interesting sites. I only had the 40mm f/2.8 with me, and the fixed focal length forced me to work for the compositions I wanted. 

So, after finding food carts, a bubbler, Voodoo doughnuts, and people on bikes all in an hour (and not knowing that I'd find any of those things), I think I had a pretty successful Portland morning photo walk. Someday I'll get back to do a few more photo walkabouts in Portland. 

Thirsty Thursday: Bike Stalking in Italy

Rambler: Beth

Drink at Hand: 2009 Puma Road Chardonnay 

Thirsty Thursday here again...time to pour something yummy and make those weekend plans. Apparently we here at Welliver Photography have bicycles on the brain, given Terry's Two Word Tuesday post this week. I actually have bikes on my brain pretty much every day now given where I work, which is a pretty sweet topic to have to talk about and think about all day. 

Its funny, when we were in Europe last summer, I wasn't working for a bicycle company. Far from it. It fact, I wasn't even regularly riding a bike last summer. I bet I only put 50 miles total in all of 2013, which is a far cry from the obscene pile of miles I pedaled just a few years before. But there was two things I was drawn to take photos of while we wandered the narrow, cobbled streets of Italy--bikes and doors. Sometimes at the same time. Terry made fun of me for the bike obsession (but he has a bunch of Euro door photos too). There's something so cool to me about these city bikes. Obviously designed for comfort and function, but at the same time stylish and classy. Practical. Timeless. Sexy. Beautiful. Most of them anyway. 

I will definitely be on my bike this weekend. Get out there and find some pedal time of your own this weekend! 

Thirsty Thursday: Lucca

Rambler: Terry
Drink in Hand: 2010 Pierce GSM

Lucca from outside the city wall...who would have guessed that it housed such a fabulous city. Even walking on the wall, you can't really appreciate it. It's not until you wander down the streets and find some stairs that lead you to the top of one of the many towers--then, you'll appreciate it. Its narrow streets, its red-roofed buildings, all protected by a brick wall and some trees. Such a cool place. I'd like to go back some day.

Approaching Lucca

The wall

Walking on the wall

Lucca from above

Thirsty Thursday: San Francisco Wanderings

Drink in Hand: 2010 Ventana Rubystone
Rambler: Terry

Besides being unemployed this week, Beth and I headed up to San Francisco to attend the 2013 Atlassian Summit. The Summit was awesome! Look up #summit13 on Twitter and see what you can find. The first day, Beth signed up for Atlassian training and I had part of the day free...so I wandered the streets from our hotel to the Summit. For some reason I fancy street photography. I think it's because I'm always surprised what I capture and I'm always inspired.

By the way, the Atlassian Summit rocked again this year! 

Thirsty Thursday: Golden Gate Bridge Sunrise

Rambler: Beth
Drink at Hand: Ghost Pines Zinfandel

Usually Thirsty Thursday is about pouring something yummy and making those weekend plans. This week I'm changing it up a little bit. Instead of weekend plans, this week's post is about very early morning weekday plans that turned out pretty well.

A few weeks back I had to take Terry to SFO on a Friday morning for a ridiculously early flight. The problem with a flight out of San Francisco at 6:15 means that we have to leave home around 3:15 to get to the airport on time. That's 3:15 with an A.M. after it, or 0315 for my military friends. That's not even early...that's middle of the night. I grudgingly rolled out of bed, fumbled around enough to somehow get coffee in my travel mug (thank goodness for automatic timers on coffee makers!), and put myself and my camera gear in the car to take my darling husband to the airport.

As I dropped T off at the airport, the sky was still dark and traffic was still light...plenty of time to get across the Golden Gate Bridge for sunrise. I could see stars which meant the problematic SF Bay fog wasn't going to get in the way of a good sunrise. As I pulled into the first turnout on the Marin County side of the bridge, I was excited to see some clouds over Angel Island! Given my recent string of shooting sunrises with absolutely nothing in the sky, these clouds made me happy. Of course, as I headed over the little hill to get a good view of the bridge, my excitement quickly dropped...not a cloud in the sky around the bridge. Just clear, blue twilight. Since I was there, and for the first time ever there was no wind, I decided to play around with some different foreground compositions while optimistically hoping that the clouds further north would drift overhead. I gave up on the clouds over the bridge and went back to the clouds. So, yeah, I went to go shoot the Golden Gate Bridge at sunrise and it wasn't everything I wanted it to be. But, I still saw an absolutely beautiful sunrise over the Bay. It was just a beautiful morning in general in every direction. After all that beauty and a quick walk with Massey, I still made it to work just a few minutes late.

Get out there and watch a beautiful sunrise this weekend...or maybe even tomorrow morning!

Thirsty Thursday: Luzern Night Bikes

Rambler: Beth
Drink at Hand: 2010 Longhand Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir

Good evening and welcome to another Thirsty Thursday...time to pour something yummy and make those weekend plans. Since its getting a little late, I figured a few night photos were in order.

We spent our second night in Switzerland in the beautiful medieval town of Luzern. Absolutely beautiful during the day, and thanks to our jet lag, we had plenty of time to explore at night, too. Thanks to a random (and apparently not so gentle) TSA baggage inspection, we were down to one tripod between the two of us. I let Terry have the tripod to take some photos of the city reflecting in the the river and I headed over to the car-free area.

Bikes were whizzing through the car-free area at a steady rate. I love visiting other countries where bicycles are the predominate mode of travel through the city. It was a cold night, the sky trying to spit rain, yet these hardy Swiss folks were simply going from Point A to Point B under pedal power. I bumped up the ISO of my new 5D Mark II to 3200, knowing that the increased noise would look good in black and white. So I played around panning and stalking the night riders. Here's what I came away with...

I think Thirsty Thursday is having a good influence on me tonight...I might actually go ride my bike this weekend, perhaps with camera in hand. We hope you can get out and have your own little adventure this weekend, too!

Thirsty Thursday: Tokyo's Ginkgo Avenue

Rambler: Beth Drink at Hand: Yogi Breath Easy Tea...good for allergies

Its time for another Thirsty Thursday! Time to pour something yummy and think about the upcoming weekend. In most parts of the country autumn is in full effect. Trees are turning beautiful shades of crimson and gold, and the after sunlight is so golden and warming. Fall is my favorite time of year. Unfortunately we don't get much fall color here on the central coast, and what we do get doesn't normally pop up until late November. So I have to live vicariously through some autumn photo shoots in the archives.

Autumn in Japan can only be described with one word...AMAZING. The Japanese relish the fall "koyo" season. Flocks of people flood shrines and park creating a festival-like atmosphere beneath the brilliant red momiji (Japanese maple) and yellow icho (ginkgo) trees.

If you're lucky, you can sometimes find a usually busy Tokyo street deserted on a crisp weekday afternoon. And if you're really lucky, that street is lined with golden ginkgo trees, the official tree of Tokyo.

Streets like this in the middle of fall beg for a stroll or a slow bike ride. Ironically a bustling train station and busy shopping center at the heart of Tokyo are mere blocks away.

Yet if you just immerse yourself in the muffled quiet of falling leaves, the hustle and bustle of the real world seems worlds away.

And even if you can't take that stroll, you can keep that scene for later.

Hopefully you can find somewhere to go enjoy some wonderful fall colors this weekend, too! Whatever you do, get out there and enjoy it!