The Statue of Liberty | NYC two days before the storm

That old day job I had sometimes hires me to go photograph really boring things.  But every now and then, they're in really cool places, like New York City.   George and I hit the town the morning of my assignment (fancy gala dinner awards ceremony thing) and did the single most touristy thing possible: the Statue of Liberty. Y'all, this is my husband.  He's away at the moment.  I prefer when he's here.   This is a normal "tourist" photo of George and me "making like the" Statue of Liberty.  I have a lot of "making like the" photos in my personal collection.  George says we are going to cherish them someday.  That is likely.  But I'm definitely going to have to teach him about camera angle and lens choice and not making my thighs look enormous. Then we were done with all that and caught this street show.  What's really weird is that I saw the exact same show performed by different guys at Central Park the next day.  I don't know if it's a franchise (a street performer franchise??) or if someone ripped off the other group... but it was the same routine - down to the same jokes!  I thought that was so odd. The next day, I had breakfast with David and Carrie. David makes his eggs too runny.

NYC Day 2

Today was really a lovely day.  I woke up fairly early because that is how I generally roll.  Headed up to the continental breakfast upstairs but didn't see a single coworker, despite there being maybe 40 in this hotel.  No matter, I trotted off quickly to B&H to peruse the camera gear because I am a masochist and know I can't afford any of it.  But I thought maybe I could find a funky camera strap or something.  Instead, I picked up a hot shoe sync for my studio lights.  Very helpful staff there, as always. After that, I used my Yelp app (love love love love LOVE Yelp) to find a cozy little coffee shop to have a small latte, skipped through H&M (I was big on the X&Y stores!) and picked up a super-cute "boyfriend" jacket, and then took an informative, if overly dramatic, tour of Grand Central Station and the surrounding area.  Very much a good time. Right now I'm killing time and relaxing before a big, long work event that I will have to photograph and pay attention to for far far longer than is advisable.  I hear the food is excellent, though, and that always makes me happy. You've heard the story, now see the photos.  Not a big photo day, really - I was mostly enjoying walking around without a camera dangling from my arm. grand central station nyc Our very engaging and dramatic tour guide.  "New York is slammin'," he said without a hint of irony. tour guide nyc Chrysler Building details: chrysler building photos maps manhattan chandelier and guy on a phone street photography nyc Pardon this one.  It's just for David. concha y toro Also, the latest in my series of hotel self-portraits.  I already have one from this hotel in New York but it never hurts to have others. black and white self-portrait in new york hotel

June & July: Stray Frames | Personal

Ok I'm a slacker on Stray Frames and, frankly, a slacker on personal photos for these two months. I even went all the way over to Europe and barely cracked the camera. What can I say? I've got a husband to take the cellphone snapshots and also a husband I'd have to drag around to wait patiently on me to get the street stuff I want (I generally leave the postcard-photos to the masters and those that have the luxury of time). © 2015 Amber Wilkie Photography | www.amberwilkie.com Two other photo-related things I did in June: a nekkid photoshoot for me (ostensibly for George but who are we kidding) and a "couple shoot" with the both of us. Sarah Williams from This Rad Love did both and I couldn't love them more. (There's literally no other photo from this shoot that doesn't have some of my ladybits showing. Rawr.) random-x100-july2015-1-2 George and I brainstormed for weeks about things that we enjoying doing together that could be "documented." At the end of the day, most of it was eating-related. We literally had lunch at Founding Farmers and Sarah took pictures. She hung out with us for an ungodly amount of time, bless her heart. random-x100-july2015-2-2 That's all I've got from June, man. David, Carrie, George and I rolled over to West Virginia to hang with good friends in their sprawling, mansion-like home. Amazing food and good times were had by all. Other than that, lots of weddings and things. I wish I could say I nipped that June no-personal-photos thing in the bud but it's not true. I have only a handful to show. © 2015 Amber Wilkie Photography | www.amberwilkie.com I found myself in Louisville in July with a couple days to kill. I'd never seen the city before. It's got some fun spots but really it's quite sleepy for a major city. Not much going on downtown and such. I thought about this one for a while before I made my choice. Before I die... nothing? I feel pretty good about life. I don't particularly feel the need to check anything else off a list. But if there's one ambition I have, it's to taste more things. © 2015 Amber Wilkie Photography | www.amberwilkie.com Also in July, Aziz hosted a scavenger photo-hunt from the Leica Store. We were given a list of 12 or 14 things to photograph around the city. Some of these weren't actually part of the hunt - I just took them during the six (!) hours he gave us. © 2015 Amber Wilkie Photography | www.amberwilkie.com© 2015 Amber Wilkie Photography | www.amberwilkie.com© 2015 Amber Wilkie Photography | www.amberwilkie.com I did not win the scavenger hunt, but I did meet Mike who was carrying around this sombrero on his bike. © 2015 Amber Wilkie Photography | www.amberwilkie.com The July DC photowalk was held at Fort Reno. © 2015 Amber Wilkie Photography | www.amberwilkie.com© 2015 Amber Wilkie Photography | www.amberwilkie.com I photoed one last wedding in July, and that night scooted off to meet my husband in Vienna... where I immediately fell ill and spent a day in bed. I did my best to spend my last half-day doing stuff, so we toured the opera house. My phone took this panorama - yay technology! random-x100-july2015-1© 2015 Amber Wilkie Photography | www.amberwilkie.com It was just a couple days in Vienna, then we headed on to Prague. The city is really beautiful because it didn't get bombed much in the wars (unlike basically every other European capital). Here are a couple more panoramas from my phone, from the Clock Tower. random-x100-july2015-2random-x100-july2015-3 I liked Prague quite a bit, but it's nowhere near my contender for "best city," as many friends assured me it would be. It lacks a feel of authenticity in much of the city center - the same way Rome does. They both have an artificiality to them, as though everything is done for your (the tourist's) benefit. I much prefer a bustling place like NYC or Amsterdam that makes things easy for tourists, but also has its own thing going on such that tourists are not the primary thought. © 2015 Amber Wilkie Photography | www.amberwilkie.com© 2015 Amber Wilkie Photography | www.amberwilkie.com© 2015 Amber Wilkie Photography | www.amberwilkie.com All that said, Prague was a very atmospheric locale to spend five days. I particularly enjoyed the architecture, if not George's compositional skills. © 2015 Amber Wilkie Photography | www.amberwilkie.com And then! We went to a church decorated all over with bones!! This is the Sedlac Bone Church about 45 minutes from Prague. The priests used the bones of plague victims to remind parishioners about mortality and fleeting-ness of this world and also something about how we're all equal in the eyes of G-d. It was mad awesome. © 2015 Amber Wilkie Photography | www.amberwilkie.com© 2015 Amber Wilkie Photography | www.amberwilkie.com© 2015 Amber Wilkie Photography | www.amberwilkie.com We also toured Terezin, a very strange concentration camp that the Nazis used for propaganda. This was a more pleasant place than almost anywhere else in the Third Reich but nearly everyone that came to the camp was later sent on to their deaths. © 2015 Amber Wilkie Photography | www.amberwilkie.com A Cubist coffee shop back in Prague. © 2015 Amber Wilkie Photography | www.amberwilkie.com Tourists waiting for the famous Astronomical Clock to chime. © 2015 Amber Wilkie Photography | www.amberwilkie.com© 2015 Amber Wilkie Photography | www.amberwilkie.com© 2015 Amber Wilkie Photography | www.amberwilkie.com I thought this spider helped illustrate what an awesome view we had from our hotel room. I splurged in Prague because it was cheap ($100/night!) and because the rest of the trip our accommodations were covered by George's work. © 2015 Amber Wilkie Photography | www.amberwilkie.com And with that eight-legged dude, I leave you. We had one more destination on this year's European gallivanting, but that is a story for another day.