Heather Meyers Photography

Vince & Samantha - Married

2008-06-25T18:31:00.000-07:00

Okay, it's been a crazy last couple of weeks with running from one thing to the next, but I managed to get some of our friends V&S's wedding pics edited. So, I'm not wedding photographer or anything but here's some snaps from the day........

starting with a couple of my major favs.....

Gettin ready......

Sisters anxiously awaiting for the right song.....

Now, that I have some of these up, off to work on many other projects and school!!!! :o)

JUNE 14, 2008 ~ OUR 1st ANNIVERSARY!!!

2008-06-13T14:34:00.000-07:00

One year ago today, I became Mrs. Jacob Meyers.......

Wow so crazy to think it's been a whole year yet it almost seems like way more than that. I guess because we've packed so much into the last 12 months. :o) It's been utter bliss, and I can't wait to embark on more adventures together. The Lord has blessed me with such an incredible husband...........

And for your viewin pleasure, here are just a few photos from our wedding. The original digital negatives are courtesy of the talented Kathy Martin (www.kathymartinphotography.com), and I gave them some Heather flare with my editing.....

Soon I'll be posting some pics of our incredible honeymoon roadtrip as well, since I never got around to doing that before.... :o)

I LOVE YOU JACOB! And I'm so excited for all the years to come!!!!

Now off to the beach............ ;o)

WEDDING TEASER Vince & Sam

2008-06-13T14:19:00.001-07:00

Wow - been forever since I've updated, but Summer has kicked into full gear and has had us running to and fro with busy-ness.

Last weekend was chock full of traveling for us, as we went to a friend's wedding down in Tennesee where I was to do some candid shooting. Except for the unholy temperatures (ie HOT HOT HOT) the wedding was beautiful, and before the reception I snuck them outa the church o brave the heat outside...

You may remember them from an engagement shoot earlier this year.....

More to come, stay tuned...

Catchin Some More Baseball...

2008-05-24T05:07:00.000-07:00

Had a chance to finally make it to one of my brother Isaiah's games :o) And they won! Yay! :o)

Pitchin...

The light was pretty low, so pics aren't as sharp as I like, but doesn't keep my from tryin to get some good shots :o)

Getting away from some stray pitches can lead to some great pics :o)
Here's Isaiah practicing his levitation skills :o)......

....and even pullin in some Michael Jackson moves :o)......

Can't post without throwin in some textures too ;o)

Gotta Love Spring...

2008-05-20T12:45:00.001-07:00

Ahhh, life is just generally better when you have posies popping up to let you know warmer weather is on the way... and it gives me an excuse to practice on my nature photography that I could use some improving on :o) But this first one just makes me happy anyway

Germany, forgot about that..... :o)

2008-05-18T09:44:00.000-07:00

I just realized that I never posted any pics from our day in Germany on our way back from Israel.

There's not terribly much to show. The scenario unfolded as this......after enduring out exhausting last day in Ein Gedi and staying up the entire night, we flew outa Tel Aviv in the early am, landing in Munich mid morning. Rediculously tired, we managed to find the right train to get from the airport to the city thanks to wonderful Christian German lady I got to sit next to on our flight.

Exiting the train station, with patience and alertness levels at a dangerous low, we tried desperately try to find our hotel. As we walked and walked and walked, up and down the streets, over and over, frustration begins to rise to peak while the merciless cold, windy and spritzing weather compounded the situation. All while we are lugging our very heavy backpacks. Perfect.

Thankfully, eventually we found out hotel, and even though we love exploring new cities, we simply had nothing left in us. So we crashed. It was dark by the time we woke up, but with spirits much improved, we decided to start our exloration and get some food.

We found one little cozy restaurant, but after being seated and quickly abandoned by a non-English speaking host who gave us only German menus, we decided to abort, and try again. :o)

Wandering a little further we found the busier side of town, with beer halls and restaurants abounding. So we ducked into one, fairly timidly though as we were semi-scarred from our last attempt.

Our waiter this time was a very pleasant and helpful man wiht competent English who fit my mental picture of Germans: a stout shorter man perhaps in his fifties with gruff hair and accent, his Bavarian outfit reaking of beer. ;o)

Every table had appetizers of the famous Bavarian pretzels.

The restuarant was very cozy, all dark wood with amazing intricate detailing. The stag heads on the wall became usefull though when the waiter pointed at them to explain to Jacob what his choice for dinner was, venison stew. :o)

The supper was sooooo incredible. It still always kills me when asking for water in European countries - they ask if you want gas or no-gas. :o) What they mean is carbonated or not. Just cracks me up. :o)

The savory food, cozy atmosphere, and finally the chance to relax did us immense good. :o)

Liking the warmth of the indoors, Jacob announced "let's go a-coveting" and we ducked into a large department store. Yeah, I know it's lame to just wander through a store when you're visiting a new country, but we had fun anyhow :o)

The weather improved so went awandering some more.....

It's kind a funny, as the people, smells, food and atmosphere, felt a lot like back home in our Pennsylvania, probably thanks to all our "Dutchy" communities and heritage.

An amazing cathedral we just happened upon. It seems that very easy to do in Europe, just "happen upon" a colossel cathedral. :o)

They have meat markets in seems at every corner, and this scene just cracked me up as the lil puppy just stood there looking wistfully.

That night storms hit Germany, especially the north, with very destructive winds that did much damage. Even when we leavin the next morning, a snow storm kicked up out of nowhere that delayed out flight, beginning a very long day of travel for Jacob and I.

Batter Up :o)

2008-05-16T20:52:00.000-07:00

Just a few photos from some of the first games of the season for some more of my siblings :o)

First off is little Josiah, the youngest of the family, whose playing his first year. It's a bit of an adjustment from watching highschool ball to watch seven and eight year olds playing, but still enjoyable :o) this first one is just too cute

He's always been an intense little athlete, having to keep up with all the older sibs! He's had a decent wind-up since the age of 4, which he is perfecting here :o) Don't under-estimate the power of the tongue. :o)

And then there's my one and only sis Abigail.....

She can tear up on the mound too :o)

More pics sure to come, including some of another brother, Isaiah. :o)

Italy Throw-Aways

2008-05-13T12:51:00.000-07:00

As I was doing a second-pass rummaging through Italy pics for creating my hardbound book, I came across several photos that begged to have some attention. Originally throw-aways at first glance, here's a few pics that got saved from hard drive anonymity to become some of my absolute favs.

And I also decided to experiment a little with black and white, which is beginning to grow on me :o)

Trojan Triple Play!!!

2008-04-25T17:50:00.000-07:00

Wow, went to a great ballgame tonight! And in the top of the 5th, my bro Jacob Picard playin shortstop made this insane catch from a hard hit.

The catch would've been good enough by itself, but it was also the start of an amazing triple play - he threw to second, out, then a throw to first, out! 3 outs in a matter of a few seconds! That doesn't happen very often! Great playing guys!!! :o)

tryin to snag him stealin...but he was safe ;o)

roundin the bases

A great slide by Justin

Everybody's happy at the end of a great game :o)

Baseball Season is here again...

2008-04-25T04:55:00.000-07:00

I love this time of year and hanging out at my siblings ball games. And with four of them playing ball this year, there should be plenty of games to see! First to enjoy this year was my brother Jacob, a sophmore playing for the Chambersburg Trojans.

He's gonna hate me for posting this, but I love good sequence shots ;o)

I think if baseball doesn't work out for these guys they might have a future with Riverdance ;o) I'm a terrible sister for poking fun, so in acutuality this was a great scoop and throw to first by Jacob that got the runner out.

Gotta love the great Picard facial expressions ;o) This next one is double great because both feet are also hovering above the ground :o)

Team huddle

Some of Jacob's teammates...

NYC Day Trip

2008-04-21T16:30:00.000-07:00

We made a semi-impromtu trip up to New York City a couple weeks ago. We being me, Jacob, Ariel, Mary (back in the States for a month) and her brother Mark.

Starting our crazy weekend without sleep wasn't the brightest idea ever, as I think our foggy-tired minds contributed to our frustrations in trying to manuever the big city. :o) I mean, honestly, I've traveled all over some of the world's biggest cities: Paris, London, Rome: and yet, I have trouble finding the Statue of Liberty! And I can't even blame it on a language barrier! ;o)

But, all in all we had a blast ;o)

Not only is this Jacob's first trip to the Big Apple, but his first to a BIG American City. :o) He's been to Paris, Rome, Budapest, Jerusalem, Munich - but never a big Amerian city. He always thought that it had to be waaaay easier to navigate a city that you speak the language. Whoops, blew that theory. ;o)

Steam vents make great special effects ;o)

Mary's first visit too :o)

Brooklyn Bridge

Even had a few minutes to stop in at the National Museum of Natural History. We just had to seeing as we loved the movie ;o) We searched for "Dexter" for a while but no luck finding him ;o)

Had to get a picture with our life-size "tissue box". Explanation: we have a tissue box cover in our living room that is a replica of this statue, and you get to pull the tissues out of it's large nose. ;o) it's a great conversation starter!

Even Jacob and Mark got bit by the stylin bug while we leisurely wasted some time on 5th Avenue

Grand Central Station

End our day at Times Square...

Ariel and Mary enjoyin some dee-lish cheesecake on Times Square ;o)

We were very proud of ourselves that we remembered where we parked out truck *mental note, never bring big truck to NYC ever again*, so our sleepy crew crawled in to snore back to PA. :o) So glad Mary and Mark could make the trip up from VA!

ISRAEL - Chapter 7: Ein Gedi

2008-04-17T14:12:00.000-07:00

Our last day in Israel we spent down towards the Dead Sea at Ein Gedi Nature Reserve.

Ein Gedi is an oasis in the desert, the largest on the Western shore of the Dead Sea. It's comprised of two main wadiis, with fresh water springs drawing inhabitants for thousands of years.

"Ein Gedi" literally means "the spring of the kid (goat)", and being a wildlife preserve we saw some ibex running around.

This was our first day to experience any intense heat, as most of our stay was accompanied with milder temps.

Only Wadi Agurot was open for hiking, due to severe flash flood damage in the larger and more popular Wadi David.

To recall some Bible history, this is the very same wilderness where David escaped to and hid from Saul. I can understand how he could have a hidden here for a quite awhile!

After a loooonng hike, we made it to the "Hidden Waterfall"....

Have to stop and get a pic of our adventurous trio :o)

And of course me and and my wonderful permanent traveling companion ;o)

On our hike back, we stopped to wade in some quiet pools in the stream, having time to discuss and solve the problems of the world ;o) or at least trying to tackle our own ;o)

Utterly exhausted, we had to take a walk down to the shores of the Dead Sea, the lowest spot on the earth!

The salt and mineral content of the Sea is 33%! Compare that to 3% salt for "normal" seas and oceans! The high mineral content makes swimmers INCAPABLE of sinking! It's the wildest feeling ever! You just kinda "bob", thrashing around is out of the question as you DO NOT want to get this water in your eyes! ;o) or in your mouth! eweeee :o)

The mineral fomations on the rocks make quite the sight

Jacob, the Dead Sea, and the hills of Jordan in the distance.

We then sleepily wait to catch our bus back to Jerusalem, a several hour ride...

We then stay up til 2am draining our last possibly bits of fun from dear Mary and Malcolm, and then time to catch our sherut to Tel Aviv to catch our flight out...

Shalom Israel!!! Can't wait to return this fall!!! YEAHHH!!! :o)

ISRAEL - Chapter 6: Exploring & Experiencing Jerusalem

2008-04-10T13:29:00.000-07:00

Having a few days back in 'hometown" Jerusalem :o) Jacob and I set out to explore and to "see" some of the sights...
Little did I know that by the end of the day I would be rendered incapable of walking....

First a stop in the Old City...

Nearly all road signs have a combination of English, Hebrew, and Arabic writing.

Then it was off to the "Shrine of the Book" the home of the Dead Sea Scrolls

A funny story accompanies our experience there. We got their to the "museum" mid mornin and were quite confused by the lack of attendants at the front, we couldn't find anyone to buy tickets from. In the meantime, a bus full of tourists arrived and were just proceedin to go thru security, so we did the the same. And then once we were "in" we found it more curious that there didn't seem to be hardly any people wanderin about, and no security people at designated spots. Almost deserted. So we went on to explore some more.....

I was so glad to have been able to show Jacob this really cool huge historical model of 2nd Temple Jerusalem, as I remembered it being sooooo cool. :o)

You could walk around and be like, 'that's where Jesus healed the blind man...and there's the gentile court in the temple...and there's Jaffa gate that we walked through today..." I'd love to have that thing in my backyard. :o)

Some cool chairs :o)

As we wrapped up what we wanted to see, we thought we'd check out a special exhibit. As we entered, a security man jabbered off something in Hebrew at us. Looking confused he motioned to another lady who broke out some English for us. "Are you weeth a group?" After we said no. "um...*she's looking confused*.....uh, how deed you get een?" We told her we just came through the front door. Looking at us rather dumbfounded, she says, "I'm sorry, but the museum eese closed. As we stood there dumbfounded, as people bustled about us now, it was our turn to be confused. But that was the only info we got, so we were done seein everything anyway, so and we left. :o)

As we stood waitin for the bus, I focuse on a lovely grove of olive trees.

Not, sure which version of this photo I liked better, so I'm posting both :o)

After we missed the bus (cuz i was takin pictures) we (i.e. Jacob) decided to walk back to the Old City, where we then bought out tickets to go and walk atop the Old City walls.

We had been waitin for a nice sunny day to do this, but since our time was running out, we just did it. However, only a few moments after getting on top, it proceeded to miserably rain. So we spent the next half hour or so "enjoyin" the drizzly view of Jerusalem :o)

Jacob tryin to get a better view. :o) If I didn't have a camera, I wouldn't let him do half the things he does ;o) But if it's for a good picture....ah, well....

If you can just imagine how dumb we look, like two idiotic tourists atop the city walls in the middle of the rain, for all to see and smirk at. Between tryin to shield my camera and myself from the blowing rain Jacob directed my view to these lovely flowers, as I didn't see them as I had "tunnel vision" with head bent scurryin from one shelter to another.

Sopping cold and soaked and hungy (we sound pitiful I know), we got to the end of the Wall at Damascus gate, only to have the rain stop and sky clear a little :o) Figures.

We ducked into the Temple Institute, where we got to see all the items that are currently being made for the new Temple. Pretty wild!

After we dried out, we headed out to trek up the Mount of Olives
As you see, a large portion of the Mount is covered in Jewish graves

The Golden Gate facing the mount, all blocked off now....but one day Messiah will enter Jerusalem through it! As a "deterrant" for Messiah's coming, the Arabs have filled the land directly in front of the Gate with graves.

An orthodox man wading through the sea of graves...

The long, steep trek up the Mount, past the Garden of Gesamane, we pause for a photo in front of the most amazing city in the world. :o)

This next picture reminds me of one of my favorite songs "Yerushalayim Shel Zahav" (Jerusalem of Gold)

The olive trees that stand in silence upon the hills of time,
To hear the voices of the city as bells of evening chime.
The shofar sounding from the Temple to call the world to prayer,
A shepherd pauses in the valley and peace is everywhere.

Jerusalem, Jerusalem oh city with a heart of gold,
My heart will sing your songs of glory, Jerusalem.
Jerusalem, Jerusalem, forever young, forever old.
My heart will sing your songs of glory, Jerusalem.

The water well for those who thirsted the ancient market square,
Your golden sun that lights the future for all men everywhere.
How many songs how many stories the stony hills recall,
Around her heart my city carries a lonely ancient wall.

In the valley between the Old City and the Mount of Olives, an olive grove....

The Western "Wailing" Wall

Upon exiting the upon the Old City again, we realize that we could be late for our plans that evening. So with legs and feet screaming from mis and over-use from the day, we literally run across town, to where we are staying on Zion Square. After a quick change, we then dash down the streets again. At this point thoroughly winded and exhausted, Jacob and I split off, him to a Bible study and me and Mary are off to a night of Israeli dance class.

I can't harldy think of anything I enjoy quite as much as Israeli or "davidic" dancing, done usually in a large circle to very fun music. ;o) The teacher was a spry little Israeli by the name of Boaz, who had the spunk and energy of 10 7-year-olds. :o) So the night was such a blast, and I got quite good at ignoring the increasing pain in my legs. :o)

Hours later, every last drop of energy spent, many miles walked, Jacob and I started back to our place. We didn't make it too far, as Jacob had to call a cab, as I couldn't walk anymore. ;o)

The following day, we helped out with a soup kitchen ministry. The dear Arab man to the left of the picture is the cook, who was actually King Hussein of Jordan's cook for 4 years! We then packaged up food and took it to the streets to distribute. Right outside the city walls, I approached a an old frail man curled up alseep on the ground. Waking him with my shaloms, he slowly opened his wide eyes to stare up at me and formed the words "praise the Lord" from his shriveled, dirty face. Walking away, watching him munch away on his hot food, my heart swelled and then hurt, as it was suck a little thing....seemingly insignificant...

The Lord has so abundantly blessed me, and experiences like that remind me of such.....

A walk through the "Shuk" or the noisy outdoor market....a cacaphony of smells, sounds and colors.....

Found this lovely scene of spring on one of our final walks around Jerusalem

Following is one of the biggest reasons we loved Jerusalem soooo much: the people. :o) Several countries/continents/states are represented here. I love Jerusalem for it's international presense!

This pic is a testament to all the fun that we had, all the laugh til it hurts moments....

And I'm very pleased to announce that we will be returning to Israel this fall! This decision just came about this week as we canceled our trip to Ukraine at the end of this month, upon prayerful prompting to change our plans. Excited to see what the Lord will work out - He's done amazing things so far!!!

ISRAEL - Chapter 5: Haifa, Carmel, Tiberias, Galilee

2008-04-09T16:50:00.000-07:00

After parting from Mary, we continued north, catching a bus to the coastal town of Haifa. Again, the Lord's favor shown on us as we made a last minute call to friend in Arad who had some connections up north. We asked if there was anyone up there we could spend the night with, and he gave us the number of a believer with a bed and breakfast, but told us not to get our hopes up as she usually books a month in advance. We called, and amazingly enough she had room that night! So we caught a another bus in Haifa to take us to nearby Carmel.

We had great intentions of hiking out bright and early the next day to go off and find "the" Mount Carmel, or rather the spot regaled as the location of Elijah's showdown with the prophets of Baal. But the icky dreary day and the realization that this spot was hard to get to, we opted instead to have a leisurely breakfast with our hostess (an amazing cook, even wrote a cookbook) and her other house guests, which was a young Messianic rabbi and a Las Vegas preacher and his wife. :o) Man, gotta love how things turn out.... ;o)

Then we were off to the Galilean town of Tiberias. The "greeness" of the region was beautiful and refreshing.
Just had fun wondering the shores...

Some wicked looking tree we came across... :o)

While we were hungrily gazing at the schwarma shops, this man beckoned us in with his large meaty hand and big grin. For what he lacked in his English he made up for in his warm character. :o) Even though his knife was so dull he couldn't hardly cut the meat off the spit, he still got 5 stars for effort and service! ;o)

With tummies full, we hopped back on our looooong bus ride back to Jerusalem.

Back at "home" we take a night walk around Jerusalem with Mary, with an impromtu stop in on a live jazz coffee house. And then later even squeezed in some pool at a local haunt :o) Livin it up :o)

More pics to come!

ISRAEL - Chapter 4: Jerusalem, Cesarea, Netanya

2008-04-03T13:57:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the delay - busy times with a this past whirlwind weekend with visitors and a day excursion up to NYC, but here we continue with our Israel travels....I'm determined to get these all posted before we leave for our next trip to Ukraine! :o)

Back in Jerusalem, Jacob and I took some time to explore the city.
Here is a look across Jerusalem...

We went to Yad Vashem, Jerusalem's newly expanded Holocaust museum. I had visited the old one about 5 years ago, but this experience didn't differ in the way that it grabs ahold on your heart, and almost completely emotionally drains you with the awful reality that occurred.....

Confuse a bit about taking the right bus line, we hopped on one that we knew would take us back to the main bus station, where we grabbed a bite to eat......
Mmmmmmm. Jacob found his new favorite food: Schwarma, which is amazing lamb meat and veggies wrapped up in a giant laffa. And I had my favorite, Falafel in pita with all manner of veggies and sauces! We ate so well in Israel, and so healthy! To eat as healthy back here in the states costs you an arm and a leg.

Explorin some more of the old city...

A pic of the building of our lovely accomodations for some of our time in Jerusalem, right across from Sachar Park and the Knesset.

Headed over to the Internation Christian Embassy to get a bit of a personal tour and see some of where our friends work. And then we went over to the sewing flat where Mary works. As head of the sewing department for the Embassy, she works hard preparing for the festivities of the Feast of Tabernacles Celebration the Embassy puts on every year that draws somewhere around 5,000 Christians from all over the world.

Mary is an incredible seamstress and has has an amazingly full plate, but you can also tell that she totally loves her job! :o)

After our tour, the three of us caught a bus north to Netanya where Mary was taking us for the weekend to enjoy some time at the Embassy Vacation flat. Our yummy fish supper after we arrived and settled in.

The view from our deck! Right on the Meditteranean Sea!

Next day, we hopped on another bus to for a day excursion down to Cesarea. A sign at the bus station, which can cause for a mild panic attack when you are trying to quickly find your right bus and haven't realized yet that the English is on the other side ;o)

At Cesarea....

Both Jacob and Mary studying our maps amid some Roman ruins...

The day was so sunny and gorgeous....

Having taken a lot of non-people pictures throughout the trip, I indulge myself in takin some of what i love best, portraits.

The sunny day had us all in high spirits! ;o)

Wow, I love this one Mary took - I'm still utterly amazed at all the photos that Jacob and I have of ourselves in so many amazing places and experiences. It's just incredible, the Lord has blessed us so.... Can just imagine showing all these to our grandchildren some day...... ;o)

Jacob whippin some horses in the remains of an old circus where they had chariot races

Way cool ruins

Sailing on the Meditteranean

A sampling of some of the old Roman mosaic floors...

The following two might just be my favorites from the day...Furthered my growing love for "non-people" photography ;o)

My turn to jump ;o)

And Mary's :o) he he....

Here's Jacob's Word Traveler, Indiana Jones pose.... ;o)

How cool is this grove of Palm trees?! There was even a grouping of "3" for our small traveling band of 3! I positioned my camera on some hand railing, hit the timer, and beat it up there to pose, bareley making it before the shutter snapped. After a few runs of this, we got some good shots. But I tell ya, being a photographer can sometimes be a high-endurance sport!

Waitin on our taxi....

Mary on the phone with our taxi driver, bartering the price down... :o) Our ride back to the station was particularly interestin as our other other taxi companion was a fairly intoxicated and talkative Jewish man, his grungy apperance and humorously cocked kippa a great compliment to his colorful character. :o)

Back in Netanya, we relaxed on the beach watching the sunset usher in the Shabbat on Friday night.

The three of us always manage to have a great time.....there's usually a lot of laughing!

Dear friends in all our diva glory ;o)

Warning Jacob not to get that close!

Another big thanks to Mary for the next couple of photos.....
Wow, me and the Love of my life wading in the Meditteranean Sea at sunset.....another "pinch me" moment! :o)

Love this one...

Such a peaceful evening...

We had gone grocery shoppin earlier for the makings of our wonderful Shabbat dinner :o)

Lazy Sabbath day....slept in and then went to go hang out on the beach...

After some Scripture reading and some great discussion, we played some beach version of ping pong :o)

Sunday was more of the same, just a great relaxing weekend, in which we were able to talk and solve life's problems...some of those discussions still to be continued.... ;o)

A couple more scenes of beautiful Netanya...

That night, we parted ways with Mary, as she went back to Jerusalem and we caught a bus farther north...

ISRAEL - Chapter 3: Arad, Desert, Masada cont...

2008-03-29T15:31:00.000-07:00

In the afternoon, we got a ride out to the ancient Herodian fortress of Masada and several camels greated us on the side of the road :o)

A bedouin shepherd tending his flocks of sheep and goats on the barren plain just outside Arad

Here you can see a bedouin settlement that periodically dot the wilderness landscape

We weren't sure if this guy was gonna be friendly or not as we were told that they may get a little angry when it comes to taking photos, but we waved and then he waved, so it was all good ;o)

We arrived at the backside of Masada which has quite the story that goes with it. In 70 AD when Jerualem and the Second Temple was destroyed, a remant of Jewish Zealots escaped to this fortress that rises up an impregnable force on the top of a enormous isolated desert mountain above the Dead Sea. The Romans cornered them there, setting up forces around the mountain and began the building of a massive ramp to reach up to the top in order to breach it. This is that very Roman ramp.

Jacob took a side path around the ramp to find some incredibly huge cisterns Herod had carved out of the mountain, as this was one of the palaces that he had built but he never actually used it.

The story takes a very sad turn at the end. While the Jews held out for 3 years, the Romans worked hard at making battering rams and weapons and building the ramp. When the impending Roman seige was imminent, the Zealot leaders decided to committ mass suicide rather than to give themselves and their families to the fate of slaves and prostitutes. All 960 of them.

The long climb to the top on the snake path was made very difficult by the ferrocious winds that day. From the top you can still make out the remnants of the Roman encampment walls far below.

Ruins..

Too bad it was a cloudy and horrendously windy day, as this view over the Dead Sea is usually much nicer with a clear view of the Jordan shore.

Jacob looking over a model of Masada

A quick portrait while we were threatened to blow away! You think I joke, but seriously I sometimes had to walk at an angle to make any headway! But the upside is that we had the whole mountain nearly to ourselves! :o)

This is about all the green you'd ever find out there...

This poor bird was cowering in a nook in the wall. We walked all the way up to it and it couldn't fly away because the wind was too strong!

Upon our descent and waiting at the bottom for our ride to come, a very nice bedouin man that ran the park entrance beckoned us in for some tea. He served us some wonderful hot tea, and through his broken English we found out more about him - like that he had 15 children and 3 wives! In the bedouin culture you can have as many wives as you can afford. :o) He was so proud. :o)

The next day we were able to hitch an impromtu ride from Arad to Omer with group going to a small worship service with Messianic believers held in a home. After that lovely experience, we hitched another ride from Omer to Beersheva, where we caught the the long several hour bus ride back to Jerusalem.

It was sooooo great to get back to Jerusalem to hang out with some of our new friends. What better way to do that than go bowling! :o) Our hangouts always ended up being international. Here are me and Nicolene, a sweet South African. (Now I have an even bigger reason so go back to SA to visit someday)

Mary and Me :o)

Jacob in all his coolness hanging out with Shanon, from Australia, and Mary's brother Malcolm, from good old Virginia :o)

This is dear Liesel who I knew back from my first trip to Israel in 03, and her Fiance Braham who I think is from the Netherlands. I lose track of where everybody's from. Jerusalem is such an International city, that if you are there long enough you will then have contacts all over the world! :o) I love it!

ISRAEL - Chapter 2: Arad, Desert, Masada

2008-03-25T12:09:00.000-07:00

After some semi-stressful figuring out of schedules for Israeli Buslines, we headed down to Arad by way of Beersheva. It was dark by the time we got to Beersheva, and Jacob and I hungry and tired desperately tried to find our next bus even though all we could find were Hebrew signs. So I dug deep to remember some of my Hebrew from highschool, and I found the sign for Arad, which came just before we found all the the corresponding English on the back of the signs. Duh.

Being on the bus from Beersheva to Arad did make me a little leary as there wasn't really any security (as compared to Jerusalem), and only a week or two prior there had been a bus bombing in Dimona, not too far away from where we were. But in saying that, we used the buses for the remainder of our trip all over Israel, and never really felt threatened.

The next day we went to the "shuk", the outdoor marketplace.

Here we met up with our friends that have a ministry in Arad, and on that particular morning they were giving out clothes to the Bedouins. The Bedouins are nomadic desert-dwelling Arabs, which instead of really being "nomadic" anymore they reside in "shantytown"-like settlements in the desert.

A dear little Bedouin boy.

Now, here begins the very sad part of the story of the severe persecution in Arad to those that believe that Yeshua (Jesus) is the Messiah. There is an extreme sect of Orthodox Jews called the Haredim, that try to make life miserable for those with that belief. Here is one of the ringleaders that came to begin some verbal harrassment while they were still handing out clothes.

Eddie (head of the ministry with wife Lura) and friend keep watch at the door. These harrassers are not just harmless hecklers but have already done such deeds as successbul fire-bombing of their ministry and the one guy pictured above stated point blank to my face that he would kill them if he had the chance. And what worse is that they are essentially "outside the law" so they are never punished.

Their ministry is one that is multifaceted, but one of it's main avenues is to provide a place for older men to come and play chess or dominoes. These men, many of them immigrants and many holocause survivors, don't always speak the same language, but they can play chess. :o)

a glimpse down the street, while the man continues to harass with a barage of negative tauntings and vulgar language behind me.

He even taunted this Bedouin women as she left the building...

A YWAM (Youth With a Mission) team was currently visiting and helping Eddie and Lura, so after the clothes were cleaned back up, we sat down and had some amazing impromtu worship time with them, in several different languages. ;o) We opted to stay inside, as sitting outside and singing might have brought fines and even worse upon our heads.

A cheerful Bedouin friend came to visit with those inside the little building.

Some of the men starting showing up and started some dominoes...

The disappeared for a little while, but then showed up again with a large paper and more fellow hecklers becoming louder with taunting his "evidence" that Eddie and Lura were criminals, and that they should leave Israel. The group of them, with several more added, followed us to our cars, heckling and pointing fingers and taunting like group of 6 year old naughty schoolboys. It was so ridiculous. Their behavior seemed to warrant spankings and timout in a corner.

We left in our cars and journeyed a small way down to a small gas station where we were going to have some drinks and talk. The group of them followed on foot, and upon arriving some of them came inside and sat beside us to just talk disruptive gibberous while others pressed up against the glass. I heard something like these guys were getting pd 40 shekels an hour to go and do this. Their aggression is directed not only on Messianic Jews (although it seems to be most vehement to them) but anyone that sees different than they do, which can include other Jews and Arabs.

Eddie and Lura have had such amazing attitudes throught the whole thing. They continue to bless others without charge as they are persecuted. And it's even worsened. Since we've returned home Eddie has been arrested on false charges that the Haredim have pressed. So please pray that both Eddie and Lura find renewed strength in this time of persecution, and that the Lord would change the hardened bitter hearts in Arad that cause so much damage.

I don't honestly know if I could handle it as good as they have. I was just there for a couple hours and I nearly had enough to want to grab these guys by their collars and tell them a thing or two. And they live this everyday. If you live in Arad, believing in Yeshua might mean you get fired from your job (happened to a friend of ours) or mercilessly taunted at school. The messianic community is pretty much underground there, in fact, I can't even reveal our amazing host family that we stayed with for their own protection.

We get so used to our cushy-cushy America where we can believe like we want to, pray when we want to, and we don't usually receive any fierce opposition in the way of hate crimes. It made me very grateful for all that I take for granted.

Well, I've run outa time, I'll post more on our adventures in Arad later, but I must run off to our Championship Coed League Volleyball Games! Woo Hoo should be fun!!! ;o)

ISRAEL - Chapter 1: Arrival in Jerusalem

2008-03-24T16:47:00.000-07:00

So ensues the first installment of photos. To break up the gazillions I have to post, I will be posting everyday in the coming week.

Upon our arrival in Jerusalem, our dear friend Mary cooked us a wonderful Shabbat supper in her apartment. Jacob was so happy to fully fill himself after our skimping on food in Italy. ;o)

After supper, we went to visit Mary's brother Malcolm at the lovely house where he is staying right outside the Old City walls.

After staying up most of the night with the new friends that we made, we fully utilized the blessing of Shabbat in Jerusalem by sleeping way in and then having a wonderful picnic in Moshe Park right outside the Old City Walls. Gorgeous day...

Shabbat (sabbath) in Jerusalem was actually amazing to experience. Most of the city (and it goes most of the country too) shuts down from sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday. All shops are closed, all buslines are shutdown, traffic is much diminished, and even the Israeli airlines take a break. So we spent the remainder of the day just lazily wandering around the Old City.

Most of the signs throughout Israel are a combination of Hebrew, Arabic, and English.

This is the solid gold menorah the Temple Institute has created for future use in the new Temple, which is on display in the Jewish Quarter.

A quick shot of the Mount of Olives

Jacob and I with the backdrop of the the Western Wall and the Dome of the Rock.

Our dear companion Mary :o)

The Wailing Wall...

A quick walk through the "Christian" Quarter, which this portion is basically just a shopping district extension of the Arab Quarter..

Just took a few shots from the hip....you don't dare stop and linger or look or you get shopkeepers who tail you trying to get you to purchase something.

This is the "Windmill" settlement, which was one of the very first settlements ouside the Old City walls. It was so dangerous back then that they had to pay people to live there, but now it's one of the most prominent and sought-after areas.

Another late late night with friends ;o) We even ordered in big Israeli burgers. We both are such social people that I think we we starved for friend interaction after our 5 days in Italy. So we definitely got our people "fix" our first couple days in Jerusalem. :o) Besides, Jacob and I actually began to like our 20 min walks back to our flat across town at 3am ;o)

Our flat that we stayed in was so wonderful (gotta love good connections), and it was right across from the Knesset, which is Israel's Parliament building.

Staye tuned for the next installment where we trek down into Arad and the desert wilderness of the Negev...

Israel Photos are coming......

2008-03-13T13:10:00.000-07:00

Yes, I promise I've been working on them...
I'll be getting them up soon, but for now here's a teaser taken down in the Negev, down in the barren wilderness near the Dead Sea...

Day 5 VENICE....on Valentine's day..... :o)

2008-03-05T12:45:00.000-08:00

Wow....I've been terribly about keeping up with the posts on our trip, but seeing that we didn't have prolonged availabilty of the internet, I've had to wait til our return to post.

So, we are now back in the great USA. 5 days of Italy. 2 weeks of Israel. And even a little of Germany. Incredible. Currently battling some bad jet lag, but still getting back into everything.... ;o) Including my belated posts, which should follow chronicling the events of the past several amazing weeks.

Venice. WOW WOW WOW. This was definitely a big highlight of our time in Italy. And it just so happened that our stay there coincided with Valentines Day....bummer ;o)

You know it's gonna be good when you're greated with a gorgeous sunset like this.....

Our sweet room only a few steps from the train station and right off the grand canal. Another testament to finding cheap deals online (the day before!). :o)

Our first view of the canal...

The chill of the night air was delighfully punctuated with the smell of salt as we wandered the dreamy streets of Venice, where only foot traffic is allowed. The cobbled paths branch off into many different routes with voices and the sound of steps echo off the stately facades of the time-worn buildings.

The brightly lit shops on the great Rialto bridge, the largest bridge in Venice.

The inspiring view of the glimmering canal, an intoxicating concoction of colors and light and music. Jacob remarked that he could just stand and there and drink in the sight forever. It was quite remarkable. You feel almost like you've been taken back in time....

I think I may have to blow this next one up huge for our house......I just love how the light spills over the gondola onto the water

Live music from this amazing guitarist embraced the incredible accoustics of the landscape....
Wow. It hardly gets more romantic than that: overlooking the Grand Canal of Venice next to the love of my life while being serenaded. I rember thinking "somebody pinch me" ;o)

Had to take this so people would believe we were actually there! :o)

The splendor of St. Marks Square

Another of my absolute favorite captures of the evening. The little canals and bridges are everywhere....

Little adventurous-looking streets tempt at every corner. We threw any sketchy itinerary we had to the wind and decided instead to get pleasantly "lost" among the maze, going where our feet took us, down which ever alley beckoned the loudest.

My first decent sized cup of coffee in Italy. It's giant compared to the one-swig size you usually find. Italians have no meaning of the word Supersize.

Off to explore Venice in the day. Classic.

I couldve taken pictures of doors and windows all day. There was such a colorful and ornate variety.

The famous gondola men (i don't remember what they are properly called, sorry) .... ;o)

People "park" there boats outside their houses. :o) Wild.

Remnants of their grand Carnival still hung around the city

With the splendiferous setting and the coincidental date, we just had to take our own gondola ride. And not only that but we got I think the only "green" gondola in the city - which ya'all who know me well, know that I just adore that color. :o) This only came after we "shopped" around, as Jacob bartered (a pleasurable past-time of his) with several gondola men before he settled :o)

Another "pinch me" moment as the contours of one of the many bridges frames the old world scene before us......
The newest houses here are over a hundred years old, most dating back many hundreds more...we even went past Marco Polo's house...

Again, yep, we were really there. :o)

Jacob was a bit chilly, so he found this warm spot in this square and perched there to sun himself for awhile.

Just had to capitalize on these really cool streets and wanted to capture me and my dear husband in a less-cheesy less-dognosed fashion, so I quick laid my camera on the ground before any more people came and hit the timer and walah! ;o) I feel blessed beyond all reason to have such an amazing husband, and not only because he's willing to put up with my quirkiness and pause for such a picture :o)

More fun in St. Mark's Square where we fed the pidgeons...

This might be my favorite photo of Venice, with the hazy backdrop of the old church to the timing of the gondola turning in and the seagall caught mid-flight, without any post-camera cropping. Only a photog knows what it feels like when you hit the shutter and want to squeal with excitement with what you just caught. :o) he he

I love the old-world feel to this one

Playing around with the shadows as we waste time as we wait for our sunset train. A perfect way to conclude our perfect Valentine's Day...

So concluded our stay in Italy.....it's back to Rome to the airport.....
Goodbye Wonderful Italia!!!

Day 4 FLORENCE

2008-02-21T00:00:00.000-08:00

The above photo was the view from our window in our suburb lodging in Florence.
Only a few minutes from the train station, we found our quaint little 1860s vine-covered villa, right in the middle of the city! This place was simply incredible - over the top - one of the perks of traveling off-season: getting 4star hotels for really cheap! ;o)

This is Jacob rejoicing once he tried out the bed - it was soft! :o)

Breakfast was equally quaint, in a delightful fabric-walled tea room :)

Some pics from the Garden courtyard outside

We were feeling a bit on the lazy side, so we just kinda putzed around Florence, stopping and resting at this beautiful fountain, with it's own little rainbow!

Jacob grabbed the camera for some quick photos ;o)

We did manage to find one of the large landmarks of the city, a hige and elaborately decorated cathedral.

Have you ever seen marzapan like this?!!! It was as big as real fruit!

Walking back to the train station......I could've taken a gazillion more pics - there's opportunity at every turn. But then, I think there is a balance is "capturing" your adventures and "enjoying" them, cuz you can't always do both ;o)

I just had to post this :o) Our friends back home can testify how Jacob and I extensively and unashamedly use coupons. So when we found an Italian coupon for a free Big Mac at the local McDonalds, we just had to use it ;o)

This is just one of the many high-speed trains that made our journeys around Italy possibly. Very slick, very cool - Amtrack has a lot to learn ;o)

Day 3 PISA

2008-02-20T14:05:00.000-08:00

Pisa is just a darling little city, all quaint and colorful, full of Italian charm ;o) We left Rome, took a 1.5 hr train ride to Florence and then other 1 hour local train ride out to Pisa. We decided to only walk once we got there, as there is more to see when you do that {and it's cheaper ;o)}

The colorful houses all delightfully packed together all had equally colorful shutters and pretty little window boxes

A city of bikes - which seemed like the preferred mode of transportation, sensible as most of the streets are pretty "skinny" ;o)

And then we came upon the great tower itself!

Yeah, I know this is terribly touristy but who can resist?!! ;o)

More (but only a few) of the cool sites around the city

Day 2: ROME

2008-02-20T00:23:00.000-08:00

Our Second day of exploring Rome. It's great to feel like you really have a handle on a city and have it somewhat "figured out", as it makes the galavanting more fun ;o)

Started off with a little picnic in the piazza outside the Vatican - these people definitely know how to do pizza right! And because it's cheap this became the main fair for the rest of our stay in Italy ;o)

Vatican guards...

Many different types of nuns about...

Now it happened to be a religious holiday, so the Vatican was closed ( no Sistine Chapel for us...boo hoo), but we did manage to hit some big shindig that was happenin at St. Peters Square, which included a musical ensemble on horseback!!! And the little royal doggy that led the pack on its exit! ;o)

Yep I doubt I'll ever see this type of sight ever again!

Because of this shindig they temporarily allowed people into the St. Peters Basilica, so we slipped in during this time and were able to see it for a few moments before being ushered out.

Michaengelo probably created this or something, but that doesn't stop Jacob from having a little fun.... ;o)

The gazillions of columns were massive......quite the sight....

One of the two fountains in the square

Since there was nothing more we could see there, we headed outside the city to the Ancient Appian Way, the main highway of the Roman Empire, still used today. Here we were able to visit the oldest remaining catacomb.

You weren't supposed to take any photos....but i had to sneak in a few blind long-shutter snaps from my hip..... ;o)

This place had over 7 miles of underground tunnels, and over 100,000 burial places.

There is actually still a section of the Ancient Road still in existence - these are the actualy the stones laid several thousand years ago.

Waitin for our bus.......

This shot is showing Jacob in all his agony ;o) we were doing A LOT of walking....and we were starving...which makes the next photo so hilarious..... ;o)

We stopped into a little family owned restaurant, and ordered.......Jacob was so anxious for his meal - and this is what he got. 3 small discs of meat with a handful of potatoes, sparse enough that nothing actually touched each other on the plate. ;o) And what's even worse is the total cost of our meals was around 30 Euros ;o) The key to dinners in Italy is in the COURSES, and yes, to get filled up you need several courses. ;o) We ate a lot of pizza after this ;o)

Night walk....found a castle along the river....

Very quaint, well-lit streets.....and Jacob fillin up our water bottle from one of the many free-flowing fountains...

Okay - Roman Roads are just downright screwy......half of them aren't on the map, and nothin runs at right angles...it's quite the maze but eventually did find the PANTHEON

Even though we were freezing, the lure of the nearby gelateria was still to strong, so we ate our incredible ice cream under the impressive pillars of the Pantheon..

Showing some scale - that's me at the base of the door.

Day 1: ROME - Sunday February 10th

2008-02-16T11:27:00.000-08:00

Well, here is the first installment of photos.... ;o)

We arrived in Rome on Sunday morning after flying all night, and then after a few hours of crashing we went out to explore this amazing city. Armed with a map and our handy little guide book that we procured previously, we figured out the simple metro system bought an all day pass for 4 Euros and picked our first stop:the Colosseum, Roman Forum, and Palantine Hill.

Incredible remnants of such a powerful civilization.....

walking around the Colosseum...

the amazing cypress trees

me in front of the Colosseum

We took a tour inside the Colosseum - amazing to see the real thing - it's incredible to think of the history, much of it gruesome as they estimate that a million people died here in the "events" in this arena

this is underneath the floor, where all the action was during the games, complete with "elevators" to trap doors! ;o)

up towards Palantine Hill....

you find theses all over the city, fountains run off of natural tributaries - very good water!

The Colosseum at sunset......wow.......

Our exploratory night walk around the city brought us first to Trevi Fountain, a magnificent work of art that is completely run by tributaries, so it is not circulated , pretty amazing . :o)

next we found the famous Spanish Steps, a popular stop for couples which also attracts the "petal pushers", what we call them. ;o) Droves of these very pushy rose salesmen prey upon the couples, shoving roses in the faces and refusing to give up! How romantic ;o) At one point, Jacob got very frustrated with one of these men after repeatingly saying no and finally told him to "go away" at which the man looked at him very offended with furrowed fatherly brow and said with very thick accent "it eez not 'go away' it is 'no thank you, fineesh'" Jacob and I laughed at that for awhile ;o)

ITALY AND ISRAEL!!!!!!!!! THE BACKPACKING TREK OF A LIFETIME!!!

2008-02-16T08:11:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone!!!!

Sorry for my long absence of posting, but the last week and has been absolutely incredible and I haven't had as much internet access as I was hoping. But I assure you that I have scads of photos to post, which are currently uploading, so be sure and check back soon!

We are currently in Jerusalem, Israel, spending some time with friends after an amazing journey through Italy (wow wow wow) to include Rome, Florence, Pisa, and Venice (on Valentine's day no less.....he he...) We arrived in Jerusalem last night and will be leaving to go to Ein Gedi and the Dead Sea on our way to Arad tomorrow, to help out a ministry down there. Can't wait - having the best time ever! After a day or two in Arad we are coming back to Jerusalem, and then off to Netanya for the next weekend to explore Ceserea and the North, and then probably back to Jerusalem before leaving on the 29th of Feb. Upon Departing Israel we will spend a day in Munich Germany and then back to the States!!!

I'm totally living out a dream of mine, of traveling with my dear husband... ;o)

Below is a teaser photo of the two of us before leaving - upon our backs our only luggage for our three week trip!

Giggles...Sisterly Joys

2008-02-05T16:50:00.000-08:00

I never managed to post any of these from the shoot back in November, so i'm passing on some giggles ;o)

I think this may be my favorite - this girl may have some serious gymnastic talent! ;o)

This little one was definitely overflowing with personality!

Even the bestest and gigglyest subjects get tired

and maybe even a little grumpy ;o)

but in the end it's all worth it ;o) especially when ice cream is used as a grand convincing tool.

Only a few days before our departure on our backpacking trip to Italy and Israel! He he...so excited! But there's so much to do before I go.....aaaahhhhh - bound to be a late night tonight...... ;o)

Snow Boardin Heaven - one year ago...

2008-01-27T11:34:00.000-08:00

Well it's finally cold enough around here to start enjoying some winter sports. This past week has had it's highlights of some seriously fun iceskating (not the dinky in-a-rink-stuff: imagine 150+skaters playing freezetag on a pond) and some good snowboarding (I could post a pic of my nice shiner I got last night due to a collision, but won't even tho the swelling has gone down considerably ;o)

But such fun reminded me of the incredible trip we took exactly one year ago this week to the beautiful Big Sky, Montana. In a group of 17 (only 3 of us were boarders) we spent an entire week exploring the incredible Lone Peak Mountain at over 11,000 ft. So I had to dig up a few pics.....sigh.....wow......that was incredible (and slightly intimidating as it was only the second year for me boarding!)

Even thought the slopes were awesome, one of my biggest highlights was taking some time the last day to catch some sweet jumps made by the daring young men :o) The photo above is comprises of almost 20 different photos that I merged together (!!!) And below is my Jacob, an incredible boarder ;o) If I wasn't gripping a camera, I'd be biting my fingernails.... ;o)

and the view from our front porch...

And here I planted myself on the slope coming off the peak to try and capture the guys zooming past

Me and my sweetheart with the incredible scenery at the top

Yours truly ;o)

We took a day to go snowbomobiling: I took this one blind over Jacob's shoulder (@70mph and sub-zero temps) while desperately trying to hang on! It's a wonder my poor 20D hasn't given up the ghost with all I've put it through! ;o)

A pic to give you an idea just how steep some of these slopes were.....(aaaaaaahhhhhh!!!)

Cool shadows on the lift........ ;o)

The sweeter things in life.....

2008-01-20T16:47:00.000-08:00

This was such a crazy fun shoot....I think this is my favorite, but I refuse to commit ;o)

Jacob tagged along for this shoot, and it's a good thing he did as he came up with the idea for this great shot :o)

he he...couldn't resist posting this.....this is what Jacob does when he isn't setting up awesome shots ;o)

See the rest of the images in the slideshow!!!
{ps - warning for the sappy: kinda teared up listenin to the words of the song...;o)}

Over the ocean and thru the woods... ;o)

2008-01-16T14:57:00.000-08:00

He he I've been so ancy to go somewhere again - going on almost 2 years since I've been outa the country! ;o) So I couldn't be any more excited about our trip coming up.....in just a couple of weeks!

We are leaving Feb 9th from Philly to Rome where we will galavant around Italy for a few days (have to be in Venice over Valentine's Day.....bummer) and then we are going taking a hop and a skip over to Israel where will be exploring and visiting with friends for 2 weeks. **delighted squeal** This will be a return trip for me to Israel, and Jacob's first - it's gonna be so great! And one of the biggest highlights will be meeting up with one of the most dearest people in the world **love ya Mary** who's currently living over there, and will hopefully be a willing accomplice in our adventures. ;o)

Just had to share some of my giggles.......

ps - this will be great because I'll be able to "redo" my photos of Israel. explaination: I was there just outa highschool and wasn't into photography yet and only had a small point and shoot canon...I look back and crinkly my nose with disdain.. 'I took those?'

Engagement: Vince & Samantha

2008-01-13T14:03:00.000-08:00

Yes, I've been absent for awhile. This time of year is supposedly the "slow" season, but I've yet to find that personally true. :o)

Today, I had the pleasure of taking the engagement photos of two terribly dear people that Jacob and I are blessed to call friends. It's amazing that the weather was nice enough to even have a shoot today in January, even though I'm know poor Sam was freezing considering her southerly roots. ;o) We had so much fun - here are your teasers guys!

I love love love this one, and I just happened to think that it went along with one of my favorite sayings ;o)

Time rolls by.. ;o)

2008-01-01T18:55:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!
Wow, this past month has just flown by, busy with work but also delightfully punctuated with good times with great friends. Following are just a smattering of some of the good times over the past month....

We began the month squeezing in several Hanukah celebrations in one day *thanks to Crystal for the pics, as I forgot my camera! ;o)*

Later our "gang" set forth to have a 'refined' evening on the town, dressed to the hilt down at the Inner Harbor ;o) Such great memories made that night, despite the nasty sleety blustery weather.

had to snap a few with long shutters as we dashed through the rain - quite the feat I think especially in heels ;o)

You're bound to have blunders when you work with camera timers! ;o)

Jacob and I - aren't we spiffy? he he

Some pics with dear Ariel, who is now off in wintry Wyoming (ok yeah, you know I'm jealous...;o)

Danny and Jacob taking a turn running the cameras.

Another "night on the town" - in a limo with our own delightful cabby ;o) Thanks guys - that was too much fun!!!

Had to share a pic of my first non-boxmix cake ;o) It actually turned out not too bad! There's hope for me yet!

I have way to much fun at work....here's a couple of the dear ladies (ladies being the minority at Martins) that I have the pleasure of working with!
Deanna and I - Brenda got a little shutter happy, shooting away - we had to reclaim the camera through near force ;o)

Brenda and I - awwww so sweet ;o)

Jacob and I having fun painting Jacob's latest project - a huge beautiful close cabinet. He's even givin me free reign to paint decorative stuff on the doors ;o) he he, can't wait!

News Year at our house was a blast....not getting around to sleepin til 7 or 8 am ;o)

YEEEEAAAAHHHHHH!!!!! NOMINATED!!!VOTE!!!

2007-12-22T15:46:00.000-08:00

Wow, just sharing some of my excitement that one of my photos made it into the nominations for Jesh De Rox's Explore Awards!

Jesh's {as well as his INCREDIBLE photog contemporaries Nate & Jaclyn, Brianna Graham, and Jessica Claire} sifted through hundreds of sunbmissions to put into 3 categories for the people's choice awards - and I actually made it in! So it's up to the voters (yeah, that's you) to get on his blog and vote for your favorites in each category! (mine is in the exploratory image category # EI-8)

VOTE HERE!!!
(www.jeshderoxweddings.blogspot.com)

This is such a HUGE honor for me, as the judges for this contest are literally the cream of the crop in my book when it comes to photographic inspiration! So, although I would love to get the chance to go to one of Jesh's workshops (thats the grand prize for the most votes....;o)**hint hint**) I'm still just tickled to death to have made it in. ***ear-to-ear grin***

This photo also has special significance as it was one from the FIRST shoot I did this year, which was the kickoff to "developing" my own personal style. Up til when I stopped doing shoots last year as Heather Picard, I was struggling to find out if I even wanted to continue with my photography, frustrated with my seemingly stagnant view of taking pictures. And then this year, after the wedding, as Heather Meyers, I DID decide to continue on, with great support from my dear Jacob. And since then, I've been having a blast looking at photography as a true artform, experimenting with great fervor (he he sounds intense) to define who I am as a photographer.

So that first shoot was huge when it came to trying out new approaches (thanks so much Jesse for being so accomodating!!!). I remember shrieking with excitement when I snapped this photo; I loved the composition so much right out of the camera (I didn't do any ps cropping at all!). So this photo is a big hoorah for stepping out on a limb! ;o)

Heather Class of 08

2007-12-20T16:12:00.000-08:00

Okay....wowee....this shoot was sooo incredible! ;o) Man, it seems like I'm beginning to say that about every one! But I can't help it - they keep getting better! ;o) Heather and I clicked right off the bat, and her sense of adventure paired with her love for an artsy eye made for a great time! Her willingness to brave back alleys, become a spectacle on main street, and even do some quick diving behind dumpsters (nope, no details, that story stays with us! he he...), made those several hours so much fun! ;o)

I had to force myself to stop editing. I kept sayin to myself....."just one more..." these great images were just addicting! Thanks so much Heather for being such an incredible model! Hope you love them as much as I do....

The rest of the photos in the slideshow!!! Love this song! ;o)

Explore Award Contest

2007-12-18T19:59:00.000-08:00

These are the three images I've entered in Jesh De Rox's Explore Awards. Jesh's amazing photography has been so inspiring to me - I would love the chance to go to one of his workshops! Looking forward to seeing who makes the nominations later this week!

Entry for "exploratory image"

Entry for "connection"

Entry for "exploratory post-processing"

Motorcycle Grunge

2007-12-18T16:35:00.000-08:00

Man, I have so many photos to blog and so little time! Check back in the next several days to see the last amazing senior to close out the year (ps - can't wait to post those!!!! stylin new perspective!)

But for right now I'll post some of my chummy coworker Aaron from way back that I never got to :o) We have way to much fun working in the Estimating dept at D.H. Martins, and had equally great time taking some shots after work, even despite the less than balmy weather conditions.

Don't worry he's not quite as scary as it may appear. ;o) Although such a facade really does come in handy when it comes to feeling safe shooting outside abandoned warehouses! ;o)

And, drumroll please.....the slideshow :o)

To end this post, I leave you with a taste of Aaron's true personality. When I ask my subjects to lean up against the wall, I usually see something like this:

or this

or this

But when Aaron is asked to lean up against the wall......

I feel pretty safe posting these, as Aaron can't do much to me considering my blackmail bag is full with a plethora of interesting outtakes ;o)

Tyler Class of 08

2007-12-06T17:23:00.000-08:00

I've had the, um..., how shall I say...**pleasure, yeah that'll work ;o)** pleasure working with Tyler over the past several months as he's been helping in the Estimating office at David H. Martins. We had a grand time invading his grandparents really cool property to get some great shots. You can't hardly tell in the photos, but it was absolutely frigid! Thanks for being a great sport Tyler! ;o)

This is my fav - it's color temp and odd composition adds uniqueness to this relaxed portrait - yeah, if you haven't figured it out by now, I like odd ;o)

Just a guy and his truck :o)

I totally dig this one too - going for that odd thing again! ;o) Hey, after you edit gazillions of photos, the unique is harder to achieve on a personal level...always try to push that edge :o)

Watch the slideshow!!! I loved this song - especially the reference which made me think of Tyler's sweet Grandma! ;o)

Bowling Shutters :o)

2007-12-02T13:19:00.000-08:00

Recently, we had the pleasure of hanging out with my wonderful siblings-in-laws ;o) which would be Jacob's brother and his charming wife. :o) Having not gone bowling in a loooong time, we thought this would be a good chance to do so.

This one was taken by Jacob and I love the composition and movement even though I think it might have been unintentional as he was shooting from the hip - literally! ;o)
*****I recant my previous statement of Jacob's "unintentional" picture - I was later informed that it was QUITE intentional, and he used great precision and concentration in executing that shot - my most humblest apologies ;o) It must've been another shot that I thought was taken "less seriously" - cheers to the budding photographer! ;o)******

yeah, I think the goofiness must run in the family

Bowling alleys have less than stellar lighting for taking photos, so I was messing around with long shutter speeds. Here are some of the results plus some more ps tweaking ;o)

Though I might post the t-shirt design I did for our women's vball team. Being the first I've ever done, the actual shirts didn't turn out too bad, being bright turquoise blue with dark brown printing.

Wow I've got so much to do! Currently tryin to edit 5 shoots, placing 3 print orders, finishing 3 school assignments, designing a couple of Holiday cards......and then there's that whole fulltime job and house and meal thing.....AAAAHHH! ;o) This is definitely my busiest time of year, so looking forward to slower times!

Senior Vogue, sneak peek!

2007-11-28T13:15:00.000-08:00

Wow...

What do you get when you put together:
2 Heathers
1 gorgeous blustery day
1 cool hat
2.5 hours
a handful of "happy dances" (!!! inside joke...he he)
and off the charts enthusiasm?

= an Unforgettable Shoot! :o)

Heather and I had such a blast yesterday and when I went to pick a teaser photo to post....I couldn't pick just one!!! So here they are Heather! ;o)

I was shooting ALL day yesterday.
The latter half of the day I was doing the type of "shooting" shown above
And the other half was spent doing this type of "shooting"!

Yep, I went and joined this PA hunting craze this year: it's so big around here that the entire Excavating company I work for shuts down, giving there employees paid time off for the two first days of rifle season! And I figured it had to be great just because I got to spend some "bonding" time with my dear husband. ;o)

So besides the bonding, I came away with even something more - a deer! :o) I was pretty tickled to actually get a doe as this is my first time hunting and really handling a gun much! I had swallow some serious fear after a I had a nasty case of scope-eye from shooting Jacob's 270 on Thanksgiving day, but it's all better now and even have something to show for it!

I'm soooooo tired and sore though from the type and length of activity yesterday - my body will definitely won't let me forget how much fun I had! ;o)

Giving Thanks....

2007-11-22T17:38:00.000-08:00

Such a gorgeous day...a few images of the splendor today

This jaunty little leaf blew across my frame as I snapped the shutter

We have so much to be thankful for.
One of those things would be our incredible friends. Recently we were able to gather a bunch of our old volleyball crowd for a night of some good games. We aren't able to get together as often, so much has changed....lots of us have gotten married, some are leaving...but it was so great to be together again. Not everybody was present, but we thought it a good opportunity for a photo

Nobody said we were normal ;o)

But I must say the thing that I'm the most thankful for is the person I'm able to spend every day with. The one that shares all my joys, who's there strong and steady through everything. My perfect balance. The Lord has been so good to me in giving me you. My Jacob.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

Senior in Downtown C-burg, CASHS

2007-11-18T10:04:00.000-08:00

Got to hit alot of our favorite locations with this shoot, and even some new ones as we stopped by CASHS for highschool reminiscence shots ;o) Be sure and watch the slideshow for more!

This one is my absolute fav - it's different, totally pulling off the whole "i'm ready to take on the world" look ;o)

This one brings back a hilarious memory. Right before we took this photo, an old man tried to inform us that it was a very bad place to take a picture because the light was so harsh. He wasn't just giving it as a suggestion - he meant it (!) and stood there trying to convince us it was going to be a terrible picture. I guess I'll let you be the judge! ;o)

love the color in this one

Here's the slideshow!

Little Girls...

2007-11-13T16:45:00.000-08:00

Today turned out to be a gorgeous and WARM day for a shoot. It's a good thing, as I've photographed these girls for their Christmas card for years now, and it seems we always end up freezing to death! Here's a few quick peeks for mom!

Okay, I know this shot is not your perfect portrait, but it just cracks me up! ;o) Luisa was quite the ham, well schooled in goofiness and sarcasm for her short 3 years [don't know where she got that from! love ya Maria! ;o)] So these rockin tights make this impromptu snap a keeper for me! [Funny, I don't know how I even got this shot, cuz we even tried to 'recreate' it for a better shot, but to no avail - another "one-of-a-kind" ;o)]

I think I'll dub this wide angle+cool tights the "Alison in Wonderland effect" ;o)

and the older and wiser Sophia ;o)

such dear sisters

trying to capture the gorgeous sunlight on the trees

A Dash of Testosterone ;o)

2007-11-11T18:48:00.000-08:00

Well, this week has been extremely busy but I had the wonderful "stretching" experience of photographing a couple of guys. :o) Normally, my shoots seem to revolve around young ladies, so it was quite the treat to get to switch gears a little!
Here's a sneak peek from their shoots!

It's definitely getting colder.....my poor fingers tend to be quite frozen at the end of a shoot! :o)

Sneak Peek Senior...

2007-11-05T13:00:00.001-08:00

Thought I'd post a teaser photo from the latest senior!

More coming soon! Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to photoshop I go.... ;o)

Sneak Peek Senior...

2007-11-05T13:00:00.000-08:00

Thought I'd post a teaser photo from the latest senior

Megan Class of 08

2007-11-04T07:04:00.000-08:00

Wow, this young lady was such a blast to work with. Both her and her mom were just super cool ;o) willing to try anything, stop anywhere! That ease and creativity I think definitely shows in the images we captured, in between all the giggles and the genuinly good time we had! Our "near death experience" from this shoot only was as bad as startling a huge grumpy groundhog, who dutifully scooted back into his hole (different from a previous experience I had with a groundhog once, when I was actually chased!). Thankfully, nobody was to freaked out by that...we just posted mom at the hole to keep an eye out!

This is my favorite image from the entire shoot, although there were quite a few in the runnings for that title. :o) Love the pureness and light in it! Between the two of us, laughing was a staple in the conversation.

This post-groundhog shot shows that Megan is still carefree!

I love the funky angle of this shot - showing off her too cool shoes ;o)

Gotta love expressions!

Watch the slideshow for more photos!!!

Please let me know what you think - leave a comment or drop me an email!

Clint and Rhonda

2007-10-29T13:32:00.000-07:00

Okay, I got carried away with this post, but there were just so many photos I loved from the beautiful wedding this past weekend! Again, I was just second shooting with Country Lane Photography being the main head photo gurus ;o) This wedding showcased the beautiful colors of fall in a gorgeous rural setting. It's great because I got to do both Clint and Rhonda's Senior Pics - so cool to capture some of their wedding! Congrats guys!!!

This is definitely my absolute fav, even though it was only the second photo I took and in the unflattering church basement, nonetheless. I think it looks like a painting.

This day started off bleak and gray, but the sky was glorious in the afternoon! I had to severly limit posting my "glorious sky" shots ;o) So much delightful color!

Well, posting this has been interesting, considering I'm also been simultaneously chatting with my dear friend Mary in Israel (we can hardly get a hold of each other because of the time dif) as well as trying to cook dinner (still crying from the onions) But it got accomplished! Now, I'm off to finish up some school stuff and then off to my women's vball league practice
*I'm still so incredibly sore though from hours of picture taking over the weekend with the wedding and a senior shoot - photographing can be a serious workout! At least with all the interesting positions I find myself in!!!

Posting new senior pics soon!

Posing posies

2007-10-25T12:23:00.000-07:00

Okay, I don't photograph "things" - I do people, it's what I love to do. I live for that incredible capture of emotion, fleeting moments that will never be had again. However, before the frost hit I thought I ought to take some pics of the gorgeous posies Ariel planted around our house while we were on our honeymoon. Dear Ariel (Leira Photography) would be by far the expert on stills and landscapes and flowers and such.......and I'm bound to be totally awed by the pics she's gonna have when she returns from her cross-country roadtrip this week! ;o) Can't wait! But, anyhow, here's my quick attempt.

technical note: these were all taken with a cheapo freebie macro add-on thingy I have - can't wait til I can get some good glass to improve the quality! I'm having a lot of fun portrait-wise with my wide angles; it's fun, lil funky, and nothin beats gettin up close and personal {my poor clients ;o)}!

Romania

2007-10-21T15:31:00.000-07:00

I'm currently working on designing a prayer card for MBK (My Brother's Keeper) ministries in Romania. I was able to be in Romania in March of 06 specifically to document this ministry's work photographically (joining me also on this trip: Jacob, Kirby, and Bev) . So, I've been sifting through the gazillion photos I took, and thought I'd post a few. These are just a few of the images that have been burned into my memory of people and experiences that have changed my outlook on life.

A precious Gypsy girl in the village of Batar

MBK is a Romania-based ministry, whose outreaches include radio and choir ministry, a crisis pregnancy center, orphanage aid, and VBS and camps for village children from homes like this.

We were able to go to a school in a small village where I took photos of the children and then returned a week later to give them a photo of themselves, of which they have never had before. They were so estatic. If you notice in this picture, the little boy with Jacob is still wearing the exact same clothes that he had on the photo. This was definitely the most rewarding thing I've ever been able to do with my photography - we take for granted the smallest things.

We also spent some time in the city of Oradea, one of the "epicenters" of MBK's outreaches.

This is our "cd cover" shot of our small group that went on that incredible 3 week trip.

Comin up...Senior Chic!

2007-10-17T12:26:00.000-07:00

Here's a teaser from my latest senior shoot, where we romped downtown C-burg again, along with a college campus and even a cool old warehouse. More exciting and unique images to come!

Lavern and Saundra

2007-10-12T19:49:00.000-07:00

This wedding is also of another dear couple who are good friends of ours. Lavern was best man in our wedding just several months ago, and Jacob was able to return the favor by being Lavern's best man. I, again, was just the second shooter {since I don't actually do weddings anymore ;o)} while the talented Carolyn Meyers (no, no direct relation) was the main photographer. Here are my favs.

How about a Hummer for a bridal carriage? :o) Jacob got to drive the bridal party to the reception in this. He was just little excited about that....

Here we are

And our husbands :o)

Some quick photos of me

2007-10-07T18:27:00.000-07:00

I was fortunate enough to creatively coerce my dearest friend Ariel (of Leira Photography) to snap a few quick photos of me for my blog. We had a few moments during our last get together before she gallavanted off across the country on a whirlwind roadtrip with another dear friend, Jessica (of Country Lane Photography). I could be very jealous, but seeing that I already got my grand roadtrip earlier this year with my bestest friend and love, I can't complain too bad ;o)

I've been experimenting with some new editing techniques.....lovin it. Which poses the question: how many hours should one spend in photoshop? ;o)

I don't do sober too well. Or at least not too long! My name means joyful spirit and I love that the Lord has been so gracious in giving me the joy to sustain me in so many situations. (These pics bring back Ariel's playful admonitions, "You could at least laugh backwards!" which she said as I doubled over with giggles and disappear from the camera's frame) ;o)

Looking back...Wedding and Honeymoon

2007-10-07T10:16:00.000-07:00

I can't believe we are coming up on 4 months of being married - it seems like forever ago!
When it came to doing up our thank you notes, we went to the store to buy a huge bundle of some of those ready-made thank you cards in which we would stick a nice little wallet-size photo of us. And then we thought.....thats so normal. It would seemingly be very uncharacteristic of us to do something that "normal", so we did something we thought was a little more unique. I made up a our own little monogram and printed it off on white note cards and then designed a two-sided color 4x6 postcard as a insert, showcasing wedding pics on the one side and honeymoon pics on the other. It was an experiment that worked out, and we were very pleased with the results!

I have a serious font fetish, and am always looking for new font freebies on the internet ;o) I've committed so many font names to memory, that it isn't terribly uncommon for me to be able to name the ones that I see on billboards, t-shirts, magazines, greeting cards....you get the picture. :o)

The beautiful wedding photos are courtesy of Kathy Martin Photography (http://www.kathymartinphotography.com) and my dear friends from Country Lane Photography.

Our honeymoon was so incredible - racking up nearly 7,000 miles on the truck! Before our road trip I had seen more of the rest of the world than I had of the U.S. I'm very anxious to get the gazillions of photos from the trip organized and edited!

The long-awaited senior shoot!

2007-10-04T14:26:00.000-07:00

This was for me, hands down, the most fun I've ever had a senior shoot - and I plan on having lots more just like it! Jesse was such a dear and a kindred spirit when it comes to the artsy part of our brains. :o) She was into trying everything - and so we did! We had a blast driving around downtown Chambersburg, and as soon as we saw something that looked like a good picture op, we veared off the road for a few shots ( how many times will two people yell out "oooohh cool dumpster!".....it happened, believe me ;o) I never knew Chambersburg had so many cool places! We were also able to spend a little time out in Jesse's neck of the woods with a magnificent white barn and accompanying fields of golden rod (thankfully for me I took plenty of allergy medication). No crazy shoot would be complete without a near-death experience, and for us it was jumping in and out of the way of traffic to get those great road shots (don't worry moms, it really wasn't that terrible ;o)

Enjoy the photos and let me know what you think of them!

Play the slideshow to see more of the photos and all the fun we had taking them!

I had such a terrible time whittling down the choices for the final photos; I took quite a bundle. We took photos til there was absolutely no light left to work with - and that's really dark. I've gotta start working on more of minimalist approach if I'm going to keep my sanity. ***mental note*** "don't go crazy with shooting just because you have a gorgeous girl, perfect lighting, and amazing locations"

Summer is officially gone...

2007-10-02T15:40:00.001-07:00

My summer completely flew by. Now, as I try to stay afloat in the many daily activities of my life [which would presently include working full time at David H. Martin Excavating, handling the photography business, trying to keep up with my assignments in the web design courses I'm taking online, and being a suitable wife to my adoring husband ;o) ] it's really great to take a breather and relax with some great friends. Relaxing with our friends, however, isn't usually "relaxing" in the full sense of the word, as we will usually opt for a night of killer volleyball. Thought I would share a few snapshots of us on this lovely and relatively warm last September evening at Jacob's sand court, relishing our last moments of summertime fun.

Jacob strung a bunch of lights left over from our wedding reception (we only have a gazilion and half strands it seems) down the little stroll through the woods to the court for some delightful "ambiance".

Jacob and I

Kirby & Erma

2007-09-24T18:01:00.000-07:00

Saturday was a beautiful day for a morning wedding as the briliant sun rose and burned off the cool haze that blanketed the dewy fields of Amish country. Jacob (my wonderful husband) and I have known the groom since we were all small fries, and are specially connected as all three of our birthdays are all spaced out one week apart - wow, we are all growing up.....and getting married! Jacob was the videographer and I was there to assist Country Lane Photography with some candids, and thought I'd share a few of my favs.

How cool is an airfield for wedding portraits? The planes were taking off and landing constantly - it wasn't the best situation however for those who are easily distracted (including myself!).

I was lucky enough to catch this precious moment from the balcony with my mega zoom just a moment after they were married and before they walked back down the aisle. I love it so because it's completely unposed and real- two people now united as one connecting in this sweet moment of elation. Wowee - I can remember that moment in our wedding.... incredible.....

Congratulations Kirby and Erma!

Little One...

2007-09-23T12:22:00.000-07:00

Until I can post those senior pics, I thought I'd share a few I took in a quick shoot of this darling son of a coworker of mine. His deep contemplative countenance seemed out of character for someone only weeks old! My attempts to get a smile out of him were to no avail, met only by sober looks of concern for my goofiness. It was only several days after this shoot he discovered how to smile, and now seems to be a jolly little fella!

Editing Frantically!

2007-09-20T14:25:00.000-07:00

I can't wait to post all the incredible shots we got this week from my photo session with a very beautiful and equally talented artist. She was such a good sport in trying out new places and new ideas and I'm thrilled with the images I've worked with so far! They have been the gateway for me into new realms of exploratory post-processing techniques - will share soon!

New Beginnings...

2007-09-20T14:11:00.000-07:00

This is just a random photo my dear husband took of me in the badlands on our roadtrip honeymoon earlier this year. This has definitely been a year of new beginnings for me. Getting married has its own myriad of new pathways to conquer - every one of them is a joy to travel with my best friend. And my photography has found new avenues of inspiration about which I'm sooooo excited for all the great art-making experimentation ahead!

Woo Hoo! First Post!

2007-09-14T16:39:00.000-07:00

Well......here it goes.....have to make sure this thing works and everything!

This blog is way overdue in its creation. Over the past several years I have fallen more in love with photography and creating fresh and unique images, and my advancement and growth as a photographer is largely due to A LOT of experimentation and honest feedback. Therefore, what better way is there to expand artistic horizons but to post my photos for a wider-audience viewing and chewing. And of course I plan on using this blog for sneak previews for my clients of favs from recent shoots!Ooooooooo.......exciting!