Daily Archives: May 14, 2007

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The last of our Parisian fantasy

May 14, 2007 – 5:34 pm

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If you haven’t yet had the chance to visit Paris, one of the biggest things you’ve been missing is the experience to have your tastebuds all wake up at the same time do a happy dance in your mouth. The food here is absolutely exquisite. We found some of the most adorable little cafes and restaurants in out of the way neighborhoods and we can still remember exactly what we ate and how good it tasted. There’s just nothing like enjoying a couple of madeleines and some chocolat chaud in a little teeny café with the neighborhood locals chatting beside you.

Or holding each other’s hand while you pass a group of men playing bocce ball in a neighborhood park. There were older men with canes, younger men in business suits and little boys running around them. Everyone so intent on watching the next move in the game and then seeing everyone erupt with shouts when something good (or bad) happened.

Or waking up early and having a croissant and cafe au lait for breakfast at the bakery on the corner. And just stepping outside and smelling the wonderful aroma of fresh baked breads was enough to make your mouth water. Paris is truly the most romantic city and to be able to share it with someone you love is an experience that will never be forgotten.

And for us to also be able to share it with some very close friends was just the icing on the cake for us. We miss Jerry and Sally and Ryan so very much but we know we’ll see you again soon. In addition to being an amazing friend, it’s just impossible to thank Jerry enough for the amazing images that we will have for the rest of our lives. We’ve tried and tried but it always seems so inadequate in light of the precious memories we now have. We love you to pieces and we can’t wait to see you again. (And who knew Jerry could dance to merengue as though he were Latino…) Sally is my twin in Australia. We instantly bonded when we met and we’re so alike it’s just crazy. Dare I say she might even be more organized than I am?!? One of my best memories of walking around Paris was seeing Sally at the head of our little group, guidebook in one hand and her little umbrella in the other waving it in the air while shouting, “This way! This way!” We’d probably still be lost in some unknown neighborhood if it weren’t for Sally!

As for Jenni and Ulysses, we love these guys as if they were our own family. (That’s Jenni and U sharing a laugh with us outside a cafe in Paris). They’re such a beautiful couple and provide us with so much inspiration on so many different levels. We’re incredibly grateful that we met them several years ago and have been so happy to watch our friendship grow ever since. We can’t wait for our next big trip together!

Much love,
Rene and Melissa

Image courtesy of Jerry Ghionis, XSiGHT (www.xsight.com.au)

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The River Seine and L’arc de Triomphe

May 14, 2007 – 4:52 pm

There’s more! We were actually joined on the first few days of our trip by David Beckstead, yet another fantastic photographer (www.davidbeckstead.com). David could only hang out with us for a couple of days and he just recently sent us this fantastic image that he took right on the banks of the Seine. It was drizzly and cold and I totally didn’t care because David was SO excited about everything that I could have stayed out there all night with him!

We also made our way over to L’arc de Triomphe and this time we did make our way to the top. It was an amazing view from the top and the cloudy day made for a very cool and dramatic backdrop:

That photo was taken just moments before we *ahem* were asked to leave. Just as a little public service announcement for the next time you go to Paris — did you know that there’s no professional photography allowed at the top of the Arc de Triomphe? Take our word for it. :) It definitely makes for a great story that we all laugh about now, though.

Another interesting fact about the Arc de Triomphe. There’s no elevator! There’s a grand total of 284 stairs that you must go up and then (of course!) come back down. But once you get the top, the view of all of Paris instantly makes you forget all about it. It’s just breathtaking!

So after we were…asked…to leave we took our time going back down the stairs to take advantage of yet another creative location for our shoot. The Arc de Triomphe has a very cool twisting staircase that is rather dark and moody and oh so delicious. See if you agree…

And another one, but this is another image from David:

All images courtesy of Jerry Ghionis (www.xsight.com.au);
and David Beckstead - thank you so much, David!! (www.davidbeckstead.com)

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La Tour Eiffel

May 14, 2007 – 4:03 pm

Ahhh, what’s Paris without a trip to the Eiffel Tower! Rene and I had ventured to the top on our last trip to Paris, so for this trip, I was more than happy to stay on solid ground. And it’s true, it just doesn’t matter where you are when you see it, there’s something about that giant tower of metal that makes everything feel so romantic.

Jerry loves his reflections and this first image is a very cool example of how he made it all work with a puddle left over from the rainstorm we just had:

And this next one was so much fun to do. We dutifully stood in line behind all of the five year olds to pay our fare and get on this very adorable carousel. Jerry’s instructions were to lean way out and he told Rene to kiss me madly. Between Rene tickling me and watching all of the little kids laughing, I just couldn’t stop giggling hysterically. This was such a great memory for us!!

Is it any wonder Paris is known as the most romantic city on earth?!?!

All images courtesy of Jerry Ghionis, XSiGHT (www.xsight.com.au)

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More Paris: A different view of our hotel room

May 14, 2007 – 3:48 pm

So after that background info, here are some of the results from our shoot around Paris. We did a lot of walking, a lot of sightseeing and tons of laughing. These first few images were taken right in our hotel room. We all met there first thing in the morning after some breakfast and since we had a fantastic wrap around balcony with incredible views of the Arc de Triomphe, it was a perfect backdrop. This first one is of the most handsome guy in this world. I don’t care if you all think I’m slightly biased…

And now a couple more of the two of us on our balcony - what a cool room, eh?

And now a couple of just me by myself…

Oooh, I’m getting chills just look at these again!!! Jerry is so amazingly talented (I’m trying not to gush, but seriously!). And to think, at this point - we hadn’t even left our hotel room yet! It was actually very cold and really windy, but we figured if we’re always convincing our brides and grooms that they can do it for some great images, we could, too!

All images courtesy of Jerry Ghionis, XSiGHT (www.xsight.com.au)

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Finally a little taste of Europe!

May 14, 2007 – 3:39 pm

I have been so, so bad about posting about our trip to Europe earlier this year! I know that so many of you guys have been waiting to see some of our pictures! (I know because all those emails I keep receiving asking “WHERE ARE THOSE PICTURES?!” is a pretty dead giveaway. :)) So at long last, here’s a little glimpse into all the fun we’ve been telling you about!

You’ll remember that we took just about the entire month of January to do a little bit of traveling. This was definitely a multi-destination trip and we mixed a little bit of business in along with the fun. We started in Texas where we put together a week long workshop for other professional photographers and then we immediately flew to London where we arranged another full day of seminars during a large photography convention there. After that, it was time to relax a bit and enjoy some sights! Rene actually put together a little gallery of some of the images that he took from our entire trip. You can see them all here: http://www.tiradophotography.com/eve…507/index.html

As an extra special bonus, we were joined on this trip by some very good friends of ours. Ulysses and Jenni Ashton, another husband and wife photography team from New York (www.ulyssesphotography.com) were there with us. And so were Jerry Ghionis, Sally Sargood and Ryan Schembri all from XSiGHT photography in Australia (check out their work at: www.xsight.com.au). Jerry and Ryan have won so many awards for their work that I’ve stopped trying to count them all. They’re amazingly talented and deserve all the recognition they’ve received (and keep receiving!!) both here in the US and overseas. Just take a quick peek at both XSiGHT’s website as well as the Ashton’s and you’ll see why we’re so incredibly proud of them!

It turned out that Jerry also had a couple of workshops scheduled right around the time we had planned our trip so we all adjusted our schedules a bit so that we could all spend those several weeks together. Jerry also asked Rene and I and Jenni and Ulysses to model for him during his workshops and after *cough* twisting our arm a bit we finally agreed. We’ve done this for Jerry before and we always have so much fun that I could easily argue that we probably get more out of it than the attendees at his workshops do!

Anyways, I’m going to break up our trip in a few different posts to make it easier to read. (Is having a long run-on blog entry similar to have a long run-on paragraph??) Starting with the next post, I promise - more images, less words!

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