More food photos

"I want to go to there." - Liz Lemon 

I just realized I have a lot of 30 Rock references here. 

Istanbul traffic shots

On one of my last nights in Istanbul I walked across the street from the hotel and took some slow shutter speed shots. People were wondering what I was doing; one police officer even approached me to make sure I was doing this for a hobby and not anything else. I've said this before but packing a heavy tripod is worth it!  

f/29; 20 seconds

f/29; 25 seconds

f/14; 10 seconds

More Turkey

Talk about fate: The woman I worked closest with while in Turkey and her husband are fellow photography enthusiasts (much more experienced then yours truly). AND they shoot with a Canon. AND, they generously took time out of their busy lives to show me around. It was wonderful. So I spent my second (and last) free day with them on the Asian side of Istanbul.  


The day before I went to the Grand Bazaar and while it was cool to see I was a little disappointed. I expected it to be a huge market where the locals actually shop. It was indeed huge (I got lost a few times), but a lot of it consisted of souvenir shops with similar made-in-China goods you see anywhere else. So it was great to walk around outdoor market areas and see where the locals shop. 

 

Istanbul, Turkey

As I was getting ready to go to Turkey, I researched my sightseeing options to make sure I'd maximize my small window of time to shoot. I looked into photography tours (which were ridiculously expensive) and regular tours (which were moderately expensive), and then just decided to wing it. Winging is was my best bet. I was really pleasantly surprised at how comfortable I was to walk around by myself, even at night with all of my equipment. Not to say I expected Istanbul to be sketchy, I knew it would be a wonderful city. But I've never been alone in a foreign country and as a "young" (ha!) female I had some concerns. 

I spent my first free day seeing a lot of the big touristy spots and walked around the Besiktas area along Bosphorous Strait, right around the hotel I was staying in. The first three photos below are from the Blue Mosque (actually called the Sultan Ahmed Mosque). There was so much natural light coming through the windows that it was pretty easy to get good exposures. The following three were taken at the Hagia Sophia. The lighting was a little more challenging there so a lot of my shots weren't great. I really wanted to go back at night to get some night shots of the exterior but it didn't happen. 

Finally, this wouldn't be photo newb if I didn't post the following. I saw this little guy outside of the mosque. I wanted to bring him home but I quickly realized I would have had two very disappointed household members :-) 

Final project ideas

For my photo class we have to start thinking about our final projects. All of the images have to be within a cohesive theme. Here are some of my ideas so far. 

• I <3 Boston - this was actually what I wanted to for my final project for the beginner class I was enrolled in last year, but since I became a photo school dropout 3 weeks in this didn't come to fruition. However, this isn't really the season for Fenway Park, Duck Tours, lobster rolls, flowers in the Commons, etc. So I may have to save this one. However, it is the season for chowda, which goes into my next idea...

Red Line T stop entrance

                   

• Food - this may seem like an easy way out but the great thing about shooting food is you have a controlled subject to work with and it'll give me a good opportunity to experiment with all of the advanced camera functions and editing tools we're learning about. And these images could double as a cookbook scrapbook (this would make an awesome gift, if I were the scrapbooking type anyway). 

The best lunch ever

• Istanbul - I am traveling there for a business trip for 12 days. Since I'll be there for a full weekend I'll hopefully have some time to shoot. I am looking forward to it, but I don't want to limit myself to one weekend of shooting for this project. I guess I have to see what I come out with and see if new theme ideas emerge. 

• My cat. Just kidding, that would really be crazy-cat-lady of me. But enjoy this kitteh picture anyway! 

Hard life

                                        

Archives - more from Portugal

I am really due for a vacation. A vacation that consists of actual travel, not just having off of work and watching 30-Rock marathons while eating holiday cookies (don't get me wrong, that was great).


The temperature outside today was -8. -23 with wind chill. It was horrible. AND, we're supposed to get more snow this week. All I can do is wear my down coat with an obnoxious faux fur hood (my Nelly coat as my friend Joe calls it) and wait for spring. 


I thought I would balance the snow pictures in my last post with nice, sunny shots from our trip to Portugal in 2009. 

Aveiro

Some vineyard town north of Porto 

More snow, more Lightroom fixes

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