Our Christmas present to both sets of parents and my grandparents was a blurb book that I put together, highlighting our first year of marriage, a tradition I hope to be able to follow every year.
All of the family really enjoyed the books. I was really surprised by Blurb’s quality. I ordered the books as soft covers with premium paper. They came a few weeks later and once i thumbed through our personal copy, I was dying to show my family (but i was a good, and didn’t blab anything to anyone)
So I thought I’d take some of the same pictures I used to make the books, pick a song and share with all of you.
Year in Review
We are a camera toting crew. Between the homemade ringlight being setup at almost any get together and my incessant need to try to snipe shots of our life, I end end up with quite a catalog of shots to choose from, every one with their own little story.
This last year we played the part of a newlywed couple, truckin’ our way into a new chapter in our life.
We had a couple raucous game nights, LOST premiere and season finale parties, a badass rock star birthday party for Meli, a B&W cocktail party for my birthday, I was promoted to an Art Director, Meli successfully defended her thesis and graduated with her MA, a crazy holiday party, a Caribbean cruise, we bought a second Boston Terrier, Lobster Fest in Key West, and a Disney trip with Meli’s sister.
We’re fun people. You should come hang out with us if you’re in Miami sometime.
Disney the day after Christmas is just sort of a bad idea. I had a ton of fun with my wife, her sister, brother in law and our nephew Lucas, but the sheer amount of people that crammed into those amusement parks was just sort of evil. The weather was fantastic and Lucas, our nephew, had a really great time. The crowds left most of the lines to the exciting rides null and void with 90 & 120 minute waits.
We visited the Magic Kingdom and Disney’s Hollywood Studios. We weren’t able to Ride Aerosmith’s Rockin’ Roller Coaster (one of our favorites) but were able to enjoy a few days with family, which is always a welcome treat.
I can’t express how insane the crowds were though. Most of the park attendees were nice and in a holiday spirit, while other left me wanting to trip them and watch them fall on their face. I’m not an evil person at heart, but when you’re standing in line for an hour to get on “It’s a Small World” behind some grumbly old man that complains about the color of the walls, i just want that person to go away in some way or another.
Lucas’ obsession were the penny squishing machines and the race car track in Tomorrowland. He ran around like a toddler on a mission the whole day, and slept like an angel the whole night. It was a fun trip, although I think I’ll be skipping that time of year next year.
More pictures can be found on my flickr: Disney 08
Music has played a large part in my life since I made my first mixtape in 7th grade, got my first neck ache from head banging in 6th grade, or got into a fight with my best friend over who was a better band (Rolling Stones or The Beatles). Year after year all this great music comes into your life, etching itself into memories, acting as a catalyst to both remember and make great times. The end of the year always brings feelings of nostalgia and introspection as we look to the new year ahead.
Some aren’t even from 2008, but I thought it important to add them.
Saving Sarah Cain movieTop Albums of 2008
Picking a top anything is hard enough. I try to digest and appreciate so much music that picking ten inherently just is a problem. So below is my arranged and re-arranged, reordered and neurotically changed list of some of my favorite albums from this last year. Some technically are 2007 albums, but honestly if something comes out at the end of 2007 and i’m enjoying it in 2008 then i’m adding it to my 2008 list.
If you disagree or agree with any my picks, please comment.
I fell in love with film all over again while in the Caribbean. I was shooting with my grandfather’s MInolta SRT-202. Its pictures through the stock 50mm f/1.4 lens are creamy and gorgeous. When we came back from our anniversary trip I bit the bullet and decided to add to my vintage film camera collection.
eBay is your friend. I’ve scarcely used eBay in the last two years. The last thing I remember buying (coincidentally) was a LOMO LC-A from Siberia. Anyways, I was able to procure a new (is vintage gear really new?) Rokkor 28mm f/2.8 lens for my Minolta and also won a Yashica Electro 35 GS from the early 70’s.
I have yet to shoot with my new Rokkor Lens. The construction looks similair to my 50mm, although the aperture ring is plastic versus the metal ring on my 50mm. It’s a little less smooth feeling but functions perfectly. I’m planning on getting a Minolta to Canon adapter to take advantage to these prime lenses.
I’ve actually been pretty obsessed with my new Rangefinder. The Yashica Electro 35 GS is an aperture priority beastie. It’s about the same size as my Minolta, but the lens protrudes less and is much lighter. It fits in my bag along with my laptop, so it’s a good daily camera. The fast 45mm f/1.7 ensures that at ISO400 I’m able to shoot in most situations. I’m planning to hit lincoln road on south beach to do some street photography at some point in the next few weeks.
The above image is some of my camera collection. Next cameras I intend to acquire are the superheadz bbf (plastic lensed TLR 35mm camera) and a zero image 135 ( wood and brass pinhole camera )
And so I’m off for a week, skipping around the Caribbean with my little partner in life. We fly to San Juan PR and will board the Carnival Victory sometime in the evening. We’re slated to visit Anitgua, St. Kitts, Barbados, St. Lucia, St. Thomas, and Dominica. This is a our first second honeymoon of many.
Monday, November 17th marks one year of marriage. I really don’t know where the time flew. It feels like just yesterday that I was holding my breath as Meli walked down the aisle towards me. I couldn’t have asked for a better year of marriage, happily exploring a new life with the most important person in my life…
So we’re celebrating in style: This marks Meli’s first time out of the country which is of course exciting. We’re looking forward to a week’s worth of new foods, cultures, and activities. We’ll see how my Spanish holds up during the trip.
Expect to see a ton of pictures in about a week. Hopefully I’m able to capture our trip pretty accurately. I’ve brought my Canon 40D as well as my 70’s Minolta and a bad full of film and a Holga (although I still need to find some medium format film at some point, i only have one roll)
At our wedding a year ago we gave CD’s as our favors, one mix from each of us. I’ll be posting my original mix as well as a new one, although it will have to wait until after the trip. I ran our of time to get the mix up with a hectic work schedule before my vacation.
