The last two weeks have been packed with a short trip to Disney, awesome sights, amazing churches and cliffs and more oceans.
We first went to Westvleteren, a Trappist brewery in Belgium and is one of the 6 lefts in the world. You can only by the beer at the brewery, it is considered one of the best in the world….it is simply delicious <3
Next we went to Disney and enjoyed rides and princesses and sent Brian back to America. The girls an I drove back home, making a quick stop to the Chateau de Chantilly, a truly amazing place and horse back riding capital of Europe.
We then headed to Mers les Bains, a seaside town with magnificent houses, a living museum of the Art deco era. I will have more pictures in my next blog 🙂
The girls are now well traveled and are picking up on the culture, food and language. They love their grand parents (especially pay on his bike and many with her cats) and they love their cousins.
We have many images to share, here is a select few!
Westvleteren, A unique trappist Brewery in BelgiumChurch near WestvetlerenLe Chateau d’Aisne, near my native villageMy dad and his new bike that he loves very muchLe Tronquoy, one of my favorite places ever, located walking distance from the family homeTopaz of “Grumpy cat” posing for meFalco, who went on an hunger strike when we invaded his houseDisneyland ParisDisneyland ParisDisneyland ParisDisneyland Paris
On our way back to Les Hauts de France : Chateau de Chantilly, a huge domain and the horse capital city of EuropeOn our way back to Les Hauts de France : Chateau de Chantilly, a huge domain and the horse capital city of EuropeOn our way back to Les Hauts de France : Chateau de Chantilly, a huge domain and the horse capital city of EuropeOn our way back to Les Hauts de France : Chateau de Chantilly, a huge domain and the horse capital city of EuropeOn our way back to Les Hauts de France : Chateau de Chantilly, a huge domain and the horse capital city of EuropeBack home before heading to Mers Les BainMers les BainsMers les BainsMers les Bains the Market
Next blog will be up soon and then…Paris…the city of love, food and fashion <3
For the last four days I have done something I thought that I would never do : I photographed a pet blogging convention.
You heard me right. Before I met Chloe, Yvonne and Tom (founders of BlogPaws), I didn’t even know such thing existed! I did not expect anything in particular, I walked in trying to figure out how on earth I was going to be working to cover a whole convention, by myself, for 3 and half days.
I am a wedding and portrait photographer. I photograph dancers, fine art, underwater. I photograph extreme people with extreme passions, I spend hours editing to perfection, I only deliver completely perfect images. AND I TAKE MY TIME.
And then this :
BlogPaws expected me to cover a collection of events and products and candids and vendors and sponsors and signs and dogs, cats, ferrets, one rat, people, etc etc etc etc ad infinitum. Be at 4 places at once, capture, capture, capture.
Deliver all the selected images at the end of every. single. day. which for me was about 300 images a day. If you are a photographer you are probably starting to roll your eyes. Impossible eh?
By now, some of you know me well enough to guess that I am up for challenges in any shape or form. Challenges are what I live for, I put a little in my coffee every morning. A no challenge day is a bad day and several days of mundane life turns me into a restless evil monster (ask my husband!)
And so all I thought was : watch me. I shall kick ass.
What I knew was that it was super exciting to be traveling to Phoenix like a grown up without children, be with people, be challenged.
What I didn’t know at the time was what a BLAST I was going to have. Yes it was exhausting. Yes I was on my feet 12 hours a day, running from one side to another, with two cameras, hanging from my trusted HoldFast camera holster.
However I felt so pumped up for 4 days that I hardly slept, running on the electric energy I felt constantly run through the entire convention area. I never really felt the exhaustion until the day I left.
Most importantly I found a community of passionate people who’s business was far from what I do (Dance/wedding versus pet blogging? hello?) but no matter how different we were, we spoke the same language, the purposeful language of people who love what they do, are passionate about it, are dedicated to their craft.
And so I have found a very new and unlikely tribe : Animal advocates, bloggers, educators of the pet industry.
And so for four days I connected with most of the 500 attendees, their pets, their blogs, their passion. And it was EXCELLENT.
I am home now with all images delivered on time (yay!! mission accomplished!!!) a suitcase full of gifts from the sponsors, vendors and BlogPaws, a bunch of business cards and new friends.
And new ideas.
<3
BlogPaws was hosted at the Sheraton at Wildhorse Pass in Phoenix, Arizona. A gorgeous area with golf courses, a casino and a beautiful hotel and convention center
Inside the convention center we were fed by attentive and friendly staff at the Sheraton
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