Turkey & Spain!

Over my Christmas break, I was able to go visit one of my best friends from college who is living in Turkey. There were actually 5 of us that ended up spending Christmas together there, and although it was very different from spending it at home, I was blessed to be with great friends. We were able to spend a good amount of time in Turkey, and then we flew to Spain and spent some time in Barcelona and Madrid. We spent New Years Eve in Madrid and then split ways - Julianna going back to Turkey - and the rest of us heading back to the States. It was a great trip and I wanted to share some of the pictures with you all!

But first, my top 5 favorite things from the trip:

1. Being able to see where Jules has been living and what she's been doing over there for so long!
2. Going to the Hamam (Turkish bath).
3. Seeing the Basilica Cisterns.
4. Celebrating New Year's Eve in Madrid and eating 12 grapes at midnight!
5. Spending Christmas day with good friends and a family that Jules has come to know as family since being in Turkey.

Now for some pictures...

hello, Turkey!

Hagia Sophia (huge museum that used to be a Christian church and then Muslim mosk)

Blue Mosk (active mosk in Istanbul)

Basilica Cisterns (one of the most amazing things ever)

One of the bridges that crosses the Bosphorus Strait to connect the European side to the Asian side.

Turkish women selling flowers

Barcelona!

Outside architecture at a bullfighting stadium in Madrid

The 4 of us on the field inside Real Madrid's soccer stadium

a simple Christmas.

The church that I attend, Providence, puts on a Christmas show each Christmas season and this year it was entitled "a simple Christmas." I had the opportunity to take some pictures at two of the shows and I love getting to play with the stage lighting a bit. It's something I don't do very often since I'm usually working with natural lighting, but I learn about 150 new things each time I get to try it out!

The show was amazing by the way. Here are a few images from the night...

The Barrow Family

Back in early December, I had the opportunity to take pictures of this family. I worked on a few quickly for them to use for Christmas pictures, but just recently got around to finishing up all of the edits and wanted to share them with you! We met up in Walkertown at their house and enjoyed our time in the FREEZING temps as it had just snowed the day before. The kids loved it...and the adults did well, too. :) Enjoy!

hello 2011! a few things coming soon...

Although January & February are "slow" months for me as far as sessions and weddings, I actually do have several things that I've done over the past month or so that I so desperately need to post!

I'm working on three different posts right now and am excited for you to see each one of them!

But for now...a preview of each...

The Barrow Family

Providence's "A Simple Christmas"

My trip over Christmas to Turkey & Spain


Monday I will be celebrating the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as well as committing most of the day to catching up on photography work. I'll be editing, burning DVDs, backing up images, updating financial spreadsheets, and hopefully spending some time casting vision for what Furnished Photography will be up to in 2011. I'll post my (late) goals for the year on Monday. See you then...