theparkerfamily.org

Tag: Travel

  • Is there a Wedding Photographer in the House?

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    Steph and Jorge’s wedding photographer is going to be a no show tonight — so it looks like I’m going to “get” to shoot my first wedding.

    The maid of honor (not ours, but theirs) mentioned it in passing to the lady sparkler and my beloved volunteered me for the job — not that I wouldn’t have offered myself, but it’s awesome that my bride came up to me at the pool bar and said:

    Hey, I just told someone you could be the wedding photographer tonight — hope that’s okay.

    UPDATE: I’ve collected my thoughts and all my gear, and i’m actually feeling pretty legit — I’ve got the same camera a wedding photographer friend of mine uses for her weddings, four memory cards which can hold about 1200 photos, two batteries, and two pretty serious-grade lenses (both normal, and wide angle).

    That said, I’m seriously freaking out shot two things — well, three actually: 1) I’m shooting a wedding; 2) I’m going to blow through 1200 photos before the reception even starts which means I’m going to have to empty memory cards onto my computer while I’m still shooting and my laptop doesn’t have a battery; 3) I don’t have a legitimate flash, so shooting the outdoors-afterdark reception is going to suck something fierce.

    UPDATE 2: The “shoot” is over, and I have to say that wasn’t nearly as stressful as I thought it would be — though through no part of my own:

    • one of the bridesmaides had a professional grade flash (not to mention my exact same camera) which is the only reason we have photos from the reception.
    • that same bridesmaid was able to shoot the bride getting ready, so we got pictures from both halves of the preparations without it getting awkward or me being on two places at once.
    • friends jumped in several times throughout the night, dumping photos onto the computer and picking the camera themselves. and at one point we had amassed enough equipment that we had all three of us all shooting at once.
    • the bride and the groom were both incredibly flexible and were eager to line up the shots themselves, so all we had to do was point and shoot.

    I haven’t run through them all yet, but between the four of us we amassed over 3,000 pictures, and they all look pretty good considering.

    I promised the couple I would post everything by Christmas, but here are a few of the ceremony in the meantime.

  • found: super boxer girl

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    yup. my daughter is a super hero. with my boxers for a cape. i wish i was smart enough to be making this stuff up.

  • photos: birds

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  • cougar

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    sparklet had developed a bit of a reputation down here, specifically when it comes to younger men.

    She’s taken a special shine to one of the bride’s cousins — a man half her age — and hasn’t been shy about showering him with rather physical displays of affection.

    UPDATE: I thought they had something, he left town it the morning without so much as a word — only a secondhand goodbye through a despondent mother of the bride. typical.

    See Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
    sunday morning

  • when pizote attack

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    this might be our last blog post ever.

    our positions, on the patio of our villa, were overrun at 10:41 am local time. we kept the pizote out of the interior — sparklet was napping inside — but we weren’t able to hold the perimeter against the pizote’s vastly superior numbers.

    UPDATE: nevermind. turns out they were just anti-revolution demonstrators, only interested in protesting our efforts to free cuba. once they knocked over our drinks, they moved on — it’s all good.

    UPDATE 2: the pizote came back through for a mopping up operation early on our departure day, but we had no revolutionary drinks to topple so they just ran right on by.

    See Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
    pizote, playa conchal, costa rica

  • el pato is dead, long live el pato

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    sparklet’s favorite pool toy is missing.

    we’ve put out an all points bulletin for “un pato de juguete de color naranja y blanco, con rayas como una cebra” but given the complexity of the request, we’re fearing the worst.

    good-night, sweet pato — may flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.

  • found: sand castles

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  • cuba libre

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    we thought we were just drinking rum and cokes — a habit we picked up in belize — but according to the costa ricans we are actually drinking what’s called a “cuba libre”.

    of course, i don’t know who exactly we are freeing cuba from — Fulgencio Batista or Fidel Castro — but i am happy to say that we’ve been doing everything we can to bring libre to cuba.

    just another dozen or two more and cuba should finally be safe for democracy.

  • out: la playa con tia rebecca

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    See Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
    out: la playa con tia rebecca, playa conchal, costa rica

  • faces

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