Forgive me for I have skipped ....

I'm a little off my game this week - not at home - working extra days - so apologies for the skip and being off schedule.

Tomorrow will be a fun new exciting post - I'm going to share some of my favorite Etsy shops and a series of photos ....

See you tomorrow ...

And Snap I Did.

Fog Rolling In

We honeymooned in San Francisco. It was far too short (as any good honeymoon is). I hadn't been in years and we had never been together. I planned the heck out of our days. My idea of a holiday is to really explore - none of this lay in the sun for 7 days straight (Why pay good money to sleep? I'm too much of a fussbudget). Five days in a bustling city with Mr. LWP all to myself was just what the doctor ordered. We must have walked almost the entire city.

One of the outings I wanted to do was biking across the Golden Gate Bridge. The website said it's a great excursion and beginners love it - nice and leisurely. Perfect. I mean, I can ride a bike but I wanted to snap photos more than practice for the Tour de France.

Snap. Snap. Gasp for air. Snap. Snap. Dodge traffic. Snap. HONK! Pee my pants. Snap. Snap. Continue gasping for air. You get the idea.

The website was a little liberal with the word *beginner*. And I was not about to fall over and collapse in front of my paid-to-be-healthy-and-full-of-wonderful-dreamy-muscles-brand-new-husband. Not a chance. I have my pride. Besides, collapsing would inevitably damage my camera.

My main objective was to snap photos of the bridge - lots of angles - lots of shots - more is more when it comes to memory cards and quick trips. And snap I did.

When I see this photo, I relive lots of thing. The chill of the fog, the immense size of the landmark and just how tiny I felt under those giant suspension towers, the brightness of the orangey-red of the paint,  the wind on my face as we raced down the hill to Sausalito, a pained bum (stupid bike seat - I mean, I have enough padding), car whooshing past me, the view of my new hubby riding just in front of me, the taste of the cold beer when we finished. Sigh. It was a very good afternoon.

Cheers!

This is a popular image for Loud Waterfall Photography. I get all gooey and happy inside when someone decides to add my image to their home. Just above my head, right now, is an 11x14 print.

Tryptic of our adventure - love the lines!

Golden Gate

Perfect!

Love the pillow!

We are going back in November and I have even more vantage points on my list. I cannot wait!

See you tomorrow ....

Is there an app for this?

It's June 9th. Wow. This getting into a new routine is hard. Finding time every day to get all 864 things that need to get done is hard. I know I'm lucky to get through half - that's ok - it's more about prioritizing what can fit into each 24 hours. I'm older and wiser than I was 9 days ago, not by a lot, but still.

So what has this first week of my new leaf accomplished? I worked out almost every day. I did manage to post every day (though my timing was rather haphazard). And I even jumped into some Summer Cleaning (it's a little late in the year to call it Spring ....). New routines are hard.

So, what fell through the cracks? My camera didn't move all week. That makes me sad. I even have a brand new lens that needs playing with! I have new products for the shop that I haven't listed. I adore - I mean adore - my new night lights and the coasters are so fun! But would anybody know that? No, because I haven't taken the time to list any of them. That makes me sad.  Naps. Naps definitely fell through the cracks. That always makes me sad ... and a little bit tired.

So, how do I fix this? How do I make everything fit? What do you do when trying to get accustomed to new routines? Do you have any tips or tricks? Is there an app for this? There's one for everything, right?

Have a great night!

Do Good: Sports Friends

If you caught the backstory on June 1st - I mentioned that I went to Ethiopia with a mission organization. May I introduce you to Sports Friends, a division of SIM. Sports Friends is a "church owned sports ministry"that has soccer camps on four continents!

Heading to the field in style

Evening entertainment

Future musician

Heading off the ball - Go Issac!!

What kid camp experience is complete without the Chicken Dance?

Yes, that would be me, rocking out to ... something ...

Last day goodbyes

One more good bye hug

For 8 weeks during the rainy season, Camp Langano is teeming with kids in brightly colored shirts. Full bellies. Smiles from ear to ear. Cheering for their teams. It is a sight to behold.

Scrub! Scrub! Scrub!

Please take a moment to check out Sports Friends and explore for yourself what an amazing organization SF is. Their summer camp campaign is in full swing. Make a kiddo's day and send him/ her to camp this year -- it's good for your heart and theirs.

Good bye Bisrat!

See ya tomorrow,

Wordless Wednesday --- Red Lanterns

Ok, a few words .... My latest series ... Chinatown (Downtown Los Angeles). I giddy with anticipation to make it back to San Francisco's historic and fantastical Chinatown later this year ...

Parasols

Red Lanterns

Single String

Chinatown Series

Possibly my favorite

Or maybe this one ...

Love the lines in this one

Have a great day -- See you tomorrow!

Serendipity

"A picture is worth a thousand words" 
-Arthur Brisbane
(thank you Wikipedia!)

You know when an event / a moment / a something changes your life? Profoundly? Well, for me that *something* was a series of somethings. That something birthed Loud Waterfall Photography. That something made me passionate about eradicating Malaria. That something is behind every image I now take.

2008 was a wild year for me. Total roller coaster. I filed for divorce. I traveled to Ethiopia. I spent 6 days in the ICU before doctors realized I had Malaria. I made a miraculous recovery (woo hoo!). I met the man of my dreams (woo hoo!!). I began an amazing new adventure in my life and I have never been happier.

Ok, let me introduce this week's photo. Then I'll catch you up.

This is one of the first images I took in Ethiopia. We were on our way to Lake Langano. Paved roads and cities and anything remotely commercial was well behind us. These were the first village boys I encountered. They ran along side the van as long as they could, yelling "Highland!" (the bottled water company - they wanted any empty containers we had for recycling money. We didn't have any.). The moment they saw my camera pop up it changed from a recycling mission to a photo shoot. They posed. They smiled. The laughed. Then we sped off. I would go on to take over a thousand images in the next week but this (series of) photo leaps out at me and grabs my heart every time I see it.

So we fly home and I resume my life; but sure, I see excess and vanity everywhere. I vow to return to Africa the following rainy season. I can't shake the jet lag. Turns out I actually had malaria but no one could figure it out. I only got 3 mosquito bites and I downed every single awful Doxy pill I had. We were only there 10 days and our cabins were netted. How on earth was I, not only sick, but this sick?? What about every other single person on the continent who was not afforded all the preventive care that I had? After my recovery, I began researching Malaria. I very quickly learned that prevention is by far the best and mosquito netting goes a long way in achieving that. And sending a net to Africa (and other countries) only costs $10. WHAT?! Wait, really? I go through all my photos of all those sweet faces and all I can think is "whether you live or die could hinge on a ten dollar bill". It made me both nauseated and hopeful all at once. So little money could wield such long lasting and life saving change. This very quickly becomes my personal mission. When LWP was actually opened in 2011, a dollar of every sale is donated to Nothing But Nets to help eradicate Malaria.

And wouldn't you know it? This photo was also my first sale. There was something kinda serendipity about it all.  I am giddy every time I can log on to NothingButNets.org and send another net (or two! or three!). I know I'm helping those kiddos grow up healthy and safe. I know that I am making a difference in someone's future. Every client of mine is helping me accomplish that, and I am ever so grateful.

Have a great day!

   

It's A Small World After All ....

I have to share a story with you.

I am always amazed at how teeny our great big world is. Every time. Running into someone you know when you are on holiday. Or finding out your new friend is next door neighbors to a long lost friend of yours. It knocks me over every time. But this story is beyond incredible.

I went to Ethiopia in August 2008. We (Mom + I) went with a mission organization that supports a soccer camp during the rainy season. So, there we were, deep in the heart of Ethiopia - 4 hours from Addis Ababa and 2 hours from the nearest paved road (and bottle of cold Coca Cola).

I was so giddy to be there - I was snapping photos like crazy - soccer kids, baboons, village people, trees, rain bouncing off the lake. Basically, if it held still for 1/8th of a second, I snapped it. I can home from a 10 day trip with over a thousand images.

After we got home (and I recovered from my parting gift, Malaria), I opened my Etsy shop. I filled it with Africa images and then lots of other goodies I have. For some reason, I kept this one particular image of a village family in my shop. It never sold but it was sweet. I had been meaning to remove it but never got around to it.

A couple weeks ago, I got a convo on Etsy (that's an email through Etsy). A woman in Canada wanted to know more specifics about that image. Where exactly was it taken and when? Not the normal client questions but I was more than happy to respond to her. I explained where Lake Langano was and that it was an image of a village family.

Ok, hold on to your socks.

She writes me back : their son was adopted from that area and given the information she had, there was a very good chance that this was an image of him with his biological mother and brother. Did I have any more images of the family or other villagers?

Langano family ... !

I immediately scoured my archives and contacted my aunt who works for SIM and Sports Friends (they took us to Africa and still go every year). My new Canadian friend also sent me images she took of her son and his biological father. I immediately recognized the father - he's distinctive - but I could not find an image of him. I was sure I had one. I was positive. Then I remembered we were introduced to the village elders but I was asked not to take their picture. He had to be one of them.

So, as the story goes now. My wonderful aunt is going to take copies of my photos and copies of the photos my Canadian sent me when she goes back to Langano in June. And my family snap shot is on its way to Canada.

I am so excited to see if anything else develops. But, as I told my new friend/ client, something made me not remove the photo and in my heart it is her son.

Have a great holiday weekend!