Photography

A Little Trip to the Country-side

by Sarah Novak on February 25, 2013

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 On President’s Day Weekend we ventured 3 hours south on the Pan-America Highway to Lunahuana, a country-esque area know for its adventure sports.  It’s located in the middle of a mountain valley with the Cañete river cutting through the center.  White-water rafting and kayaking are big there, as is 4-wheeling and zip-lining.  Since I know you’re going to ask, we did none of those during our stay, although Nick has come here 3 times before for day trips to do white-water kayaking.

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 Ever since Jenna’s visit in January, Nia’s aversion to the water has ended (we are sooo grateful to Auntie Jenna!)  We spent much of our weekend in the pool, enjoying the mountain view as we soaked up the sun.

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 I was shocked by how bold Nia was in the water, given that she’s been in a pool no more than 5 times.  She was eager to follow Dad into the deep end and even let him throw her a bit.  I can’t tell you how happy this makes Nick, as he is a fish at heart.  Me, not so much, but I do hope it’s a past-time they can enjoy together.

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We stayed at Los Palomos Hotel, which was a charming family-run boutique hotel.  We felt so comfortable there that we inquired if they had someone on staff that could babysit so that we could enjoy an afternoon date.  2 hours later the cleaning lady showed up at our door to watch Nia and we were off!

We had heard amazing things about a place called Refugio de Santiago, which was also in Lunahuana.  I was expecting good, but this place was SENSATIONAL.  Everything was either grown on site or raised locally and wow could you tell it by the taste!  We shared an amazingly fresh salad and Nick tried duck with berry glaze and quinoa risotto, while I devoured trout medallions with a potato puree and vegetable side.  I am already dreaming about our return visit… I will not, however, be eating roast dog!  :)

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 The best part of this weekend was all the relaxing we did as a family.  This collage captures the joy we found in the more mellow moments, which is a nice change-up from the chaos of Lima.

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Galapagos Day 3: Tortoise Hunting

by Sarah Novak on December 20, 2012

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Today we eagerly jumped off the boat, excited by the possibility of seeing land tortoises (different than the sea turtles we saw in the water).  As usual, we saw an abundance of them.  We have a running joke that the boat keeps a few of all the animals in stock and runs over to the island before we disembark to strategically place them for optimal viewing.  I mean, seriously, it’s uncanny how consistently the animals show up.  And I’m not talking just one type, there is an abundance of all the major species here.  It’s nuts, I tell you.

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We were scouting high and low when all of a sudden we turn the corner and –BAM- 100-year-old tortoise sitting right there in front of us!  He was such a cutie too!  And the great thing about turtles is that they rarely move so you always get great pics.  Which is good, because I’ve been waiting FOREVER to get a picture of a Giant Tortoise!

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We only saw 1 turtle that was near the 100-year-old mark.  The others we saw were young tortoises (anywhere from 5-20 years old).

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Here’s a picture of the younger tortoises so you can see the difference in size.

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The other insanely cool animal-spotting on this outing was land iguanas.  We saw a good 5-7 of them.  This guy was my favorite though.

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He just sat there and let us photograph him, occasionally changing positions to give us a varied shot.

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I love how fierce he looked!  Maybe we can bring one home for Nia as a pet…

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Babies & Baby-making in the Galapagos

by Sarah Novak on December 19, 2012

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One of the best surprises on this trip has been how many babies we’ve seen (and up really close too)!  The Mom and baby above are Blue-footed Boobies.  This baby is estimated to be 1 week old.

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Here’s what that chick will look like in a few weeks time, all covered in a downy white fur.

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And here’s a Nazca Booby guarding her eggs.

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And what would the trip be without some baby sea lions?

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We even got to see them nursing!  How precious is that?

Sea Turtle Mating

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We happened to plan our visit during the mating season for sea turtles.  The turtles mate out in the shallow water during the day.

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Then they make the slow trek along across the beach in the evening (yes, those are fresh turtle tracks)….

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At which point they lay their eggs in sandy nests on the beach.  They do this 3-4 times and lay 30-60 eggs at a time.  Isn’t that cool?  I wish we could have seen them making the slow trek to their nests, but this was cool too.

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The Best of Nia’s 1 Year Photo Shoot

by Sarah Novak on October 28, 2012

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Here are the best of Nia’s 1 Year Photo Shoot!  We had them done by Vanessa of Luz + Letra here in Lima.  It was a fantastic experience that yielded over 100 beautiful shots of Nia!  If you’re in the mood to view the entire gallery, head on over to SMUGMUG.

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On the Town: Scoping Out Mario Testino’s New Museum in Barranco

by Sarah Novak on October 25, 2012

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I recently joined an Expat Club in Lima called the Canadian International Society.  This group is hosted by the Canadians, but open to any English-speaking expat living in Lima.  The group has a monthly social with a speaker, does various charitable projects and also has a monthly outing in Lima.  Today I had the opportunity to participate in my first outing (which is sadly the second touristy thing I’ve done in Lima during my 6 months here).

The group had arranged a private tour of Mario Testino’s recently opened museum in Barranco, a neighborhood in Lima.  And not only did we get to see private areas that were closed off to the public, but the tour was also conducted by the museum’s executive director who gave us fun pieces of information about Mario’s work.

For those who don’t know, Mario Testino is arguably one of the best-known photographers in the world.  He has photographed everyone from the Royal family to Madonna.  What I did not know until recently is that he’s Peruvian (although he currently resides in London).

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As part of his charitable association (MATE), he wanted to make his art accessible for Peruvians.  To do this, he went about buying and restoring a historic building to showcase his body of work.  The building is located in Barranco, a section of the city that is home to many artists and writers.

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Words cannot explain how stunning his photos were in person.  The way he captured the light and colors was simply UNREAL.  I kept falling behind the group because I’d get immersed in trying to figure out how he set up the specific lighting in the shot to get the angles he captured.  And did I mention they were giant?  Oh, head’s up though – lots and lots of nudes if that sort of thing doesn’t suit you.

Here are a sampling of my favorites from the 54 piece collection.  I was delighted to hear that his “Greatest Hits” collection will be going up in January.  What a perfect excuse to go back!  Oh, and did I mention that there’s a charming little café there as well?  I can’t tell you how glad I am that I discovered this place early in our tour, as I know I will be returning many, many times…

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Model: Reese Witherspoon (Sienna Miller above in white dress)

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PS – The cherry on top of the tour was that an Indian Princess was doing a photo shoot at the same time we were there so I snuck in and watched a bit!

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Nia’s Big 1st Birthday Bash

by Sarah Novak on October 23, 2012

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It’s hard to believe, but our little girl just crossed the one year mark. I’m not going to lie and say that the entire year flew by because there were days in those first 3 months that felt ENDLESS. However, time seemed to gather speed as we found our parenting groove. I’m enjoying the reflection that comes with this milestone, both celebrating all the joy and wonder she’s brought into our life AND the amazing resiliency and problem-solving-abilities Nick and I discovered as parents! I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again – parenting is not for the feint of heart!

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I felt a lot of Mommy pressure to have a grandiose 1st birthday party (extravagant bashes are quite the trend overseas). The problem was, quite simply, that we don’t have enough friends Nia’s age yet to make up a reasonable group. Just as I was plotting strategies for how we could befriend an adequate number of invitees in time for the party, my wise husband Nicholas reminded me that she was not actually going to remember any of this. He reasoned that we just keep it simple (cake, lots of playing, etc) and shower her with love instead. So that’s just what we did… and what a grand time we had doing it!

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Nia’s birthday was technically on a Monday, so we started our partying on Sunday so Daddy could participate. Our Sunday included a stop at Nia’s favorite PlayGym followed by a mini party and cake tasting. Our usual Sunday routine involves watching football at our friend Greg and Ladan’s house so with their blessing, we did our celebrating there and included them in the festivities.  Most of these great photos are courtesy of Ladan and Greg gets credit for Nia’s biggest smiles – who knew he could make such an awesome monkey noise?

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Nia was an absolute hoot with the cake. She started by looking at it with disgust but eventually got curious enough to take a lick. After that, she was hooked! Instead of having me describe it, why not watch the amusement for yourself:

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I should mention that we failed to anticipate the wretched sugar crash that happened a few hours after eating cake. Oops! Let’s just say Ms. Nia was not at her best…

Nick went off to work on Monday morning but Nia and I continued the celebration. The day started off with a surprise gift from Lupe.

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Next up was Baby Music Class, where the group all serenaded Nia with Happy Birthday (in two languages, mind you!)

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After a celebratory nap, we were back to the PlayGym again for another day of fun. We closed our day by skyping with both sets of Grandparents and opening the gifts they’d sent.

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As you can see by the photos, we found much joy in our celebration… in fact, it’s practically impossible to have a dull time when you’re with our spirited little girl! We are so thankful to have her bright light in this world.

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We love you Nia!  Happy First Birthday!

PS- For those who love photos, be sure to check out the complete gallery HERE.

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Nia @ 10 Months

by Sarah Novak on August 28, 2012

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Enamored with the Big Heads!

by Sarah Novak on August 3, 2012

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Seriously, who flies 6 hours to see big stone heads?! We do, as well as the other 50,000 people per year that get to Easter Island, the world’s most remote inhabited island in the world.  I can say without hesitation that all the travel effort is worth it – this place is a fascinating mix of history, legend and bizarre topography.

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Let’s start with the fact that we see, on average, 3 rainbows a day here.  Not just little rainbows either, but the full-length ones!  It must be the combination of misty rain and sun that brings them out so frequently.  Whatever it is, it was a nice day-brightener!

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As always, Nick did an abundance of research before choosing our guide.  In the end he went with Paul of www.tekarera.com, who’s originally from Wyoming but has been coming to the island since he was 16 (he’s now in his 50’s).  He has a wealth of knowledge, having participated in the restorations of most of the island’s major sights.  This man KNOWS HIS ISLAND.  I couldn’t help but giggle when he’d offhandedly comment about young know-it-alls misplacing sacred rocks during park clean-ups.  It was obvious that he had an endearing sense of ownership for the island.

His tours were really casual and filled with lots of random information that was insanely detailed and interesting (due to all his intimate interactions with the the restorations).  At one point in the tour, he picked up a piece of coral that he believed was used as the eye of a statue and hands it to Nick to look at.  I was totally like, “Ummm, should we be touching that if it’s an ancient artifact?” but since Paul was both so locally respected and reverent of the place I figured if he said it was okay, then it was.

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And now, a bit of history: The large stone statues are called Moai and were carved out of local volcanic rock by the Rapa Nui people (Polynesians) sometime between 1100 and 1500 AD.  The statues were meant to house the spirit of a specific individual and were actually carved in that person’s likeness.  All Moai were placed on stone platforms called Ahus.  Additionally, each statue got a topper or hat called a Pukao made out of red volcanic stone.  887 statues have been inventoried and are scattered across the island.  Restoration began in the 1950’s and has resulted in 50 of them be resurrected.

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One of the great mysteries surrounding the statues is the legend that each statue ‘walked’ to it’s final spot.  National Geographic featured an article this month on it’s cover presenting their solution to how the statues made it across the island erect.  You can read the article HERE.  However it happened, it was DAMN IMPRESSIVE.

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Here we are at one of the three volcanic craters (no longer active).  The magnitude of it was astounding – it was 1 mile across!  I continue to marvel at this place and can’t wait to see what awaits us tomorrow!

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Nia @ 8 Months

by Sarah Novak on July 3, 2012

These are about 10 days late – oops!  She’s definitely starting to explore her world, as reflected in these photos.

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The Start of Cherry Blossom Season in DC

by Sarah Novak on March 21, 2012

It’s that time of year in DC when the city comes abloom with cherry blossoms!  I can honestly say that I now understand what all the excitement is about – they are breathtaking!  The peak viewing window for this year is March 20th-24th.  It’s also the 100th Anniversary of when the trees were gifted to the US from Japan.  Somewhere in the neighborhood of 1 million people will travel to DC to see these gorgeous blooms.  Amazing, isn’t it?

Baby-willing, I’m planning to go out at sunrise tomorrow to shoot the blooms again.  Hopefully I’ll have more stunning shots for you to enjoy…

I should also apologize for my lack of posting lately.  All spare time has been allocated to showing visitors around, learning Spanish and shopping for our move.  We’re less than 60 days out to Peru and things are getting really busy around here!

Do check out the full gallery HERE.  I’ll be adding additional pictures to it as I continue to shoot.

 

 

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