Crystal Genes Photography

***ATTN Blog Readers!!!!… there is a contest for you all below at the bottom of the post! One of you lucky readers will win a special prize… keep reading… it’s really easy…***

Welcome to installment #2 of Fun Fact Friday where you get to learn a random fact about me, your photographer, each and every Friday!  Why do you want to know these random facts?  Well… if you are considering hiring me as your photographer, especially as your wedding photographer, then we are going to be spending some quality time together in person/email/phone, and it’s important that you like me just as much as you like my work!  So, while my bio page gives the overall gist, these Friday sessions give you a little better peek into my world.  Feel free to ask specific questions that you want to know the answers to as well!

Fun Fact #2 - My hometown is 3.4 square miles.

That’s right.  This week’s fact is all about where I grew up, Burgaw, NC.  My good friend Jennifer informed me last week that wikipedia and the US Census Bureau lists Burgaw as a whopping 3.4 square miles. I always knew it was small, but I didn’t realize just how small!  To give you a comparison, my current home of Charlotte, NC is 281 square miles and ranks as the 19th largest city in America.

I have a very soft spot in my heart for my little country hometown! But… it would be hard to live there and make a decent living since the median income is only 28K.  I would have to do a lot of traveling for sure!

I spent several years working on a book of photographs about Burgaw that I published through LULU.  I’ll let some of my favorite images from the book speak for the town and the things I love about it.

Bullard’s, the town’s only bar, is the place to be, especially for beer cup bowling…

They just don’t make clouds like these in Charlotte…

This is one of my favorite images from the book…

I used to see this man on his porch every single time I drove by… when I did the book, I knew I had to muster up the courage to stop and ask for a photograph…

Meet Tater and Bubba (and I’m not kidding, that’s what they’ve been known as their whole lives)

Don’t overlook the bullet hole in the tractor sign…

And now for the contest!!!
I know that there are people out there reading this blog, because my stats tell me I have a couple hundred visitors a week. So, I want to hear from some of you! Even if this is your very first visit to my blog, or your 50th… even if I know you… even if you’ve happened here by mistake… to play in the contest just leave me a comment with your name and where you are from. Next week’s Fun Fact Friday I will announce the lucky winner and I will ship them my very own book all about Burgaw…

Today I met the Surles family for the first time and photographed their cute-as-a-button daughter, Lawson, who recently turned one-year-old.

To prove that she really is a big girl now, she decided to let me see her take her first steps ever!

Lawson will have twin brothers in just 2 months. She likes to play in their crib.

She decided that she was also big enough to get out of the crib on her own… mom and dad disagreed…

Back to play in her own crib…

Standing again, without holding on!

Really getting to know your wedding photographer.

I’ve decided to start a regularly scheduled Friday post that will be all about getting to know me! There will be one fact a week and they will be completely random. I will continue the posts until I run out of fun facts about myself! It is extremely important when choosing a wedding photographer, that you really like and get along with them. On one of the biggest days of your life, you have to spend nearly all of it with the photographer you’ve chosen, so you want to make sure you will feel comfortable and have fun with them! These posts are for any potential clients out there who are wanting to know a little more about me!

Fun Fact #1 - I’m a vegetarian and I have no real reason for it!

I first became a vegetarian in High School as a New Year’s Resolution, just to see if I could do it. I succeeded for a little over two years, but found that the smell of the Chic-fil-a that I passed everyday in college was just to much to handle. I just had to taste it. I did. I got hooked and ate Chic-fil-a nearly every opportunity I had.  Of course, then came the “freshman 15″.  About 2 years ago, I decided to try vegetarian living again. I have always really loved veggies anyway, and unless I was to go out somewhere, I never cooked meat at home. Ben had also converted to vegetarianism about one year before I did, so it was a pretty easy transition. I’m not dying for Chic-fil-a anymore, so I think it’s probably going to stick this time.

This is the second year that I have planted potted veggies on my back porch. I got a really late start this year, but it only took 2 days for the seeds to sprout! And I got my first veggie today!

The beautiful platter that the squash sits upon came from Hawaii from a friend and fellow photographer, Tracy Turpen, in Charleston, SC.

I planted more this year than I did last year and it’s like a jungle. I can’t even get through it to get down the stairs.

Look at this gorgeous huge basil. I love basil on my veggie chic-patties with muenster and Frank’s Red Hot Sauce. Delicious!

Little squash, almost ready to pick. I can’t wait until the tomatoes, zuchinni, cucumber and red peppers start popping out!

I hope everyone has enjoyed the first installment of Fun Fact Friday!  Make sure you check back next week for a chance to win a prize!

I hope everyone is having a fantastic 4th of July weekend! I didn’t think I would be doing anything to celebrate the 4th yesterday, but I should have known better. My crazy friend Erin would never allow me to sit at home, alone, on a holiday! We made the biggest and best nachos ever, drank some delicious “faux”jitos (because apparently in NC the ABC store isn’t open on the 4th to buy the rum that makes a mojito), watched “Devil Wears Prada”, and then, the rain stopped just in time for us to walk down to the neighborhood park to watch the fireworks over the city. Good times!

How did everyone else celebrate?

I wanted to post these sooner, but I’ve been having a little bit of fun in my free time scrapbooking about our Europe trip.

I recently had Soda completely shaved.  He was shedding so much it was driving me crazy, so I walked into the groomers and I said, “I want it ALL gone, as short as possible.”  They looked at me like I was crazy.  “You don’t want a cute lion cut?” they asked.  “No, no.  I’ve had the lion cut before.  I want it all shaved.  Even his tail.”  I replied.  To which they gave me a look and said, very carefully, “You do realize only his eyebrows will be left…”  I started laughing thinking about how scary or equally cute that could be and said, “sounds great!  I’ll pick him up at 5.”

Let’s just say, you’ll never see this pomeranian looking like a fluff ball again.

I don’t know what they were talking about only seeing his eyebrows. But, this is what I was expecting to greet me when I picked him up that evening…

Maria wanted me to take some portraits of her just because and to show off how fabulous she is. (quote - “So my children can see how fabulous their mom used to be”). And no, she’s not currently a mother, or even attached, but her mind works in a mysterious way. Maria recently got accepted into Winston Salem’s School of the Arts for Film, and let’s just say, words can’t describe how excited she is to get the chance to pursue her dream. I’ve never met anyone as passionate about film as she is and I can’t wait to see what she creates!

This one is just funny because she was completely oblivious to the guy ripping his shirt off behind her until he was literally standing beside her.

In VisArt, Maria’s favorite independent video store…

First off, I want to say Happy Father’s Day Dad!  One of my biggest fans and best critics!  Love you!

This morning I had a great time shooting some portraits for the gorgeous Leslie Bowers.  It was time to stake out some fun new locations in Charlotte, and I think it was definitely a successful hunt.  There are really some interesting places in this city if you’re willing to take a few streets that look like (and might be) dead ends.

I’ll start you off with my favorite one from the day.  (well… one of them)

Isn’t her Diane von Furstenberg dress fabulous?

This is another favorite of the day.  She was such a good sport for not caring about getting dirty!  Meanwhile, I was attacked by something that left clusters of small bites in numerous places on my arms and legs.  The price we pay for the perfect shot.

Meet Zeus.  75 pounds of pit bull puppy.  And he wasn’t having anything to do with my camera if he could help it!

Here’s a little flashback from a couple of months ago.  Sara and I have been friends since we met volunteering at ASU’s Women’s Center around 2001-02.  She’s one from the small handful of friendships that have lasted since graduating nearly FOUR! years ago now!  Seems like those years disappeared!

Anyway!  Sara was the reason I was able to help chaperone the lovely graduating seniors from Academic Magnet High School in Charleston while they travelled to Orlando for Disney’s Grad Night back in April.  (Sara’s mom is an English teacher at the school).  While we were on the trip, I did a few portraits of Sara and her boyfriend James mainly for fun.  I called it a pre-engagement mini-session!  No… still not engaged yet though.  I really liked a couple of the shots we got!

And now.  The moment you’ve all been waiting for… a new blog post!  Yay!!!  Since getting back to the USA I have either been taking naps, working, or sorting through the thousands of images I took while in Europe.  Yes, thousands.  So, you can imagine how hard it has been for me to narrow them down for this post.  A lot of the ones I’m posting I am doing so more for their diary quality, rather than always the photographic quality.  This is a personal post after all.  If you want to see even more than what I post here though, you can look me up on my personal facebook page.

Today, one of my first free days since being back, has been quite productive.  I accomplished 10 out of 22 items on my to-do list.  This post makes 11, and it’s only 7:30 pm!  I even went to pilates this morning and went sunning with a friend for an hour and a half.

So, here we go!  I have a feeling this will be a long one.  And, we’ll start it off with an interesting shot by Ben taken on Kate’s rooftop in Cardiff, Wales.

This one is blurry, but I really love all the open red train doors behind me.

First I’m posting a few of the ones I liked a lot that didn’t get posted from the first part of the trip in the last post.  This is by the lake in Keswick.

This is blurry too, but it’s a preview to the image that follows…

There were snails and slugs all over the place in England and in Prague.

Ben strikes a casual pose for me.

Jennifer has just arrived in Newcastle and I’m happy to carry her suitcase!

What happens when you put 3 vegetarians together in another country?  They’ll find the best veggie bangers and mash ever!

Gotta love the British and their 3-wheeled cars!

Well… I guess you’re probably ready for some pics that were actually taken by me now, huh?  Okay, the rest are all mine…

This is Marsden Rock in the North Sea.  Behind me is the Marsden Grotto, a cave bar built into the cliff face.

We walked into the rock caves when we first arrived and VERY quickly the tide started rising.  Within minutes the whole interior was flooded.

Setting sail for Amsterdam on the DFDS cruise.

Here we are on the DFDS cruiseship “Princess of Norway” leaving North Shields and headed for Amsterdam.  I have always loved the colorful little boats that litter this area.

Ben likes to sleep.  These are only a few of the ones I snapped while he snoozed.  I must have a dozen.

This was taken out of the window of the bus that took us from the ship to Amsterdam city centre.

Millions.  No.  Trillions of bicycles in this city.  Love it!

Walking around Amsterdam.

A toothbrush ferris wheel.  How wonderful!

Heading back to the boat there was this fabulous cloud making factory.  Again, another photo taken through the bus window.

Things to do on a DFDS cruise:

Look for rainbows…

Play in the casino and win 50 20 cent euro coins!

Stare at your casino winnings and wonder what you’ll buy.  (Only to find out currency exchange places only take bills, and easy jet airlines won’t take coins lower than 50 cents.  So, anyone want to buy these euros from me?  Yes, I still have them.)

Drink overpriced Coca-Cola while staring at the open sea.  (Through the window of the coffee shop because it’s way too cold to stand on deck)

Or, you can squeeze into your tiny cabin and sleep, snack, or read!

Next it was off to Prague!  It was so pretty and so colorful here.

And it was quite fun sounding out words like, Malostranska.

The metro design was nice.

Oh!  Two more by Ben…

We walked onto the set of “Dark Sky” aka G.I.Joe and tried to get some shots of what Paris looks like when it’s located in Prague.  But I almost got my camera taken by one of the hundred security guards.

This is suppose to be a Parisian metro stop.  It’s all pressboard.

The Astronomical Clock.

I had the camera on my hip when I snapped this one.  I crossed my fingers and think it worked!

Street performers on Charles Bridge.

Last but not least, it was off to London.  Our EasyJet flight out of prague was not so easy.  It was about 5 hours late, which got us into london at 3am.  Then we had to catch the train into town and that took an hour.  Then by the time we found our hostel and got checked in, it was 5am.  So, we slept most of the only day we had in the city.  But here’s two great reasons to dislike it anyway…  (Eddie’s Fish Bar is a long traumatic story that I’d rather just forget about!)

Trying the Absinthe we got in Prague…

High hopes…

And, one sip is enough!

Just when we think we can leave this awful place, we go to the wrong station twice, miss the train at the right station by 30 seconds, and get told it’s too late to check-in for our flight back to Charlotte.  It was not a happy day.

But we get it sorted out and finally make it home!  Yay America!  My doggie missed me.

I’ve been back since Sunday.  I know, I know, that’s been 4.5 days, but until I can beat this awful jet lag disease, I won’t be posting any more pictures from the trip.  Definitely by Tuesday night though!  Going to sleep now!

I don’t even know what day of the trip this is, but it’s quickly coming to an end.  Actually, we’re all pretty tired and ready to go home already.  Prague is really beautiful though.  Unfortunately there is no way at the computers in our hostel for usb connection, so still no photos :( 

In Amsterdam today.  No pictures to post!  sorry…

We’ve finally found a place with computers (in the building where I used to take photography classes while I was at University here).  Ben is excited.  He’s having a major computer/news/Lost withdrawal.  I don’t know how well this is going to work, but I’m going to try to post a few of my favorite photos so far.  Jennifer will be here from Chicago tomorrow!  I’m excited!

After Cardiff, we had a LONG day of travel.  We caught a taxi from Kate’s house to the train station, from the train station we took a train to Glouchester train station, from there we took a different train to Cheltenham Spa train station, from there we took a different train to Birmingham New Street station, from there we took a different train to Preston, from there we took a bus to Penrith, and from Penrith we took a different bus to Keswick.  We only had a few hours of daylight left to explore Keswick.  I LOVED it here!!!  Not to mention The Edwardene Guest House, where we stayed, was the best accommodation yet.

There are two lambs for EVERY mama sheep…

I think the name of the lake in Keswick is Lake Derwentwater…  It was really pretty and different than most of the other lakes we saw…

We got up early to catch a small bus to Buttermere, even more in the middle of no where.  Lake Buttermere was also beautiful.  But, I’m glad we only stayed one day cause I don’t like hiking THAT much and that’s all there was to do here.  This was a very long, hard, tiring, hot hike… 

But it was worth it for this view!  You can see on the far left Lake Crummock Water… On the bottom right is Lake Buttermere… The little white buildings in the center is the village… and if you look to the far middle right you will see a little building… look at the little building just to the left and up a bit and that is our hostel.  We walked from there, through the village, to the lake and up the mountain.  The hills you see in the distance are the ones we are on in the images below this one.

We found a nice spot of grass on a hill (free of sheep poop) layed out a sheet we borrowed from the hostel and layed out a bit.  My jeans were so hot, I managed to turn my tshirt into a skirt so that I could tan my white legs!  (you can see Lake Crummock Water in the far background of the upper right corner).

There were literally hundreds of thousands of sheep all over the Northwest.  A lot of them roam fairly free.  This one was really shocked to see us lying right where he wanted to graze.  As soon as I took the shot, he ran as fast as he could in the other direction.  (I didn’t have time to even look at the settings on my camera for this one but how could I pass up that expression?!)

one of my favorite places in Sunderland… Tunstall Hill, overlooking EVERYTHING…

Ben decided this morning that he didn’t need a jacket… it was ICE cold on top of the hill. 

Someone’s front yard… completely covered…

My second favorite place here… The Marsden Grotto (which was closed down for 7 months and reopened just in time for our arrival!)  It’s a bar/restaurant built right into the cliff/cave on the North Sea.

Inside the bar…

One of the bridges over Newcastle…  They were filming a crime drama, hence the spotlights…

BE SURE TO CHECK OUT THE POSTS UNDER THIS ONE… I HAVE ADDED MORE IMAGES TO SOME OF THEM…

It’s day 5 here in Europe.  Ben and I are currently couchsurfing near Newcastle, England.  This is the first computer we’ve been around since Cardiff Day 2.  Yesterday we were in Buttermere in the Lake District… they didn’t even have cell phone service or television… much less not even internet in the whole village.  They didn’t even have a bank, ATM or other method of getting cash (more on that in a later post)

Here is Jessica, our couchsurfing host here in Newcastle.  She is from Germany and is volunteering here working with homeless young people aged 18-25…

And here are two of her flatmates… Zdravko from somewhere near Croatia (the name is slipping my mind), and Anke from the Netherlands…  They also volunteer at the same place.

The weather was FANTASTIC the first 4 days, but today it’s freezing.

Well Ben and I are in Wales today, visiting Kate Clay in Cardiff, and it’s been such gorgeous weather out all day! 

Our flight into London was fine (with the exception of me spilling ginger ale all over ben and myself as well as right into my shoe that was not on my foot.)

Our first hotel… The Oxford Hotel… was quite interesting.  It was just wide enough to fit 2 extra small twin beds in with about 1 foot of space in between them. 

We took a nap and then went for a walk to the Tate Modern Museum.   Outside of the museum…

In Cardiff today, Kate took us for a walk to the park where we were hunting for the party.  After what felt like a 2 mile walk, we found it.  Everyone had a case of beer and their intant “barbie”… the field was up in smoke with all the bar-b-que’ing going on!

Katy is really ready to head out for the night now (she’s taking us to an art bar, and to some bar called Buffalo (Ben has just passed out on my shoulder we’re not quite over the jet lag)), so this one of us on her flat’s rooftop will have to be it for now!  Tomorrow it’s off to Keswick and the Lake District!