NEW YEAR, NEW BLOG!!!

It's a new year, and I wanted to start it off right with a brand new website and blog! I will no longer be updating this site, so please come visit me at www.heatherzphotography.com/blog I look forward to seeing you there!

DON'T FORGET TO VOTE!!

Please excuse the interruption of regularly scheduled programming for this public service announcement:





POLLING TIMES

Virginia polls open from 6:00am - 7:00pm

Maryland polls open from 7:00am - 8:00pm

DC polls open from 7:00am - 8:00pm

(Special thanks to Mark Eric, Jason Domingues and John Michael Cooper for their roles in the creation of this message :)

Kruger National Park

During the second week of my trip, Canna and I drove up to Sabie to her family's mountain home and used it as our base to visit Kruger Park. We were up before dawn on our quest to see the animals in their natural habitat, and though it seemed that they were not awake as early as we were, we still enjoyed driving the reserve, with eyes peeled for the next group of wildlife waiting to have their photo taken.

First up, a bit of scenery from the park:





The clan of elephants was one of my favorite sightings of the day. The group we saw had over a dozen elephants, of all ages. I have to admit that I was a bit nervous when one stood in the middle of the road, facing our car head on, making a sound that only a giant African elephant could make.







I couldn't help but laugh at this little guy. First, he stole that apple he is eating right from the picnic lunch of other visitors. Then, he looked soo guilty about it!





It was well after lunch when we finally sighted our first giraffe and I was so excited.....so excited in fact that I managed to drag a 2.5 foot wooden giraffe carving all the way home with me.

I know that a zebra's stripes are supposed to help disguise them, but I don't think it's working very well. Especially when one decided to come so close to the road, that I could have petted him out of the window if I didn't fear him confusing my hand for dinner.

I was glad that the buffalo didn't get as close as the zebra.

Insert your own caption here :) Love the facial expression!

This guy was the ugliest thing I saw during my entire trip! But since he was so kind to stand still for a portrait, I thought he should be included.

Cape Town, South Africa

Sorry that I have been a bit behind in posting images from my vacation! I seem to have wandered into full-vacation mode as my trip progressed, and while I took photos, I only seemed to log on to my computer long enough to answer emails.

The images in this post were taken in Cape Town. This first one is from the same sunset as the last post, just on the other side of the road. Cape Town as some of the most incredible skies I have ever seen. It truly is a city where, if you don't like the weather at the moment, just wait five minutes and it will change. While it can make planning a bit difficult, it really makes for the most incredible skies and sunsets. I looked forward to the cloud patterns each day I was down there.

The next several images were from Boulder (kinda obvious where the name comes from, huh?) where I made Canna take me so that I could see South African penguins!

This sign made me laugh....especially when you look at the photo of the baby below. He certainly doesn't *look* dangerous. But I was reminded not to get too secure. They usually sit at the side of the road and have no hesitation to come up to the car and aggressively take anything you happen to be holding.

After visiting Boulder, we continued our drive south to Cape Point. This is the southern most point in the country, and the place where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet. This sign was posted to show visitors how far they were from home.

The actual point, where the oceans meet.

This local climbed over the railing, and I think I held my breath the entire time he sat there, hoping he wouldn't fall.

On to the harbor. The seagulls will take french fries (or chips as they are know in SA) right out of your hand.

This is Table Mountain. It is called as much because the top of it is flat. When clouds decend on to the mountain, they call it the 'table cloth.' This was the most clear sight I had of the mountain while I was in Cape Town. The clouds are more often very low and dense.

A protea, the national flower.

And a few random scenic shots, while I was playing with flare.

South African Sunset

Over Stellenbosch wine country outside of Cape Town...

V A C A T I O N

I just wanted to let everyone who might be checking in over the next two weeks that I will be on vacation (and out of the country) from June 24 through July 9. I will not have access to a telephone while I am away, however I will have intermitent internet access (for some reason, they don't have wifi in the wilderness regions of South Africa amongst the lions, hippos, elephants and zebras ;-) But feel free to email me with any questions you might have and I will be sure to get back to you as soon as I am connected again. I hope to post a few pictures while I am away too, so stay tuned!!

Busy Season!

First, I want to say thank-you to all of the terrific couples that I have worked with so far this season! I've been wonderfully busy filling my weekends with people in love. It just doesn't get any better than that! I'm a bit behind on my blogging, but soon to come, I have Jonathan and Diana's gorgeous event at Strathmore Hall in Rockville, and I am about to hit the road headed north to Canton, PA for the small town wedding of Lauren and Lee. And next weekend, Sarah and Chris tie the knot in DC just before I catch a plane for a much needed vacation to visit my best friend in South Africa (with a short stop to visit my good friend Mary in London)! I'm soo excited and can't wait to see them, and the lions, cheetahs, zebras, elephants....

Also, for any brides that might be looking for a photographer this fall, I still have a few open dates in September, November and December and I'd love to hear from you! I'm also in the process of meeting with couples for their 2009 weddings and I'm looking forward to many beautiful events next year. If there is any way that I can assist you in your plans, please don't hesitate to let me know! I look forward to hearing from you!

Back from NY

Last weekend, I headed up to NYC for the PhotoPlus Expo photography tradeshow where I had a great time hanging out with friends, researching new products and updating my equipment. Unfortunately, I was so busy having fun, that I neglected to take out my camera!! But I did have someone take a quick shot of me with my friend Jason Domingues from Kansas City. His work continues to astound me on a weekly basis and is really inspirational. Be sure to check out his blog to see some really great photography.