Old Ironsides - USS Constitution

If you have been to Boston and never visited the oldest commissioned US Navy ship, you gotta go! The boat was launched in 1797 and is the oldest commissioned ship afloat in the world. Its located on the north side of Boston at Pier 1. They have scheduled tours every 30 minutes... and I'll put out a warning to anyone over like 5'6"... the lower decks are NOT made for 6'9" men! HA! One of the most amazing parts about the USS Constitution is that today it is maintained by citizen donations! Check out a couple of sweet shots from one of our national treasures ->






If 200+yr old wooden ships don't suit your fancy, then maybe a WWII Destroyer will? Also docked at Pier 1 is the USS Cassin Young. She's a Fletcher-class destroyer that saw battle in the Pacific Ocean during WWII and now serves as a floating memorial. It was a lot of fun walking around on the deck! When you first board you are greeted by a pretty sweet torpedo launcher and anti-aircraft guns. This launcher uses compressed air to propel 2000lbs torpedo's from overhead out at enemy ships up to 7 miles away. We crossed over to starboard and checked out the anti-submarine torpedo, on the way to the bow we scoped an impressive looking command center, the big guns (for a destroyer at least), and the hedgehog anti-sub weapons. Pretty cool! Time to head down to Quincy Market to get come chowder! HA!

Whiskey Lane Dressage Show

Since the wedding it’s really felt like a whirlwind, but we’re finally back to shooting! A couple weekends ago I went out to support my barn, and new friends, at a Dressage Show at Whiskey Lane Farm and everyone really did a great job! I’m so proud!














Then while unpacking for the show, one of our barn cats named Followy (or Fatty as he goes by either) made a friend and they were too funny NOT to photograph!

Machu Picchu, Peru

Machu Picchu! Wow! What a place! Who could forget that?



So the Incas used Machu Picchu as a center of commerce, center of spirituality, believed it to be located at the center of astrological events, and a retreat for the Inca elite. It was build around 1450. The Incas must have been a bunch of crazy people because there are many area's around the ruins that are VERY exposed! There are a few ledges where if you fell it seems like you wouldn't stop until you hit the river.

So after arriving, we started the first day at the ruins with a guided tour. The tour started on a WOW moment. We walked up a steep trail (they are all steep) to the typical Machu Picchu photo ledge at the southern end of the ruins. The photo above was taken from this ledge, but we came back later in the afternoon during the golden hour of sunset to capture it. After a few minutes we continued on to the southern part of the ruins that maked up the "head" of the condor. There are horseshoe shaped terraces here that according to experts served no purpose other than to make the city look like a condor from the peak of Wayna Picchu.

The ruins do have grounds keepers that help fend off the jungle, but nature provided the lawn mowers! There was a llama farm at Machu Picchu. These animals were most likely used for hauling goods until the horse/donkey came around. They are very domesticated and love wandering the terraces!



We passed the rock quarry and entered "The city gates" into the urban section of the ruins. The Inca's had in depth knowledge of the behavior of the sun and the relationship between themselves, the sun, and the land. The Intihuatana stone (meaning 'Hitching Post of the Sun') has been shown to be a precise indicator of the date of the two equinoxes. On these dates at a specific time of day there are no shadows cast by the pillar. The stone is also aligned with both magnetic and true north indicators. Many feel this stone is a focal point of magnetism on earth, but its hard not to feel something different and special standing in such a beautiful place.



From here we made our way through the Main Square over to the north end of the ruins. The stone wall work on the west side city is not the greatest the Incas ever created, but still great looking and had lasted over 500 years.



At the very north tip of the ruins is the entrance to the Wayna Picchu trail and the Sacred stone. The stone is thought to have special healing powers, and by simply placing you hand on the stone your problems will be washed away. Penny and I enjoyed a 45 minute break here before climbing Wayna Picchu on the following day.



We turned around and headed back south along the eastern side towards the Houses of Factories and the Industrial area. The stone work along the walk way here is a perfect place to try out the "credit card" trick. Incas were capable us such precise stone work that you could not slip a credit card between the cracks in the rock.



More on Machu Picchu soon!

Train from Cusco to Aguas Calientes

Penny and I got up early Tuesday morning for our trip from Cusco, Peru out to Machu Picchu. There are a couple ways of getting there. The adventurous hike the Inka trail for 4-5 days, the wealthy take a Russian helicopter directly to the town, but most people end up on PeruRail for the ~4 hour trip.



The first thirty minutes of the train ride involves a series of cutbacks where the train would run across the side of a hill, pass a track switcher, flip the switch, and reverse up to the next section of track. This allows the train to climb straight up a steep mountain face. The view of Cusco is quite spectacular from the top!



Once past the city of Cusco the train follows a path through some suburban town. After the first stop the trip starts to resemble a frontier voyage across the wild west towards the Rockies. The land opens up and huge grassy fields are surrounded by the Andes mountain range. Little farms are peppered across the plains as if they had staked their "spot" years ago.



Cattle are a common sight on the plains. There are no banks around so farmers purchase livestock as a sort of savings account. After a few years they sell the animal for profit and make their "interest".



It seems just a quickly as we went from urban Cusco to the plains, the moutains gobble up the landscape and we are twisting along the Urubamba River banks in and out of manmade tunnels. The view is equally as spectacular. One minute you are staring out the window at a hedgerow, the train turns, and for just a moment you are rewarded with landscape bliss.



The Urubamba is dammed up near the town of Aguas Calientes at a hydro-electric power station. Little relay stations line the river from then on providing electricity to Aguas Calientes, Machu Picchu, and the surrounding area.



The train pulled into Aguas Calientes, we disembarked, met our tour guide in the station, and headed straight for Machu Picchu. This is the typical trip for a "day tripper". We decided to stay an extra day in Aguas Calientes so we had a little more time to enjoy the ruins and culture of this neat little town.



More images here:
http://tmp.smugmug.com/gallery/3501342

Next up, Machu Picchu!

Cusco, Peru

The first day after traveling landed Penny and I in Cusco, Peru. Cusco is located in the southern part of Peru near the Andes Mountains. The city population is 300,000, its at ~11,500ft elevation, and was the old capital of the Inca Empire before the Spanish conquered Peru in the early/mid 1500's. Going from living at near sea level to carrying around luggage in air thats contains a little more than half as much oxygen is pretty noticeable! A staircase with a backpack and two 40lbs suitcases can get your heart rate going! The locals recommend drinking coca tea, or chewing on the coca leaves themselves, to help with the altitude adjustment.. Yes, the same leaves used to produce cocaine (roughly 1kg of leaf yields a "dose"). Anyways, Penny and I fell in love with the stuff! I ended up buying 200 teabags of it from Bolivia after returning to the states ;)


The main square in Cusco is called the Plaza de Armas and is home to two large churches, shops, and restaurants. Its also one of the few places I saw in the city with an actual lawn with maintained grass. The people maintaining it were using weedwackers to cut the lawn too. Most labor done is all manual including the road work. Its not uncommon to see small crews working on the roads with pickaxes or hammers and chisels! No, there are no construction signs... the workers simply move to the curb when traffic comes by!!!

Plaza de Armas with the Church of the Society of Jesus in the background.


We were not allowed in this church, but the outside stonework is quite spectacular. This church was build in around 80 years, but badly damaged in 1650 by an earthquake. It was officially opened in 1668 after 17 more years of reconstruction.


The Cathedral is the other main chuch in the main square. Its contruction took over a century, delayed by lack of funds, and finished in 1669. The structure was constructed in the shape of a Latin cross, the three-aisled nave is supported by only fourteen massive pillars. It contains nearly 400 colonial paintings and massive gold and silver leaf covered alters. The size, age, and detail of the work inside is astonishing. No photography is allowed inside.


Down the street a few blocks is another popular tourist site. The Qorikancha was the largest and most spectacular Incan temple in Cusco used for worshiping the sun. After the Spanish conquered the empire, they tore down the top half of the Qorikancha and built a chuch on the foundation. Inside contains some of the Inca's finest stonework that has endured numerous earthquakes over the years with little damage. The perfectly hand cut and polished stone is atestament to Inca masonry.


Sacsayhuaman is one of the most amazing Incan constructions for tourists. Its Quechua name means "satisfied falcon", it was the falcon that guarded the capital of the empire, since it was possible to overlook Cusco from the hill in where it was erected. If, as it is known, Cusco was designed with the shape of a lying puma, Sacsayhuaman would be its head, and the Qorikancha would correspond to the feline's genitalia. The methods used in precision cutting and placing the massive stones is still a mystery today.


Tambomachay Ruins is located a few miles to the northeast of Cusco. It is located at a foothill near the main road to the Antisuyo, over the Tambomachay River. This at roughly 12500ft elevation at the top, this is the highest our trip took us to. It was one of the favorite resting and bathing places of the Incas, It was also a site used to worship water.


The ol elevation sign at the bottom of the foothill on the way up to the ruins.


Like usual, there are people selling stuff anywhere the tourists go. If you ignore them, the view is quite spectacular!


Cusco, Peru just past sunset on the way back from the Sacsayhuaman ruins.


More Photos from Cusco Peru are located here:

Welcome to our blog!

Most viewers are unaware but Penny and I got married on Sept 1 2007. While on our honeymoon in Peru and the Galapagos Islands we decided to start a blog so people visiting our site could see some of the other cool stuff do when shooting for fun! We already have some galleries setup with some really cool photos, but its always better when there is a story to go along with the shot.

So I guess I'll start off by posting a couple photos from our first destination on our honeymoon, Machu Picchu, Peru. These are ruins that are over 500 years old located deep within Peru on top of a mountain thats around 8000 above sea level. This particular image was created using a technique called HDR, or High Dynamic Range. A single photo would not be able to capture all of the highlights in the sky while also exposing the entire photo correctly, so four images were taken with varying exposure and compressed together in post processing.



The mountain in the background is called Huayna Picchu. On the second day of our visit "the mountain called" so Penny and I made the 45 minute/1,400ft climb to the top. The trail is extremely steep and extremely exposed in [strike]some[/strike] MOST sections. A fall here would likely be your last!! We realized the climb was worth it when we reached the summit. The view of Machu Picchu, which seems tiny now, and the surrounding Urubamba Valley is SPECTACULAR!!!



You would think climbing up would be the worry of most. You keep your eye on the next step up and push on and on careful not to trip. On the way back down the physical aspect of the climb is replaced with a mental battle of navigating the steep trail while "looking down!!". Yeah that cliff is CRAZY tall. Some decided to take the quick way down -->



More Peru Photos