Daayyyy Tripin´

Good Spanish morning. Today we find ourselves in Granada Spain. Yesterday, we drove from Tossa to Barcelona and flew in.

We rounded out our time in Tossa by taking a day trip to different little towns about 100 kilometers in different directions. The driving wasn´t bad except for a little town called Girona. I think I went down a few streets that might not have been streets (some of the walkways look like streets and the streets walkways). But, I did ok. We found that Amanda is not real fond of driving on narrow streets with several hundred feet drop offs (it could be that or it could be that I was driving...we´ll say it is the first). The photo to the left is one of the corridors to an outside court yard of a 600 year old church complex.

We also took a final photo from the beach of Tossa. That was followed by what I have a hunch is going to become a more common thing...a photo of Amanda´s gnome away from home...

Granada is home to the famous Alhambra (http://www.alhambradegranada.org/) . Our neat little botique hotel (Roomates Miguelete) is located only about a 1000 meters (yards) from there. The hotel is a several hundrede year old mansion that has been converted into...obviously a hotel. It is comprised of very well maintaned and aged dark woods and tiles.

We had a good free breakfast and will be heading out to explore shortly. We have tickets to get into the Alhambra at 2:30. This is one of Amanda´s highlights of the trip. Hopefully it will live up to her expectations and I can get some great photos as well.

We are doing very well and are so blessed to have this opportunity. Thank you for your prayers of safety and I will post again in a couple of days.

God Bless.

Barcelona and Tossa Del Mar

Good morning!  For this post I write from our hotel room in Tossa Del Mar.  Tossa (as I will now call it) is a quaint little town on the Mediterranean Sea.  We arrived here about 14 hours ago after driving from Barcelona.

Our time in Barcelona was really nice.  Barcelona is a happening international cosmopolitan city.  Just about in any restaurant or shop you can hear 2 or 3 different languages being spoken.  Even with Spanish here there are distinct dialects.  This region of Spain is very proud to be Catalonian, which, is the proper language they speak.  2 differences just show what I am talking about: "more" the spanish we are all used to is "mas." Here is it "mes" with an accent over the "e".  "Thank you." "gracias" of course.  Nope, here "gracies" accent over the "a".  So, some differences but especially between Amanda and I we have enough command over the language to get by 95% of the time in Spanish.

Thursday and Friday we got around Barcelona with me driving the rental car. That made Amanda a nervous wreck. We finally agreed that she would not pay attention to traffic but to the floorboard.  Cars, motorcycles, they seem to come from nowhere but at the same time everywhere.  No hits no runs no errors though with the driving. A good defensive inning.  What has been a life/trip saver is the gps Tomtom we have.  We bought it with preloaded European maps.  Man oh man that has been super! Everything we have wanted to see we have been able to find by address or it was already a point of interest Tom knew about (yes, we refer to the gps as Tom).    We went to  couple of cathedrals, Castle Montjuic, and a really strange park, Park Guell before heading out of the city to Tossa.

 Again, Amanda did great on our hotel room. Third floor with nice patio facing the Mediterranean and the old city walls. The walls look like the outside of a castle but, not the case.  Still makes for a great view though.  

We did hike up to the top of the cliffs and around the lighthouse.  Not a bad walk but I elected to be a tad more adventurous and climb down the cliff a bit.  That wasn't bad either.  Getting back up the cliff with a backpack full of camera gear was a little more challenging.  I'm betting on being a wee bit sore in the next 24 hours. 

After our hike we found THE BEST gelato I have ever had.  Coco Sorbet it was called. Man that was good.  Amanda and I only had a small wrestling match to pick who got to eat more of it.  It was a draw and we were both content.  Next was a small snack and then clean up for dinner.  Dinner was good and reasonably priced.  Appetizer, couple of drinks, paella, and desert for 35 euros.   Unfortunately because the U.S. dollar is so poor, that translates to about 50 bucks.

So, that brings us to this point.  4:47 a.m. Spanish time.  Why on earth am I awake??  It seems even in this little sleepy tourist town people never freakin go to sleep.  There have been people having conversations 3 floors down on the street up until an hour ago.  There have been no less than 10 loud, annoying little vespas or other loud scooters that have gone barreling past our hotel.  It seems to have quit now but it sounded like a motor-cross earlier with the riders giving there power machines full throttle.  I'm sure full throttle got them up to a hair raising 20 miles per hour.  Now, I can clearly hear the garbage trucks.  Looks like a siesta is definitely  in the future today.

I did plan on being up and on the beach for the sunrise.  It looks like I don't have to worry about sleeping through it.

From an early morning in Tossa Del Mar...God Bless.

Waking up for our first day

It is 8:45 am here in Barcelona (2:45 am at home). Yesterday our travel went really well. Our flights were smooth and no time. We flew from Houston to Newark and then had a layover before our flight to Bacelona. During the layover we were able to use our passes to get into Continental Airlines´ President´s club. That was cool. Better because we had a free pass. That allowed us to get some snacks and even a free margarita. We had a small brush with fame while we were there. Kristy Lee Cook from American Idol was also there waiting on a flight. I thought it would be cool to have a photo with her but, I ended up deciding not to bother her.

After our filght landed in Barcelona we tracked what seemed for 2 miles to get our rental car and then headed to our hotel. After driving approximately 10 miles I have come to one conclusion. Motorcyclists here would be better used as speedbumps. They are nuts and seem to follow only a select few of the traffic laws that pertain to anyone else. Drivng here will be interesting.

We found our hotel in the center of what looks to be everything. Fantastic location (except for parking, about 3/4 mile away). We checked in and then slept for 3 hours...much needed. After our nap we went exploring. There are tons of restaurants, shops, bakeries all with in a few minutes walk from here. Amanda did good picking the hotel. The main Barcelona Cathedral is within walking distance also. It is a huge building. After that we went to dinner and had some tapas and I ordered, yes, I did order some ravioli. An hour later i reordered the ravioli because the waiter failed to write it down and turn it in. Customer service is not at all like in the U.S. If you need something here, it is on your to flag the waiter down. Otherwise, they will pass by you several times and maybe think to look at you. The raviloi was good but, no worth waiting an hour for it.

After dinner we continued to walk around a bit a before coming back to the hotel an crashing. Now, we start our first full day here. The weather is fantastic and should help out with having a great day.

Until next time... luego.

Espana and Deutschland

Good Sunday afternoon.  In my previous post I eluded to a vacation.  It is almost time for it.  Tuesday Amanda and I head to Spain for 2 weeks and then Germany for 2 weeks.  We'll be traveling in and around Barcelona, Granada, Madrid (Spain), Hamburg, Gottingen, and Frankfurt (Germany).

We are SO excited about it.  Today we are finishing up some last minute packing and I of course am trying to get my camera gear sorted out and packed.

We'll be taking our laptop and trying to update the blog when we can.  That of course will be based on internet availability.

I again want to thank all of my clients/friends that I have photographed in the last few weeks.  You guys have done an awesome job ordering your prints on time to assure they are printed and shipped before our vacation.

With that being said, any orders that are placed after the conclusion of this post, will not be processed until we return from our trip.  Don't panic if you do not receive your prints in the fast time you are accustomed to.  The computer did not eat them.  With that being said, if you do not receive your prints by the first week of June, please let me know.  I do not anticipate any problems with orders but, I haven't had orders sitting in the processing queue for more than a day or so before.

Also, if you are reading this because you have sent a new client inquiry, it is possible I will not get your email until I return.  I'm not simply ignoring you :) 

Check back with our blog every couple of days if you are the least bit interested in what we are up to (and where in the world we are doing it).  I also hope to be able to post a photo or two.

Until next time...and from Spain...God Bless.

-Ryan and Amanda

Wrapping things up...

2 weeks since my last post (I'm slacking). We have been really busy with shoots and trying to get all of the post production done before we leave on our vacation (working vacation...more on that later).


April 4th was Katie and Nate's wedding at Kindred Oaks in Georgetown. What a great day for a wedding! It was a really nice ceremony. We really enjoy ceremonies were God and His role in marriage is so heavily emphasized. Nate, you be careful when you're on the job. I hope to have your proofs ready to view before our trip so at least you can look at them and get an idea of which you want to order when we get back from our vacation.


We photographed the highschool senior group at the Capitol, the history museum, and in downtown Austin. Did you know it IS possible to put 9 highschool seniors in a tree on the Capitol grounds? I think that is a record. You guys have been super with getting your orders to me so I can be sure they are processed and shipped before I leave. Thank you again for spending part of your Saturday with me. Best of luck with your graduation and your college endevours!


The same day Misty's bridal portraits were at the Capitol. We had great weather for the shoot. Misty, your boots were way cool. I can't wait to see all of your bride's maids showing them off at the wedding.

The next day was April, Matt, and their soon to be here Riley. Thank you both for trusting us with your maternity photos and for having us over with all of our gear in your living room :). We look forward to photographing little Riley after his arrival.

Then we met with Elizabeth and Alfredo on the UT campus where Elizabeth is a working student. We had a great time walking around the campus and taking photos. We look forward to your wedding and our third at Chapel Dulcinea.


Our latest session was Tammy and David on the UT campus as well. They are both big UT fans so some UT landmarks were a must for the backdrops (unfortunately the Littlefield fountain is still undergoing rennovation). Tammy was so awesome in contracting with me. She was referred by another client and had no desire for a consultation. Only wanted a contract and where to send the deposit too. That was a huge compliment to us.

After this update I realize how much easier it is to update the blog more often. I will get better at that. I will be working on photos and processing any orders that I receive until Saturday. I should also have April and Matt's album revisions done and sent to print by the end of the week also.

Until next time...thank you again to all of our amazing clients.

God Bless,

-Ryan and Amanda