Photography Workshop

I have decided to do a photography workshop in the Spring/Summer.  I know how hard it is to start a photography business and sometimes just understanding how to take pictures can be a big challenge.  So I have contacted a couple of beautiful girls that I know that are willing to be photographed as well as do a "trash the dress" session.  That is a session were the bride takes her wedding dress and just ruins it by getting into a river or getting it dirty, all for the sake of the photo.  I can't wait.  I have a lot of people that are already signed up and I will be working on a date for the shoot so keep your eyes peeled.  Its coming soon!


One more thing! ~ In case you missed them, at the top of the blog you will find tabs for
Information on Weddings and Portrait Session.
There you will find my Galleries, were you can view my Portfolio.

Viewing my blog on your Cell Phone? ~ In case you are viewing my blog via cell phone, you might not be able to see the Tabs or the "Pages" drop down menu at the top of the page.  If thats the case, just click this, "Galleries", to view my portfolio.  To get pricing information click here for "Wedding"
and here for "Portrait"
Otherwise, check back on a computer to get the full effect of my blog and... Enjoy!

Alex Aleman
"capturing life perfectly"

Phone: 678-697-2049
www.alexaleman.com
www.facebook.com/alexalemanphotography

PS. Please "Follow" and "Share" my blog for support. You can also leave a comment. I love hearing from those who read my blog.

Thank you and God bless.

*All Photos Copyright by Alex Aleman*

The Italy Wedding Experience. Chapter 2

The Italy Wedding Experience

Sunday

A Day by Day Account

Soooo, now that we had had a restful night sleep, in separate rooms mind you, and after the prior days craziness, we decide to go out and visit Rome.  And wow is there so much to visit. 

We started out the morning first off with breakfast.  Now let me tell you that if you like Prosciutto, then Italy is the place for you.  If you like free prosciutto, then the hotel breakfast buffet is defiantly a must.  They serve it like its bagels, and as much as you can fit in to your pie hole.  I love that stuff and ate it like it was my last breakfast.  

What defiantly caught my eye is the orange juice, or at least that’s what I thought it was.  It was a strange kind of juice and I am not sure what it was, but it was good. 

Carrie could not wait to get herself a cappuccino and she LOVED it.  I also tried it and it was amazing.  Just like in the movie, “Hudson Hawk”, she finally got her cup of joe.  

Now fully stuffed from breakfast, we headed out into Rome.  I decided to take my Nikon D300 and a few lenses.  The equipment, which was lent to me by my good friends Mary Waldrop and Brandie Williams, was perfect for this trip.   I did not have the money to rent this equipment and they graciously let me borrow it.  All in all I say I had around $10,000 in camera stuff which made me a little nervous, but thought that I might should put it to good use while I was here.   I took the  12-24mm, the 85mm 1.4 and the 80-200mm f2.8.   I soon learned in the days that followed, all I would end up taking out with me was the 12-24mm as it gave the best results.  I wanted to be able to show my friends and family, exactly what I saw and that lens did the job.  It’s a wide-angle lens but with no real fish eye effect.  It was perfect.  It also made my backpack light, as I was not taking all those other lenses around with me. 

So back to Rome… we were off to see the sights. One of the most important things that I wanted to see was the Roman Colosseum.  I remember seeing it on the History channel and in books and I could not wait to see it in person.  I was so excited.  So off we went and let me explain something.  When you see the Colosseum in person, it is an amazing site.   There you are standing in front of one of the oldest structures created by man.   What’s more amazing is that it is still standing.  Man the Roman’s can build.

Here are some pictures.

 This is a panoramic that I made out of 6 or so images.

 This is an archway just outside the Colosseum.  You can see the Colosseum in the background to the right.

After that we headed to the Imperial Fora which is across the street.  We had paid for a guided tour (might have been a rip off but we were American tourist and know no better).  That was so neat to see those old structures.  The Fora construction was started by Julius Caesar.  (check this Wikipedia site for more info:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_fora )

Here is the Fora.

 This is a picture of some of the many fountains were you can fill your water bottle.  You can't just get a glass of water in a restaurant, you have to buy it in bottles.  You keep the bottle and fill them up all around the city.  The water is very clean and I never got sick from it. 

 Here is where one of the Caesar would hold private games and such in the Imperial Fora.  I can't remember the name of the particular Caesar but he was a private man and did not like to be in public, so he had this built to have private displays.

 Check out the trees.  So cool

 This was a market place.   Look how tall the ceilings are.

During the day we visited some museums and stuff (can’t remember their names) and ate lunch atop a hill overlooking the fora.  After lunch, we needed to use the restroom.  Quick note…there are no public “free” restrooms in Italy.  There are these bathrooms that are unisex and it works like this.  You go in, use the restroom then pay some guy at the door.  Basically you give him a tip.  So we did and man he was not happy with the tip.  He rattled off some insult in Italian and of course, being Spanish, I fired back in Spanish.  I think he understood what I said cause he did not say much after that. 

Anyway back to the beauty of Rome.  We walked the streets and found ourselves at the Trevi Fountain.  WOW.  How does someone go about building something like this.  Where do you even start.   Anyway, it was crowded but we managed to get a couple of photos.

The Fountain Photos.

At this point we are a bit tired but we needed to see one more thing.  The Spanish Steps.  Not really sure what they are about but I know of them and was not leaving without seeing them.  We got there and got some photos.   Really cool.  Its just a thing in Italy to just relax and hang out.  There were so many people just sitting and eating lunch and being mellow. 

Here is a photo of it.

We passed by a wine shop during the day to get a bottle of “Vino” for my in laws who were kind enough to watch my two kids while we were off “globe trotting”.  It was a quaint shop with lots of wine.  All sorts of wine, local wine that you can’t get here in the states.  I’m not sure if I mentioned this or not but you cant the wine in Italy does not contain sulfates.  Sulfate is an additive to preserve the wine.  So a lot of local wines that you by, that do not contain sulfates, are meant to be consumed in 12 months.  It also makes the wine taste different if it does not contain sulfates.  It taste better. 

After a long day of being out on the road pounding the pavement, we headed back to the hotel.  Since they had messed up our rooms and had put us in two separate rooms, they made up for it by giving us a free dinner at their hotel restaurant.  The food was to die for. 

We ate, and then we crashed.  Our first full day in Rome was through and we were tired.  We went to our separate rooms (I know, romantic right?) and went to sleep. 

Alex Aleman
"capturing life perfectly"

Phone: 678-697-2049
www.alexaleman.com
www.facebook.com/alexalemanphotography

PS. Please "Follow" and "Share" my blog for support. You can also leave a comment. I love hearing from those who read my blog.

Thank you and God bless.

*All Photos Copyright by Alex Aleman*

The Italy Wedding Experience. Chapter 1

The Italy Wedding Experience

Friday & Saturday

A Day by Day Account.

In August of 2011, my wife and I we blessed with a trip to Italy to photograph a wedding for a client.  This trip was so amazing, so unreal that I can't stop thinking about it till this day.  The time spent there just opened my eyes to a totally different culture and way of life that I wish at times that I actually lived there.  The culture was so rich and full of life.  I took sooooooooo many photos as what I have decided to do is post photos from the trip and give a small description of each.  I will try to do this once a week or so.   i will just re edit this post and keep re-posting it.  So please scroll down to the bottom and check out the new photo.  I am doing this for myself and my kids so that one day they can look at these photos and see where their mommy and daddy visited. 

1.  This is the Hotel Napoleon.  When Carrie and I arrived in Roma Italy, after an 8.5 hour flight from NYC, our luggage didn't make it.  We were both so tired but decided to go ahead and go to the Hotel.  We arrived at the Hotel Napoleon.  This was a great little place with air conditioning in each room and lovely accommodations.   The staff was supper friendly and very helpful.   We unfortunately had to sleep in separate rooms the first night but they made it up to us with a free dinner.  Before the first night was over, we had to go to back to the airport to see if we could find our luggage.  We had gotten some information for the airline and they told us it had be sent to Piza by mistake but was sent back to Roma.  We got there and search and could not find it.  Then some one told us it was probably being held in a certain office and so we went searching.  We were running out of time before closing and there was only one way to get to that office as the air port was all but closed.  We had to go thru the employee only gate as a short cut or we would not make it.  I didn't want to do it but my wife was so convincing with her face full of tears that they let us thru.  Thank you God.  We made it just in time and honestly, when I saw those bags, it was like finding gold.  We grabbed our stuff and jumped on the train to take another 45 min ride back into Roma.  We got dressed and went out into the city.

Here is a link that shows some photos and a map of the hotel location.  Its best to always view them in the "satellite" view.  You get to see the city. 

Link:

http://maps.google.com/maps/place?q=hotel+napoleon+rome&cid=10684036947396376711

We went out that night in search of a much needed glass of wine as our day had been quite stressful.  We took a left out of the hotel on to Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II  and went up a few blocks and took a slight left onto Via dello Statuto.  We then took a right onto Via Merulana and went the corner of Via di San Vito where there was this place called "BAR Tabacchi" or at least that what the sign said.

(*You can see it in the google map if you go to that street corner and keep double clicking until the little yellow man shows up on the map.  Then click it and it will give you the street view.  Pan around till you see the cafe sign.  Another way to do it is this.  You will notice on the map that at the top left corner is the little yellow man.  You can grab him and drag him onto the map and to the street corner or location that I suggest.  The street view will appear.   I will do this occasionally so that you can see where we were.) 

Anyway, we sat there and ordered a glass of red wine, which was amazing as is all the wine in Italy, and notice that the waiter brought us a plate full of food, for FREE.  What?  Really?  This never happens in America.  I gave the man a tip and ordered another glass and before the night was done, he brought us another glass for free and more food.  This country is un-real.
While we sat there, I noticed a girl with a back pack.  Carrie and I struck up a conversation with Morgan Woods and she told us that she was from Atlanta GA her self and had been traveling for a while, backpacking with friends across Europe.  I remember that she told me that she had been to Turkey and that seemed so cool to me.  I got some information form her and she gave me the business card to a shop in Atlanta, owned by a family member.  It is called "poor little rich girl".  I asked for some sort of personal information that only she would know.  That why, when I returned, I could call the shop, explain how I had met her, and then give them the info and they would know that I was for real and not some crazy person.  (as a side note. I did call the shop in March of 2012 and they did relay the message to her.  She called me and we talk for a little while as she told me about her trip.  It was neat to talk with someone whom I met half was across the world.  She told me she was going back, just a few weeks after our call and I have to admit I wanted to go to but I know that Carrie was not ready to leave the girls again. 

After the glasses of wine were gone, Carrie and I returned to our hotel for some much needed sleep.  The next day would began our great tour of Roma.

Alex Aleman
 "capturing life perfectly"
Phone: 678-697-2049
www.alexaleman.com
www.facebook.com/alexalemanphotography

PS. Please "Follow" and "Share" my blog for support. You can also leave a comment. I love hearing from those who read my blog. Thank you and God bless. *All Photos Copyright by Alex Aleman*