I was enamored by the differences in culture and architecture than we have here in the States.  Everything over there was so old and built differently.  My Grandfather was in construction and I have early memories of him bringing me to a castle he was helping to restore.  Every town and village had a castle on top of the closest hill, many of which were closed to the public at the time.  Since then, there has been a growing trend to renovate and reopen these historical buildings for public consumption.

From those early memories I experienced as a child, sparked a photography project that Kate and I embarked upon just a few years ago.

Castles are found in abundance across the landscape of northern Italy. The northern regions are filled with a variety of different styles and sizes of castles from different time periods.

We worked on a project photographing six of these castles located in the Canavese region, which is a sub-region of the Piedmonte, located in the northwest corner of Italy.  Here are a few of the images in remembrance of my favorite project I have photographed.

So, naturally, I had to see what they looked like under a macro lens. Happy Halloween everyone!

We took a drive on Trail Ridge Road up through the Rocky Mountain National Park and came across this herd of elk.

We hope you enjoy these images as much as we enjoy our city!

We love our beaches, especially our home beach at Sunset Cliffs!

The flowers were in full bloom in Jackson Square.

This guy was a surprisingly talented drummer from New York, and had an audience five rows deep. Who says you need an expensive drum kit to be a great drummer?

Michael and our guide, Bow, kayaking through the park.

Our wonderful guide, Bow.

Our floating bungalow — you can see Mike hanging out on our balcony.

The front of our bungalow.

There are several bungalows where visitors stay, all of which are floating on bamboo.

Every morning a dense fog covers the landscape, and it’s beautiful to watch it burn off. In the distance you can see the unique mountain ridges.

Michael and our two guides paddling along the rain forest.

Mike and I on our jungle hike, overlooking the lake.

Thank you to our wonderful crew at the national park — they made our trip unforgettable!

Moo, one of the owners of the tour company.

And why did we go through such agony? Apparently, New Year’s eve is one of the most popular travel days in all of South East Asia, and there were no available flights to be found going from Phnom Penh to anywhere near Koh Tao.  However, as a person who strongly believes that the journey is half the adventure, I would probably do it all over again without hesitation. With that being said, we didn’t do much when we arrived on Koh Tao, and there are very few photos to prove it.  So let’s just skip onto Ko Yao Yai.

Ko Yao Yai, which means Big Long Island, is a conservative Muslim island nestled between the island of Phuket and the western side of Thailand’s mainland in the Andaman Sea (also part of the Indian Ocean).  Stepping onto the island is a bit like stepping into Thailand thirty years ago–before tourism took over and forever changed the Thai culture. There are no kitschy tourist attractions, strip malls or even restaurants (with the exception of the resort restaurants).  Michael and I found the one and only bar on the entire island: The Reggae Bar, a small, out of the way little hut of sorts, owned by a young husband and wife (the woman makes incredible home cooked meals, and just thinking of them makes my mouth water). We stumbled upon the place by accident during an unexpected rainstorm, and we returned every day after for inexpensive beer and her delicious Gaeng Phet Gai.

The pier in front of our little resort

Ko Yao Yai Resort

While sitting on the beach, we noticed these tiny crabs called Sand Bubbler Crabs. They make these tiny balls with the sand and it’s pretty amazing to watch these little critters work. They eat some kind of organic matter that is found in the sand, and as they do, they make these little balls. There are thousands of these crabs on the beach, and during low tide the beach is literally covered with millions of these tiny balls. These crabs are oddly curious creatures, and this one kept popping out of it’s hole next to me. They are pretty funny little things with cartoon looking eyes. 

After a very short while, we realized that we aren’t lay-on-the-beach sort of people, so we took to the streets and rented a moped to explore the island.

On one side of the island the tide goes out pretty far and we were able to check out all the long-tail boats.

Despite the Disneyesque crowds that Angkor Wat attracts, visiting the temples of Siem Reap was an incredible highlight. The ruins are quite simply awe-inspiring.  Most of the ruins were built during the 12th century and have since become victim of theft, vandalism and stubborn tree growth. The trees have this amazing ability to push their roots and limbs through the walls of these temples, creating something entirely artistic on their own.

Preah Khan Wat

Another favorite of ours was the Ta Prohm Wat.

While we were walking through the ruins, I noticed these spiders everywhere. They build a web with a cross in it, which is how they get the name “St. Andrew’s Cross Spider”.

Monks at Angkor Wat

One of several pavilions at Angkor Wat

There are three levels to this pumpkin which you can walk through once you enter through the mouth. The ground level represents hell, the middle represents earth, and the top represents heaven. We had just finished walking through the pumpkin ourselves when these monks arrived at the park and began their tour. 

This is the 50 meter long reclining Buddha.  A reclining Buddha symbolizes Buddha’s death and the complete peace he felt as he reached Nirvana.