Switzerland Day 5 - Bern

Bern was my favorite city we visited in Switzerland.  If we had more time we would have visited Murten as well which is supposed to be the best preserved medieval  town in Switzwerland. The capital city of Bern took us back in time. We enjoyed walking along the cobblestone streets people watching, window shopping and appreciating the architecture. We joined a group of spectators watching  two gentlemen play a life size game of chess in front of the capitol building. Not far from the capitol building we saw my favorite of many colorful fountains. This one depicts and Ogre actually eating children!  We had lunch nearby. The food as usual was unremarkable but I loved the clever posters hanging in the resteraunt showing cows doing yoga. Maybe that explains why the dairy is sooo delicious in Switzerland. We went on to visit the awe inspiring Bern Cathedral.

We then took a bus up to the Paul Klee Center. The bus went through a beautiful residential neighborhood. The museum is an amazing piece of architecture in itself with undulating curves like waves coming out of the ground and the mountains in the background. On the way back from the Paul Klee Center we were sitting on the bus and the gentleman accross from us starting laughing . He took out his camera and took a photo of a woman facing us and said "just legs" and continued chuckling. I was curious about what he was seeing from his seat so I went to check it out. There was a view of the woman sitting facing us with just her legs sticking out from under an oblong shape. It was very amussing. I took what may bemy favorite photo of the whole trip. The man on the bus was from Sweeden and was very friendly - I loved his comment when he took the photo - he said "ha, ha, just legs.. a Man Ray photo" I am not sure I see the similarity but you can judge for yourself at www.manraytrust.com/ On the way back to the train we stopped to see Bear Park. The symbol of Bern is the Bear but Bear Park is not much to speak of. I would not recommend it although the Japanese tourists seemed to enjoy it. You would expect bears to exist as part of the wildlife in a mountainous country like Switzerland but they have been hunted into extinction and are just now staring to make a comeback.

As we walked back to the train station we stopped in front of a wedding dress shop where Claire found her wedding dress. Don't get me wrong - she has no plans to get married as far as I know but it is always good to have your dress picked out well in advance! It is the blue one in the photo. After a long day we went back to Zurich and had asian food with Serena who works way too much!!

 

 

 

Baby ballerina

I love this red pettiskirt on this baby - so cute!  I photographed her 6 month portrait at her home. We photographed her outside in the yard and indoors with window light.  I get to do it again soon in her grandma's garden with her big brother.

 

 

First Steps Cincinnati Children's portrait photographer

This is the third time in one year I had the pleasure of photographing this little boy. We did a newborn session, a six month session and now his one year portrait. I love the story board I call "First Steps". Happy Birthday Cameron.

 

 

Walnut Hills High School Chalk Art Contest

It was my honor to serve again as a judge for the 30th annual  Walnut Hills High School Chalk Art Contest. I was joined my many distinguished fellow artists and Walnut HIlls Alum. I love going back to my Alma Mater and seeing all the young talent there. Here are some photos from that beautiful day. I have included a photo of my talented  colleague Ann Segal. You can see her work at .www.annsegalphotography.com/

 

 

 

 

Day 4 Switzerland

Even though my dad is the only one reading this blog I thought I better not neglect it - I still have 4 days from my Swiss adventure to share! On our fourth day in Switzerland my daughter and I headed to the Berner Oberland region.This is a must see area when traveling in Switzerland. It is chock full of beautiful scenery, great hiking and adorable small mountain towns. We took the train to Interlaken and then on to Lauterbrunner. If we were there later in the year we would have spent time in Interlaken. The Swiss open air Folk Museum sounds delightful. Lauterbrunnen is a one street town  and it is where we took the cable car up to Muren. We took a total of three different lifts that day. Several of the photos here are taken inside one of the cable cars we took to continue our ascent. If you look closely you can see a white knuckle in one of the photos. The lifts can be quite a thrill ride! Muren is an adorable town and seems dependent on ski season. The permant population is around 400. Our final destination however was an even smaller town named Gimmelwald. It was well worth the trip. Gimmelwald looks like a hobbit village. I think the population is around 100. It was perfectly charming. If we had more time we would have gone to Jungfraujoch. You take a train up to the highest train station in Europe 11,300 ft. It is supposed to be the coolest thing to do in Switzerland. We had planned to go back on our last day with our hostess Serena but it rained and/or snowed all day depending on where you were. We did a lot of walking on our fourth day. I really do not recommend visiting Switzerland in March. The trails are mostly still covered with slush or ice so hiking opportunities are limited. We did see people hauling ski stuff up the mountain on the lifts but I have to say the skiing did not look the least bit appealing. Everyone who knows has told me the best skiing in the world is in the American West. I think I will stick to that. All in all it was a great day. I will never forget visiting a hobbit village with Claire.

 

 

 

One year portrait Cincinnati children's portrait photographe

This is my second photo shoot with this angel. She just turned one. Her father taught my son chemistry at Walnut Hills High School. He is one of the best teachers my kids ever had! Pink is always a great choice for little girls. She was very active so we kept changing things up to keep her intersted. We took pictures in the studio as well as in my sun room with natural light. When she got restless we gave her a book to read or some cheerios to munch on. Many of these photos had cheerios in them before I retouched them out but I kept them in the photo where she is wearing the red pants. I love her in the pink pettiskirt and in the tub. In the photo where she is clapping her musical sticks together she is showing off what she learned in Miss Amanda's Music Garden class.www.missamandasmusic.com/home.html Happy Birthday !!!

 

Spring Fashion from Sweetie Pies

Who doesn't have at least a dozen t-shirts they don't wear but can't stand to part with because they are sentimental? B.j. McHugh can recycle them for you and create a modern skirt or shirt for you. All of the clothes shown here are made from recycled t-shirts, even the scrunchie! These models were so much fun. The younger kids were "workin' it".  They kept us laughing the whole time. Check out www.sweetie-pies.com for adorable children's and now adult clothing.www.sweetie-pies.com