Spain/Italy Trip (Part 1)

Howdy!

It has been awhile since I initially promised to post cool pictures.  I'll start posting them a little bit at a time along with explanations as to what they are and where I've been.  The trip to Europe was an amazing, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and I'm so happy that I was able to go.  At the same time, the entire trip made me appreciate certain things about the United States and Nebraska.  Europe is gorgeous, but I was SO ready to return home by the end.  I missed the good ol' USA.

To start, here are a few plane shots.  This trip was the first time since the eighth grade that I had flown anywhere, so initially it was a tad nerve-wracking.  Plane rides across the ocean are especially disturbing when you aren't used to air travel.  I had an overnight from Philadelphia to Spain and I'm positive that that's the worst night of sleep I've ever had in my life.  The seat belt bell kept binging, there was turbulence, the plane seats were unbearably uncomfortable, and I was too excited about landing to get a wink of sleep.  I would estimate a total of an hour of dozing the entire flight.  As a result, I felt like a zombie for the first day of touring in Madrid.  The dark circles under my eyes were so intense that it looked like I had been punched in the face...twice.

All that aside, the clouds and horizon views from the plane were awe-inspiring and beautiful.  I managed to get a few photos, but none of them fully capture what I could see in the moment.  The following photos show views from the plane, including the landing in Madrid.

That's all for tonight!  I'll fill in more about the trip a little later on as I have time.  I've been pretty swamped with graduate school homework, so it has been hard to get around to any posts.

May 31, 2014

I thought I'd do a quick blog post before leaving the country.  I'm taking off for Spain and Italy for ten days, so I may have some very different skyline photos available very soon!  I'm a little nervous about the travel since I've never been on an international flight (heck, I haven't been out of the Midwest since the 8th grade when I went to D.C.).  However, I'm very excited to have some new photography opportunities.  Nebraska has its own beauty, but it'll be nice to see something different from the norm.

Anyway, if I have the time, cool photos should be forthcoming!

May 7, 2014

Well, I have a little time on my hands and a few different pictures to share.  Ever since I got a smart phone, it's been much easier to take pictures "on the go".  Here are a few I took around Lincoln when I didn't have my real camera handy.

Most of these were taken within the last week or so, but some are a tad older.  Today I haven't been outside much because it's uncomfortably hot.  It's around 97 degrees, which is so different that last year at this time.  Last year, I graduated in 30-something degree temps, and this year it's consistently in the 70's and 80's.  I wish I could be mad, but I'm actually not disappointed that weather caused my classmate and me to miss having a real graduation ceremony.  I was pretty over college by that point, and I wasn't keen on listening to boring speakers and hundreds of names...  Looks like weather won't be a factor this year.  I can't remember, but I think graduation ceremonies will take place either at Pinnacle Bank Arena or Devaney.

As you can probably tell from the square nature of the photos, these are from Instagram.  My Instagram is private, but very few of the photos are personal, so I don't mind sharing them.

Anyway, there may be a few more posts out of me in the next couple weeks.   Some may even be pictures of a Spain skyline.  I'm on Week 2 of my three week gap between work and my grad school program, and at the beginning of June I'm going on a [mostly] free trip to Spain!  I'm so excited to be able to go to somewhere with photo opportunities.  I do my best in Nebraska, but sometimes there's only so much you can do with flat land and small town scenery.

Back to my three week break, I quit a tad early because I actually thought my program started earlier, but I was at a high level of hatred with my lab tech job, so I didn't even try to extend my stay even when I found out.  It's been very odd having "college-level" free time again.  I was so used to ten-hour days and cramming as much into weekends as I possibly could that it's been bizarre to catch up on movies, go for walks, read, take pictures, see friends/family, and get a decent amount of sleep.  I'm enjoying it while it lasts because I know the craziness will start again soon...

April 8, 2014

Howdy!

Well, it's finally starting to get pretty and nice outside, so I'm hoping I'll have better scenery to photograph sometime very soon.  The grass is really trying to fill in, and that's the most exciting part of spring.  The transition from ugly, dead brown to vivid green improves my mood tenfold.  I think the color green must be the true source of happiness...

A couple nights ago I managed to get a cool panorama up by the new Pinnacle Bank Arena in the Haymarket area of Lincoln.  Since I was on foot, I wasn't willing to wait around until sunset.  Walking home in the dark when you're a girl, even in a relatively safe town, is not particularly comfortable.

You can click below to enlarge the photo.

Going into late spring and summer, I'll be starting a graduate program and leaving my current job.  Working in a commercial lab really hasn't been paying off (in a financial OR personal fulfillment sense), and I decided to reroute my career.  It remains to be seen whether I'll have more or less time for photography, blogging, and other fun stuff this summer.  It's been a bummer how little photography I've done over the past year or so.  Those 10-hour days at work have been stealing all my daylight!

March 3, 2014 Sunset

Ever since the short, winter days kicked in, it's been very difficult to get any kind of sunrise, sunset, or even SUNLIGHT photo.  I work 10-hour days, so I basically drove to and from work in partial or complete darkness.  Now that spring is drawing nearer, I get to see a few sunsets as I drive home.  If it hadn't been close to zero degrees, I would have ran inside for my "real" camera, but with a newer phone, I was able to pull off a fairly high quality photo.

Breaking from Tradition

Once again, I'm going to break from the tradition of this blog and post an Omaha picture.  As I was out walking my boyfriend's dog, I noticed that the lighting was fantastic.  When I arrived at a walking bridge over West Center Road and the saw the view from that point, I had to come back after the walk was completed.  It was just too cool to ignore.

Capitol Sunset

Well, it's been a very long time since I've updated.  A lack of a good view and general busyness in my life kept me from having much to share.  Since my last update, I graduated from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, got a job, and moved into an apartment in Lincoln.  After living a solid four years in a dorm room as a student, conference assistant, or resident assistant, the transition to apartment life has felt a little strange.  It's so bizarre to not have to carry a tote and towel with you to a public restroom when you need to shower or to not just walk over to a dining hall where food is pre-made for you.   Additionally, it has taken me awhile to wrap my head around the fact that I won't have classes starting any time soon.  In my college career, I never had more than two or three weeks off of classes or job training of some kind, so it's weird to think that, come August, I don't have to buy textbooks or do any homework.  To be honest, it actually makes me a little sad.  School was my life for 17 years and that fact that it's over--unless I go to grad school someday, which I'm not even going to get into right now--makes me feel nostalgic.

What HAS helped the shock of the transition to an apartment and working life is that I live very close to campus and downtown Lincoln.  I'm still in my prime photography and walking path area, so I do get to maintain a little consistency in my life for the time being. 

The other night I noticed a pretty sunset as I was taking out the trash at my apartment.  I can't say that I have the most amazing view from my window, but I'm in close walking distance of the Lincoln skyline, so I should be able to manage to snap a few awesome shots occasionally. I only wish that the Capitol Building was open at night because you could get some amazing sunset and cloud photos from that high.

 

Since I've "discovered" that I can manage interesting shots from my parking lot, I'm going to make an effort to keep updating this blog a little more.  Even if no one reads it, it's something for me to do when I'm NOT studying at night. :)