Thank you and happy holidays from us to you - Los Angeles Travel Photographer

Wow, what a challenging and rewarding year 2015 has proved to be!  

Family, client and friend have been afflicted with illnesses.  I faced the subject of death on many levels and were reminded what a precious opportunity that I have to spend in this world.  

This year, me and my Assistante continued our exploration of our curiosity in Italy, for the third time.  And this time, it began with tears, tears of hurt and disappointment (a little bit of what happened here).  Luckily, we did not let that incident put a damper on our trip and rose above the circumstance.  Our love for this wonderful country and its people not only stayed, but grew.     

Speaking of exploration, we are still at loss on how we ended up going to a part of the world that we never thought we'd be willingly stepping on -  the Antarctica.  We have learned so much about the beauty of this continent, and about ourselves, especially of our ever-expandable limits.  Thanks to the other-worldly challenges that we had to deal with, we have become both physically and mentally stronger.  I feel that we are more open to getting out of our "comfort zone", which used to represent moderate temperatures.  

Friends, when you are immersed in the joy of family and friends this holiday season, I want you to know that I appreciate your being you, from  a liking of our post, to a comment of how you feel about our work, to the supportive words sent to my email, to even taking the time to share our posts/website to your family and friends.  For that, I thank you!    

In case you haven't noticed, our newsletter is turning one!  Without all my engaged audience like you, it wouldn't be this grown up.  And some of you have received a special thank-you in the (snail) mail.  You know who you are. :-)  If you are reading this and wonder what I'm talking about, the first step in becoming my VIPs next year is to sign up with our newsletter here: http://eepurl.com/_-A9v.  :-)

Now it's time to have that toast with my family.  With my renewed license in this world, for every additional day of my life, I will strive to share beauty, spread love and inspire changes.  And I look forward to seeing you along. 

Ciao!

I've Gone to the End of the World and Back - Los Angeles Travel Photographer

Guess, guess where this is.  Some call it the end of the world.  Others, the ones that consider themselves lucky to land on this piece of land, regard it "other worldly".

I can't wait to share the images from this trip and here is the first of many to come:  

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May You be Surrounded by the Warmth of Family - Los Angeles Travel Photographer

Today marks the beginning of the holiday season in many countries/cultures.  The drop of temperatures and the changes of colors reminded me of this image.  

This was after we made our way safely from the Hyogo region and arrived in Kyoto, at the golden time of such historical city that once served as Japan's capital and the emperor's residence for more than one thousand years.  The air had chilled enough for its maple leave to turn yellow and red and momiji-watching has become a national ritual. 

Eikan-do Zenrin-Ji (永観堂禅林寺) was such an inspiring temple where autumn colors, cultures and architecture kept us occupied for a whole day (yes, we snuck out for lunch because it was so cold and negotiated our way back in the afternoon).  As the day-light faded, the warm tones glowing from within this door drew me in.  I can feel my skin slowly relaxed, just by looking at this image today.

Happy Thanksgiving and may you be surrounded by the warmth of family!

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After dinner, if you haven't, read the story and have fun trying to win a prize here to kick off the holiday season.