Scenes From Dubai

I'm writing this post on the plane from Dubai to Dar Es Salaam and will hopefully be able to post it as soon as we land, although I'm doubtful right now because the wireless in Dubai was hit and miss I can imagine what it will be like in Tanzania. Our plane was two hours late arriving in Dubai but that didn't stop us from hitting the town. We first stopped at the beach next to the only 7 star hotel in the world, Burj Al Arab... We didn't stay there:) The next stop was at a couple more 5+ star hotels including Atlantis on the Palm Island. I think we finally got back to the hotel at around 3 am, even then we sat around chatting for a while. Goodtimes! I'll post more if and when I get a chance.

Arriving at our hotel...




Early morning sight-seeing










Atlantis...





Image of Burj Al Arab (lower-right)



Getting Ready to board our plane for Africa (image from Ray Santana)

To Africa! - Thirst Relief & Grace Ormonde Benefit Shoot

Shane has officially started his trip for the Grace Ormonde benefit shoot with Thirst Relief International. During this trip he will be working alongside 12 other amazing photographers

Ray Santana, Mike Colon, David Burke, Andrew Bryant, Ben Harrison, David & Luke Edmonson, Jason Thon, Jeff LaPlante, Jim Davis-Hicks, Melissa Jill and Phillip Glickman

as well as auction winners Laura Parker and Michelle Walker. Their current plans for the trip include:

-working with Thirst Relief International to provide life-saving clean water to Tanzanians

- A photoshoot with models from South Africa wearing fair trade jewelry by The Leakey Collection and gowns that were donated by the following amazing dress designers:

Ines Di Santo
Amy Michelson
Adele Wechsler
Angel Sanchez
Jenny Packham

– an African safari!


Shane and the team flew out of California Monday evening and arrived in Dubai early Wednesday morning (somewhere around 12:00am from what I understand). After checking into their hotel they all took a midnight tour of Dubai. I'm told it was still around 100 degrees and humid at 3:00am.

Exploring Grand Cayman: Part II (Something Different)

These images are in a special collection because they are all edited in a way that we considered a little different than how you normally think of a beautiful and colorful tropical paradise. They are my favorite images from our trip.

Exploring Grand Cayman: Part 1

While we were in the Caymans for Engage!09, we decided to see the island. So, we rented a car (which was a bit of a challenge at first because they drive on the opposite side of the road), got a map from the Ritz's concierge and took off without any real plans for the day. It was great! We drove around the entire island but the very north west part and had a great time documenting our trip.

Things we visited included:
Rum Point
Stingray City
Hell
The Turtle Farm
The Blow Holes
Water Cay
Local Beaches
George Town Shopping Center






The one's directly below are from our boat ride to swim with the stingrays, hosted by Ambassadors of the Environment.

Album preview and future visit to Africa

The summer is flying by and it seems like most every week we've been on the road or in the air. Next week will be no different as Shane will set out for Tanzania, Africa w/ Mike Colon, Ray Santana, The Edmondson's and more amazing photographers to work with Grace Ormonde Wedding Style Magazine and Thirst Relief International. All your thoughts and prayers are appreciated during these next couple weeks as they begin an amazing adventure together. I will be incredibly excited to see images from this trip and will be waiting along with you in anticipation :)

Because time is moving by so quickly, rather than creating an entire post of Emily and Jeff's wedding, I thought it may be a special treat for you to see a glimpse of a few pages from their album.

Enjoy!

note: slideshow is accompanied by music

engage!09: Grand Cayman

engage!09 is over but we're still down here on Grand Cayman and having a good time. We thought we would share a little from the actual event so you could get a glimpse of what we were treated to. The opening night was a reception on the beach designed by Michelle Rago from NYC. I was lucky enough to have dinner with Michelle at the dine around and she is a wonderful person as well as so much fun. The final evening was designed by Celebrations ltd and was in one of the Ritz's ballrooms. Now it's time for a vacation in which we will blog about after it's over, time to relax:)

Cayman Islands: The Beginning...but first....

We're here in the Houston airport before our flight out to the Cayman Islands. We're both looking forward to everything this week holds, but first, I didn't want to move any further in our blog posts until I shared a picture of Emily (as promised) and the look she chose for her wedding day. Here is my favorite :) We will post more from the day in the future, but until we return you'll be seeing pictures of our visit to the Cayman's.