Ali in England and Nikon news

Alison is having a grand time living and working in London. (For those new to the blog, our daughter Ali loves to travel and has been back-and-forth to Europe several times.)
She and her friend Amanda took a train to Wales this past weekend to see Amanda's aunt and uncle.
Alison's next planned adventure is to spend St. Patrick's Day in Dublin...

Amanda, Amanda's aunt and Ali (L-R)

On the photography front, I'm excited about our latest purchase - the Nikon D3.
This amazing new camera offers technical advancements that will allow us to give our clients fantastic results in a wide variety of lighting situations.
For the photographers out there, the D3 yields beautiful results at ISOs up to 6400 and beyond. This feature will allow available light photography in many more situations than were previously possible.
I'm going to be testing the camera out at the North Carolina Dance Theatre's upcoming dress rehearsal so check back to see the images.

More Adventures with Ali (Chasing Your Dreams)

Alison just emailed some photos of her quick trip to Prague over Thanksgiving weekend.
We are so proud of her spirit of adventure and adaptability. She has taken her passion for travel to many incredible destinations.
Ali and her good buddy Amanda had a great time exploring the historic city as they braved freezing temperatures.
The photos are a bit low in resolution so I put them together in a collage. If you look closely you can almost feel the cold.
I know Ali is getting ready to settle down and get a "real" job, but for now she is taking advantage of a great opportunity to chase her travel dreams.
We are all also excited that she is coming home soon for Christmas!

Ali in Prague

Alison's European Adventures

After a brief stay in beautiful Switzerland, our daughter Alison has moved to a new home in the English countryside near London.
She is an au pair for a family with two young children.
Aside from the challenge of driving with a stick shift on the wrong side of the road, she is having a terrific time.
She is able to make frequent trips to London to visit her great friend Amanda (who is from Salisbury). She spent her second straight Halloween in England and will spend her second Thanksgiving in Europe, last year in Florence and this year in Prague. She'll have to search hard for turkey and stuffing.

Ali at her new digs (kidding...this is Leeds Castle)

On another note, I'm looking forward to reconnecting with some old friends and meeting some new photographers tomorrow night at a talk by David Hobby, who has a site called Strobist. The Baltimore photographer gives technical tips on how to better utilize off-camera flash techniques.

Ali Update

I haven't done too well on the blog updates recently but I wanted to let everyone know that Alison made it to Switzerland and she is having a great time.
She is living with a family in the small town of Neuchatel, which she said is incredibly beautiful. Ali said the people are very friendly and she seems to have a new adventure each day.
Things have been busy on the photography front as well as we've been getting many inquiries for 2008 and we had several client meetings this week. We also did another shoot for Davidson College last week and I've got two portraits shoots to do for a magazine.
We survived the heat of August and are now gearing up for a very busy fall wedding season. We have upcoming weddings in Winston-Salem, Charlotte, Myrtle Beach, Dunn (near Raleigh) and another in Charlotte. We'll also work two bridal portraits in there somewhere.
Alison will be sending photos from time to time and we'll keep you updated on her travels.

Ali at the former hotel (built in 1830) where she lives with her Swiss family