Category Archives: Travel

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Europe Trip / Paris – 2017

The next stop on our trip was Paris.  When we got to Paris it was cold and wet; much colder than I was expecting for early September and much colder than it was in Italy.  We also a little tired from all of the moving around with gear.  But thankfully, we had some free time, again, to recharge.  I really like Paris!  So much art, culture and no shortage of amazing things to photograph! 🙂

 

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Europe Trip / Italy – 2017

In continuing with the Europe trip that we did back in September, the next stop on our trip was Italy.  We were in Milan for less than 24 hours, so I was not able to get any photos there.  But we spent over 2 days in Florence, Italy.  And it was magical!  I’ve been there before, but that was over 10 years ago and I was just a dumb college kid.  But this time, I really had a chance to appreciate the culture and architecture of the city.  I really wish I could go back and spend 3-6 months in Florence.

 

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Manarola, Cinque Terre, Italy Vernazza, Cinque Terre, Italy

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Europe Trip / Germany – 2017

Back in September, we had the opportunity to travel to several cities in Germany, Italy, and France, while we were working for a corporate client.  Our first city was Frankfurt.  After we got over our jet-lag, we had some personal time, so my co-workers and I took that time to do some touring.  Our time in Heidelberg was especially limited, as we only had, maybe 7 hours there.

Cities/Regions on our trip include:
+ Frankfurt, Germany
+ Heidelberg, Germany
+ Florence, Italy
+ Cinque Terre, Italy
+ Paris, France

Here are the photos from Germany.

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Ka’anapali Beach Sunset, Maui, Hawaii

If you follow us on Instagram, you probably noticed that we were in Hawaii on business.  (And if you’re not already following us on Instagram, please follow us!) We were not there to photograph a wedding, but to work with a corporate client.  Things were pretty busy, we took some spare time to test out some new timelapse gear.  Here’s a short video from the Ka’anapali Coast on Maui, Hawaii.

Ka’anapali Sunset from Esvy Photography on Vimeo.

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Philippines Trip Recap – Vigan City & Calle Crisologo

Vigan City is pretty cool little city in the Illocos Region of the Philippines.  According to Wikipedia, “it is one of the few Hispanic towns left in the Philippines where its structures have remained intact, and is well known for its cobblestone streets and a unique architecture that fuses Philippine and Oriental building designs and construction, with colonial European architecture. In May 2015, Vigan City was officially recognized as one of the New7Wonders Cities…”

New 7 Wonders!?!  That’s a pretty prestigious honor!  For me, the city was truly unique.  The architecture was something to really see.  You can definitely see the Spanish and Asian influence combined into many of the buildings.  It’s just too bad that the best part of the city was only really Calle Crisologo.  The rest of the still had it’s historic charm, but not nearly as much as Calle Crisologo.  Many of the streets have been paved and lost their cobblestones.  Maybe one day, they will restore the cobblestones and reduce traffic on its narrow streets.  Plus Calle Crisologo was a little too touristy, but that’s understandable.

Here are a few photos of Vigan City and a video of Calle Crisologo.

 


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Philippines Trip Recap – Bantay Belltower/Bellfry

If you follow us on Instagram, you probably noticed that I was in the Philippines on a family vacation/touring.  Originally, I was never really supposed to go on the trip.  It was only supposed to be my parents, until one day, my father randomly asked if I wanted to tag along.  Since I haven’t been to the Philippines since I was 5 years, I thought it would be a great time.  I had a couple photo shoots scheduled during the time frame, but I was able to re-schedule them into the month of June.  Plus going on the trip was a great time to test out some new gear to see if it’s ready for use in a wedding or more professional setting.

So over the next couple weeks or so, you will start to see a few posts both with photos and videos recapping the trip.  To kick off this this series, this is a quick video of the Bantay Belltower.  I can tell you everything that I learned about the place or…. you can just check the Vigan City Tourist Page on the Bantay Belfry.

I won’t bore you with the details of the trip, so if you have any questions about our trip or thoughts, please leave a comment below.  Thanks!

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Highlights from the Island of Kauai, Hawaii

In early January 2015, we had the opportunity to help a close friend with a corporate video gig.  We just had to film a number of interviews and cut/edit them within a short timeframe i.e. within 1-3 days for the corporate communications department’s presentation.  The catch… the opportunity was in Kauai, Hawaii!!!  Needless to say, we were SUPER excited!  We had never been to Hawaii before and it was a welcome break from NY, which had frigid temperatures in early January.  When we left NYC, the temperature outside with wind chill was -8deg F, that’s negative 8 deg.  COLD!!!  Temperature in Kauai when we landed at 9pm at night, 60 deg F.

So we worked hard for 5-6 days straight, rarely leaving the hotel in which we working working and filming the interviews.  But once all the hard work was done, we had a couple days to tour and explore the island.  The locals say that you can only see about 15% of the island from a car or hiking and the rest can only be seen by helicopter.  We didn’t get a helicopter, but I wish we had!  Oh well!  Next time!   And here are some of the photos from Kauai.  Some of the photos were taken with my cell phone and some were with my “real” cameras.

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san francisco & the golden gate bridge

So back in April, I was in the Bay Area, visiting family. I hadn’t been there since I was about 14 or 15 years old, so I took the time to do some of the local things as well as some of the touristy stuff. And you know how whenever you’re on Facebook or other social media sites, you always see photos of your friends with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background? It’s one of the many great things about San Francisco: it’s really easy to get a great photo of the city, especially since there are so many great viewpoints on the north side of the Golden Gate Bridge! I always wanted to check it out, with my camera in hand. So here are a couple of the photos that I took.

 

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montreal, quebec

So the other weekend, I had the opportunity to take a quick weekend getaway to Montreal, Quebec. I haven’t been there since I was probably about 9 or 10 years old, so I don’t really remember much. But the older parts of town look like you’re in France without leaving North America. Everything there is in French and some people don’t even speak English! And most of the signs are in both English and French. I felt like an outsider, not being able to speak French. I definitely might pick up the Rosetta Stone and see what I can learn, so that I can go back and chat it up with the locals.

While there, my friends and I checked a couple of the local food landmarks which included The St. Viateur Bagel Shop, which supposedly is better than NYC Bagels. Hmmm… I can’t say that they are better. But I’ll say that they are just as good. We went there after a nice of drinking. Apparently, that’s the thing to do, after you drink, it’s Poutine or Bagels. Speaking of poutine, even though I try to be pretty healthy with what I eat, every time I’m in Canada, I have to have Poutine!  There is just something about it.  It’s terrible for you , but it’s such a guilty pleasure.   They come in so many different styles, you’ll definitely find something you’ll like.  After drinking and partying in the Old Port, after the fireworks, we went to La Banquise.  I had the “La Savoyrade”…. uhh so bad for you, but oh so good, after a night of drinking!  And on our last night there, our local friend took us to the famous Gibeau Orange Julep, which makes these orange smoothie-like drinks! It’s pretty good! If you’re from the States, it will remind you of Orange Julius. What makes it so famous? Check out the last photo below. It’s a big Orange!

So anyway… We didn’t get to hit up all of the tourist spots, but we did enough for 1 weekend and I’m definitely looking to go back. Here are some photos from Mont Royal viewpoint and the older part of town, called “Old Port” and a couple fireworks shots from a show we watched along the river.

Also, since I started out in photography back in the film days, I’ve recently been experimenting with ways to make some of our photos look a little more film-like, so this was an opportunity explore that. So the photos may look a little different from what you’re used to seeing. What do you think? Do you like the film look?

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Paris, France

I’d say that traveling, to both new places and even places that you’ve been, is universally enjoyed by everyone. I’ve visited Paris before and there are few cities that I have been to that are quite like it. The city just has an air of romance. And why not, nearly everywhere you turn, the city is just beautiful. The character of the city and architecture are rivaled by very few cities across the world, as far as I know. The opportunity to re-visit Paris, a few months ago, came at a time when life was starting to get a little too “real,” if you know what I mean. So it was perfect timing for me. I really enjoyed my time in Paris and while it probably had more tourists than New York City, I can’t complain too much as I made some new friends there while touring. And, no, not necessarily romantic friends, just some good people to have a drink with, who also enjoy traveling as much I do.

So I hope you enjoy the photos and I hope they inspire to travel a little more and escape from the daily grind.

Also, be sure to check out our engagement shoot that we shot while in Paris.