As many of you know, practically all of my family is from or lives in St. Louis, so as I often do, I recently visited for Christmas.
All of this is personal photography, but of course I always take my photos seriously, and never leave home without a camera. Here I'm sharing some highlights of my trip. Even though I spent more time visiting with family than exploring the St. Louis metro area, I still got some interesting stuff.
Let's start with the reason for the season; Christmas Mass, which my family traditionally goes to at midnight Christmas Eve. This is All Saints Catholic Church in St. Peters, Missouri. It also happens to be the church where my parents were married, and I was baptized.
There are a few Christmas movies I make sure to watch every year. Early in December I always watch "Jingle All The Way," along with the first two "Home Alone" films. Come Festivus, I always pay homage by watching Seinfeld's "The Strike" on December 23rd (even when I travel, I still always manage to bring a pole with me - no joke).
On Christmas Eve every year, I always curl up in bed and watch "A Christmas Story;" it's thanks to this movie that my friends and I have developed the tradition of going to dinner at Peking Gourmet Inn in Falls Church for a fresh Peking Duck at some point in late December - that is what we did for New Years Eve this year, since I was back from St. Louis so late.
After "A Christmas Story" I made some Linguine with White Clam sauce paired with a Sauvignon Blanc and watched "It's A Wonderful Life;" another Christmas favorite of mine.
Christmas morning is of course when we get to see what Santa brought us.
My cousin and his family is also stationed in Alaska, so I set up a FaceTime so they could join in and Paup can not just talk with them, but also see them when talking.
On the other side of my family, Christmas is incomplete without Grandpa's Rudolph.
Everyone who knows me knows I love wine. Not only did I find this great Sauvignon Blanc (my favorite varietal), but I was also gifted a few bottles. And what better opportunity to try out my new Fstoppers Flash Discs than this?
Some behind-the-scenes geekery:
Canon EOS 1D X and EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM, Speedlite 600EX-RT with HONLphoto CTO gel and Fstoppers Flash Disc, mounted to a Nasty Clamp (these things are the best!), triggered via an ST-E3-RT Speedlite Transmitter.
Before leaving town, my aunt and cousins went to the St. Louis Zoo with me for Wild Lights - the zoo's annual light festival. All the animals were sleeping, sheltering safely out of sight, but this was more about the pretty lights anyway. The only animal we spotted was an otter, as they were still swimming about, and just barely visible with the available light.
Soon it was time to hit the road and head home; the morning I left St. Louis, a cold front had moved in, coating the area in a heavy frost and thick fog.
Upon returning home, I got to try out some of my new stuff from Christmas. Here is the first photo of 2015! Norah Jones' "Little Broken Hearts" on 180g white vinyl.
In addition to loving all the directions Norah Jones can take her music, I've always admired the cover art to "Little Broken Hearts" - an homage to "Mudhoney." Norah Jones' cover for "Little Broken Hearts" was shot by Frank Ockenfels III - go check out his amazing work!
If you haven't already, check out the highlights from 2014 in my "Best of 2014" photo gallery, showing highlights from the past year in my photography. Happy 2015!