I had a little downtime this morning so I worked on some more of my zillions of Europe photos. These ones are all from Spain and Rome.

One of my favorite parts about going to Europe is how inspired I am when I’m there. It’s not only about the amazing art collections, architecture and culture. It’s also the colors and textures in everything surrounding you that I love. Old doors, windows, peeling paint, graffiti… makes me swoon!

I’ve always thought it a little bit strange that names of cities are different in different languages. Venice is Venezia, Rome is Roma in Italian. Somehow I think that we should all just say the name of the place we’re in the way they say it. Venezia was beautiful. I had quite a few people say that they didn’t like it before we went, so I was a little bit apprehensive about going, but it was my favorite of this trip. We were only there for 3 days which I think is perfect. It’s gorgeous and the people are amazingly friendly, especially if you have a little blond haired, blue eyed toddler that makes eyes at all the men! They loved her… I’ve never seen a child get so much attention in one place before.

As most of you know we just spent a month in Mallorca, Rome, Venica and Italy. I went into this trip really hoping to get some beautiful shots, of my family but also of the cities we were visiting. I had these visions of perfect winding cobblestone streets (without the tourists and their fanny packs) in Spain, fountains at sunset in Rome and glorious motorboat free views of the Grand Canal in Venice.

What I got was something quite different. Traveling with kids does not allow for 10 minutes to frame the perfect shot, wait for the fanny pack to pass, get the perfect light. So, I changed my plan. Rather than getting picture perfect postcard shots I decided to get the Real Rome, Venice and Palma. I have to say I like the results. Different, but good different.

I have about 1500 shots of our trip, so you will be seeing a lot as I go along and carve out a few minutes to edit my favorites. In the meantime, many of you have been asking to see some photos so here are a few of our visit to Rome.

Yesterday afternoon Shelley, Alison and I went to this beautiful old house to take some photos for my Marta Locklear workshop. It was cold and windy but they were troopers for me the whole time. As I was editing these I was just stunned at how beautifully both of these girls photograph. They both did such a great job. Thanks ladies! Here are a few of my favorites… and it was hard to choose because I really love a ton of them!

Today I had another assignment for my Marta Locklear workshop. I had to shoot something from 10 different angles to try to get as many different perspectives on the same item without moving it. It was fun to just mess around and go all out on my processing and textures! Here’s a few of my fave’s.

I love the look on a mom’s face with her new little baby. Somehow it doesn’t matter that there’s been no sleep, lots of messes and a little crying. There always seems to be a special sparkle in her eyes…

Here are a few more for you Jay, so you can make it through another few days without your family.

We took a little getaway to Mazatlan last week. It was wonderful to get a bit of sun! Here are a few of our trip.

So I decided to jump on the Etsy bandwagon. Who knows if anything will come of it but it’s worth a try right? I posted some of my Europe photos on there for sale as canvas art. We’ll see what happens.

My storefront is www.kareywoodphotos.etsy.com

We’ve been talking about what holidays we’re going to take this year… thinking Mexico, maybe Florida after Christmas. I’m happy to go anywhere and get away from the cold and snow, but I would love to go back to Europe. Our trip last April/May was just wonderful and I really miss it. I loved the old buildings, the character everywhere you turn. One thing I really hate about Canada is the way we build. Everything goes up cheap and fast, and when we think our cheap and fast building looks outdated we tear it down and throw up something else equally cheap and fast. I love the way the Europeans do it. Quality, amazing craftsmanship, classic design. Art, culture and old beauty everywhere… Yep, missing europe today…