Pier 5 - The Tasting!

Okay, so if anyone who knew me and my wife read this blog and you asked them about us and the things you read here they would not be surprised to tell you that were random, fun, energetic people who jump head first into all things we do. Tina accepted my proposal on December 26th 2008, and let me tell you have I have never been happier.  What a great year 2008 was, however come December 26th 2009 we still had no place to get married, no plans, no dress, no invitation, not even an announcement. Our families never ended up throwing us an engagement party and by the end of that year we were thinking that we would be engaged forever. Now don't get me wrong it was never for a lack of trying, we had visited thousands of places, Tina may have tried on every dress in the Tri-State area but looking back on our wedding when its not right its not right. In January of 2010 I started a new job, and that put an even bigger hamper on things happening for us. Until we found Pier 5 in Baltimore.


Fitting very snuggly on the Harbor and inside our budget it was a great place to get married. The view was fantastic, the staff enjoyable. It was a hotel, it was a ceremony ground, and it was a reception all in one. What we had left to do was taste the food we were preparing to spend an enormous amount of money on. Never fear, we booked the place in February and the "Wedding Blitz" began. Come May almost everything was on cool down mode when we went in for our tasting in hand. Having just got my T2i a few days earlier of course the camera was in hand to grab pictures.  It was a dream day, could not have asked for better weather and in reality, it was really exciting because it served as a prelude for what to come. We were sat down by our coordinator and began to iron out the specific details, she showed us all sorts of dishes and she sat us down and we began to indulge ourselves in some of the most fantastic food we've ever had. The crab cakes (pictured above) were some of the best I personally have ever had and in sitting in the heart of Baltimore Harbor I would not expect less.

What I had not realized going into this was that there would be so many decisions that needed to be made that day. If we were to do it all again I really would have asked for a cheat sheet so that we could go in with some answers. I think in that two hour session with Pier 5 we made about 70% of the decisions for the wedding. Everyone goes into the wedding knowing that they want a cake but when presented with 30 different cakes picking out the "perfect" one can lead to a prolonged argument. We spent most of that morning picking out napkin styles and what types of wine we wanted and in what order we wanted things server. The picture to the right is what we finally decided on, yes we had a conversation about what folding of napkin we wanted. Needless to say my my Dad and I were enjoying the food and the drinks while Mom and Tina worked out the fine details. I don't want to sound uninterested but in reality Dad and I could only argue about the color of the tablecloth for so long.

After it was all said and done we all headed outside and took a look at where we (less than a month from then) would be getting married. Shooting in this light was a little difficult but I was able to get some of my favorite pictures perhaps ever of my future bride. She just looked so calm and in control that day. Which considering everything we had done was surprising because of all of the decisions we had made. Needless to say, a lovely May day.

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A Streetcar named Desire



The rusty pull leaver of a street car
designed to clear snow off the tracks.

 More and more as I being to enjoy my photograpgy I find that I want to bring my camera equipment with me everywhere. I find that some days I even consider taking it to work "just in case". Halloween was no exception this year. As the wife and I have been really looking to get a dog and we were headed into Baltimore to go to a few dog pounds. I honestly cannot explain why  I took my camera with me that day, all I know is that the bare essentials, Camera and one lens. That day I took my T2i and my 50mm f1.8 "Nifty Fifty" and as we drove to the first shelter I drove by the Baltimore Street Car Museum. I had never really seen it and its really out of the way and looked like an interesting place. I didn't stop to take pictures then as we were headed to look at dogs, but I made a point to attempt to get back there before the day was through.

The Rusted Body of a Baltimore Street Car.

After going to a few shelters and getting some lunch in Federal Hill I asked the wife if we could just go back and take a few pictures before we lost the sun. While the museum had many street cards in amazing condition I was really interested in the two broken down trains they had sitting down the track from the museum. Not wanting to get into any trouble I go into the musem and ask the manager if I can go crawl through them and take some pictures. The owner, slightly confused and amazing that anyone would want to crawl through those heaps but he obliged and we headed down away from the station to take the pictures.

The Trains were rusted and had a "steam punk" feel as switches and gauges were all over the place. I took alot of pictures and really enjoyed the museum. It represents (much like its location) a lost part of Baltimore from the Hampden area of a time when Baltimore had street cars. The lesson that I learned here is to always have your camera on you as you never know when you may encounter a situation where the perfect light, perfect sun, perfect rust covered street car named Desire.

The Angel of the Confederacy

You often forget when you live in our country that just about 150 years ago our country was involved in a deep civil war. I think in many respects the North was immortalized and in many respects the South was forgotten by many.  I don't think that this is a function of their bravery, or their heroics in battle, but rather what their cause is so often associated with. I am not trying to get into a debate over the root cause of the Civil War I am simply attempting to get people to remember that just because the South was fighting for something you may or may not believe in, those boys did not have much of a choice when their country called. Living in Maryland we get an interesting perspective as we were a swing state in the Civil War, and live in the direct area of many famous battles. While down town there is a larger statue to commemorate the Union I did not know about this until it was literally right on top of me. But nestled in the art district of Baltimore I found this angel and I was even more surprised that this was a memorial that sought to immortalize the Confederacy. I guess I liked it even more because to me this screamed to not forget that in both sides of the bloodiest war in American history men fought and died and while you may not agree with their morals, you have to respect their resolve. I really like this statue.