Marisa Matluck Photo Blog

It just so happens to be that when I travel, I have my camera in hand at all times. This sometimes makes it hard to travel with others since I am constantly behind the lens. I can’t help it. I love it. The world is a photograph

more shots from Peru…

Last week I posted some photos from Peru. I have so many that I am breaking them down into 3 so there isn’s an overload of visual stimulation…

These include a lot more Machu Picchu Photos.

Part 2!

Yesterday I had the opportunity to do an engagement shoot for an absolutely beautiful couple whose wedding I will be photographing in just 3 short weeks! I am so excited to get to work with such awesome (and photogenic) people!!!

Which brings me to this blog post… we took a stroll down Calle Ocho. It was the first time I had ever actually walked around there other than the festival held in March. Rachel and Rene (the couple) are Cuban and wanted to have their shoot there. I was so glad, it was a nice change from the typical places people normally want their photos taken.

Anyway, as we were strolling along, they led me to a place where there is a monument and a torch and a super big tree. Im not sure what the monument and torch were for because I was mostly paying attention to the tree but it had something to do with Cuba I am sure. Rene told me about this tree, called a Ceiba Tree, that is very important in Cuban culture. I had never seen such roots. All the photos you are about to see are mainly just the roots of this ginormous tree. I did include one photo of the couple just because they are awesome!

A few years ago I moved one of my very close friends, Michelle, across the ocean to a magical place called Amsterdam. I pulled a New Years Eve all nighter, got on a plane, passed out, and woke up in 10 degree weather in the Netherlands. It was  fah-reeeez–zing (pronounced as it is spelled).  Come ot think of it, as a type, it is very cold in my office and the comparison is remarkable!

Anyway,  I spent an amazing 9 days there. 3 layers of pants, 4 layers of socks, multiple long sleeve shirts, sometimes ear muffs and a partridge in a pear tree!

One may think that you have to be a lover of Mary Jane to enjoy Amsterdam but au contrair! I was able to visit more museums than coffee shops and take more pictures than joints. The streets and architecture in Amsterdam is really beautiful. I even managed to make it to a super cool black light museum and if you (the reader) ever head over there, let me know and I will point you in the right direction. Unfortunately, I was not as in tune with my photography side when I went there and was unable to operate the camera the way that I do now. The end result is a few awesome pics that I went back and edited for blog purposes!

.

This one time, a bit over a year ago, I got lost in Noosa, Australia. Let me just clarify that it was not in the middle of a city that I was lost. I was trekking through the National Park with 2 Israelis I had met and the sun was setting and we were lost in what seemed to be a forrest. It was some scary $hit for real!

The funny part of this story is how we got out of the park:

I got lost in the park with a couple of Israel soldiers who swore they could protect us and get us out in once piece. I trusted them, but was really not happy about getting lost in the dark. As we were walking across an empty beach (part of the park) at sunset, contemplating on pitching a tent and hoping the tide didn’t rise and leave us stuck or heading away from the ocean into a forrest area that we were unfamiliar with, we met a couple. Not just any couple. We met a very drunk, nude, couple of swingers. This was just icing on a cake and I knew that at some point in my life I would be able to share this story.  Needless to say, they were quite amused with us and our getting lost. They thankfully led us out of the park, through the forrest… picking on us the entire time. They kept shouting “snake” or “possum” or some sort of animal, just to scare me. Once we got out, the man saw my camera and dropped his drawers one last time for photo purposes. That one will not be on the blog… sorry

There are 2, actually 3 , things that I love about today. (Listed in no particular order)

1. One of my favorite people in the whole world became a dad yesterday! Welcome Matias

2. The amazing rain outside.

3. The trip down memory lane I just took while putting this post together.

There are 2 places in the world that I have been that have left an everlasting impression on me. One of them is Vietnam and the other is New Zealand.

When I decided to make photography my profession, and really focus on it, I bought a camera and a ticket to Australia and hoped for the best. After 2 weeks in Australia, I was ready for some new scenery other than the beautiful beaches of the East Coast of Oz. My next stop was New Zealand.

New Zealand is BY FAR the most beautiful place I have ever seen. The sunrises, the sunsets, landscapes, glaciers, open fields, waterfalls… all of it is just extremely breathtaking. Words cannot even describe what it is like to be in this place of such greenery and beauty. So I leave you with photos…

I recently returned from a nice little vacation in Virginia Beach. Why Virginia you ask? Well, I happen to have a remarkably good friend who just happens to live there. Aside from being a good friend, Michelle is one of the coolest people I know. I called her up and told her I wanted to come visit and take pictures and for 5 days she showed me around and let me snap away.

We did everything from concerts (Hall and Oates & Passion Pit), to bike riding, wake surfing, touring… we even visited a haunted hotel. Actually, we tried to visit the haunted hotel (The Cavalier) but the doors were locked so we peered through the windows. I am also 100% sure that we saw a ghost on the top floor window and when we mentioned it to her friends later that night, one of them confirmed that some one had in fact jumped from the very window a long time ago.

(more…)