New York City Wedding Photographer Blog | Documentary Wedding Photography | Amber Knowles » Personal http://www.amberknowles.com/blog Amber Knowles is a wedding photographer based in New York City. She specializes in the art of visual storytelling with a documentary style. Thu, 12 Aug 2010 23:45:00 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 Photo Essay | Coming of Age in Las Vegas http://www.amberknowles.com/blog/2010/05/28/new-york-city-wedding-photographer-coming-of-age-in-las-vegas/ http://www.amberknowles.com/blog/2010/05/28/new-york-city-wedding-photographer-coming-of-age-in-las-vegas/#comments Sat, 29 May 2010 04:59:14 +0000 Amber http://www.amberknowles.com/blog/?p=1566 Our first family vacation was sometime around 1990 to visit Las Vegas.  To the city that offers no windows or clocks while participating in it’s most popular activity. We flew Southwest and we stayed at the Excalibur. My brother and I played arcades at Circus Circus, and my mother drove us all out to the desert to visit a Marshmallow Factory. Today, any mention of that Marshmallow Factory brings rounds of laughter to my entire family.  Why would anyone ever want to eat pink flavored marshmallows?!

Over the years, we made a couple other trips out to Vegas, including many New Year’s Eves and my week long 21st birthday celebration, but none would prove to be as memorable or impactful as the first, the first plane ride and the first unknown city.

My last trip to Vegas was a couple weeks ago. I spent those days reconciling what the city had become to my family and I. Two of my brothers graduated from UNLV. Las Vegas is where they found their voices and figured out what they wanted out of life. Las Vegas is also where they learned to appreciate the ups, and fight through the downs of life. And during that trip, Las Vegas is where I began to open my heart and find the courage to understand what it means to love the way that God loves, and forgive the way that God forgives.

This is what I saw while walking through the familiarity of The Strip.

~AK

]]> http://www.amberknowles.com/blog/2010/05/28/new-york-city-wedding-photographer-coming-of-age-in-las-vegas/feed/ 2 Snow Day! Harlem USA http://www.amberknowles.com/blog/2010/02/10/snow-day/ http://www.amberknowles.com/blog/2010/02/10/snow-day/#comments Wed, 10 Feb 2010 19:29:13 +0000 Amber http://www.amberknowles.com/blog/?p=1307 Today is a snow day! How cool is that? In LA, we might have gotten an El Nino day. But never a snow day. Living on the east really makes me appreciate what each season has to offer. I have to admit when my client in VA mentioned the snow they got last week, I was a wee bit jealous. Okay honestly, more than a wee bit. I LOVE SNOW. Love it! It makes me feel like I am seeing the world through a new set of eyes, like I am a child all over again learning what this world is about.

Miles and I just came in from a romp in the park. I am sitting here working, studying, watching the snow fall and eating my first PB&J sandwich in the last decade. Wondering, since when did these become so tasty?! Could it be the honey wheat bread and green tea addition?

And look what we found in Marcus Garvey Park, a snowman! What?! How cool are the kids in Harlem USA for this?!

~AK

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]]> http://www.amberknowles.com/blog/2010/02/10/snow-day/feed/ 0 Shout Out to Shout! http://www.amberknowles.com/blog/2009/12/01/shout-out-to-shout/ http://www.amberknowles.com/blog/2009/12/01/shout-out-to-shout/#comments Tue, 01 Dec 2009 15:17:24 +0000 Amber http://www.amberknowles.com/blog/?p=1011 Shout out to Shout. I’ve been wanting to say that for a long time. Seriously though, I want to give a shout out to Shout. Yes! I am talking about the stain remover stuff. I always thought those commercials that animate the process of stains magically lifting out the fabrics were a gimmick. But when my favorite dress had these mysterious stains that even the dry cleaning lady turned me down, I had to give it a try. Tada! That stuff really works. And now, I am sad about the miscellaneous clothing items I have thrown away in the past due to stains.

Another shout out today goes to Texas! I went to Grand Prairie for Thanksgiving to visit my family. We had so much fun. The southern hospitality is unbelievable. Seriously. People were so helpful and polite. While boarding my return flight, the airport staff reinforced for me what I love about TX. They actually made the friendly skies, friendly.

Sometimes going through all those security requirements can make me grumpy, especially at the end of  a trip when I am already in a sad mood after saying my goodbyes.  But  there was the security guard to save the day! She saw my hands full and said “Wait, let me get that for you.” Then, watched and waited for my carry-on to come out the xray machine, rolled it around to the front and waited till I put my shoes, belt, jewelry, sweater etc… back on to hand it to me. I guess it also helped, that DFW wasn’t nearly as busy as I have seen JFK on a quiet day. But regardless, after that, it didn’t even rumple my feathers when my flight was delayed a couple hours. All that, only to land in NYC, when a fellow passenger decided that it would be nice to drop my coat on my head from the overhead bin because it was blocking her bag. I took a deep breath and repeated to myself “kill ‘em with kindness” a couple times. Then smiled and said Thank You. Here’s to hoping, that kindness will turn around her grumpiness and she shares it with someone.

Here are a few photos from my trip. Happy to get back to business!

~AK

Making the greens and gizzard gravy…

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Miles and his friend Brownie waiting patiently for droppings. (Using the word friend is a stretch if you know Miles.)

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The meal!

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Cousin Jessica and Cousin Martel approving.

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