Sunday, January 31st, 2010 -

The Orange Circle is such a great little area.

Friday, January 29th, 2010 -

Ever since I shot Kerry’s sisters wedding back in October I’ve been looking forward to this one. It was my first wedding of the year. And what an amazing wedding it was. It was such a fun party. All of their friends were cracking me up all day. It was fun to work with all my favorite vendors also.

Lisa Moon of Lisa Moon Events and her amazing team were running the show. As always they did an amazing job. I love working with Lisa. All my brides love her also.

Other vendors: Dan from Plug Video,Peter with Vive Entertainment,Jenny with Jenny B Florals.

Also my favorite makeup artist Carina from Flawless Faces was there to make all the girls look amazing.

Carina working on the beautiful bride

Kerry was all smiles

Kerry’s parents are awesome

grandpa getting his flower

her bridesmaids were the best

arriving at the church

Anthony Loves the camera

what a great sister

Ceremony Time,The kids are always a hit

here comes the bride

We did it,we’re married

I love this church

the wedding party was a crack up all day

The reception was one of my best parties ever, I knew it would be right from the introductions.

Lisa Moon with her amazing team, great job on another amazing event Lisa.

Thursday, January 21st, 2010 -

Well I’ve returned home from India. What an experience it was. Such a different world. It was like controlled chaos. It also was sensory overload. I loved all of it. Even all the road blocks we had to deal with getting around the country. It all made for an experience. You definitely have to get into the rythm of India to appreciate what it has to offer. Stephanie and I do want to return to India. I know on our next trip we would spend much more time away from the larger cities. We really enjoyed our time in the smaller village areas. But our last few days of the trip we spent back in Mumbai. Once we really dug in and explored the back streets and alleyways we really had fun. We met some cool people. We have a new website and blog we are in the process of setting up. www.kennedykronicles.com. On the blog we will put more travel tips for the countries we visit. From places to stay, what to see,what to avoid and any trips that could make your trip a better experience. So be sure to check in from time to time. It’s a work in progress. Also on the website we will b e posting our favorite images from around the world. We also plan on turning our studio into a travel print gallery. We want to display fine art images that we haven taken from around the world. Plus a few more ideas we have in mind. So stay tuned.

Here are a handful of misc images that I didn’t have time to blog while in India.

i couldn’t believe we came across this old pontiac

We love the Indian artifacts.

street living

we weren’t to excited about this menu

We spent the couples day at The Four Season Mumbai. It was also Stephanie’s Bday.So it was a nice relaxing finish to a crazy trip.

This is a view from our room. Right across the street was some slums and also a place to take your deceased family to get cremated. In fact this shoot from above is people taking a body to get cremated. When somebody dies they just put them on a gurney and carry them right down the street in the open. We would even see bodies on the roofs of cars. Wild.

A real bed!  YAAAAA!!!! We needed this after some of the beds we had been sleeping on during this trip.

Time for a Mojito

Stephanie was excited about her sorbet

Four Seasons has this cool rooftop bar. So we finished off the night there.

My wife is so cute.

Wednesday, January 20th, 2010 -

Before we left to India we had heard of the large religious gathering that takes place only once every 12 years. It’s called the Kumbh Mela. The beginning of the gathering was Jan. 14th. So since we were in India we figured we go check it out. They say it’s one of the largest religious gatherings in the world. It goes on for a few months and they say millions come to to worship and bathe in The Ganga River. Which they say will remove all of your sins. We spent a couple days there. It’s very interesting to say the least. It attracts some interesting people. Im still not sure what I think of it.

They just start fires in teh middle of the street to stay warm.

This is The Ghat that they say is the holiest place to bathe in the river. People start bathing in the river right at sunrise.

Pigs Chillin

Anybody want some soup.

looks like this guy is giving his mom a lift

Another one of the very interesting people you might come across at this festival

This guy has a cool look going, I especially love the human skull necklace

Sunday, January 17th, 2010 -

So next stop was Jaipur. We spent 2 nights there at this great guest house I found. It was a great place the is owned by a retired  India Navy Admiral. He’s a great guy.

There area always just great shots you can get just driving down the street.

Here is the guest house we stayed in.

Running around a Jaipur Palace

The girls and their new friends,actually it’s kind of funny there are these dressed up in these costumes that are always trying to get you to take a picture with them so you will give them money.

more rough living

People just set up there home anywhere there is some space

We came across this guy with this antique camera. It was great. We had him take our picture. He developed it right there on the street.

Back to walking the streets

if you need a show repair you can get it done right along the sides of the street.

anybody fo rlunch

the street kids are always up for getting their picture taken

these little kids just live on the streets. CHeck out this little kid just crossing a busy street with nobody around watching him. It’s crazy.

There’s a McDonalds. We did have to give it a try. No beef is served. It’s all chicken. They had a chicken big mac.

The 2nd day in Jaipur we headed outside of town to the older palace. It was a super foggy cold morning.

So many cute dogs on the street

Saturday, January 16th, 2010 -

Next stop the Taj Mahal. Getting there wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be. You have to get use to things not always going as planned while traveling in India. Our day started off in Khajuraho. We jumped in a car early to the city of Jhansi to catch a train to Agra. It was about a  5 hour drive. We made a stop at a famous old fort. So we get to the train station get dropped off. Say goodbye to our driver. We head in to find out that our train has been delayed 7 hours. So it wasn’t going to arrive until about 2am. This isn’t the kind of train station you want to spend the night in. I think we saw one other tourist. So we are stranded at this point. So we have to go on the hunt for a driver to drive us the rest of the way to Agra. Our driver is gone now and we don’t have his #. So we finally did get a driver. Driving during the night in India is even more of an adventure than it is driving during the day. To top it off the fog was so thick you could hardly see 5 feet ahead. So we get to Agra finally about 1am. We left for Agra at 8am. So saying it was a long day is an under statement.

But we did make it in one piece. YAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

With the insane driving in India we were surprised that we didn’t see more of this going on.

How many people can you fit in a 2 seater tuk tuk

I love how people just set up their shop in these samll spaces

Stephanie is always finding theses dogs

No helmets needed

We made it to the Taj,Amazing  It was a foggy day

goat in a coat

A monkey hanging out at The Agra Fort.

Friday, January 15th, 2010 -

Khajuraho has the largest group of medieval Hindu and Jain temples, famous for their erotic sculpture. The Khajuraho group of monuments has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and is considered to be one of the “seven wonders” of India.

This was our favorite place that we visited in India. It was so nice to escape the chaos of the larger cities. Khajuraho is just a small farming village. There was no traffic on the streets. Which is such not the norm in India. You can never escape traffic. This is the town you want to spend some time in on a trip to India. I was actually able to go for a run in this city without being bothered or trying to dodge people and cars.

The temples were so amazing. Stephanie and I have been having a blast shooting pictures.

These temples are known for their sexual carvings also. Which is interesting in such a conservative country.

Sandy has been working the camera a little also on this trip.

always plenty of animals to take pics of

after the first shot,I got a smile

There was this great little village we came across while walking around. We loved it.

The kids are the cutest

They really loved checking out the pics in the camera

they were chasing Stephanie around for another look

they put this black stuff around the kids eyes,they say it keeps them cool

Everybody in this town was full of smiles

I loved this guy just chillin

This is right outside of this ladies house

We got a bag of candy to hand out for the kids, They went a little crazy as Sandy found out when she tried to hand it out

I gave it shot with not much luck

You will always see the woman and children collecting wood. They need ti to burn for cooking and heating.

Stephanie is making a friend

It looks like he is smiling

People still worship at these temples

Can you believe these temples,They weren’t to shy back in the day.

My wife needed a moment

Anybody for breakfast, o I meant brakfast

Stephanie loves the puppies

Sunday, January 10th, 2010 -

Well we made it to the Holy City of Varanasi. They say people come from miles away just to bathe in the water of the Ganges. A little scary for me. Since the water is so polluted. I hear there are 35 points of sewage pouring into the river around the city unfiltered. Just raw sewage. I’d probably get sick just sticking a toe in. It’s also a place people bring their dead to be cremated. Which is another crazy site to see. They have these burning Ghats were they cremate bodies right along the river. They say 300 bodies a day are cremated right out in the open. I’m still not sure how to take it. I couldn’t believe I was standing there looking at dead bodies being burned. It felt like I was back 1000 years watching something. It’s not for the faint of heart. It was another fascinating city. Just to see how people live in this city. It’s full of these very narrow alley ways where people have set up shop selling whatever they can to survive. It was fun just wandering through the streets getting lost.

One thing that has also been the same in every city I have been at so far is the poverty. You cannot avoid it. It’s everywhere. It’s kinda of sad. Especially the children. You wish you could help them all. But you can’t. You can’t even give to one child here. Once you give to one you get a mad rush of kids attacking you. So you have to just walk on by.

We found a guest house to stay in along the Gange River. This is the front of the house that faces the river. It was a very cute place. The Guest Houses are a great place to stay to get more of a local experience. The one negative about this place was there were no heaters in the room. And it turned out to be freezing at night there.

You’ll see these yogi covered in ash hanging around the river.

This kid loved the camera

We had these monkies hanging outside of our room.

At night they do these religious ceremonies. Everybody gathers along the river Ganga for this.

Another Yogi wandering around. Most of these yogi guys seemed to be there more to get you to take a picture with them. Then they want you to pay them. They seem to be there just for the show rather than the religious side of things.

The next morning we got up early and took a sunrise boat ride along the banks of Varanasi

Time for a bath in the filthy dirty river.

Stephanie jumped in the shower with him,get out of his bathroom Stephanie

They also do laundry in this river. So every morning you will see people out there doing laundry early

These are the boats you can rent to go up and down the river. For about $5 per hour. One thing about India is that everything is cheap.

Another thing about India is that their are homeless dogs also. Everywhere! Stephanie loved shooting pictures of all the cute puppies.

We had a friend waiting for us when we got back to our house.

Laundry day again I guess everyday is laundry day

Stephanie watch out for those cows

some cool graffiti

Just hanging out with one of the street vendors

This guy was always hanging around the ghats

Time to leave Varanasi

There is always a cow to take a picture of

Need a shave,you can find a place on just about any street corner

I love the bikes

Good Bye Varanasi, off to our next adventure

Saturday, January 9th, 2010 -

So far so good in India. I wish I was able to blog more often. Some of the places we have stayed haven’t had the best internet if there was internet at all.

SO after Mumbai we decided to head to Aurangabad. I read about these ancient caves that had carvings done right into the rock of the mountains. There are actually 2 sets of Caves. The Ellora caves and the

Everybody here loves Stephanie.

We did a lot of climbing up stairs on this day

It was hard to believe the work that was put into these stone carvings,this started out as one piece of stone

This is a shot as we are leaving. I just wanted to give you an idea how much carving is done.

Our drive back to the hotel

Door Delivery

They really pack people in the Tuk Tuks

Laundry Day

Day 2 we headed to the Buddist Caves at Ajanta. These caves have many walls where you can still see the colors of the paint used. These caves were undiscovered until the early 1800′s. There was a british hunting party that accidently came across them. They date back to the 2nd Century BC.

There are very well preserved. Probably because they were undiscovered for so long.

you usually don’t see the colors in something this old. It’s so cool that the color is still there.

I just love all these carvings

If you don’t want to walk back you can hitch a ride

Driving back to the hotel,There are never a shortage of cows in the road

Also plenty of Lamb roaming streets.

So next stop is Varanasi. The Holy city.

Friday, January 1st, 2010 -

Well today we decided to go check out the area made famous in the movie Slumdog Millionaire.

It’s called Dharavi Slums. Places like this really interest me. Just seeing how people live under such circumstances.

Before we headed out I grab a couple shots outside our hotel.

A crazy way of life

Stephanie and I just love exploring areas like this. We’re just fascinated by this way of life. What it must be like for this to be life you were dealt.

When we see a lady like this we wonder what must be going through her mind right now. She is just sitting on the front porch of her small place to live. This is pretty much her life day to day.

This guy also what brought him to be living in these slums. I wish I knew the language just so I could sit and talk with someone like this

You can see in their faces how hard of a life they have lived

Stephanie loves the sewing machines

There are little places like this all over for a shave and a haircut. This is actually a really nice set up. I see many of these guys set up right on the sidewalk.

After we left the Dharavi slums we were driving by the large slums where they do all that laundry. I had posted a couple pictures when I blogged yesterday. we decided to stop again. I really wanted to go down in there and explore. We were happy we did. They people were really nice and let us walk around to see how it all works. It’s so amazing how much laundry they are doing and how they keep track of it all. I found out the people that work here work 16 hours a day for 100 rupees which is just a little over $2 for that 16 hour day. WOW!

This kid was just hanging out in there. Maybe waiting for his parents to get off work

This is how they heat up water. Tey just get a fire going under the bucket.

Stephanie really got a lot of attention. Everybody wanted a picture with her.

Driving down another random street and you come across more of the shanti living

If you look closed you can see Stephanie in this picture

Mumbai sure doesn’t have a shortage of people. Just walking the streets is a challenge. It’s a blast though. We love it.

So another day down. We feel we are already on sensory overload. Every street you go down you can’t believe everything that is going on. So much to take in. Sometimes I feel I want to walk up and down the same street multiple times just to take it all in.

Much more to come. Stay tuned.