Here’s just one.

Nothing beats wandering the strip with a rather bulky medium format camera. The wonderful thing about Vegas is that there is always guaranteed to be someone more interesting than you on the block. My camera was the least of people’s concerns with the men on the corner handing out their cards, the buskers selling bad karaoke or dressed in ridiculous get-ups crooning “I am beautiful! Look at me! I’m on a sidewalk!”, and the odd stormtrooper strewn here and there. I could swear I saw both Elvis and Michael Jackson as well.

Despite appearing as a bad set of the real Vegas, the strip in the day time had its own handful of gems.

I hope you enjoy viewing these and laugh as much as I did taking these.

Thanks so much for looking! Feel free to leave a comment. Love to hear from ya!

Enjoy!

The idea was formed and here are the results.

Enjoy!

I love hearing from you so feel free to leave a comment. It will probably make my week :)

en . o

No

This image warms my heart. I distinctly remember at about age 4 standing in the kitchen with my arms crossed and feet firmly planted refusing to move upon hearing that all-powerful-‘I-will-not-waiver’ word, “no”. It was likely in response to something that I wanted to do. Something really really stupid.  Like…

…riding down the giant hill behind our house in a wagon just like the neighbourhood boys. You point the handle downhill, tuck yourself into the front of the wagon and steer. This wouldn’t be such a stupid thing to do if there wasn’t a 90-degree turn to the right at the bottom – as marked by a wrought iron fence. Needless to say my sister and I experienced a few memorable roll-overs.

…piling up all of the cushions and blankets in the house and putting one sister (ie. me) in the middle. The other sister (ie. not me) would then jump from the top of the staircase approximately 12 feet onto said human sandwich. Maniacal laughter followed before something anatomical was heard breaking.

…deciding that Canadian winters and the lack of a fire pit was no excuse not to make s’mores. May I inform all you kind readers that graham crackers, marshmallows and Caramilk chocolate will combust after being in the microwave for approximately thirty seconds (Well. This didn’t happen at four years of age but you get the picture).

In any case this conversation ended with the question. “Brittany Esther,” (yes, I chose my business name without thinking that it would bring back years of being ‘middle-name-ed’) “what part of ‘no’ do you NOT understand?”

The only logical response of course was, “The ‘o’”

Now imagine knobby-kneed-four-year-old-me turning heels as fast as I could sprinting out of the kitchen and down the hallway to the washroom, half screaming out of fear and half laughing out of stupidity, to lock myself in there “never to come out”.

One silly word. Two silly letters.

]]> http://brittanyesther.com/blog/one-word-two-letters/feed/ 2 http://brittanyesther.com/blog/film/ http://brittanyesther.com/blog/film/#comments Mon, 30 Aug 2010 05:39:41 +0000 Brittany http://brittanyesther.com/blog/?p=3741 Pause. Stop.

Take a moment to notice those mundane moments around you.

And. Go.

Two awesome couples photographed in Vancouver will be gracing the blog in the next couple of days so keep checking back!

I just returned home from a weeklong road trip to British Columbia and Washington.  Good times were had, great people were met, and interesting images were made.

In Seattle I whipped out my light leaking 1922 No.1 Pocket Kodak. Here are the results.

You may also notice over the next few weeks some changes with the blog – it is a work in progress!

Enjoy and leave a comment!

Class would typically start with a game or exercise. In Don Adelfo’s class ‘head, shoulders, knees and toes’ was the game of choice.

From Comitancillo we stopped in Veinte Reales where Don Cornelio, one of the CAUSE teachers, and his family live. It required a thirty minute hike across fields, up and down hills and across several streams but it was more than worth it to see these smiling faces.

I’m going to say it. Perfection is over rated. After taking some images I showed the two kids the images on the back of my camera and this was the reaction – blurry as anything but I love it.

Before leaving, Don Cornelio’s wife and kids insisted on giving us a giant bag of ripe plums. I can not even explain to you how delicious they were. Absolutely delectable!

I have been keeping a marvelous part of Guatemala from all of you. Colours. Everywhere there are the most brilliant and shocking colours – whether it be in the women’s huipils, the cuisine, or the landscape. Although black and white is just so wonderful for displaying textures which are so common and intricate throughout Guatemala the colours are breathtaking. So, expect to see a few smattering of colour images within this post.

I would now like to introduce you to one of my favourite elderly couples.  In the aldea of Tuixoqel, Doña Maria Dominga Gomez Perez lives with her husband and six children.  Twenty years ago they started a pharmacy in their home to aid their community and the surrounding towns. With loans through CAUSE Canada‘s microcredit program, Doña Maria has been able to purchase a wider variety of drugs in the city of San Marcos. Before leaving, they asked for a portrait of the two of them. I can’t recall precisely what was said, but what I said in English was translated first to Spanish by the interns and then to Mam, their native language, by one of the local CAUSE representatives. These are the images that followed. I can not help by smile every time I see them.

Don’t you just wish you could just grab a cup of coffee and sit down and discuss life with these two?

Doña Maria with her pharmaceuticals.

]]> http://brittanyesther.com/blog/a-photographer-in-central-america-part-4/feed/ 11 http://brittanyesther.com/blog/a-photographer-in-central-america-part-3/ http://brittanyesther.com/blog/a-photographer-in-central-america-part-3/#comments Thu, 03 Jun 2010 03:00:40 +0000 Brittany http://brittanyesther.com/blog/?p=2518

I absolutely loved attending the literacy classes. The women were so proud of their ability to write and count. In the mornings the children would attend school and in the afternoon the mother’s and women would attend school.

A third year class of women met in Vista Hermosa – at this point of their education they were able to read aloud from newspapers. Spanish is their second language as Mam, a Mayan dialect, is their first. I will see if my next post if I can post a sound clip as it is quite an interesting language to listen to.

I was followed around this classroom by several young boys who were quite enthralled with my camera – this young fellow however was more content listening to the women read.

Doña Reina leads a leadership class at her home in Tuilelan – the primary topic this day was community leadership and savings. Doña Isabella, one of the ladies in the leadership class, invited us to her home at the end of class.

Thanks for looking! Feel free to check out CAUSE‘s site for more information on their programs.