I failed to inform anyone that might still be checking this link that I moved my blog to my very own domain name not too long ago. If you’d still like to feast your eyeballs on my occasional photo posts, please update your bookmarks to:
http://chelsearoberson.com/blog/
Thanks, and I hope to see you there!
I can’t say enough good things about Swoon, a dessert bar that recently opened here in San Diego. Literally a bar…you sit only a few feet away from the chef and sous chef working their magic to create some of the most incredible food I’ve ever had the pleasure of enjoying.
I’ve been really making an effort to kick my butt into gear to get back into the photography game lately, and one of the biggest hangups I’ve had to overcome is just plain laziness about seeking out opportunities. Seeing as waiting around lazily for them to come to me hasn’t worked that well (or at all for that matter), I’ve been brainstorming ideas to pursue. Doing photo “stories” of people and their craft is one of them.
After my first visit to Swoon, I decided to grow a pair and ask if I could do a photo story on the dessert bar. Lucky me…Ian said yes!
They serve a variety of tea, coffee and espresso drinks to enjoy throughout the day and then begin their dessert service at 6pm. Each dessert is meticulously assembled to order by one of the two awesome gents working behind the bar. Ian, the Chef and creator of Swoon is pictured first, and Evan, the sous chef, second. Along with about five or six desserts that Ian seems to be constantly tweaking and perfecting, they also make a couple of savory options. Both of them are pictured below, but the real star of my visits (between both the sweet and the savory) has been the Smoked Salmon Eclair. If I were to choose a food to be romantically involved with…it would be this. Seriously. This is the stuff my inner fat kid’s dreams are made of.
Pictured below are photos of Ian and Evan prepping and plating the food with the utmost care and attention to detail. I had a blast hanging out with and getting to know them while spoiling my taste buds and I couldn’t be happier with how the photos turned out. I’m already looking forward to going back.
You can probably see a theme from my travels up north…snow and exploring. The original Alexandra Bridge was built in 1863, but destroyed by a flood in 1894 and dismantled in 1912. A new suspension bridge was built on the original footings in 1926, but decommissioned in 1964 in favor of a new bridge built a few miles down the river. Lucky for us, there’s still a walking trail down to the old bridge, which makes for some awesome photo opportunities, especially when buried under a few feet of snow.
I decided that the imperfections of this photo are outweighed by the cool factor, so I am posting it despite it not being up to my usual photo blog standards. I took this out of an office window (hence the terrible glares) right as the clouds kind of parted to reveal Grouse Mountain across the Burrard Inlet being lit up as darkness settled in over Vancouver.
Mount Baker, Washington was the first place I ever tried to snowboard. It’s one of the more beautiful snow-covered spots I’ve ever been to. These were taken on my second trip there, more than a year after the first. I didn’t take my camera up on the slopes, unfortunately, so these were all taken from the parking lot before we left. I think it says a lot about the beauty of the place that these were from the parking lot. Imagine the photos I could’ve gotten if I’d actually taken my camera on the slopes! Next time.
The Othello Tunnels are near Hope, BC, which is east of Vancouver. They’re a series of five tunnels and a series of bridges over the Coquihalla River that used to be for trains. Now decommissioned, they’re walking paths that are open to the public…in the summer. When we went, there was so much snow that they’d been closed and gated off. Never being ones to be easily deterred, we hopped the fence (well…Jeff hopped the fence…he threw me over). It was well worth it, albeit a bit creepy with the chance of falling icicles and rocks above us as we carefully made our way through the tunnels. By the time we were making our way back out, it had started to snow, which made the walk back even that much more beautiful.
After a few trips to our Neighbor to the North and then to Utah, snowboarding has quickly become a favorite past-time of mine. One of my favorite times to snowboard is as night. Despite the misery that sometimes is the biting cold with no sunshine to warm you on the ski lift, it’s actually a pretty incredible time to be on the mountain. The way the flood lights hit the snow makes it easy to see all the bumps and groves in the snow, so you can see exactly what you’re boarding over. This particular mountain, Cypress, is located in North Vancouver and provides a pretty rad view of the city when the clouds manage to get out of the way.
Moonrise over Vancouver.
The city lights peeking out behind the clouds.
City below.
I love the way the slopes are lit up.
Poor Jeff, my lovely host and tour guide up in Canada…always having to stop and/or turn the car around so I can indulge my need to document the world around me. I think these photos prove it’s worth it though.
I couldn’t choose just one…sorry.
There are no shortages of places to explore in the general vicinity of Vancouver, BC. Lucky for me, I was able to fit quite a lot in over the course of my eleven days spanning from Christmas Day to just past New Years. Sometimes my explorations simply took me past interesting places, but didn’t grant me enough time to actually stop and wander on foot. Spuzzum was one of those places. We almost drove straight through it without stopping, but I’d seen something worth a second look, so Jeff diligently turned his truck around and we made a few laps on the side streets as I instructed him to slow or stop whenever I spotted a photo I’d like to take. This tiny church sat on a corner and felt like it was straight out of a storybook with it’s cute little steeple and snow-covered steps. How could I resist?
I know that this is completely unprecedented for me, but I decided to post another one of my “assisted self portraits” from my trip to Canada last year. Using the same technique as my previously posted photo…I got all my settings and framing worked out and then stuck my camera in the hands of my buddy Jeff, who had hiked up to the waterfalls with me. As you can see from the photo, I was ill-prepared wardrobe-wise for hiking. This year, I plan to be better equipped. At least I was fashionable, which makes for all-around better artsy self-portraits like this.
just me. 