I know it’s cliche, but Paris, the City of Lights, was definitely my most favorite of all the cities we saw on our trip. There was love all around!
Our first day, we took a tour on the Seine, which runs through the heart of Paris. This is where I met Cara and Jamie, the above couple kissing in front of the Eiffel Tower. They were gracious enough to be my models since I was dying to get this shot while I was there!
Just like so much of Europe, all the buildings there are OLD. The architecture is so unique.
The Musée d’Orsay, housed in an old train station.
The Assemblée Nationale.
I don’t think this needs any introduction. You’ll notice MANY photographs of it here
The Luxor Obelisk is 3300 years old, and was imported from Thebes more than a century ago. Hardouin-Mansart’s Chapel Dome is part of L’Hôtel national des Invalides , where Napoleon Bonaparte is buried.
Love this. Apparently in Paris, it’s acceptable to bring your pets to work, including cafes. This cat was just hanging out w/ this old man when we arrived for some wine.
Our second morning was spent at The Louvre! The Pyramid…
and the inverted pyramid.
The pieces in this incredible museum are so well-placed. My favorite pieces were sculptures and how the light hits them.
The Venus de Milo, and the crowd she commands.
What’s left of this sculpture from antiquity.
The majority of the museum focuses on Western art. But there’s a new section featuring Art of Africa, Asia, Oceania, and the Americas.
We then walked over to the Cathedral of Notre Dame.
From the side.
Let me explain this: many of the bridges in Paris are COVERED with padlocks. According to a BBC News article, “The love padlock craze comes from a romantic rite mentioned in two novels by Federico Moccia, Tre Metri sopra il Cielo (Three metres above the sky) and Ho Voglia di Te (I Desire You). ” Feel free to read more about it on wikipedia, too. Love is universal… in this case, love for sweets
I thought this one was beautiful.
We then took the amaaazing metro system over to the Eiffel Tower to get pics of the three of us (my husband Erik, my Australian friend/former roommate Lil, and me)!
More Eiffel.
This girl was apparently shooting a music video in front of the tower. This was the SECOND musical audition we’d seen — another in front of the gate at Buckingham Palace in London a few days’ prior.
An adorable kid running around in front of us! I’ve been in touch with his father via email, and apparently the family was visiting for the week from Belgium.
Again, more walking… this time to the Arc de Triumphe, built in the early 19th century in honor of those who have fought for France.
After two days of walking through the city, I was EXHAUSTED. But Erik and I had promised each other a date night in, arguably, the most romantic city in the world. We didn’t have a chance to get clean and dress up, but we DID get to see about three minutes of the tower sparkling. I tried to set up to get my own video, but our tour book was wrong — it gets lit for 5 minutes on the hour, not 10. Just fyi. Here’s a video I found of it on youtube, but I don’t think anything really compares to seeing it in person.
A few images of London:
The TOWER Bridge. This is not the LONDON Bridge, which is actually in Arizona. No, really! You can check out that story here.
The Underground! Compared to the DC system, both the London and Paris systems are amazing. Less than five minute waits, a few blocks from everywhere… it’s great!
Cabs.
Big Ben at the Palace of Westminster.
I wish I had gotten to see the inside, but alas, this commoner stayed outside the gate at Buckingham Palace.
Just thought these were cute
Double-decker buses.
These pictures were taken by Erik! The London Eye and Westminster Abbey. While he was catching these great shots, I was off with Tina and Johnny, who you’ll see a few pictures down.
These were taken in Green Park, next to Buckingham Palace.
I just liked his feet!
The “wildlife” there is crazy! They are NOT afraid of people.
Also, I love to take pictures of flowers. These are for you, Andrea (my favorite florist friend!)
I LOVED the gardens in front of the Palace, so I convinced Erik to get in them with me for a pic! Again, Tara was the gracious photographer for this shot, which I’m planning to print and hang! Don’t be afraid to go big when you print — and 8×10 is too small for a wall unless it’s part of a set! I’m thinking maybe 16×20? I love getting my clients in 20×30, but I’m not sure I want to see myself that big everyday!
Okay, you’ll probably be happy to see I’m done with flowers — I just could not get over how gorgeous the gardens were there! But now, more of my specialty: a couple’s session with Tina and Johnny!
Tina is an American expatriate living in London, and Johnny is an English bloke (don’t worry, I didn’t embarrass myself by saying that in front of him). The two met at work, which is a stone’s throw from the Houses of Parliament and St. James Park.
Everyday they’d eat lunch in the park together, and this bridge (in front of the London Eye) is where Tina first told Johnny she loved him… awww!
The two have friends in high places — their boss is a former Minister for Margaret Thatcher, so they’ve been to a number of events at the Palace of Westminster, which is generally closed to the public! and whatnot).
Is there anything that says London more than a red telephone booth in front of Big Ben? What an amazing place to shoot!
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Okay, so I know you see sunny skies, but I promise: this IS England!
We spent a good portion of our first full day with our hosts Chris and Tara at the Stowe Landscape Gardens.
The park was created in the 17th century, and was visited by aristocracy and royalty, alike. Almost 100 years ago, it was turned into a school, and now the gardens are open to the public.
And to the sheep!
The Gothic Temple.
There were six statues to the gods of each day of the week (except Thursday… not sure where that one went). And Chris, making up for the missing deity.
A few days later, we headed off to the city of Oxford, including the world-famous University of Oxford.
We began the tour, and I found out there was a wedding finishing up at Christ Church! So of course, I had to try and get a picture in front of the bride and groom in front of the incredible architecture. My gracious friends humored me while I waited 45 minutes. And THEN… the couple went the wrong way! But I was able to sneak this one shot…
After the couple got in their Rolls Royce to move onto their reception, we continued through the beautiful and historic town.
Here I am with Tara, who lives right near Oxford, and Lil, who you may remember as my former Australian roommate who I met up with in Hawaii last year! We got REALLY lucky… I was paid to shoot a wedding in Ireland the same month she was paid to present a paper at a conference in the UK! Of course, we had to meet up.
And Erik and I on the cobblestone streets, surrounded by century-old buildings.
I love this photo. And I take NO credit for it. Okay, maybe about 1% credit… it was shot by Tara, who was my protegee for week! The morning before she took this picture, I ran a small workshop for her and some friends on how to use the DSLR camera.
Another activity in the English countryside… afternoon tea at Hartwell House.
Fancy fork.
Our arrangement — scones, un-crusted bread, desserts, cream, and jam to go with our tea. I think Tara took this one.
Back at home — meet Daphne!
The whole family! As a thank you for everything they did for us, I took some family pictures. I must say, I was sooo excited because about 75% about the pictures hanging in their house were taken by me or my associate — I shot Chris and Tara’s wedding, their engagement, as well as Tara’s sister’s wedding!
England is full of these beautiful fields of rapeseed, which were at peak bloom while we were there! Tara calls them the “yellow fields of happiness”. We spent some time finding one that wasn’t privately owned so we could take a picture.
And finally, Chris and Tara’s favorite meat-pie restaurant. Yummy, and very British!
And nerdy. 
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Welcome to the first installment of Julie Napear Photography from across the pond! My husband Erik and I are in Western Europe for two weeks, visiting London, Paris, and finishing up by shooting a wedding in Galway, Ireland!
Tara, one of our two gracious hosts here in the UK, picked us up from the red-eye and drove us (on the left side of the road, of course) to Windsor Castle, which is just North of London.
Tara said we must be good luck, because LOOK at those blue skies! I’m told this is NOT typical English weather, but it’s been beautiful.
I’d like to tell you more about Windsor, but after 45 minutes of sleep, I’m not sure how well I took in the audio tour… so I recommend checking out more at the Official Website of the British Monarchy. They also do not allow pictures inside, so I recommend looking at the official ones on the website.
The window-thing would have been used for guards to shoot arrows at foreign intruders. The doorway just looked beautiful.
The city of Windsor from the castle grounds.
Erik and I in front of the gardens. Again — 45 minutes of sleep.
The guard! I think this guy might’ve been a decoy… he looked like he was falling asleep at his postBut below you’ll see some serious marching.
Here’s the chapel, built mostly in the 14th century. (I think… everything here is so steeped in history, but it’s running together in my mind.)
Definitely worth postponing my nap. Next up: Oxfordshire!
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I always find it to be a lot of fun when I shoot for family members. Not as in family portraits, but, for example, when I shoot one sibling’s wedding… and then another one!
In the case of Caitlan and Mike, I was really bummed when Caitlan called and I had to tell her that I had already booked her wedding date — especially because it would have been a destination wedding for me! But since they wanted to shoot engagement portraits on the UVA campus, and their day-of photographer lives so far, I still got to hang out with them for awhile in Charlottesville
A few months later, I got a call from Mike’s sister, Katie. She had just gotten engaged, and though she didn’t have a date or a venue, I was flattered that she wanted to line me up as her photographer right away!
Anyway, after I shot Katie and her fiance John’s photos at the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley, I decided to do a combined blog post! I asked each of the couples to tell me their story.
Caitlan says:
“Michael and I met, fell in love, and got engaged before the beautiful backdrop that is Charlottesville and the University of Virginia. Michael transferred to U.Va. in the fall of 2005, and we met through First Year Players, a student theater organization on Grounds. After making eyes at each other at plenty of social events, we both managed to muster enough courage to make a first move, had our first date on the Downtown Mall, and were inseparable until my graduation in 2007. From that June until August of last year, we lived 2+ hours apart, but I knew when Michael was accepted to medical school in the beginning of 2011 that things were about to change. On a beautiful Saturday last May, we had the perfect Charlottesville day–walking through the Rotunda and Alderman Library, lunch at Take It Away, wandering the Gardens–and then Michael made it even better by getting down in one knee in Garden VI and asking me to marry him with a ring he had made with diamonds from his mother’s family. I said, ‘Of course I will!’”
Katie & John are huge goofballs. But don’t take my word for it. If you can’t tell from the pictures below, just read what Katie told me about how they met and got engaged. I definitely laughed out loud when I read this…not to mention our entire session through!
“John and I met online (I messaged him when I saw that his hobbies were reading Robert Jordan novels and racing rally cars; he responded because I wasn’t ugly). When we went out on our first date he told me I would hear his car coming before I saw it, and true to his word he rolled up in a grey, sticker-covered subaru that sounded like it had a jet engine. We hugged, hesitantly, and I knocked a small child over in the revolving door on the way into the restaurant. Instead of being appalled, John appreciated this careless act of violence. It is this quality, that John finds amusement in my awkwardness, that keeps us together.
“Even though we lived an hour apart from one another, we found ourselves making the drive – daily – to spend time together. We moved in together in our second summer, and on a random Tuesday in October, John proposed. He did wear a suit, and get down on one knee. There were flowers (roses, lilies, and the like). But those things were nothing to what he had done to our house. He had papered (floor to ceiling papered) our entire first floor in neon signs. They asked if I would marry him in foreign languages. They revealed all our little inside jokes. They said kind things about me. They carpeted the floor. By the time I made it upstairs to find John waiting for me, I was basically already on the verge of tears. Even John got a little red eyed when he told me he had bad news: he didn’t want me to be his girlfriend anymore. Somehow, I didn’t mind.”
By the way, if you like this venue, check out this month’s Washingtonian Magazine, where the Museum is featured on the COVER of their latest issue! If you’re not reading this during April 2012, just check out their archives.
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