andystenz | photography » travel

alicia + ben’s dubuque wedding

andystenz — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 19:02:56 +0000

Well, the wedding season is in full gear (which explains my delay in updating the blog!) It started this year in Dubuque, Iowa with Alicia+Ben’s wedding. It was going to be an outdoor wedding, but thanks to some rain (and boy did it rain) we headed inside for the main event. Everyone adjusted well and the day went beautifully. Alicia+Ben had opted to see each other beforehand for photos (which I recommend for many reasons!) and we were able to beat the rain for some wonderful portraits outside – including some with their dog Riley (you might remember him from their engagement session).

The wedding and reception were held at the National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium which was a wonderfully unique and fun location for their celebration. I didn’t get to tour the whole place, but there is something about eating dinner a few feet from a huge catfish swimming by you that does make for an enjoyable evening.

Anyway, here’s a smattering of the photos from the day. I’m working on five other weddings and hope to have those up soon too ;-)

Vegas

andystenz — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 12:10:27 +0000

I have been horrible with blogging lately. I’ve got a few sessions and weddings to post and I plan to get those up over the next month or so. Life is flying by and it’s been a lot of fun!

A few weeks ago, my dad’s side of the family went out and celebrated what would have been my Grandpa’s birthday. Grandpa and Grandma Stenz loved Vegas and spent a lot of time there, so it was fitting to have a gathering to celebrate there. I decided before we went that there were a few shots I wanted to get. I’m happy to say that I was able to get all of them, and then some. I wanted to go out early one morning (so I headed into the desert at 4am one day), I wanted a nighttime shot of the strip (which allowed for a day shot as I was scoping out locations), and I wanted to get to Lake Mead and the Hoover Dam to get some shots.

As a bonus, when we got near Lake Mead, we decided to take a short helicopter ride (Jess, my sisters and I). I’ve been in helicopters before, yet they hadn’t, so it was great chance to get a little taste of it.

All in all, it was a great few days with the family.

the ashland ore dock

andystenz — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 03:06:21 +0000

It has been a very fun August! Besides the weddings I shot this month (loved ‘em!), Jess and I actually had a week of vacation (and celebrated my birthday on that trip)! We spent our week in the Ashland/Bayfield area and it was great. I’ve got a lot of photos to process and get up yet I didn’t want to wait until they were all completed. I wanted to get something up sooner, so here’s the first set.

These photos are from the Soo Line ore dock in Ashland. Built in 1915, it became the largest ore dock in the country, at one point having a capacity 110,000 TONS of ore – that’s a heavy load (insert groan here…). Anyway – the rail cars would bring the iron ore out to the dock where it would be shoveled onto huge boats to be shipped off to Chicago and the like. It’s falling down now and they’ve decided to take it down. Luckily for us, some endangered birds nested there and kept it around long enough for us to see it before they start dismantling it. They fenced off more sections while were there, in prep for demolition, which they estimate will take about 1.5 years.

new glarus and paoli

andystenz — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 11:48:36 +0000

Jess and I took a road trip Saturday to New Glarus, which is southwest of Madison. We wanted to have a beer at the New Glarus Brewery and get out and about on a beautiful spring day.

On the way out to New Glarus, there is a small town called Paoli (Pay-ol-e). It’s a one street downtown from the turn of the 20th century that houses a lot of art galleries, antique shops, and the famous Paoli Cheese house.

Here are some shots from the antique shop that is house in the old mill on the Sugar River:

A whole stack of Brownie cameras sitting on one of the cabinets. I love cameras!

Inside the world famous Paoli Cheese. The sample of the day was the Morel Leek Jack… wasn’t for me…

We made it over to the brewery for a tour and a tasting and ran into some friends from college there for a tour also.

These copper kettles were bought from a German brewery that was set to be demolished. They extend under the floor another 10 feet!

Lastly, we stopped at one of the parks to do a quick photo shoot with the mossy rocks.

christmas eve

andystenz — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 19:26:31 +0000

We spent Christmas Eve this year with my step-dad’s family in Oshkosh. An Italian family where the food and laughs never run out. It was cold and snowy outside but inside we had a great time. We finished the night playing the annual game of Tombola (Italian Bingo). This Tombola set has been used every year for eighty some years or so.

viva las vegas

andystenz — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 17:01:02 +0000

We just got back from Las Vegas and we had a blast! It was our first time in Vegas and we really enjoyed ourselves. We saw some shows, ate great food, and made a little money. Needless to say I took a fair amount of photos as well. The bottom photo (if you’ve never been to Vegas) is from the Paris Las Vegas hotel/casino.

lambeau field

andystenz — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 17:05:39 +0000

Last night, I took my dad to Lambeau Field to see the Packers take on the Bengals in their first preseason game of the year. We had a great time. We stopped at the Hall of Fame, walked around the outside of Lambeau, and enjoyed the game. Oh, and a Packer game in 70 degree weather is the best Packer game there is!

dialogue of two faiths

andystenz — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 01:30:32 +0000

This past weekend I was in Toronto. One of the reasons for my trip was to see a dialogue/debate between leading scholars from both Christianity and Islam on the topic of peace. Jay Smith represented the Christian view, and Shabir Ally represented Islam. Both are top notch debaters and scholars as well as good friends. It was an amazing dialogue and a great chance to learn from both men.

The video of the dialogue can be found at this website.

butterfly mountain at sunset

andystenz — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 01:13:59 +0000

Another photo from Arizona. We headed west from Chandler onto a reservation to get close to Butterfly Mountain. We got too close and the sun set too fast so we drove back east and that’s when I got this shot. A fun note: we saw a roadrunner dart out in front of us that night (no coyote was following though).

relaxing at the canyon

andystenz — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 01:23:40 +0000

So Jess and I just returned from a trip to Arizona. My first time there, and our first time to the Grand Canyon together. We packed so much into this day (starting with a hot air balloon ride – photos to come) that we only had 1.5hrs at the Canyon. We found a spot, relaxed and watched the sun slowly disappear. This is vacation.

terezin

andystenz — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 01:08:42 +0000

Here is another photo from Terezin, a Nazi concentration camp in northern Czech Republic. Hundreds of people stayed in this room (at the same time) and sleep on these “beds.” Sobering.

terezin

andystenz — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 17:15:16 +0000

Here is another photo from Terezin, a Nazi concentration camp in northern Czech Republic. We were revisiting our photos from our trip to Prague and I came across this one (and another I’ll post in a few days).

the baths at vysehrad

andystenz — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 17:11:07 +0000

Vysehrad is a castle in Prague that was built in the 10th century. The lady of the house took her baths in the stone wall area found at the bottom left hand corner of the photo. The river below is the Vltava River, which cuts through Prague.

westminster abbey

andystenz — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 01:21:44 +0000

This prayer really struck me. It’s found on the backside of Westminster Abbey. The Abbey was by far one of my most favorite locations we visited while in London this year.