Like his brother, Matt and his bride decided to have an outdoor wedding.  However, theirs was not to be on the beach but in a secluded private park called Kitty Coleman Park.  Apparently the owners of the property carved out the paths that were naturally there and it sort of just turned into a park, so now they rent it out for special events like this one.  Without any professional horticulturist, I’d say they’ve made a pretty nice park.

The weather was hot again, and the sun shone brilliantly (which for photographers isn’t always our favorite thing, makes for harsher shadows and lighting).  Amy-Lynn’s father performed the beautiful ceremony and infused some humor into it as well when he delayed their first kiss as husband and wife.

Pastor Mark and his humor, which we all enjoyed

Their idea to give out bird seed to the guests was great, but they got pelted with it!

FIrst time in several years that all 4 siblings have been in one place. We got a little goofy.

We were treated to a fabulous dinner (catered by one of Amy’s brothers in-laws) and the most amazing entertainment I’ve seen at a wedding in a long time.  Singers, comedy acts, games, and even the mother of the bride got up and yodeled!   A fun time was had by all, even if our table didn’t win the play-dough bride and groom sculpture contest.

Yodeling mom

Mary singing "You cain't get a man with a gun", she was awesome

To get them to kiss you had to sing a song with "love" in it somehow

These guys had everybody in stitches, seriously hilarious guys!

Matt and Amy's reaction to the guy's skit

The winning play-dough sculpture. As they looked at it, Matt asked "is that chocolate on my head?" Notice the bride got all the dough and Matt's a cork? Okay so it was better than ours.

Presented with oven mitts and a plunger, Amy was told to use the mitts and Matt is in charge of the plunger no matter who did it!

The ever popular shoe game, always fun.

Never saw a couple get changed and make a grand exit, but they did and got attacked with silly string.

Gorgeous end to a fabulous day! All done by 8pm cause the park closes - on to the honeymoon!

Congratulations Matt and Amy-Lynn, may you enjoy many happy years together!

I have a great fondness for latin music, cultures and language.   My trip to Peru in 2007 rekindled my interest.  Spending all weekend surrounded by it, immersed in it, got me fired up again.  How can it not, the music is infectious, in such a good way.

Samba dancers

VIEW SLIDESHOW OF 42 IMAGES

I’m not going to begin to attempt to name all the dance and entertainment groups and what country they come from or represent (I’ll leave the Festival site to do that for you), but I can tell you I was not at a loss for what to photograph once in two days.   It was a frenzy of swirling silk skirts, sequins and feathers, fast and fancy footwork, smooth and seductive guitar rhythms, and top it off with great food from the vendors.  A feast for the eyes, ears and soul.

I am amazed at the tango's intricate footwork

Usukuma leading Salsaddiction dancers in Rueda de Casino

VIEW SLIDESHOW OF 42 IMAGES

If you missed it this year, make sure you make a point of going next year.  These are just a small sample of some of the images I captured.  To see a larger gallery click on the photo of the guitar below to start the slide show.   If you want to see all 500+ or order prints click on any of the other images to go to the ordering site, or this link to my portfolio.

Click on this image to the start slideshow

Links

Edmonton Latin Festival

Salsaddiction

Capoeira Academy

So without any further ado, here is a brief selection of some of the 500+ images I shot at Michael and Lindsay’s wedding.  They are a fabulous couple and anyone can see how much in love they are.   She was a beautiful bride and the locations they selected for both the ceremony and reception were stunning.  Thanks for allowing me to be part of your big day guys, all the happiness in the world to you both!

Flooding in the Valley

When devastating floods struck the residents of Peru’s Sacred Valley earlier this year, people responded. Contributions from the United States were sent to Path of the Heart, a Delaware-registered tax-exempt, 501-C3, non-profit organization of volunteers dedicated to promoting the well being of low-income Peruvian children and their families.

As the gateway to Machu Picchu – Peru’s premier tourist destination – and as the home to some of Peru’s most outstanding archaeological treasures, the Sacred Valley itself is a beautiful tourist destination.  However, many visitors to the Sacred Valley are unaware that many Peruvian children live in daily need of food.   Path of the Heart operates a restaurant in Ollantaytambo to feed the children from the Sacred Valley in order to meet this need.  The restaurant is funded by contributions to Path of the Heart.

Path of the Heart cooks

Path of the Heart is having great difficulty funding the restaurant due to a significant decrease in donations.  We are asking for your help to meet this critical need so the organization can continue to provide food to school children in the Restaurante Corazones del Mundo (Restaurant of the Universal Heart).   Every school day hot lunches are served for between 80 and 100 school children.  Many of these children walk hours from their villages to attend school and without the restaurant would have no food all day.  For many, this is their only meal of the day.  Washington Gibaja Tapia (“Washi”), Vice President of Path of the Heart for Peru, started the restaurant and continues its operation.  His passion to uplift, nurture, and change the lives of thousands of poor, homeless and handicapped people of Peru is unrelenting.

The children need hot meals and our help!

The monthly cost to fund the restaurant is $1,600.  Contributions are desperately needed to continue to this project.   Please join us in supporting the Sacred Valley community.

Please consider pledging a monthly donation that can be budgeted and counted upon so that the children can be assured of a hot well-balanced meal Monday through Friday.   If a monthly pledge is not possible, any donation will be appreciated.

Since hunger is widespread in the Sacred Valley, more and more children are coming to the restaurant.  The current facility is small and cramped for the children served, but without this service many of the children would go hungry.   Space is rented at this time; however, long term plans are to construct a new restaurant on donated land that will include bathrooms, a larger eating area, kitchen and study area.  Plans have been drawn up and the estimated cost of the new restaurant is only $15,000. Contributions are also needed for the new restaurant although the immediate need is to be able to continue to feed these precious children.

This is what your money does - feeds the kids!

Please send your tax-deductible donation to:

Path of the Heart
91 Vantrease Road
Brush Creek, TN 38547
904-673-1646

Payment by PayPal (please see the website) or check is welcome. Receipts will be issued promptly.

If you have any questions, please feel free to call us or visit our website, www.pathoftheheart.org, or email ameliaview@ bellsouth.net

Please share this one your Facebook wall and RT it on Twitter.  Together we can help the kids and people of Peru that so desparately need us.

Here are some more photos of the devastation from the recent floods.   People lost their homes, their livestock, their crops and their hope.   Like the flower in the flood water – let’s try and be that hope for them – show them we care, please!

A flower springs out of the river representing some hope

Trying to hold back the river

What's left of a home in the Sacred Valley Peru

Homes destroyed by Sacred Valley flooding

Streets in the town flooded too

Homes washed away by the river

Homes washed away by the river

Last year I participated for the first time in Scott Kelby’s World Wide Photo Walk. Basically it’s just an organized walk where photo enthusiasts get out to take photos.  This event happens in cities all over the world on the same day and some cities have multiple walks so you can choose which one to join.  In Edmonton this year there are 3, and I am leading one of them in the downtown area.

This is one of my images from last year, 2009

The other two are almost full so I encourage you to come check out my walk.  Details of my particular walk can be found by searching for walks in Edmonton from the main page or clicking here.

Edmonton Photo Walk

You don’t need to be a professional, nor do you need to own a fancy camera.  All you need is enthusiasm and willingness to walk with us, join the group and add in conversation and sharing of images later.  You might learn something or teach someone else something, you never know.  But I can tell you that last year I met some great people, saw some great images created and had a great time.

There is a contest also (prizes from Scott Kelby – one of THE Photoshop Guys) and one winner from each walk will be chosen by myself.  But you can’t enter if you don’t come walk with us.  I actually won last year, but as I’m leading this time I am not eligible to enter but I get the fun of picking the winner – it could be you!

Please share this on Facebook, Twitter or pass along directly to anyone you know that might be interested in this event.

Thanks!

The parade ended at Churchill Square where the festivities continued and one could partake in Caribbean food, which we did, and watch dancers perform on the stage. We even saw Miss Cariwest 2009 being interviewed.

To see more photos press play below.

About 35 photographers (amateurs, hobbyists and pros) met at the Shaw conference center and embarked on a 2 hour walk through the inner city area, ending finally at Churchill Square. Many different angles were taken of the same subjects along the way and it was interesting to compare how each photographer’s view was slightly different than the next.

Each photographer was then allowed to submit up to two images for the contest. Jason was given the unenviable job of selecting one winning image from among the entries. He announced the winner today and it was Darlene’s image of the Gibson Block below.

This photograph will now go on to represent the walk #2 in the world wide competition for the overall winner for the day.

This is the group photo done at the start of the walk – can you find Darlene? Front row, light blue top and a ball cap.

To see more of Darlene’s images of the walk, please play the slide show below.

If you like what you see here – please consider buying the book to help me support the children of Peru. To read more about the book please go to the “Visions of Peru” Book page.

Click on the image about to purchase the book.

This is Washington – affectionately, Washi

He was our guide on the trip but he is so much more than that. We all grew to love him, and to admire his tenacity and passion in helping his people, whom we also came to love. With money we raised prior to leaving for Peru, and his help – we were able to directly affect the people most in need, sometimes in remote areas. I saw first hand the poverty and suffering this people live with, yet they smile and offer us food when we enter their home. You can read and see his story and theirs in “Visions of Peru”.

I met Mama Sentuza, 84, who can barely see and who lives in the dirt and rock house she’s lived in her whole life. She has no running water except the stream beside her home, no electricity, no health care, and no help – except for Washi! You will meet her and see inside her home in “Visions of Peru”.

We met two children that tagged along with us during an afternoon visit to some Inca ruins. We learned how their story so very closely mirrored Washi’s own story, and how his has turned out with a happy ending thanks to the generosity of a lady name Mama Sharon and how hopefully with Washi’s help and guidance theirs will too. Without help, their story is sad and bleak. Four children being supported by their mother. The dad is gone and they live in a small one room house with only the clothes on their backs, no beds to sleep in, no money for school supplies, no money for food. This is the story of literally 100s of children and women in small towns everywhere in Peru. They are forced to beg for food, or sing for tourists – as they did for us, as Washi did some 20 years ago – just to survive.

We took 500 pairs of shoes to a mountain village and put them on the children’s feet ourselves. I saw first hand how bad the need is, and for such little money (to us) we can do so much good. For $1 a pair, they simply cannot afford the luxury of new shoes when they’ve outgrown them. The support and sharing I witnessed amount those children was awe inspiring. The older ones cared for their younger siblings and did without if there was none for them. I watched them help each other find a new pair to fit and give their old pair to a younger child that didn’t get any. Much can be learned from these people!

PURCHASE THE BOOK NOW

Traditional publishing is very expensive and you have to make 100′s or 1000′s of copies and deal with sales, distribution, delivery and shipping. So I was not able to go that route at this time, but Blurb.com has provided me a means to make this dream a reality. It comes with a higher price tag, but I can assure you that 100% of the profit I make from all sales of this book will go directly to Washington to help the children.

Think of your book purchase in this way. You get:

• A gorgeous coffee table book full of over 200 of images the scenes and people of Peru, taken by an award winning photographer
• To feel good about helping the very people you see on its pages
• A tool for gratitude to remind yourself daily, how much you have when so many in the world have so little – and yet they are happy
• To make my dream come true, and help Washi with his dream of a better Peru for his people. One at a time!

How can you NOT fall in love with these faces?! I did

You CAN make a difference – please help! Buy one or more copies of the book. Give it as a gift for that hard to buy for friend who also likes helping people. Give it as corporate gifts or rewards for staff or clients. Buy it for anyone you know that’s ever been to Peru and has been touched by it as I have. Buy as many as you can – and then spread the word to others please.

If you cannot get a book, you can also help by passing along this story and link to this page. Put it on your Facebook wall. Twitter about it. Email it to all your friends and colleagues. In order to make this happen we need to reach as many people as possible. I can only do that with your help.

Thanks for listening.

PURCHASE THE BOOK NOW

Visions of Peru

By Darlene Hildebrandt

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