So it's that time again! In that The Halcyon Chamber Choir has a concert coming up and so I've been doing some shooting for the concert poster design. The concert theme is "Whisper". I had a couple concepts floating around in my cranium. Which do you like best?

Course, if you didn't know any better, you might assume it was Paris. Vegas is never quiet by any means, but as far as the visuals, it positively comes alive. If we'd had more time, I would have taken one evening and just dedicated it to Vegas Night Lights, but with our schedule pretty packed, I decided that at least seeing the Bellagio Fountains was key. As we waited, I observed Paris across the street.

So Day 2 of Vegas was dedicated to Shopping. Honestly. Shopping and then the Piano Bar, so I actually kept the camera holstered most of the time. Tomorrow's images will be a bit more exciting, but still. Above you can see New York, New York. The facade does its job in that it looks like several recognizable and separate buildings in New York, but they're all part of the same hotel. And yes, that's a roller coaster in front.

Shopping at the Outlet Mall, (the north one) which, as you can see, is an outdoor mall. Shops such as Diesel, Fossil, Kate Spade, Armani, Nine West, Dolce and Gabbana and the like reside here. And the odd "regular persons" store, like Disney, Hanes and Orange Julius too...

And this intriguing building is the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Centre for Brain Health (Goggle told me so), which, if you were wondering, was designed by the same person who designed Disney Concert Hall, Frank Gehry. Beautiful isn't it? Next time I go to Vegas, I plan on doing one day where I just take photos of the architecture of Vegas.

Tune in tomorrow for Day Three! 

So in the same vein as my post yesterday, wanting to change things up a bit, I've been toying with the idea of trying Etsy out again, in order to sell some of my art cards/prints. Though some research suggests that a Big Cartel site might actually be a bit more practical.

At any rate, I'm trying it out, though I need to get more inventory onto the site. But it's up! It's running! I'm hoping to get more stuff posted closer to Christmas! But if you need some last minute Christmas cards to send...
Check it out!
http://www.andreanorbergphotography.bigcartel.com/

I have been cursing mother nature fairly regularly the last week or two. And while the cold is REALLY getting old, winter does, occasionally, bring some very picturesque scenes. I was sorting through some old photos (some getting VERY old now) and stumbled on these. So we'll call this a throw-back Saturday!

Every year, as a personal project, I like to put together a wall calendar. This year is no different, of course, and this was the result. Perhaps a bit premature as we still have most of December to get through...!

Trade shows! Trade Shows! TRADE SHOWS! Tis the season! And Andrea Norberg Photography will be at 3 different shows in the next few weeks. First up? Christmas in the Village! Saturday November 16th at Westminster United Church! As part of Regina's Cathedral Village Business Association, come support local businesses and artists like myself!

Among other things, these beautiful "Winter's Light" fine art cards will be available for you to purchase for $4.00 each. Can't decide which you like best? Buy a set of three for only $10.00! See Saskatchewan Winters at their best!

See below for detail shots of the images on the cards, and I hope to see you on November 16th!

Slowly but surely I'm getting to this!

The Friday before I came home, I made a point to go on the Loch Ness tour. Hearing it would be a 12 hour round-trip at the start sounded a bit daunting, but as we stopped many times and just getting to see a small chunk of the countryside in Scotland, it actually did not seem like that long, in spite of being on a cramped bus. I made a friend, a girl (well, okay, woman) named Kimberly from California. We kept each other company and chatted through the day and she seemed pretty cool.

Picking us up at 8am, our coach driver Kenny seemed a bit stern to start with, driving home the rules of the bus, namely to not be on your cell while he was talking - giving us fun facts, and some historical context for the places we were seeing that day, as well as local info ("I don't like Inverness. It's a crappy town. The men are mean, and the sheep are afraid." Now read that in your head again with a Scottish accent!). He also stressed that we needed to be on time getting back to the bus whenever we stopped, that we were on a very tight schedule and he wanted us pulling up back at the Royal Mile by 8:05pm.

Kenny softened up a bit as soon as we loaded back on the bus - his stern lectures served their purpose, that was the most punctual bus tour I've EVER been on!

As we were so good about getting back on to the bus in a timely fashion, Kenny said that we could squeeze in a couple of more stops along the way. Our first extra stop was at Ruthven Barracks.

From there, after a very brief, but beautiful, stop, we rushed off through Inverness. Incidentally, "Inver" means "mouth of". So Inver-Ness means Mouth of the Ness. So... would Inverarity mean rare mouth? And very close to Inverness is Loch Ness.

Loch Ness is 56.4 square kilometres. Not that wide or long really (only about 36km long), but it is 1000 feet deep because as lies on a natural fault line. Kenny asked us how many of the 32 of us believed in Nessy. He was quite distraught to learn that only 2 passengers do/did. No, I was not one of them. But according to this article, she's been found! *Gasp!* I guess Kenny must have been right. Unbelievers will face judgement when the time comes.

which more or less just took us from the hotel site over to Urquhart Castle. Total tourist trap, but the sun was shining (not that you can really tell from this picture) and Kenny mentioned that this was very odd. We had patches of sunlight for most of the trip, and I've decided that this is (obviously) because God loves me, and God clearly wants me to take pictures without damaging my camera.

Truthfully, the weather was unseasonably warm most of the time I was in Scotland. Kenny assured us that the Scotsman melts at 20 degrees, so I guess it's good it hovered around 17 most of the time!

Because we'd run into some construction on the road, we were unable to get many extra stops in, but our last stop, a scheduled one, was at Glencoe. The most... stupidly beautiful area on the trip, in spite, or perhaps because of being shrouded in mist, Glencoe is not terribly far from where scenes of Hagrid's property were filmed for Harry Potter and the latter part of "Skyfall" were shot.

The only issue with it was that, as it's pretty much IN the clouds most of the time. Kenny had mentioned they have three types of weather; Heavy Rain, Torrential Rain, and Heavy Torrential Rain. While it may not be evident from the photos, it was raining small and sideways when we dismounted the bus, more misting really, so I was just able to get out, get a couple of pictures and get back on the bus.

Our final stop, because it was getting dark, was to see the "Harry Coos." Which is to say, is Scotspeak, Hairy Cows. (Kimberly agreed with me, Harry Coo just sounded somewhat dirty).

I actually purchased a postcard for family with a Hairy Cow, with a caption "The Highland Cow, ready to head-butt yet another photographer." So maybe it's just as well I didn't get to be any closer to them.

All in all, the Loch Ness tour, ripping through the Highland's narrow roads on a coach and seeing the sights was not super cheap, but it was well worth the time. Kenny played and relayed history lessons, where we learned about why Campbells are not well liked in the area, about William Wallace (or Braveheart, as you might know him, in spite of the fact the Braveheart nick-name should actually be attributed to Robert the Bruce who fought after William Wallace... and so long as we're getting persnickety, William Wallace was allegedly 6 foot 7 inches tall! That's tall by today's standards, never mind back then! How in the hell did little old Mel Gibson get to play him?!) and of Rob Roy, who as you would know, created Blackmail, in that he and his clansmen basically went around telling other farmers that they should pay them to protect their cattle. If the other farmers wanted to opt out of the program, Rob Roy McGregor and his brethren explained that they couldn't guarantee their cows' safety. Way to make a living hey?

So if you're in the neighbourhood, check out the Highland Experience Tours. Tell 'em Andrea sent you! Then give them your credit card, cause they won't know what you're talking about.

So I'm slowly getting through Wedding photos, and other life stuff, so of course, I've not been posting like I should be. Doing quick and dirty edits for the castle, but it's something anyway.

If you like castles, Edinburgh Castle should be on your bucket-list. Hope for a clear (or non rainy-ish) day for some of the cobblestones are a bit smooth even when dry!

One day, with time to kill, I wandered up to Princes Street and stumbled (more or less) on the Parish Church of St. Cuthbert's. Nestled among the gardens, with Edinburgh Castle looming large above it, it has a decent sized cemetery. Warnings to visitors to not go traipsing among the tombstones seem like good advice, given the sheer size and obvious weight of some of them, and their propensity for falling over at times. I ran into another photographer while wandering who happened to be another Canon User. We said hello. Made for a nice feeling of solidarity in this beautiful setting in a strange land.