Joe Turic Photography

Beautiful San Juan, Puerto Rico

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I have a horrible problem. Whenever someone mentions a vacation or a new place to visit, I immediately think of all the photographic opportunities that are possible. What equipment should I bring? Tripod or no tripod…maybe just the gorillapod? Camera backpack or shoulder bag? Will I be doing any long exposures, should I bring along some ND filters? Can I take a zoom lens for the entire trip and be fine or should I throw some primes in the bag?  Maybe I could do this whole trip with just the iPhone…

It can be exhausting, but this is what goes through every photographer’s mind before a trip to a new place. In this situation, I brought more than I needed, and wound up mostly relying on the Olympus 12-40mm f/2.8 lens on my OM-D E-M5 and a B+W polarizing filter, a really great combo for walking around all day.

That was a roundabout way to say that I was super excited when my friends, Will and Nada, decided to get married in San Juan, Puerto Rico and invited my fiancé and I down to join in the festivities. I was really happy for them, and simultaneously excited to go to a completely new place, full of fresh and interesting sights.

We stayed at the San Juan Marriot in the Condado area of San Juan, a bit of an upscale more touristy area of the city, which was situated perfectly in between the airport and Old San Juan.  Having a pool, beach, bar and your hotel room within steps of one another really spoils you.  It also didn’t hurt that a number excellent restaurants that we ate at were all within a few minutes walk from the hotel.

Our hotel, from the beach and from our balcony

The groom – relaxing on the big day

Other than spending time on the beach, and an awesome night kayaking trip out to a bioluminescent bay (which I highly recommend), we spent the rest of our time walking around in old San Juan — eating, drinking, and taking in the history of the area.  The colors and facades of the homes on the backstreets were beautiful, as were the two forts that we visited, El Morro and San Cristóbal.

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El Morro20140703_7030089

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View from El Morro looking back towards San Cristóbal and Condado20140703_7030242

Iguana @ El Morro
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View out to El Morro and the western tip of Old San Juan from San Cristóbal20140705_7050326

A panoramic view of Old San Juan from San Cristóbal20140705_

Looking back towards Condado from San Cristóbal20140705_7050356

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Congratulations on your wedding, Will and Nada!

 

(Late) Springtime in Paris

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After a couple of days in London a month ago, we made our way back to Paris to relax for the rest of the week.  I was happy to repeat a few things that I had done the first time I was in Paris,  like the Rodin Museum  (one of the best museums in Paris because of beautiful sculpture and the fact that it only takes a couple of hours at most to see the entirety of it, including the amazing gardens) as well as a couple things that I can’t believe took me this long — going up in the Eiffel Tower and to the top of the Arc de triomphe.  Sprinkle in parties, restaurants, bread, cheese, saucisson, wine, more restaurants, more bread and cheese and plenty more wine and you have the makings of a great last time in Paris, for a while at least.

 

Pro tips for Parisian travels

Want to go up in the Eiffel Tower?  Get your tickets ahead of time here, skip all lines and arrive at your reserved time.  I didn’t even have to print them out, they were able to scan the PDF right off of my phone.

We had a nice lunch at Benoit, the only Parisian brasserie to hold a Michelin star.

This was the second time I’ve been to Le Relais de l’Entrecôte and I really recommend that you get there if you can (they even have locations in New York City!)

If you want to take a tripod up on the Arc de triomphe, perhaps to do some night photography, make sure you swing by the office where you get your tickets and ask about a permit earlier in the day.  I was unable to use my tripod once I got to the top.

On to the pictures!

Here are a few from the top of the Arc de triomphe 


And at the bottom…

And here’s a few from up in and around the Eiffel Tower

Handstands!

 

 

Eurotrip 2013: A day in London

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I mentioned yesterday that we stayed at the Waldorf in London, which was an excellent central location for many of the touristy things we planned on doing in the city.  We started our day by heading to Covent Garden, just around the corner to check out the mix of flea market, street performers, pubs and high end shops.

 
We walked through streets lined with pubs, boutiques and candy shops.  Sometimes I felt like I was in Epcot Center.  We made our way through Trafalger Square and past the National Gallery, where the London Symphony Orchestra was having an open air rehearsal for a concert that night, and then on to Piccadilly Circus (which I realized is just Time Square London style).  For just spending on day in London we couldn’t have had better weather.

 

The National Gallery

 

Tube stop at Piccadilly Circus

 
We kept moving through St. James Park and the Horse Guards Parade, relaxed for a bit at Westminster Abbey and then walked out over the Thames to check out Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament.  At this point, we were close enough to Buckingham Palace too that we decided to take a walk over to it.  I recently added a Canon 70-200mm telephoto lens to my kit, and I’m glad I did.  I would have never been able to get the pictures of the royal guards at Buckingham Palace without it.

 

Playing around with long exposures at St. James Park

 

Horse Guards Parade and the London Eye

 

The North entrance of Westminster Abbey

 

Big Ben!

 

Long exposure looking north up the Thames

 

Royal Guards at Buckingham Palace

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After walking and sightseeing for hours, we were famished.  One of the things I definitely wanted to do in London was get to a few pubs as well as have some fish and chips.  We dropped into a pub near Buckingham Palace for some food and a few drinks.  I loved the cask ales that you could get.  Definitely not as cold as in the US, but tasty and also a real pint!  Oh, we also ran into the Horse Guards!

Later that night we met up with friends at Porterhouse on Maiden Lane for drinks.  They have a great outside section and the inside of the bar is treehouse like, with plenty of craft beers on tap.  Indian food was on the menu for the night, and Punjab did not disappoint.  If you’re in London and want some good Indian food, make sure to check this place out.

The next morning the rain began and put a bit of a damper on our day.  Luckily we found an amazing cafe for breakfast, Kopapa.  I think it’s rare when you visit a city for just about 48 hours to pick good places to eat every time, but we did just that.  So ends the London experience!  A quick train ride and we were back in Paris that night, ready to spend the week touring the City of Lights.