What a great vacation - it's good to be back to the real world but this is a trip I would take again in a heartbeat!

SO I know, I'm probably making the cardinal sin of boring the world with way too many vacation pictures - but what the heck its practically an American tradition and who am I to break with tradition?? LOL

Humpback whales are cool creatures...

The infamous bridge to nowhere...

Sea lion and her cub on a floating buoy marker

Some shots of the Hubbard glacier - it's tough to tell but this thing is MASSIVE! I have a pano shot that really shows it better than I can on here which I think is destined to find a nice spot on my wall somewhere soon!

Totem poles

Some kids skipping rocks and playing around in Ketchikan

A hungry porcupine

A pod of beautiful Orcas were hunting seals and sea lions in Victoria BC

This fisherman got a close up view...

This Great Horned Owl was sleeping and I managed to get close enough for a tight shot just when it opened it's eyes and almost scared my pants off - this bird's stare must be a terrible last site for some poor mouse out there!

The soar...

The swoop...

The snatch!

The satisfaction...

I'm taking a break from my vacation to send out the following public announcement for those of you who've never had the chance to visit Alaska - DO IT!!

Really folks, I will say that I've been fortunate enough to do quite a bit of traveling in my brief lifetime, and I have seen some truly beautiful places, but so far just halfway through my weeklong vacation I am really awestruck with what I've seen in visiting Juneau and the Hubbard and Mendenhall Glaciers of Alaska.

There are some things that really just can't be captured on film (or digital sensor) in a way that does the original scene justice - you simply just have to experience it for yourself sometimes...but dont let that fact fool you into thinking that I just gave up and put down the camera!! hahahaha I'm out here doing my best to frame my experience up here in an interesting and unique manner.

I dont like doing color work on my laptop so I will refrain from posting any photos right now, but rest assured that sometime in the next week or two I will share some of my favorites from the cruise with you...for anyone who decides to take my advice and head up north for a visit I'll be happy to give more specifics on my recommendations of what to see and do, just give me a shout

After shooting three weddings in the past four days (and five in the past two weeks!) I can tell you good people one thing for certain...IT'S HOT OUT THERE! LOL

Despite the heat yours truly will be working feverishly for the next two weeks to get everyone's photos, albums, prints, etc out to them so that I can be totally unfettered when I roll out of here for a much needed vacation in July! So where, you ask, would Amir plan to go to beat the heat this year and let his mind and poor old body heal up from the wear and tear of summertime photography? Yep, you guessed it - Alaska! :)

We'll be hopping aboard Holland America's Oosterdam and floating around from Seattle to Alaska and back. This will be our first trip to Alaska and I've always wanted to go so it should be lots of fun. To be honest I am sure I'll need to go back again one day when I can take a photography based trip and just enjoy shooting the wildlife and landscape - this trip being mostly a family outing I doubt I will really be able to explore things the way I would like to for my photographic enjoyment...but lest you fret fearless readers, there will most certainly be plenty of fun photos to behold upon my return! You know there are few places I go without a camera in hand...

Well, I've got photos to edit, what am I doing here writing blog posts?!