travel – Paper Ban Photography

New Mexico – Travel Photo Diaries

NEW MEXICO, UNITED STATES

New Mexico seemed like it was set in a different country altogether, whenever I saw photos of the place. Stepping out of the plane and into the Albuquerque airport, you can already sense the heavy Native American influence in the architecture and decor. We stayed there for five days, five nights and made sure it coincided with the famous Albuquerque International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta! The first day of the festival, we were up at 3:30am to get there in time before traffic, and at 7am, mass ascension of the balloons happened. What a sight to see.

But what made the experience even more memorable was that, as the balloons were high in the sky surrounding us all, my boyfriend of four years proposed to me! Ahhh! We are so excited to be joining the #marriedlife club and to experience our own wedding planning journey, which includes finding a wedding photographer! Haha.

The rest of the trip, we explored downtown Albuquerque (and some Breaking Bad spots), Santa Fe, Roswell, Carlsbad Caverns National Park, and White Sands National Monument, all while on Cloud 9.

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Minnesota – Travel Photo Diary

MINNESOTA, UNITED STATES

Seven out of fifty. That’s how many states I’ve visited so far, and my goal is to visit all of them. The latest state, as I’m sure you see, is Minnesota! On a five day trip there, we drove from the south to the north, from visiting soy and corn fields and pig farms, to staying in a lake cabin and crossing the Mississippi river.

I love how in-tune with nature Minnesota is. There were so many greenery as we drove roughly 800 miles around the state. But I, being from L.A., didn’t realize how easily bugs are attracted to people, and ended up with many mosquito bites and a couple of spider bites by the end of the trip. Yup! Spiders!

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Bianca and Alex’s Desert Engagement Portraits

JOSHUA TREE NATIONAL PARK, CALIFORNIA

A few of my loves in world are road trips, traveling, the smell of adventure, and photographing in new places. So when my clients agreed to do a desert engagement session, and what’s more, at Joshua Tree National Park, I was super stoked!

Bianca wore this pretty white sundress while Alex had a light blue shirt and nifty suspenders (you can see he wore a red bandana tie in the beginning of the session but was nice enough to take it off and use to pry off cactus balls that pierced itself through my pants and onto my leg. Yeah… it was painful, haha). I had so much fun photographing their session and exploring the park with them. I can’t wait to photograph their wedding this fall!

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New York – Travel Photo Diary

NEW YORK, NEW YORK

A couple of years ago, my boyfriend and I traveled to New York for a few days, and I fell in love. The energy, the architecture, the history, the surrealness. I couldn’t wait to go back there!

This time, I took a two week trip to the Big Apple and was joined by two girl friends for a portion of it, and my mother and brother for another. It’s interesting how your travel itinerary and experiences vary with different companions. For example, my friend thoroughly enjoyed going to all the museums and taking as many learning tours as possible, while my mother could care less and thought that going sightseeing was top priority. I ended up enjoying the different travel experiences with each and every one of them because they brought different priorities and perspectives to the travel.

With that, enjoy the photographic highlights of our New York trip!

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Washington, D.C. – Travel Photo Diary

WASHINGTON, D.C.

For months, my friend and I planned a trip to Washington, D.C. that would coincide with the blooms of the Cherry Blossoms. I had seen photos of these wonderful trees blooming in beautiful pink hues during the springtime and badly wanted to see them in person. So we set off for D.C. for a few days. I absolutely LOVE D.C., with all its historic landmarks and brick sidewalks and townhouses.

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Road Trip to Lake Tahoe – Travel Photo Diary

LAKE TAHOE, CALIFORNIA

It’s been nearly six months since my last road trip to Arizona (and to Zion just a week or two before that). My, how time flies! Well, the tavel bug bit us again and this time, taking us within the California borders to the beautiful Lake Tahoe. I have never been to this lake that stretches 22 miles long and 12 miles wide, and I was so glad to have visited, even if only for the weekend.

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