Italy // Ostuni

Another city I visited was Ostuni, also known as"the white town". It's perched on a hill overlooking the valley and thousands of olive trees, and it's known for it's beautiful architecture and the white wash of the majority of the buildings (hence the nickname). There were tons of narrow, white alleyways with pops of color to explore and beautiful historic churches to photograph, and well worth the short drive to see. I feel so lucky to have been able to see these cities and experience Borgo Egnazia, and will definitely be making another trip back to this region with Jack soon!

Italy // Borgo Egnazia in Puglia

After Greece I flew to Bari in Southern Italy for another week of photographing events. We stayed at Borgo Egnazia in Puglia, which is the most magical, beautiful, romantic place I've ever been. The design and overall atmosphere of the residence was so comfortable and chic, and the interior design was stunning with lots of whites and cremes and the most impeccable details. I felt like royalty walking the grounds and was amazed at all that was offered - delicious breakfast buffets, authentic Italian open air dinners, and the kindest people.

Greece

Not a day goes by that I don't feel extremely fortunate for what I do. Sure, some days it's difficult to find the motivation to edit hundreds of images and I get stressed about paying taxes and running a business, but in the end I get to do something I love and get paid for it. I'm also extremely fortunate to be mentored by an AMAZING photographer who has taken me under her wing and is pretty much the other reason I had the guts to quit my job and pursue photography full time. I'm so lucky to have met Sasha Gulish and even luckier to work with her on some amazing jobs. One recent job, for example, was in Greece this past September to photograph an event where I pretty much went around photographing the Royal Mykonian Hotel on Mykonos so we could print them out as souvenirs for guests to take home. I know, it's almost unfair to call it a job. I mean, just look at this place.

Switzerland // Lake Geneva

By the end of the week we were pretty beat, but we still had a few days of exploring left after Chamonix and wanted to see Lake Geneva before heading back up to Zurich. We did a loop around the lake, coming from France and looping around the western side of the lake all the way up to Greyer. And I'm so happy we took this long route because the scenery was stunning. Sunflower fields, apple orchards and lake side villages for all far as the eye could see. I wish we had a few more days to explore (we didn't have the energy to head into Lausanne or Geneva) but we did muster up the energy to walk through Vevey, an enchanting little lake side town full of colorful flowerbeds, unique lake sculptures, and tons of folks enjoying the beautiful weather in paddleboat on the water. It was simply adorable. 

Italy // Lake Como

One of the main reasons we headed to southern Swizterland was so that we could go to Lake Como for the day. It was a quick 45 minute drive from Luggano and was beyond anything that I could have imagined. I pictured of a small little lake with sprawling estates with ridiculously large mansions and people yachting all day, but what we found was a ridiculously large lake with windy, narrow roads, tons of quaint fishing towns and quick glimpses of ridiculously large mansions. From Como we drove along the eastern, inner side of the lake (I had no idea Lake Como was shaped like an upside down Y!) with the goal of making it to Bellagio for dinner. Jack's mission of the day (and every day, really) was to find the perfect swimming spot, so we pulled over to a few of the towns in search of a place to take a dip. 

The first town we wandered into was Torno, a picturesque little village with a ferry dock, fishing boats, and the cutest Italian cafes and restaurants on the water. As you can see, it had the most gorgeous views of the western side of the lake and we watched the boats sail by and dreamed up a fake dinner party with our friends George and Amal that we were going to later. I could have stayed there for hours, but unfortunately we didn't find the perfect swimming spot, so we headed out again to find "the one". 

We headed back north on the "death road" (seriously, it was terrifying. Motorcycles and cars flying by us on a one way, curvy street, with people honking and passing up from behind. I don't know how people don't crash on this road!) but pulled off when we saw a driveway leading to a church. We parked on the steepest street, hiked down through tight alleyways, passed big italian families having lunch, and creepily followed a group of teenagers in bathing suits to the PERFECT swimming spot. We were in heaven. 

After the swim, we headed back up to Bellagio, which was still another 45 minutes up the lake, but by the time we got there it was unbelievably crowded. Apparently the thing to do is to take the ferry there instead of trying to park (people parked miles away and were walking along the narrow road, which was terrifying) but we still drove through looking for a spot to check out the town. However, once we finally got into the town there were too many selfie sticks and big crowds for us to warrant the stop. We drove back along the lake at sunset, daydreaming about winning the lottery and buying a big mansion next to George and Amal on the lake.