CRUISIN’ ON THE EDGE

Ever since the cruise industry reopened last June, after being shut down by the pandemic for more than a year, I have been on two cruises to the Caribbean via Celebrity Cruises. The first was on August 14th while the second one was on September 25th, both times on the Celebrity EDGE ship. This ship is one of Celebrity’s newest and largest with a notable feature called the “Magic Carpet”, which is an orange platform protruding from the starboard side of the ship. Meanwhile, the interior of the ship is very contemporary, which is a good departure from the traditional classic look of older cruise ships. Here are some photographs I took around the ship and of our stateroom using my iPhone 11 Pro Max. I also created a video tour of our suite and posted it on my YouTube channel. Here’s the link to the video: https://youtu.be/2lVIQlhzO_M

OUTDOOR SPACES

Cabanas
Walking/Running Path
The Magic Carpet
Rooftop Garden
Poolside

INDOOR SPACES

Solarium
Grand Lobby (Nighttime)
Grand Lobby (Daytime)
Main Theater
EDEN (lounge bar and restaurant)
Luminae (Dining room for suite passengers)

OUR SUITE

SUNRISE IN PARADISE

I’ve been absent for a while so my apologies for keeping this page as dark as a starless night. Thankfully, morning has broken and I’m back with some sunshine ready to revive this page with more of my photography. I may have stopped posting but I’ve never stopped taking pictures. In fact, the photo above was taken this morning during my morning walk with my dog. This pathway to the beach is one of my favorite spots in my neighborhood and I’ve always wanted to capture the sunrise from here. Today I got lucky as the sun rose at the most perfect spot in the horizon, which was beautifully framed by the swaying palm trees, lush shrubs, trees and the sandy pathway. I used my iPhone 11 Pro Max to capture this photograph using the wide angle mode to capture everything. I’m happy to be back and I hope you all regularly visit my page again.

SUNRISE AT THE PIER

About two miles north of my apartment building is a pier that I’ve always wanted to photograph during sunrise but it remained a goal for so long now as I unfortunately have never been able to get out of bed that early. Today was a special case as my friends (husband and wife) asked me to take their maternity photos at the beach and wanted the shoot early in the morning to capture the sunrise. I agreed to the early morning shoot in order to finally cross out the pier on my to photograph list. It was a beautiful morning with a generous amount of puffy clouds for a much needed drama to my composition. I had my Canon DSLR with me but didn’t have my wide angle lens so I decided to use my iPhone 11 Pro Max for these wide angle shots, which surprisingly turned out very good. I love taking photographs of sunrises and sunsets and the sun in itself is magnificent enough for a subject, however, an additional subject in the foreground, such as a pier in this case, can make a sunrise or sunset photo more dramatic.

A NEW BEGINNING

It’s just the first day of 2021 and everyone is already fervently praying for a much better year….way better than the previous one. I’m sure you all know what I’m talking about as none of us have been spared from the wrath of this pandemic, in one way or another. I personally have lost a friend, an aunt, family friends, colleagues and a sad number of my patients to the virus. This pandemic has made me change significantly the way I live my life. When I decided to compose this post, I struggled finding the right photographs to welcome this new year. I had to go back as far as 2016 to find the perfect photos, which were taken in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean during a trans-Atlantic cruise. I woke up early that morning to catch the sunrise and noticed the cloudy skies reflecting the sun’s rich morning light. I’ve never seen a sunrise that fiery almost looked like a sunset. I chose these photos as mornings symbolizes new beginnings. With this new year ahead of us, there is so much to be hopeful for although nothing is gonna change overnight but we have the power to change its course. Stay safe everyone…wash your hands before touching your face, wear a mask and social distance. Happy New Year to All!

THE BIRD MAN

Two days ago, I was walking along the beach for my morning walk when I noticed a flock of seagulls swirling around a specific section of the beach. They would fly to the water then soar back to the beach then over the street before swarming back to the beach again as if anticipating for something big to happen. Suddenly I noticed this man walking towards the beach with a plastic bag and realized he was there to feed the gulls. It also seemed like this wasn’t his first time feeding them as the gulls seem to recognize him and were very excited to see him again. It was fascinating to watch the interaction between the man and the seagulls, which expressed their utmost appreciation for the free meal by making loud squawks. Thankfully, I had my phone with me and was able to capture the moment, except for the feeding part as I was too mesmerized and forgot to take more photos. It is truly amazing how humans and the rest of the animal kingdom can actually bond together…via food.

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