9.08.2011

France Day 9: Monaco, Eze, Grasse, and Mougins

If you follow my twitter account, you've probably noticed some exciting KBP activity lately! Last week was one to remember. Here is a list of what happened, most of it on August 31st:
I booked my first international wedding. I'll be spending Thanksgiving this year (and my 27th birthday) in Thailand!!
I booked lifestyle sessions with two fellow photographers. That's a big deal to me. So honored to be chosen by others in the field.
One of my France photographs and links to my France Prints Shop were posted on the Still Love Film blog. It was amazing to be featured with some of the bests in the industry. The response from other photographers was a bit overwhelming (in a good way!). I'm so very appreciative of it all.
Then an email popped up in my inbox that had me jumping up and down. One of the top photographers I follow, Kate Headley, emailed me to assist her with a wedding. She also said she loves my work. I'm on cloud 9.
Also that day, on a personal note, I got the all-clear from the dermatologist. Very relieving considering my family's history of skin cancer.

All of this to say a huge, massive thank you to all of the wonderful, supportive people out there - from my family to those of you I have yet to know. It means so much and is so encouraging to continue juggling a life of things that I love - being a wife, a mother, and a photographer. It's not always easy, but I can't imagine doing life any other way. Thank you.

Now on to France!

Day 9 started rainy. We had breakfast inside with our house mates and then jumped in the car to explore the Côte d'Azur/French Riviera/South of France. All of those descriptions sound so romantic. I have no images of the first part of the day. We drove the Grande Corniche through Nice. You can see clips of that drive toward the end of our Driving France video on Vimeo. The Corniche took us into Monaco and onto the Grande Prix route, which David got to drive in our awesome Ford Fiesta. ;) They were setting up the bleachers for the races.
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The Monte Carlo
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We had a fine time walking around Monaco, but it's honestly just not our scene. These are all of the shots I took and it started to rain a bit. Packing up the Contax in our backpack, we headed off to find our parking garage. No big deal, right? Everything was clearly labeled on how to park there. Finding it while walking should be easy, too. Ugh. It was horrible. Monaco, like Grasse, is built into a steep mountainside. The cut-throughs and levels are nearly impossible to navigate on foot because there are so many tunnels. We spent hours searching for our parking garage. Hours. We finally teamed up with another older couple who had the same luck. We went through tunnels and jumped over barricades. It was absurd. And then we drove off back into France with no intention of returning to Monaco.

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We went to Eze. It's a small mountain-top village like those of the Luberon Valley. After exploring the Luberon, there wasn't much that it added to our trip, except the best French toy store. It was wonderful. We bought Tova a Koko La Lune doll from the man below.
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Then it rained a lot.

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A view of Grasse [above].
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Then dinner in Mougins at La Petit Fouet. I decided to try ratatouille for dinner, since the Pixar movie is one of my favorites. It was bland. [Apparently all of the celebrities who go to the Cannes Film Festival (photos on Day 10) stay in Mougins. We saw none, but could tell we were a bit out of place for that village.]

Don't forget to add pretties to your home with prints from my SHOP! If you like an image posted today that isn't a listing in the store, you can purchase the "Custom Print" and I'll get it right to you!

Xoxo, Kallie

Note: Contax 645 with Planar T* 80mm f2 lens.

all images © Kallie Brynn Photography

4 comments:

  1. Beautiful pictures! I just randomly thought about you today and thought I'd look at your blog as a work break. You are so talented! I'm not surprised at all that your industry is starting to notice.

    I <3 France and your pictures of it - ours from our trip are just laughable compared to yours, I love how you capture the mood as well as the view.

    And Eric makes really good non-bland ratatouille if you're ever doing a wedding in Virginia or NC. :)

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  2. Oh, and I completely agree about Monaco. We are waaay less stylish than you and Buck, too, so you can imagine how well we fit in there - we left pretty quickly.

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  3. I love reading your travel blogs! They're so REAL (and in a world of "insta-perfection," it's SO refreshing)! I've traveled a ton, and the way you describe it is far more accurate than the popular "wanderlust" descriptions. Thanks for making me smile (and for the great travel tips and tricks)! (( :

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    1. Thank you so much, Carol! I haven't blogged in ages, but I think you found me on instagram? It's definitely not as detailed, but that's where I chronicle our adventures now. It probably takes on a bit more of the insta-perfection, just because I don't want to post a billion photos so I choose the "best", BUT I do consciously try to keep things real-life instead of styled-for-photo. ;) I hope that comes across! Thank you for leaving a comment. I'm glad to connect with you!

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