robin gale cornett (a photographer for babies, children, and families in fort myers, florida) » traveling

traveling in Tuscany

robin cornett — Mon, 17 May 2010 19:05:49 +0000

Just this month, I had the opportunity to take the trip of a lifetime with my father, my uncle, and his daughter–a little father/daughter trip–to the Tuscany region. Yes, the one in Italy! The last time I’d ever traveled outside of the US, it was a kinder, gentler world and therefore I’ve never even had a passport. So this spring, I was working on logistics like getting one of those and figuring out how to maximize the photographic opportunity of a lifetime. Packing clothes was kind of secondary! My awesome cousin worked super hard on the real logistics of the trip and she did an incredible job. Everything went really smoothly, except perhaps for actually driving from point A to point B, which I think couldn’t have gone much better than it actually did. We’ll just say that road markings in Italy are a bit different than they are here in the States and leave it at that. But the views on the drives were spectacular.

We started in Florence, or Firenze (that one took me a while to figure out, I’ll be honest), and then wandered through the countryside visiting smaller towns like Montalcino, Lucca, Chiusi, and Cortona. Everything was incredibly beautiful, and I really felt like I was inside an art book. I made a quick pass through my pictures and wanted to blog just a few.

view from the Ponte Vecchio in Florence:

A real Roman aqueduct (left) and a sunny alley in Lucca (right):

A field of grapevines in Tuscany:

Grapevine at a small winery outside Montalcino (left) and the morning view from our hotel there:

The same morning view, just looking a slightly different direction:

A crazy sun halo in Chiusi:

Broken column in ancient Rome (plus some poppies–all over Tuscany, I totally fell in love with them!):

I think this is the Ponte Garibaldi in Rome (we were standing on the Ponte Sisto):

If you made it this far, thanks for reading about how I spent my “summer” vacation.

I went to New Orleans and all I got…

robin cornett — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 16:28:13 +0000

I actually didn’t get a t-shirt if that’s what you were thinking. Mainly, I came home with pictures, and an awful lot to think about and contemplate. The kids, my dad, and I tagged along with Andy and a bunch of his awesome high school students on their summer work trip to New Orleans, Louisiana. We worked through Son Servants, and spent the week with three other churches’ youth groups. The students split up and worked in teams all over the city (and some outside the city, too). My job (I really had a job!) was to spend the week documenting the trip. It was a blast, and I got some really fantabulous images from it, both of New Orleans and of the students. I thought I’d share some of the New Orleans pictures with you here because I like you.

One thing that surprised me about what we saw is how much remains to be done, nearly four years after Katrina blew through. I know it was a big storm but the amount of devastation hadn’t really clicked with me until actually after this trip… driving around the city, both in the Ninth Ward and elsewhere, there were still many homes with obvious and massive damage, padlocked, some open to the elements, some overgrown, and many that appeared to be simply abandoned. There are a lot of reasons why, and maybe I shouldn’t have been surprised, but I was. When we got home, my dad pulled out some pictures from a work trip he took to New Orleans six months after Katrina, which really put things into perspective. What we saw is actually a herculean amount of work. But there is still so much left to do.

This is on one of the houses we worked on. You can see these signs still spraypainted on many homes all around the city, four years later. I know I said that already, but FOUR years. Our students were gutting this house down to the studs. I wondered if I would want to paint over this, or if I’d want to leave it as a testament to my surviving an incredible storm. The owner said the water was about nine feet high here (my head if I were standing on the porch). Isn’t that amazing?

Normally I don’t put captions on the images in my galleries, but there are stories behind each of these pictures, so I took the time to give you a brief explanation for them. (That means: please take a minute to read the captions under the images.) Thank you for sticking with me!

do they ask more questions in wyoming than in any other state?

robin cornett — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 23:48:44 +0000

I just came home from a really fast trip to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, to enjoy the wedding of one of my dearest friends and college roommates. I was really torn about whether or not to pack my camera, because, after all, I was going to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and the wedding was held in the national park. I mean, seriously, what idiot would not take her camera?

Me, that’s what idiot. I flew up on Wednesday and left bright and early Friday morning, so was in Jackson for maybe 36 hours? Somehow the weight of the camera just outweighed the desire to carry it on five different flights. Actually, I’m glad I didn’t take it, as I got to really just sit and enjoy being a part of the celebration. I did pack our faithful old Sony point-n-shoot, with its whopping 4.1 megapixels, and still managed to come home with pictures I could enjoy.

Can you imagine getting married with this as your backdrop?

OK, I wish I had my real camera here, because this shot would probably have been in focus, but I loved the look on Phoebe’s face here (that’s her new hubby she’s looking back at as they recess). She was just radiant the whole day.
We took the “inner” road back to Jackson after the wedding and enjoyed stopping to take some pictures along the way. This scenery was really incredible.
I just liked this tree branch and wanted to play with the black & white. I don’t normally get to crank the contrast like this.
Next time I go to Wyoming, I’m taking my camera. And I’m going to stay for longer than one day.

look! (david)

robin cornett — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 21:07:37 +0000

I promised family pictures and here they are. I still struggle with believing that my little brother is old enough to be a responsible adult with a beautiful wife and three adorable children. However, here is actual proof:

These next two are processed with Matt Kloskowski’s “Summer Haze” effect. If you are a Lightroom user and haven’t checked out his Killer Tips yet, get a move on now!

Rabia is an author and I wanted to get one of just her.

During my viist, I taught their Eldest how to do a somersault. I also taught him how to play tic-tac-toe. He needs to practice that some, but I am confident he’ll be able to beat me soon.

It was a great visit, guys–almost done with the pictures!

look! (rabia)

robin cornett — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 20:52:32 +0000

I’m in Vermont this weekend, visiting my little brother and his sweet family and, of course, playing pictures. They just had their third baby this summer and so I’m splitting their pictures into two posts: today, baby Aaron, tomorrow (or the next day), the family.

I love babies in black & white. I love them in color, too, but something about black & white just emphasizes the delight of the lines of their lips, their toes, their faces. Isn’t Aaron just beautiful? I’m not biased or anything, but I know he is.

how exciting!

robin cornett — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 21:34:11 +0000

Y’all, I just got the quarterly newsletter from New Mission Systems International and totally did a double take. I was in the middle of meeting with a client when my son shoved the mail in my face (one trial of the home office). I put it down without looking at it and then during a lull, my gaze passed over the mail again… and my brain said, “Wait, that picture looks familiar!” So I picked it up and sure enough, it was my picture! I flipped it over and lo and behold, it was another one of my pictures! I opened it up and glanced through the cover story and !!! more of my pictures!

What happened was that last year, I took a trip up to Memphis to see dear friends Mark and Mylissa, who have started this ministry for families with terminally ill children. Many of these children are patients at St. Jude, some are at other Memphis area hospitals (Le Bonheur is one), and some are scattered around the country, but so many of these families have dropped and/or left everything to try to save their children’s lives and feel very isolated. Habitat for Hope, Mark and Mylissa’s ministry, reaches out to these families to let them know they are not alone. They pray with them, take them meals, visit the hospital with them–the list is kind of overwhelming. They work tirelessly and ask for nothing in return.

Anyway, I flew up for Labor Day weekend last year to have a few family sessions and see their work first hand. I was there for a birthday party and the final game of the Memphis Redbirds’ baseball season (supporters had donated a block of tickets to Habitat for Hope) and spent the weekend taking lots of pictures. I have to say that I came home and collapsed. Their schedule is truly exhausting.

I knew that the story on Habitat for Hope was in the works and I knew they were using my pictures, but all the same, it was very exciting to see the newsletter. Here’s a link so you can see it too. Here’s the picture from the back side, the one that caught my eye–one of my all time favorites:

Happy New Year!

robin cornett — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 14:12:25 +0000

Let me add a belated welcome to 2008 to all of you! I hope your holidays were filled with family, love, and peace. My family flew to Virginia to celebrate with extended family on my mother’s side–it was great! I thought I would pick just a few pictures to share with you (down at the bottom).

I’m taking advantage of the new year to launch a new look for my site–no fundamental change to the structure but I wanted to have some fun with it. You may recognize the colors over there–I’ve been loving the look on this blog and decided to bring it over. I will be updating the portfolio gallery as well, but am having a hard time narrowing down the pictures!

As part of my redesign, I’ve been working hard to figure out how better to serve my clients and have decided to start offering prints! There are so many options out there, some better than others, and it can be really confusing to navigate. I’ve found a few companies with great products and service and look forward to offering those to you. Selling prints continues to be a secondary priority for me, so I think you will find the prices to be reasonable. Taking this step will help ensure that the quality of prints meets the quality of the images being printed. I now also have the opportunity to add some really awesome and unique products–like canvas gallery wraps! Just imagine one of your favorite images as a true piece of art–let’s make it happen! I am still looking around at some really cool options for products, so keep an eye on here–I’ll keep you posted as I add them!

My grandfather, who will be turning 89 this spring and is still unstoppable!

My first time ever meeting my niece. Check out the dimples!

I mean, really. How cute is she?

My equally cute nephew–alas, no dimples, but love those deep brown eyes.

These belong to me–we took a fun hike one day. Cold and gray, but no snow.

Wesley the Wonder Dog, who belongs to my uncle. No reason to have him in here except that he is an attractive dog and I like this picture.

Happy New Year!

remember the redbirds

robin cornett — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 17:21:53 +0000

Remember Labor Day weekend when I went to Memphis to take a bunch of pictures? If you didn’t see this slideshow on the Habitat for Hope blog, I’ve “borrowed” it for your edification and enjoyment. I took these pictures at the Redbirds’ last home game of the season. It was a lot of fun!