Check Me Out on Etsy

It is so exciting to see my business come together.  My business name is currently being published in the newspaper to become official.  My amazing fiancé made a logo for me that I feel truly captures who I am.  Next up, we have Etsy!  I’ve had a shop on Etsy for a while now that featured my graphic design work, but now I have a shop specifically for my travel photography business.  Take a moment to check it out and let me know if you’d be interested in me working with your photos.

Liberated Traveler Etsy Shop

M Light Design Etsy Shop

I recently made a Venice print for myself.  Below are the images I used and the final product.  I think this is a great way to capture the essence of a place and its memories in one image.  Perhaps you need one in your home!

Building a Business

The Liberated Traveler has returned!  Although it has been a few years, I identify as the Liberated Traveler more than ever.  I’ve recently started the process of starting my own business under this name.  Sometimes we can’t travel as much as we’d like, so traveling needs to come to us.  The goal of my business is to keep our travels memorable.

Although I will offer a variety of keepsakes, my business’s primary service is travel photo editing.  When traveling to far off lands, we often capture hundreds of images that later remain locked in our devices.  Let those pictures out!  I will take your photos (whether taken with a camera or phone) and enhance them to professional-like quality.  From there, they will be available for download or purchase.  I will also put together keepsakes that will make the most out of your images that can be available for purchase.  Here is an example of how photos can go from lack luster to feeling like you are there again.

One of the travel keepsakes I’m most excited about is custom word art prints.  These custom travel word art prints are a great way to display the essence of a trip.  I take your photos and mask them with letters so multiple images can come together to create a print.  I’m excited to make a shadowbox from a couple trips I’ve gone on.  Stay posted for this exciting keepsake.  Here is a print I made for my aunt with her images.

New Orleans in Photos

I have visited New Orleans the past two summers.  If you are looking for a location in the US that doesn’t feel like the typical destination, then this is your place.  The mixture of cultures creates a unique experience each time you visit.

There are two restaurants that I LOVE, and highly recommend for travelers.  The first is The Italian Barrel.  We walked past it thinking, “we can have Italian at home.”  Finally we gave in one night, and now this is a regular stop for us.  On our last trip we discovered Irene’s Cuisine.  Both places have a great atmosphere with food that you will remember in your dreams.

Here are some of my photos of NOLA and the surrounding area.  Stay tuned for more information!

In the photo you can see the spray paint indicating number of deaths on the houses 5 years after the hurricane consumed the area.

I’ve probably turned to food as my companion way too many times.

9th Ward, New Orleans

New Orleans, LA

New Orleans, LA

This foundation once held a home and a family.

HDR and Travel Photos

I’m often asked what camera I use after sharing some of my photographed memories.  I am by no means a professional, but I do love taking, editing, and sharing photos.  Below you can find more information about the gear that I use to create my images.

I have been using HDR (High Dynamic Range) imaging for over a year now.  It captures the vibrancy that I saw on my travels.  HDR simply combines separate photos taken at different exposures to bring all levels of the composition to the best exposure.  Typically when we photograph a scene, something will be under or over exposed because of the different levels.  HDR allows everything to be properly exposed.  You can see some sample pictures below.  For more information about using HDR, please check out this site for an introduction or feel free to ask me about it.

Gear Information:

Camera-Canon EOS 60D, Canon S100

Lens-Canon Ef-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Standard Zoom Lens

Software-Adobe Photoshop 10 and Photomatix (HDR)

Murren, Switzerland

Stay tuned for travel photography tips!