heather mitchell photography

I keep lying to everyone, saying that I’ll write on here and add new stuff, but I never do. Well, here I am getting to the writing part. Festival season is starting up again in a couple of weeks and my first show will be at Celebration of Celts in Chatham, New York. It will be my first time seeing Enter the Haggis and many of you haggis heads since last September. Long time, I know, but I’m sure the many months of not hearing them play will only make me appreciate their music more. I’ll have a few new framed photos for sale, since I sold more than half of what I had at last years Great American Irish Festival, Green Lane Park, and at Celtic Classic. Not that I’m complaining. Hopefully I do well again this season. I also hope to get the website updated soon, since I don’t really think it’s necessary for the Italy and Switzerland pictures to say “NEW!”, as they were taken in April 2006. The same goes for the new under the Enter the Haggis section. Also, pictures from my last trip will hopefully be added in the next couple of weeks. Those would include England, Belgium. Germany, Croatia, Montenegro and Rome. Perhaps I’ll even change some of the shots that are already in some of the other sections, or just add a few more. Who knows. Anyway, I’m really trying to get my act together, so please keep checking for the updates. Also, if anyone has been trying to email me at heather@hmitchellphotography.com, please use my yahoo mail instead (hm_photography@yahoo.com), i still need to change that on the contact info.

I know, I know, I never ever write on here anymore. Well I’m finally getting to it. It’s the 5th night of this trip, meaning I still have another 5 weeks and 2 days. The first 4 nights I spent in London and had an ok time. It was my second time in London, so I’d already seen most everything anyway. I got to re-do my pictures in digital this time. I went inside the tower again this time and I didn’t like the beefeaters as much this time around. Haha, kidding. They were still cool. The weather has been pretty good so far. I took a day trip out of London and went to Stonehenge, Winsor Castle, and Bath. I really enjoyed the old roman baths, but I wish there wasn’t a silly local theater guy in a sheet pretending he was an ancient Roman. Today I left London and Came to Bruges, Belgium. It is so beautiful and I love it here. Aside from the atm not working, of course. Now it’s dinner time, so I must go, but I will write again soon.

So, in roughly 3 weeks, I will once again be out of the country for another 6 weeks. This one is going to be quite exciting. I’m starting out in London, and meeting up with a couple of friends there. I plan to visit some things in southern England, like Stonehenge and Canterbury. Hopefully I’ll make it to a couple of castles as well. After England I’m heading to Belgium. There I’ll be visiting Ghent, Antwerp, Bruges, and meeting up with another friend in Brussels. So excited to see Ivana. It’s turning into a visit every 2 years! I visited her in her home country (the Czech Republic) in 2003, then in Ireland in 2005, now Brussels in 2007. Ok, so from Belgium I head to Germany. I’m going to a few places there as well, such as Heidelberg and Munich. Of course I’m meeting another friend in Munich. From Germany I’ll be going to Croatia, then Turkey and hopefully Greece. I’m very much looking forward to Croatia. I’ve heard nothing but good things about Hvar island. Let’s hope it’s as beautiful as I’ve been told!

So it’s finally come to that time of year when I start planning out a new trip…and this April it will be Hawaii. This is all very exciting, as I’ve never been to Hawaii. I’m a little disappointed that I had to post pone the trip I was planning, in order to do this one. Originally, I was plannig to go to Turkey, Croatia and Greece this April. Some things have come up and now Hawaii has become a great opportunity in its place. So far all I know for sure is that I will be staying one weekend on Molokai with a friend and her family. Very exciting. Hopefully I’ll get the chance to go to the leper colony. Other than that, I think my friend and I may make it to the Volcanoes National Park, and I really hope to have time to get to Maui. I’m trying not to plan too much in advance, since I will only have ten days, I don’t want to get my schedule too full. I can’t wait!!!

YAY! So for a while now I’ve been looking into getting a new camera. Not that I’m unhappy with what I’ve got, I’m just outgrowing it. I have had my Nikon D70 since November 2004 and I’ve basically decided it’s time for something better, faster and more versatile. Originally I was gandering at the D2X, but it was just a dream. That beautiful piece of machinery was just way to far out of my price range. So today I ventured out with something else in mind…the D200…I LOVE IT!!! I knew as soon as I had it in my hands it was coming home with me, and it did. This camera is amazing. The menus and button placements will take some getting used to, but it’s functions are pretty similar to the D70. I can’t wait until I get to really test it out in the next couple of days. Of course I shot a bit after I got it but mostly just to figure it out. Tomorrow I am heading down to visit a friend in Long Island and I’ll get to play with it a bit more. We plan on making it to the Hamptons and into NYC, so I’m pretty excited to test it on a mini travel shoot. This is going to be so much better for all that band shooting I’ve been doing lately as well. Too bad I can’t test that until the 26th.

Ok, so the haggis wasn’t muddy, but everything else was. The Blackstone Valley Celtic Fest was this past weekend and of course it poured most of Saturday. There was a nice mud puddle directly in front of my booth by the time it stopped raining. But I got to see Enter the Haggis again! Luckily this weekend they didn’t steal my sunglasses like at Glasgowlands. Not that there was much use for them anyway. They played a great show as usual, but a bit short. Mark, I’m waiting for the trailer/tractor shot to be showing up on your tour page! Oh, and thanks Trevor, for that big leap you did just for my benefit (twice). Glad you didn’t slip in the mud! I got to meet a couple more Haggis Heads and help Laura keep the merchandise from blowing away. Anyways, now I have a few more shots that can be added to the 2006 ETH shots, now that the 2006 section exists. I’ll actually have quite a few to decide from since I’ll be seeing them again this coming Saturday. I’m looking forward to seeing and meeting some more Haggis Heads.
And anyone who likes Dan Stacey (7 Nations fiddler), he’s using some of my favorite shots on his myspace page.
www.myspace.com/danstacey

Ok, so now that Italy and Switzerland have been added, the Enter the Haggis section is all that currently remains. However, I just got back from visiting my brother in South Carolina and some photos will hopefully be added from that trip. I got to drive a little of the Blue Ridge Parkway and go up to Grandfather Mountain. The views were really amazing. On the way home I came up the North Carolina coast and went to Kitty Hawk to see the Wright brothers museum and as many of the lighthouses I could manage to fit into two days. Anyway, anyone wondering where exactly the Italy section photos were from, it includes Florence, Siena, Montalcino, Brunello wine region, Venice, Como, and the Cinque Terre. Alll of the Switzerland shots are from Lake Lugano.
Enter the Haggis is in the process of having its 2006 section added. Shows that will be included are The Fort Theatre (3/27Scotland), Celebration of Celts (5/6 Chatham, NY), and Irish Connections Festival (6/9 & 6/10 Canton, Mass). I will be seeing them at Glasgowlands this weekend (7/15) as well as Blackstone Valley (7/22), and GAIF (7/29). It is also possible I might see them for the Alive at Five Concert Series in Albany, NY on 7/27. Basically, I will be seeing them a lot this summer so Craig better beware of my “bossy boots.” That means lots more pictures to be added gradually to the ETH 2006 section (once it’s there)!

Ok, so now Ireland is officially completely updated, and includes, Clifden, Connemara, Doolin, Athlone, Dunguaire Castle, Giant’s Causeway, Bushmills, Derry, Carrickfergus, and Belfast. I was wrong last time, the “land” section was not updated, but is now. The Scotland gallery is also officially updated to include Dumfries, Caerlaverock Castle, and Sweetheart Abbey.
In other news, Seven Nations has added a few of my pictures from Saturday night at the Jack Frost Celtic Festival to their myspace page, so check that out:
http://myspace.com/sevennations

Updates are currently being made to the photo sections on the site. Ireland is now completely updated with some new shots from this last trip. Scotland will also have a few new shots added, as well as Enter the Haggis having a “2006″ section added. As for entirely new sections, Italy and Switzerland will also be showing up in the future. Please check back to see the new shots!