Category Archives: brphotography

The Roman Baths (Bath, England)

This weekend our walk led us not into the English countryside but into our town of Bath, England. This is the home of the historic Roman Baths and location of a natural hot springs. The history stems before the Romans built their temple in 60-70 AD to the Celtics who built a shrine here dedicated to the goddess Sulis, and whom the Romans identified with as Minerva. I had come here a very young girl, drank the water, and I do not remember a moment of that occasion Needless to say it was a wonderful place to re-experience with my family as they came here for the very first time.

As residents of Bath we were able to cut the lines of tourists and apply for our Discover card, which got us into the Roman Baths free of charge. The electronic handheld tour guides are complimentary and come with a variety of tours which you can follow at your leisure. With two sons who would gladly play their Nintendo DS all day, this was a huge hit with them both. We ended up spending three hours touring the sights and we could easily come back to see and hear more at another time.

I definitely recommend coming to Bath, England not only for the lush and beautiful views of the country but for the historic sites in town like the Roman Baths. You can also check out the Jane Austen Museum. We have not been yet but plan to go especially during this year of anniversary. After viewing the Baths you can kick your feet up and relax at the modern day thermal spa and enjoy the natural hot springs as the Romans had many years before.

Visiting the Roman Baths in Bath, England.

The Bath Abbey overlooks the Roman Baths.

With my husband, +Ryan Aherin, at the Roman Baths.

Loved the image of love in photo on the left and the details as shown on the right.

Only the ducks are allowed to bathe in the steamy warm waters today.

For a girl who grew up in Italy, I love the Roman aspects of Bath, England.

Visiting the historic sight with my bella familia.

Details of old and details of new were visions we saw today in Bath, England.

For those of you who follow me on Instagram
Here are the highlights I shared from over the weekend.

**Images may not be used or altered without written consent. Please get in contact for more information.

Self Portrait: ‘Lost in the Noise’

2 Replies

For my Self Portrait this week I decided to focus on my weakness.

This year that is working with a fairly basic camera compared to my D700.

Working in low light situations and having a lot of noise has always

been two things to which make me feel most uncomfortable.

So this week: Deal with the noise.

I embraced it and played with it and accentuated it.

It may not be most beautiful portrait. It may be flawed.

But I am accepting the beauty in the noise.

Photography: Looking Back at the Beginning

4 Replies

Continuing on in my series of looking back at the photo shoots that brought me to where I am today, I go on to
my first fashion shoot with models on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. On an island in the Pacific there are many
people like me who are not all that tall. It quickly became my first initial filter for looking for new models to
photograph. I added to that list of criteria models who were just starting out and did not have a lot of looks in
their portfolio. One of the first few models I found who met both of those items was Polish born, Karolina, who
was currently working as a nanny in Hawaii. After messaging her on model mayhem I met her for coffee to go
over the ideas for shooting and from there we met up on the day.

This was the one of the images from Bonnie Rose published in the Look Hawaii magazine.

Goals, big or small, along the way help to push us and shape our endeavors in life. One goal I set out with
Karolina was to see how many different looks we could put together in the short hours of the morning. We
literally brought everything we owned that might work and laid it out nicely on the grassy hillsides of a local park
new my home in Mililani. Aside from losing my newly aquired iPhone a few times, we were able to work
smoothly from one look to the next with the aid of any other stylists or assistants. Do not get me wrong, I would
have gladly loved another extra hand and creative on location with us. Working with in our means we were able
to achieve the goal I set out and acquired several new looks for the start of Karolina’s modeling portfolio. She
went on to work with many other creative photographers on the island and soon was jet setting off around the
world to continue her work. It was a very modest shoot and I believe nothing was bought for the shoot. I say
this to then tell you that one of the images we created went on to be published in a Hawaiian magazine, featuring
Karolina as a new up and coming model. I learned that day and later on in retrospect that all it takes is action
and a creative drive and you can start a spark that will go on into a fire.

In this case that spark went on to work with several other models and clients in a very short period of time. I
pulled from both the online modeling community in my local area and personal contacts that I had already
established. I would like to touch on my work with someone from each of those groups whose images were
some of the first in my new career path. Phoebe was a former roommate and a friend I had made several
months back when living out on the Kailua side of the island for the previous summer. She is a natural beauty
and I had gotten her to model for me once before as a hair model for my work with extensions. She brought
with her a few choice outfits and together with my youngest son we went out to shoot on Kailua beach and
around my favourite running ground of Lanikai Loop. Due to the fact that we were both quite familiar with the
area I had not set out specific spots to shoot at in advance. We walked around to our favourite areas and I
photographed her as we went on. One of my favourite shots from the day was an outtake photo with my son,
Maddox. One or both of my kids sometimes were with me shooting since my husband was often busy with his
job in the military. These images with the models are some I treasure because it ties in both my love for work
and my love for family.

Veronica is a model that I came into contact with by word of mouth from Karolina. This would be my first
example of how word of mouth, especially on a small island like Oahu, can be quite beneficial for finding people
to work with and future collaborations. I contacted a friend and make up artist of mine to join on the shoot and
the three of us brought together our ideas for the fashion shoot. My husband and I had scouted out previously a
spot in the hills of the Mount Tantalus loop that overlooks Honolulu. Dhyana did Veronica’s make up while I did
her hair and laid out the outfits between what the model and I had both brought. What I really loved about this
shoot was working with Veronica in the beautiful Hawaiian backdrop. Oahu has been really great to me and
one of its most beautiful gifts is having such diverse backdrops. Quite a few male photographers only shoot on
the beach, however I have really enjoyed seeking out many varied locations which you will see in the
continuation of this series of looking back.

The images featured in this post are from the photo shoots with Bonnie Rose Photography on Oahu, Hawaii.

Models: Karolina Caro, Phoebe P, and Veronica Smith.

Hair & Make up Artists: Dhyana Leung (of Face, Art, Beauty) and Bonnie Rose

Paris in Motion: Roller Derby model in Paris

9 Replies

Oh beautiful Paris. The city of love.

Oh have I fallen for the city’s fashion hub,

amazing food, historical art,

and beautiful sights.

Love.

It is said that it is the people you meet on your journey

that can make the most impacting memory of your travels.

For me and our trip to Paris that was true with meeting the beautiful Orel Kichigai.

Orel is in the roller derby with the Paris RollerGirls, models and is active with photography.

We met up while I was last in Paris to see some of the sights.
I am used to doing a lot of walking on my travels and have rented a bicycle when in Lucca, Italia.

I have yet to skate. Watching Orel maneuver seamlessly through the streets of Paris,
it was hard to not be a little jealous I could not glide as well.

I know for next time to pack my skates. 😉

Featured today is Orel, a french Roller Derby player and model in Paris. — in Paris, Ile-de-France.

Self Portrait Saturday: ‘Shades of Self’

2 Replies

Ask B: How did you get involved with photography exhibits?

I Found my Smile

3 Replies

One reason I blog is because I love to write and share photographs. When we moved back to England I wrote a piece entitled ‘I found my Smile’ and shared it with my friends on a facebook note. It was written during a big turning point for me as this nomadic free spirit. As a Third Culture Kid (TCK) I have no real home to go back to and I always wondered what direction life would have me go. I really wanted to share this letter with you all.

“The last fourteen weeks have flown by and I have yet to cease photographing every second of my return back to England. So much so, that between my iPhone captures and my DSLR photographs, I have filled up almost all my available space on my latest external hard drive. From capturing daily memories to photographing the beautiful aspects of my European surroundings, there always seem to be something catching my eye. My taste buds have also been continually won over by a variety of Cadbury chocolates, copious amounts of tea, and delicious meals my husband has prepared with all English ingredients. The most meaningful of these are the ones that I have grown up with as my personal ‘soul foods’. I have long been teased by Americans for my extreme fondness of Beans on Toast, and now I can not only order it at almost any food establishment, but it is also common to find jacket potato with beans & cheese on the menu, which is another of my favourites. These once believed ‘bonnie-isms’, have been clarified in my mind recently that I claim more to being English, than just holding my UK Passport. Of course I am not saying liking a certain type of food is sole reason to claim a nationality. Being a Third Culture Kid, I can compare it to waking up from a coma and suffering amnesia. It is the little things like tastes, sounds and smells that instantly take me back ‘home’ and for a mobile girl with no home per-se, that means the world in my eyes. Finding happiness and a sense of peace, has cemented itself as an important milestone in my life. It has been a decade since I moved from my ‘homes’ in Europe to the USA, and I have had my share of loss, persecution and trials specifically in the last three years of that time. I have also experienced growth and knowledge through the hard times, forever changing myself into whom I am today. Through the thick of it I cried out in anguish to God, but now I can now look back and see the work that has been done on me. The devastating loss of my dad, the loss of my marriage at one point, and the loss of friends when I needed them most is an accumulative total of pain I would not ask to be put on anyone else. I have learned to rely on myself and that being on your own will not kill you, but make you stronger. Looking back in retrospective on my life, I can honestly say I know who I am and everything that is my world today, holds so much value against any stressors that may come my way now.

Since the day I moved away from Europe in 2000, I knew I would return back ‘home’. Any friend I have made in the USA in the last decade has known that has been my goal. I have not faltered with that dream. But along the way from acquaintances, friends, family, and even now to people I have just met here in England, I have been asked why I would want to move away from the USA. I hold US citizenship, I have an american accent, and I was born to two Americans. Although they grew up in the USA, I grew up moving across military bases in Europe until I was about seventeen years old. I personally feel I have never been able to assimilate into American life, with other Americans, in the USA (despite the numerous places I have lived over there) and from my study of Third Culture Kids as Adults, I understand that it is perfectly normal for that to be the truth of the matter. But in the last decade I have been forced into this Mold ‘ala Americana’ by my peers, my teachers, my bosses, my mother, and my husband’s family. Yet all I have wanted is to be accepted for being different, having a multifaceted life of culture as my nationality, and for being a girl who just loves to live and experience all life has to offer. Every therapist or psychologist that I have met with has met my goal to move back to Europe with a rigid opinion that doing so would be a bad life choice on my part. To this day I still do not know how to relate to people who are not personally a TCK, despite their professional qualifications, that I’m not moving to Europe to relive the past in a unhealthy mindset. I have moved back to Europe because of growing up there in my developmental years, I have formed a sense of nationality and home to that area, and it holds something for me that America could never offer. It is like the analogy I have heard of where you live in a blue society and everyone is trying to force you to dress in blue, but you come from a yellow society where as much as you could acclimate into that world you were not fully accepted as yellow. So you step out, standing out in green because that is who you truly and are most happiest. For me, I am a mixture of more than just two cultures, countries, or continents. I am a Third Culture Kid and I have always been proud of who I am, even if I am continually misunderstood. Which is why this move has been so important to me. The one question, spoken by many, looming over my head, “What if you move back, and find that you are not happy?” It is a pretty big ‘What if’ and especially given the big process of moving my family to another country. There was a slight fear, that what everyone felt would happen, would be true. Because then I would truly not have anywhere in the world I could ‘move home to’ and feel at peace. With such a long wait to return to Europe, with leaving so much pain behind me and mixed in with everyone’s opinions about moving, I embraced life by the hands and took the leap.

Still I may be in the honeymoon stage of living here, but theres an undeniable fact that resurfaces daily. Despite any stresses that have come along the way with uprooting to another country, I have indeed found my smile. For the first time in my life, I am not waiting to move somewhere else or wanting to be somewhere else. It feels like a weight has been lifted from my shoulders. Its not even a specific of wanting to be in Brighton, England, but just being back home in Europe that means everything to me. It has been eighteen years since I was in England before, and I am enjoying every aspect of it. Its familiar and comforting, but new in its own right. I love my days off because I can enjoy all England has to offer with my family, who have not lived in Europe before. I enjoy going to work because everyone I work with is a pleasure to be around. I love my coworkers and I love my clients, it feels so rewarding. I’m not going to make this a blog about ‘American girl drama’, but from the social interactions I’ve experienced in the US compared to England there is is a huge difference with how people relate, respond, and problem solve with each other here than what I’ve experienced before in the USA. It just drives home to me that this is where I am supposed to be, because I finally do not feel like I’m not having to force myself into a cultural way of acting or acceptance that is foreign to my upbringing in a multicultural and mobile world. It has been a huge moment of clarity for me, for witnessing the way I react to negativeness that may come my way. In just the last three months I have heard negative things said about me through other people, I have had people say toxic things to me directly, and I have witnessed things that are simply stated not very compassionate. Yet the overwhelming state of peace and an almost zen like attitude that has befallen on me since being here has made resilient and accept that toxicity will always be present, but I am in control of how I react to it. I am so happy to be here, so happy to be having my family here to experience a life I have wanted so much to live that it simply does not matter. I am stronger than I have ever given myself credit for and I can be indifferent..but I don’t have to be angry. That is how finding my smile has changed my life. If my life of growing up in lands far, far away is the beginning of my fairytale, this return to Europe is certainly not the end to my story.”

Written by Bonnie Rose August, 2011

A year and a half later I look over that letter and at the girl who felt and wrote those words. What I really take away is how important it is to be yourself and to find the happiness in life. I mentioned in the letter that I was experiencing the ‘honeymoon’ stage and to be fair I feel like I am still experiencing it. Granted I did move to a different city in England this past December However the finer points of noticing the little things, finding happiness in the simple things, and sharing each cherished memory with your loved ones are key. Who says you cannot live live with a ‘honeymoon’ outlook. Life is so short and I hope you all find the love and happiness you each deserve.

I would like to thank the close few whom have been there for me especially in the last several years. You know who you are, and I am who I am today because of your kindness, acceptance, forgiveness, and love.