Maseratti bus rides and animal markets

Strap on your seatbelts for a crazy bus ride over cobblestones and around hairpin turns on the Quilotoa Loop high in the Andes. Oh yeah, that's right, there are no seatbelts. And as always, when in doubt, honk the horn.....

I could have bought a llama for $180, a very large pig for $150 and a small pig for $60 - prices variable depending on how serious (or stupid) the sellers thought I was, and before any haggleing

The Quilotoa Crater - over 14,ooo ft (gasp, pant) From here I hiked for 5 hours DOWN to my little guest house in Chugchilan

Saturday market in Zumbahua

and here's a walkthrough.....

Everyone wears thier Sunday best, including velvet skirts, stockings, sturdy high heels, and colorful ponchos to drag their pigs and sheep to market. Style points!

a funeral headed to the cemetery

a family plot - 3 down, 3 to go.......

sorry camels, but llamas are my new favorite beasts of burden

ever wonder how they get the sheep on the bus? (I know that was the burning question on everyone's mind) Why, they just hoist them up with a rope of course.....check out this short 14 second video

for more pics of Ecuador click www.thiakonig.com/ecuador

Hola Quito, Ecuador

so landing in Quito, Ecuador at 11 o'clock at night was a little scary, but managed to find this great hostel in the old town center. Had breakfast on the rooftop, and wandered around downtown in between rain storms.

spend 5 seconds on the streets of Quito....

spent most of the day making plans and booking a Galapagos trip. You have to pay for the trip in cash, but the ATM's only let you take out $500 a day. Luckily Heather gave me the tip ahead of time, so I had $1000 of travelers checks, and I only had to spend one day going to the bank to make up the difference. The travel agent's office looked a bit like a mafia den with all the cash flying around.

Elope in Sun Valley!

At the last minute a family vacation turned into a wedding. I was glad to help, and even signed the marriage certificate. When she forgot her flowers (thank god!), I sent the boys on a mission through the field of wildflowers to make her bouquet. It was too precious for words, so here's some pictures.

Classic Sun Valley wedding photography

Road Trip to California for Hart and Nicole

During the engagement shoot for Hart and Nicole last summer in Sun Valley, we just kind of 'clicked'. I was thrilled and honored when they said they wanted me to come out to California to shoot their wedding. I figured any friend of their's is a friend of mine, and it was one of those weddings where you just fall in love with everybody. I've never cried so many times at a wedding. Good grief. I even cried when she put her dress on. Thank god for auto focus. Is my mascara running?

I came out early and got to know everybody, and shot the happenings of the whole event. Spa day with the girls, poolside, and the rehearsal dinner. Nicole and Hart surround themselves with good people. Nicole introduced me to everyone as her friend, which was my 'in' to get spontaneous and intimate pictures of everybody throughout the event. She's so lovable you can't help but be her friend. She also chose her friend Gary who wedding coordinated and did the flowers (FABULOUS job!), and their other close friend got ordained online and performed the ceremony. So everybody was family, and there was a lot of love around. It happened in Heldsburg, a quaint little wine town northwest of Napa, at the cool and hip BarnDiva.

rehearsal dinner at the Heldsburg Hotel, where we all stayed

I love letting people be themselves

Once the dancing moved indoors it got pretty wild in a hurry. She cut up a rug with her dad, and that's the groom on the mike. Nice!

Destination wedding photography by Thia Konig.

Tai Kerbs as second camera for Frank & Jill

It was so worth flying in Tai Kerbs as second camera for this Sun Valley wedding. Mike and Julie were great clients, so they deserved the best. A fellow Brooks Institute of Photography Alumni (& working on her masters), Tai runs her own successful wedding photography business called Al Momento, in Santa Barbara. When I first met her last year, it was like meeting a best friend and a sister all in one. Our names are wierdly similar, we have the same P.O. box number?!, and we're both famous for capturing the moment. We rocked it together! We would look at each other and see what the other was using, then knowing that was covered, could try something creative. If one of us was using flash, then the other can capture the natural light. Or one of us tight, one wide. So great to work with a true professional. Great to get two angles of the beautiful moments happening, too! You don't get many chances at a petal toss in a meadow with a red Rolls Royce.

brought to you by Sun Valley wedding photographer Thia Konig

Free Flowers!

gotta love Ketchum in the spring! Wow, the wildflowers are like I've never seen them. Absolutely breathtaking!  Here I used some free flowers for portraits of Mike and Julie before heading across the street to their reception on Buttercup Road.

just a few...... wildflower hunting (not hard) with Shanti

And here is a short video of my favorite hike (Proctor Mountain) 

at it's peak just before sunset... wow - you couldn't even buy that if you tried!

I've seen $40,000 spent on flowers for a wedding, and it doesn't hold a candle to this. 

Coming onto this ridge makes me want to belt out The Sound Of Music - lucky for you I restrained myself...

Breakdance lessons at the studio

Dave from the Buried Life (see previous Oct '07 post) is back in town! Showing the love with free breakdancing lessons!

of course he had to start us white folk off pretty slow....