Thursday Challenge Interviews...

What is your favorite food or place to eat? Tell us what is special about it.

Since we both try to maintain a healthy lifestyle, we go out to eat only ones a month, and then we allow ourselves to eat a lot! We mostly love to eat at the Glenmore Inn restaurant here in Calgary. They have an all-you-can-eat buffet there, and each of us can pick & choose his/her favorites. And... they have a gorgeous menu for desert :-).

We love this place because we got married there at one of the Inn's halls, and also had the reception at the same restaurant. Going back every time sure brings precious memories of our wedding day and night.

Tell us about how you and your husband met. Where you both interested in photography at the time? What other interests did you/do you share?

We've met online around the middle of June 1997, through ICQ. At that time, Joe was living in here Calgary, and I was living in Israel. We became very good online friends, and when I was invited to visit Calgary by a friend of mine who lived here at the time, I jumped on the opportunity to meet Joe as well.

Our first meeting was on May 13 , 1998. We had a wonderful time together. After I went back home we kept in touch through the net, and decided to meet again in Holland while Joe visited his family there, on September 1998. On March 24, 1999, after realizing we were in love and in need to be together, I moved to Canada. We got married on December 19 that year.

We both share the same passion of photographing our experiences on our travels, so we can share it with our families abroad and our online visitors. In the short years we've been together we took thousands of photos. At first, each of us had his/her own 35mm camera, and we used them whenever we traveled around. That's our main shared passion - we do like to travel... a lot! Every time the weather permits (also in winter), we take day trips or camping trips for few days, and we discover our province, Alberta, or our neighboring province British Columbia.

Both you and your husband obviously love photography. Tell us about how doing photography together has 'sharpened' your eyes. Are there any aspects of sharing this mutual interest that are challenging.

With time, we realized we've changed the way we look at the world around us. We're much more aware of the things we might have overlooked before. Funny part is, we have only one digital camera, so it has to change hands frequently. What it does is, it sometimes brings us to plan frames together, discuss the best settings (though in that department, I can't contribute much, since I'm technically dumb ;-)). So of course there are times we agree with each other... and other times... we don't :-).

What do you enjoy taking the pictures of the most? Why? Does this differ from what your husband likes to take pictures of? If so, why do you think that is?

Lorien: Landscape photos will be the answer for me. That's what interests me most, and there's no one to tell me I can't take a photo of mother nature. After savoring the sight in, I love to put it in pixels, and later come back to it again and again and relive the feeling I had when I saw it. Sunrise and sunset photos fall into this category as well... I'm a sucker for those :-)).

I also love to take photos while we drive around. Those are unplanned of course, and I always get great surprises when I check them on the screen.

And last, but not least, I love to photograph old rusty stuff: may it be an old house, an old machine, or a ghost town - yeap, that's my thing too :-).

Joe: For me, it'll be nature and wildlife. However, nature is plentiful, but wild life is hard to capture since we still don't have the right equipment to do so... a dream for a better camera and lenses in the future :-)). I also like to snap candid shots of people.

Tell us about the most beautiful/interesting/strange thing that you have photographed?

Lorien: For me, it has to be Lake Louise in Banff National Park. I truly see it as the most beautiful place on earth. So much so, that when I first saw it - I started to cry! This place just takes my breath away whenever we visit there.

Joe: The most beautiful thing I took was a photo of my wife... sad thing is, she doesn't wanna publish it ;-).

What have you not photographed that you would like to photograph in the future?

Lorien: My dream is to go back to Italy one day. I've been there before and took few photos, but I'd love to have the chance to go back and click the camera till I drop. Florence will be the city I'll photograph like crazy.

Joe: For me, I'd like to be able to take better night photos. So far, I wasn't so happy with the results, and I hope to finally learn how to do it properly!