Seattle hotel self-portraits

I spend a lot of time in hotel rooms, traveling about, and some time ago I started taking self-portraits - often because I was bored, but also because hotel rooms frequently have great light.  They're also an extremely clean and streamlined environment - great for portraiture.  I've posted several times before with new additions to the project.  You can see the whole set here.  I guess I got bored with doing them with clothes on, so a little semi-nude action for the blog! wedding and portrait photographer Amber Wilkie black and white self-portrait in hotel room half-naked girl in seattle hotel room

Forever

I'm done with the board meetings at the Mandarin Oriental in Washington, DC, but I've got the room for one more night.  George and I are headed to CityZen to try out Eric Ziebold's award-winning cuisine.  We don't have a reservation but I'm hoping it won't be a problem.  The hotel and restaurant are really not in a convenient part of the city.  I'm surprised they set up shop there.  For me, it's back to the normal work day. I love these huge facing mirrors on the way to the conference rooms.  I don't normally post photos this large, but I didn't want to diptych this one into obscurity. hotel self-portrait at the Mandarin Oriental, Washington, DC

Weekend Getaway, Day One

I'm a big traveler.  It was always something I wanted to do - yearning to head out on the open road, eat foods I never heard of, see things that no one else had seen - and then I lived in Mexico for four months with no agenda but to learn the language.  It really spoiled me for adventure because now I want more more more.  That is to say, I like to take trips.  This year, we've been a bit short on time and so haven't had the chance to take what seems to be our standard one-week trip somewhere. Oh sure, we went to Chicago and will make our standard Thanksgiving and Christmas treks to see the various in-laws and in-dnas, plus we're planning on a big road trip through Pennsylvania for our anniversary.  Still, I like to take just because trips.  Because I like to travel and that's what I want to spend my money on! So this weekend George and I headed off to Winchester, Virginia, which is only an hour and a half drive from Washington.  The main event was supposed to be a hot air balloon festival just down the road but Mother Nature was having none of it and blew gusty winds the entire trip.  No balloons were to be had, at all.  Instead, George and I just drove around, ate some great food, tasted some wine and generally gallivanted around - something we do particularly well. Before we set out, we had to get some Diet Coke.  This is completely standard driving-anywhere procedure for George.  Outside the 7-11: road trip in and around Winchester, Virginia Nothing of note happened after that.  It was dark and we made the mistake of taking 50 instead of I-66, probably adding an entire hour onto the trip.  When we got to the hotel, we were very pleasantly surprised by the ridiculously ingenious room design and general hipness of the Aloft Winchester.  I highly recommend to anyone headed out that way.  For instance, the room didn't get a newspaper in the morning, but there was a copy of Wired for our reading pleasure.  How awesome is that? road trip in and around Winchester, Virginia More goofiness in the mirror. road trip in and around Winchester, Virginia road trip in and around Winchester, Virginia It was late.  We were tired.  A few photos that George mostly handled with grace and then beautiful sleep. George, the most awesome husband a girl could want George, the most awesome husband a girl could want George, the most awesome husband a girl could want