wine tasting portraiture

Santa Barbara is so much fun. We hit up Santa Ynez and Los Olivos. I really love Los Olivos for the cute streets, old cottages, and amazing restaurants. We went down Grand Street taking pictures, tasting, and then eventually having dinner at Los Olivos Cafe. Most of the pictures from this trip come from Leanne and her amazing D700, but I snuck in a few of my own from my G10. This post is all from the D700. We were at Carhartt, on the 5th tasting I believe, and in much need of a break from tasting. Here are some individual portraits from the back patio of Carhartt winery. Mind you, there are people walking in and out of this place, giving us weird looks, but its ok, we have no shame.

bridlewood

Bridlewood was one of my favorite wineries in Santa Ynez. The grounds are absolutely stunning with the vineyards in the background, and the winery itself is spectacular. Picnic tables line the winery, so I made sure to pack a picnic basket filled with cheese and crackers. Leanne brought some of the most amazing strawberries I've ever tasted, and we bought a dry bottle of chilled chardonnay at Bridlewood for lunch. Superb time we had...great collaboration ladies!

We also celebrated Leanne's birthday here, so we brought all the presents to the picnic table and she opened them there. I dunno how I ended up with all the presents in my hands, but it makes for a very colorful photo. Tien just likes to run around and get into buckets. *_*

in between wineries

In between wineries and tasting rooms, we ran around town taking pictures, of course. In the midst of this, I think we saw John Cleese, but we are not certain. He was in the middle of a conversation with someone, so we didn't want to interrupt, but I googled him on my phone, and we believe its him! Leanne caught so many fun and pretty moments, I'm having trouble picking which ones to post.

a little chair for you

This is our "we need to peeeeee" pose. The three of us were looking for a bathroom but none to be found or open!! Kat and Tien stayed behind to pose for Leanne, but I was on a mission to find a bathroom! We finally did after 2 blocks, and then we were much happier!!!

much happier after I found a bathroom!

enjoy cupcakes

This perfect pretty little thing is from Enjoy Cupcakes in Los Olivos. Carhartt's tiny tasting room couldn't house us just yet, so they told us about the syrah infused cupcakes at Enjoy, and we ran out the door before he finished his sentence. I'm not a cupcake fan, but these were quite delicious...my favorite was "the ugly."

Everything above this picture was taken on a D700 with a 50mm fixed lens. It's not my camera, but Leanne let me play with it throughout the day, so now my heart is slowly converting to dslrs and fixed lenses! The pic below was taken my Tien on my G10, which is so awesome, but sadly pales in comparison to the D700.

carhartt winery

Carhartt was once of our favorite tasting rooms on this trip. Although the wines were just alright, we had the best time here. It's the smallest tasting room in Los Olivos, literally a small walkway, and out into the back patio area. We went in about 5 times, and then left about 5 times to do other stuff. When we came back the last time, Mike Carhartt good-naturedly gave us the tastings, and also goofed around with us for tons of fun photos. On the way out, we think we saw John Cleese as well! ... but we are not certain. I blackberry googled John Cleese's pic, and it looked a TON like him!

The beginning of a million shots of us and the door

1st tasting


ready for the 8 tastings!


zooolander face


Mike Carhartt's zoolander face cracked me up


I think this is the shot that converted me to a 50mm fixed lens


cheeers!




the above sign made me laugh...and what tien said about it made me laugh harder


I LOVE this pic of Kat and Leanne!


...and I LOVE this pic of me and Tien


taking pics of each other