shutter to think

Brigitte's Buzios

I made my first trip to Buzios  alone - the one time sleepy fishing village where Brigitte Bardot escaped to in the 1960s turned chiquey vacation getaway for honeymooners - but I was lucky to meet all some of the wonderful local Buzio's characters that made this a memorable assignment for Hemispheres Magazine. 

For KLM's inflight magazine: Holland Herald

Wonderfully written story on Undercover Rio by my colleague Taylor Barnes featuring Rio's historical neighborhoods and off the beaten path places to explore (and some of my favorites as well)! It was a fun journey photographing this assignment. The Portuguese festa was a blast, even though the pictures didn't make the cut. And Rio Antigo is full of hidden gems. 

Bossa Nova for New York Times

I just received this clip and so stoked to see so many pictures from a really fun assignment. I also discovered two great venues from this story that I now regularly visit. Click on the link to read more about music in Rio de Janeiro. 

Where Bossa Nova is Just the Start

Moving to the Rhythms of Rio for the New York Times

Fun story on music in Rio de Janeiro - 

For Culinary Backstreets - Rio

Food shoot for an online food mag featuring a local gem in the city center.

"The venue has developed one of the city’s most extensive beer menus to accompany its creative twists on the typical foods of Brazil’s Northeast – a region multitudes of migrants left in the last century, seeking a better life the country’s more prosperous Southeast." - Taylor Barnes

Read the story here: Aconchego Carioca

o mar verde

January summer sea in Rio. 

Rio for Monocle Magazine

Fun lifestyle & travel shoot for Monocle Mag of two great creative dudes who make custom beach cruisers and skateboards, and all the people i met along the way, including this adorable girl who happily gave me the Brazilian thumbs-up! I also rode the around the Lagoa for the first time...a beautiful ride especially around sunset. 

Carnival begins!

Today is the first day of Carnival in Brazil...Every year each samba school choose their song, compose the lyrics and choreograph their dance. About 2-3 weeks before Carnival, the samba schools bring their rehearsal party (bloco) to the streets in their neighrborhood. I'm rooting for Portela Samba School, because it was my first bloco to attend and photograph...click on the link to check out their song.

Brief history: The first escolas de samba formed was Mangueira, in 1928. Soon theme songs, elaborate costumes, and floats became the main attraction of Rio Carnival. Many other teams from different communities in the Rio neighborhood followed Mangueira’s footsteps and formed samba schools to take part in the Carnival. Samba parades soon became the most popular event in Rio with the organizers being forced to set a time limit for each team in 1971.

The streets of Rio remained the main stage for the Carnival until 1984, when the Sambadrome was built by world famous architect, Oscar Niemeyer. Many of the current samba schools have their roots in the original schools of the 20’s and 30’s. 

Bloco de samba!

In the approaching weeks of Carnaval samba schools  (and some neighborhoods) bring their performance to the streets for rehearsal. In the North Zone of Rio de Janeiro, a neighborhood called Madureira, I followed the samba school of Portela, one of the oldest schools (with several  name changes) in Rio. It once was one of the very best schools, winning 21 times, an all-time record, however the school is trying to reclaim its glory self. We'll see at this year's Carnaval. 

 

San Francisco for Afisha, a Russian travel & lifestyle magazine

Had a really fun shoot several months ago for a gorgeous Russian travel magazine. I really wish I could read the magazine but my Russian is limited to...my name is and nice to meet you. A big gracious thank you to picture editor Dana Rakhimbekova for assigning me, and writer Xenia Grubstein for a great shoot!

I look foward to photographing more stories for them whether in San Francisco, or maybe....Brazil? Wherever I will be... :0)

The story is told through a San Francisco resident. Over three days, the writer and I followed wherever he lead, showing us The City through his eyes. If you live in San Franciso, try & guess where some of these places are. 

Can someone translate what my bio says! And this is my dog! Reese. We often do photo shoots together (clearly he's far more photogenic then I) but this is the first time he's been published! 

Semana Santa, Antigua

I spent a week with friends in Antigua celebrating Semana Santa traditionally by making alfombras, or colorful carpets used for the processions. It was a delight to be a part of a creative group. I didn't really intend on photographing Semana Santa, because here in Antigua its quite touristy, although the processions are pretty amazing. I had first thought that I was going to make some travel images for stock, but found myself just taking a break from shooting. But it was until that Friday that suddenly things came together. Here's a slideshow of some images from that day.

You can also catch my snaps on my tumblr: http://liannemilton.tumblr.com/

Destination: Semana Santa in Antigua, Guatemala - Images by Lianne Milton

a little amor in guatemala city

It's really sweet to see a little love in one of the most violent cities in Latin America...

Food and Art in Sebastopol

An October travel assignment for the New York Times travel section sent me to Sebasotpol for the day to photograph their eclectic food and arts scene.

These assignments are always really fun, but they can be super crazy and stressful as I'm usually running around with my shotlist photographing places and people under varies lighting conditions. I try to shoot indoors when its in the afternoon and outside places when the light is softer. Sometimes I have to be at two places at the same time as I'm trying to compete with time before the light falls. Its just hectic sometimes! But I always meet really cool people and discover new places, such as one of the best thrift stores I have ever been too, Aubergine.

Sebastopol is also home to some very creative people, and one of them is Patrick Amiot, whom is picture in my outtakes. I also want to thank his wife Brigitte Laurent for giving me a private tour of their home, Mr. Amiot for showing me his "studio," which is pretty much a very cool junkyard, and a photographer's paradise to photograph.

The town also has really incredible food. I was also lucky to photograph a farm (this was off the list but I really wanted to go) where most of the foods for dishes at the restaurant, Peter Lowell, are grown.

Out of the Rolling Ocean

With the last six frames left of a roll, I headed down to the beach to capture this amazing blue glow I saw from my yard. My favorite time to shoot and it lasts only minutes. The earth, sky and ocean in the same blue color palette. This day was the last of a weekend-long the bluegrass festival...it was summery fall...surf was good that day as was the music from the park.

Visiting a dark past on Angel Island

I visited Angel Island for the first time in October. We took the ferry and rented bikes to cruise around the island. Considering I was born and raised in the San Francisco/Bay Area, I feel like its a shame that it me took so long to visit a part of my history, not just locally, but about my ancestry.

The island is a state park, and the dark history that haunts it is just part of its rich story, which you can read here: http://angelisland.org/history/. During the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, this island served as a detention center for all incoming Chinese immigrants. You won't find "detention center" in our American history, though that is essentially what it was. Instead you'll read: United States Immigration Station (USIS).

The buildings have since been renovated, new paint, the grounds immaculate, and the only real sense of how life might have been here are the etchings of poetry by prisoners on the wooden walls of the dormitories. You might say that I was a really disappointed, but not surprised, in the softening effect of our American history.

For more history on the "Immigration Station," please click on this link: http://angelisland.org/history/united-states-immigration-station-usis/