My last stop in China was to Shanghai, a fun, crowded, lit up city with lots to do. 

We took a pretty decent sized boat cruise along the river in Shanghai.  On one side of the river, it is filled with the the colonial architecture of European design - the Western influences of the old days.  On the other side it is full of more modern skyscrapers.  Seeing the difference of the area depending on which side of the river you were on was pretty incredible to witness via boat. 

​This large and insanely busy market is composed of specialty stores, selling traditional Chinese arts and crafts, medicine and souvenirs.  The buildings were all incredibly detailed and beautiful and everywhere we went was packed with people, especially on the weekend.  If you want to shop, this was definitely the place to do it! 

On my last night, we attended a Chinese acrobatic show called "The Intersection of Time."  The performers were phenomenal.   

​Hangzhou was described by Marco Polo as "the most beautiful and magnificent city in the world" and has been described by poets and artists as “Paradise on Earth”,  home to the West Lake, the most beautiful lake in the country.  Daytime here was quite and serene while nighttime downtown was filled with plenty of shopping, eating, lights, and fun things to explore!

We got to visit and tour the number 1 tea plantation and taste (and buy way too much) of the "Dragon Well" tea, the best green tea in China.  We learned a lot about the health benefits of green tea and got to witness its antioxidant benefits in a cool experiment! 

Wuxi (pronounced "ooo-she") was such a calm peaceful city.  The accent here almost sounds like singing as opposed to other cities like Shanghai which tend to sound like yelling.   Here i visited the grand Buddha and a serene lake. 

One of China's largest Buddha statues at over 80m tall. The surrounding area is huge, and full of peaceful, beautiful attractions.  At sunset, there was a large musical fountain which plays out the story of the birth of the Buddha.  Also here is the Brahma palace, a palace with sandalwood pillars, built to host the 2009 Buddhist conference.

Suzhou is also known as the "Oriental Venice" for its beautiful canals, bridges, pagodas, and gardens.  I took a boat ride through this gorgeous yet mellow city and was so humbled by the way of living I witnessed everywhere. 

My first stop in China was to Beijing.  After getting my bags held up along the way in Shanghai, I arrived in Beijing for 3 days with nothing but the clothes on my back (and the cameras in my carry on).  Beijing is in northern China and it was winter, so it was freezing cold!  Thankfully I had worn a scarf on the plane! 

Before visiting the Temple of Heaven, we checked out a park nearby early in the morning.  Here you can find many things you are unlikely to see in America.  There were hundreds of elderly people gathered playing games, cards, stretching, doing yoga, playing hacky sack, singing, and exercising.  There was also an area I like to call the "in person tinder" where parents brought worksheets describing their children (height, salary, education, a photo, etc) and placed them on the ground in the park.  Other parents would go around trying to find a suitable mate for their child.  Check out some of the happenings in this park!

An architectural masterpiece built in the1400s for emperors from the Ming and Qing dynasties.

The city square in the center of Beijing, contains the Monument to the People's Heroes, the Great Hall of the People, the National Museum of China, and the Mausoleum of Mao Zedong. Mao Zedong proclaimed the founding of the People's Republic of China in the square on October 1, 1949.

 The Great Wall (Juyongguan) is one of the “Seven Wonders of the World”! I got the chance to climb/walk a small portion of the 3,700-miles for about half of a day. The steps are totally uneven, one step might be 6 inches tall and the next 2 feet.  It was pretty difficult on the uphill portions and you had to constantly be watching where you stepped, even though this section (and a lot of sections) had been rebuilt.   I walked most of it alone and it was a great experience to be in a place so grand, alone in my thoughts.

We took a ride with some locals to see a hutong which is essentially a neighborhood that people live in.  We were lucky enough to get a home cooked meal by a local family with noodles made from scratch!  

Before I went to Beijing, I was so lucky to have made a friend from there named Mona.  She was so sweet and came and met me, showed me around and took me to another hutong at night on the subway.  I didn't bring my camera, but the hutong she brought me to that night was quite different than the one pictured above.  It had a lot of shopping and eating and was a spot where people would go to hang out. 

The hotel I stayed at in Beijing was right next to where the 2008 Olympics were held. I got to see the amazing buildings built for the ceremonies, and they were lit up every night, full of people enjoying the space. 

Beijing is a city of rings, all formed around the center, which is where the Forbidden city is.  This is the former seat of the emperors throughout the Ming and Qing dynasties, and now home to the National Palace Museum

A former retreat place for royalty, this palace has a man made lake, now a serene retreat for the public.  It is huge, and beautiful, but only a few feet deep. 

I only got to spend a few days in Auckland but man was it gorgeous! Check out some photos of Auckland, surrounding harbors, ferry rides, and Waiheke Island! 
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See something you like?  Check it out in the Print Shop!
Interested in learning how to use your DSLR to take photos of your travels?  Check out my eBook!

From Brisbane, I drove down the Gold Coast to Byron Bay, and stayed in Currumbin.  Here are some photos along the way.
See something you like?  Check it out in the Print Shop!
Interested in learning how to take better photos of your travels?  Check out my eBook!

Take a walk through downtown Brisbane with me <3
Explored this city on my own and was so impressed with the tiny shops, bakeries, and the parks!
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Photos: Canon 5d Mark iii and 50mm f/1.2, edited with my presets.
Want to learn how to take better photos of your travels?  Check out my guide here!

Bali. Bali. Bali.  Oh my goodness Bali.
I cannot wait to go back here and stay longer.
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I stayed in Sanur which was the more quiet area of Denpasar.  While in Bali I visited Ubud,  the sacred monkey sanctuary, 
Tanah Lot Temples, the rice terraces, saw how coffee was made, rode scooters throughout Denpasar, Learned to surf at Kuta beach,  talked with local artists, and  visited Mt Agung - a volcano that erupted just 2 days after.

Photos taken with a Canon 5d Mark iii
Want to learn how to use your DSLR to take photos of your adventures?  Check out my ebook here!

A short drive from Sydney is Royal National Park.  I stopped at one of the beaches here and found some pretty cool secluded spots including a natural pool in the rocks! 

Photos: Lindsey O.
Equipment: Canon 5d Mark iii
​See something you like?  Prints start at $25!

My first stop in Australia was the little beach town of Bondi Beach.  Talk about a gorgeous swimming pool location!  Loved the vibes here, and the food!  Poke bowls and Pad Thai were not in short supply ;)

Photos: Lindsey O.
Equipment: Canon 5d Mark iii and  Sigma 24-70mm
See something you like?  Prints start at $25!

Photos: Lindsey O.
Equipment:  Canon 5d Mark iii
Check out the Print Shop!

Summer roadtrip in Banff, Canada - can you beat it??
Day Hikes, a Helicopter ride, Crystal clear blue lakes, it was heaven.
See anything you like?  Check it out at the Print Shop!

So thankful this year - My work nominated and chose me to go on a free trip to Miami Beach and stay at Fontainbleau!  It was a blast.. so much that I hardly took my camera out!  I took a little walk down the beach on my last day and got these photos with the goal of getting some tropical themed prints for my Print Store and to hang around my house. 

​Like any you see?  Pick them up at the Print shop!

Hi there!
I'm Lindsey and I run this blog and the photography company Lo Photo, LLC where I shoot weddings and lifestyle portraits.

I'm a destination Wedding photographer focused mainly in Charleston, SC and Seattle, WA.  I have some amazing places in mind that I just cannot wait to photograph a special elopment or ceremony at and because I simply can't wait I'm offering an INSANE deal to any couple down for an epic adventure!

My normal wedding packages range from $2200-$3200 but if you are looking to get married in one of the following destinations, I am offering a package for $300 plus travel fees! (Win! Win! Winning!)

• Countries outside of the United States
• Hawaii
• Page, AZ (Antelope Canyon, Horseshoe Bend)
• Florida Keys
• Treehouse Point (Washington)
• Arches National Park
• California National Parks: Joshua Tree, Redwoods, or Seqouia
• Yellowstone
• Alaska National Parks: Glacier Bay, Denali, or Gates of the Artic
• Glacier National Park, Montana
• Colorado National Parks

Think you have something else I may be interested in, at a natural outdoor venue?  Feel free to reach out with your location and date!

Your package would include location scouting, documentation of your entire wedding day (start to finish) as well as other details from your vacation if you would like.
​
Contact me for more information and to discuss your BIG DAY!
Email: LoPhoto@live.com
Portfolio: www.Lo-Photos.com

<3 LO

Colonia was the CUTEST little town which is accessible via ferry from Buenos Aires, Argentina.
The city was full of old cars, historical architecture, and vibrant colors + pastels.

Here we got to learn all about how they run their family business, the history, the challenges, the domestic sales, and the importation.  We also go to tour the winery and get an amazing tasting!

I loved Montevideo!  It was much less crowded and a lot cleaner, safer, and more active feeling than Buenos Aires was.   They have a beach lining the whole city and it is always full of people on the move!

I spent about 4 days in Buenos Aires, working with businesses in many industries and learning about the economy, challenges, and opportunities the people and businesses deal with on a daily basis.  

Check out the photos from a few spots around town!

From Cusco, it is a 3 hour drive to get to the Vinicunca mountains.  This was by far my favorite experience in Peru.
The hike is hard, its about 3 hours each way and goes from 12,000 to 17,000 feet in elevation.  This was my first experience with this elevation and the low oxygen levels really take a toll on your ability.  At the top of the mountain, I could only take bout 10 steps at a time before having to stop from being dizzy.  The views at the top were so incredible and so worth it.  What made this day so memorable for me was not only the views but the journey.  The hike through the mountains felt so untouched and genuine.  We were walking through these people's villages and seeing their daily life the entire way which to me made this day amazing.  I've included many photos of the things I saw along the journey, as well as the photos of the rainbow mountain - each outstandingly incredible!

How to get there?
I paid about $35 for a company in Cusco to shuttle us there and back.  They also took us to a small village on the way to eat a locally made breakfast (before) and lunch (after).  I would definitely recommend booking once you are in Cusco, as some of the companies online are charging $180 for the same exact service.  Once you are a bit into the hike, you can pay about $20 to have a horse and guide take you towards Rainbow Mountain and back, where the horse is able to. 

OK, can this place be any more magical?!?   Maccu Picchu is one of those bucket list travel destinations for me, so when I found out I was going to Argentina, I signed myself up for an extra week in Peru.  

To get to Maccu Picchu, you have to fly into Lima, Peru (I suggest staying a while!) and then fly into Cusco, Peru.  From Cusco you take a car to Ollantaytambo, located in the Sacred Valley, and the board a train to Aguas Calientes.   Here are some of the photos from the trip up. 

Hope you enjoyed these photos!  Make sure to check out my print store over at www.LindseyO.com where these will be added soon!

On a last note, visiting Maccu Picchu during rainy season was indescribably lucky.  I was there with a handful of people as compared to the 10,000/day that visit during most of the year (the dry months) who are only allowed to stay for 2 hours and must go with a guide.  It took a few hours for the clouds to break and rain to stop but I can't image having seen this place any other way.  

On my recent trip to Latin America we visited a variety of business in Buenos Aires, Argentina and Montevideo, Uruguay.  Here's a little description of each!

Acindar produces steel used in agriculture, civil construction, the automotive, railroad, and mining industries, as well as many other industries.  Acindar was founded in 1942, and is based in Buenos Aires, employing over 2600 direct employees at 5 sites across Argentina.    Since 2008, they are a part of ArcelorMittal, the number 1 steel producing group in the world, operating in over 60 countries with around 300,000 employees.    Acindar Grupo Arcelor Mittal has a 60% market share of long carbon steel in Argentina, making them the leading producer.  

Acinder was founded in October of 1942 in response to the steel shortage caused by World War II.   Their first plan was in Rosario City, Santa Fe and had around 450 workers, producing 3500 tons of steel during its first year.  After many years of growth, the plant upgraded in size.  Following this, Acinder acquired the Santa Rosa company and merged with the Germendi firm.  They also opened a new plant in Villa Mercedes, San Luis producing steel mesh and nails.    All of this put Acinder in a great global position allowing another merger with the Brazilian Belgo Mineira company (part of the Acelor group).   Acelor and Mittal companies, both leaders in steel production, constituted AcerlorMittal which is not the #1 steel producing group in the world, manufacturing over 100million tons per year (10% of the world production).

Acindar has five plants in Argentina located in Rosario, San Luis, Villa Constitucion, San Nicolas, and La Tablada.  They produce a range of non flat steel products including wires, cables, and tubes.   Other examples include billets, beams, cold drawn and hot-rolled bars, welded meshes, and wire rod.   Thy also produce cut rebar and nails.   Acindar has an annual capacity of about 1.3 million tons.  They mostly operate in Argentina, but have a manufacturing facility in Brazil, and a commercial office in Uruguay.  Their production is mostly exported to South American countries, and they have about 38% domestic sales. 

Axion is in the oil & gas industry.  45% of their business comes from retail sales like gas stations.  They have lots of business to business sales such as licensing to produce Mobil (Exxon)'s  and Toyota motor oil.  Recently, the goverment has called for non conventional energy supplies.  Axion currently uses about 15% from other sources such as hydraulic but are still very 85%) dependent on fossil fuel in Argentina.  

They are always looking for new ways to turn their waste into cash producing materials.  They were the first company to come out with paying for your gas via an app, so the driver never has to exit their vehicle at the gas station.

Bragging point: They have a 2% better consumption rate than Shell via the additive they add to their gasoline.  

Capital Markets is a firm that invests their customer money globally.  This is a huge deal in Argentina right now because inflation is so high (40% last year).  This means, if customers don't invest their money, they are loosing money each year (equal to the effect of inflation).  So their savings account is worth less year after year.  This is why Capital Markets chooses to invest on the global scale.

Globant is an IT consulting firm, and their office was decorated with video games, fun colors, a meeting room in a ball pit, and ping pong tables.

They moved from being just consultants to actually providing full solutions.  They work with companies like National Geographic, FIFA, Southwest, American Express, Coke, and Disneyland.  They have offices all around the globe including the United States and are similar to companies like Deloitte and Accenture in terms of their niche. 

They focus on providing a "digital journey" which is a series of interactions based on dependencies.  They don't want to just provide an application, but a journey of these inter dependencies and interactions that work seamlessly to meet customers needs that they may not even know they had.  

We visited the Volkswagen factory in Buenos Aires where they produce 3 different vehicles including a cute little Volkswagen truck that is very popular, however not available in the United States. 

Their factory produces the cars very quickly, and was very clean.  We got to see the entire process from assembly to testing, to painting which only takes about 2 days. 

OK, this was my favorite stop :) 

We visited the Bodegas Carrau family winery and it was VERY impressive.  We got to see the entire process from harvesting grapes to making and bottling wine and champagne.  

Most impressive was their ability to keep their business in the family, as that can bring many complications.  They have had 10 generations now, over 260 years of wine making.  They started in 1752 in Cataluna, Spain, and in 1930 in Uruguay.    They export about 50% of their wine to Brazil and 25% to the United States.

I bought a bottle of the Tannat Reserve.  Tannat is a rare grape that has a ton of antioxidants, super good for you! 

In South America, Uruguay...

• #1 transparancy index (good for doing business)
• #1 education index  (They have plenty of skilled resources, many speaking multiple languages)
• They only country considered a "full democracy" - The economist

Free trade zones in Uruguay offer..

• No national taxes
• Duty Free
• No time restrictions to store goods
• No change to employee income tax, however, expatriots wont have to pay twice, they will continue to only pay for their home country

They have these because Uruguay is a small market, so free trade zones encourage companies to come set up offices in Uruguay in order to promote jobs and their economy.  A limitation is that the companies cannot sell or service to Uruguay consumers, as this would be unfair the the companies operating outside of free trade zones. 

Zonamerica is a private free trade zone.  They house companies working in idustry as well as global & logistic services.  They are 1 of 11 free trade zones currently in Uruguay.  

Their profit model is that they built an entire community of roads, buildings, parks, etc and lease spaces, with the infrastructure companies need to operate.  They also can help companies with their IT, data centers, and HR.  

The next 2 company visits are both located in and realizing the benefits of Zonamerica.

Costa Oriental is a logistics company who store their customers items while they are going through the processes involved with importing goods across South America.  They coordinate with distributors (they don't actually distribute themself) and also can do value added activities such as customizing products to a specific country destination by installing the correct power cords and including the proper language instructions.   Products stay here for about a month while their companies (ex. Loreal, Estee Lauder, Nike) wait to be cleared to import their goods to South American countries.    They are located in the Zonamerica free trade zone in Montevideo.

Sabre is a technology company in the travel industry.  They first started as a joint project between American Airlines and IBM when the 2 CEOs sat next to eachother on a plane ride.  They were the first company to do online airline bookings.    Currently, they help corporations manage corporate travel, help travel agents, etc.  

They are headquartered in Dallas Texas (about 4,000 employees) and we visited their office in Montevideo which focused mostly on customer support but also works on things such as business intelligence. 

We stayed in the historic district of Lima for 2 days before heading out to Cusco.  Definitely not the "tourist" part of Lima as we later found out!  So glad that we saw the city, the beautiful architecture, and the way the people of Lima go about their days.

Miraflores is the "tourist" area in Lima where all the hotels are, lots of restaurants, beaches, surfing, etc.  It definitely does not compare or represent the rest of Peru but it was a beautiful way to spend our last day in Peru (long layover).

Visiting Home for Christmas in the beautiful Pacific Northwest.  I did a 9 mile hike in the snow with some friends to natural Hot Springs in Snoqualmie, WA.  I also headed up to Snoqualmie pass (Gold Creek) with one of my best friends and her fiance to take their engagement photos!  Check out some highlights below of Washington covered in Snow!

​Photos by: Lo Photo, LLC - photographer of Lifestyle and Love!

This is my first time putting a video together.  The clips are from my recent trip to the southern regions of Africa.  Hope you enjoy and that I hope to continue to explore this as a new hobby when I travel :)

Two of my good friends from Seattle (and one of my favorite couples ever!) had a destination wedding in Riviera Maya, Mexico.  

​Here's a little video I put together of the few days we spent exploring the areas up and down the coast around Tulum while in town for Mike & Kami's wedding, followed by a few photos :)

I think my favorite parts were: swimming with sea turtles in Akumal (not in the public beach area.. avoid!)
and sailing and getting caught in a massive rain storm

We got away from the crowded tourist areas of Cancun and headed down towards Punta Allen in a rental car.  The beaches here were empty and felt untouched except for a few (amazing) homes along the beach.

One thing you see when you get away from the resorts (who clean their beaches multiple times a day) is the amount of plastic that washes ashore.  I'm a firm advocate in reducing our use of plastic, particularly when it comes to things that we use one time. 

Plastic is something that can never be broken down, it never goes away, yet we are constantly using it for things that are instant garbage (water bottles, hotel shampoo bottles, etc).  Take a look at the below photo to see what is washing ashore in this beautiful ocean, and getting in the environment and bodies of animals.