In addition to running FLY, for the past seven years I've been teaching photography full time at one of the local high schools in my area. It's a full load, that's for sure, and, well, teaching has its ups and downs {as many a teacher can attest to} BUT, one of my absolute favorite days of the year, and a major "up" of being a teacher is taking my students to one of the many fabulous museums that we have in LA. This year, the Getty was at the top of my list. I applied for a late February date and got it (space is limited for schools groups each year). It was the week of my birthday actually, which I was hoping for. I scheduled a garden and architecture tour for our visit {and I am so glad that I did, it was sensational} and then began the planning stages of field trip taking at work.
A few months earlier, I had asked Fabio to join me as one of the chaperones for the field trip and he had agreed, never having been to the Getty before! On the day of our trip, we all loaded onto the bus stupid early (seriously, it was like 6am!), and then braved the almost 2.5 hour bus ride to the Getty Museum in morning LA rush hour traffic. (It only took us 50 minutes to get home without traffic.. so depressing!) Pretty much everyone fell asleep.. both on the ride there, and back.. and Fabio thought he'd never have to go on another school bus.. hehehe..
Upon arrival at our awesome destination, we were all very anxious to get out and start our day of exploration. After introductions to docents and lots of miscellaneous organizational tasks, I grouped the students off and let them go. Then Fabio and I got to explore the museum ourselves for a bit. It was such a beautiful and fabulous day. The garden was, as always, spectacular and as we wandered through our architecture and garden tour, Fabio, a fantastic photographer in his own right, snapped a bunch of photos with my camera {below}.
The Getty is an absolutely romantic, peaceful, and beautiful museum. If you have never been before, GO! Seriously! I plan to take many more trips and hopefully pack a picnic sometime this summer to enjoy the gorgeous lawn and view of the city. Although it was a long drive (only because of rush hour!), it is always worth it to get to the Getty and I hope others will go and enjoy the environment and art that is provides. Even better was having my man with me. What fun having him there to snap a few images of our day, and so, I thought it might be fun to share some of them....
and every time I visit the Getty, I always head past my favorite impressionist painting ...
Blessings and love friends!
Jess
By Jess Spinella