03-27-09 Reflections of Chicago

I like the juxtaposition of lines and curves in this photo. I also like the warm, gold tones of the reflected buildings. What strikes me about this picture is how easily something as structured and perfect as a high rise building can be reduced to an abstraction by glass panels, which seem so flat and perfect themselves.

I am also struck by the myriad of interesting things that I see when I go to a city like Chicago. What I find interesting, though, the natives seem to ignore. But I'm guessing that if someone from Chicago visited my small town for the first time, they would see interesting things that I pass by every day.

That is one of the virtues of photography - it has the ability to open our eyes to all the interesting things that surround us.

Canon 5D f/9.0 1/250 Canon 24-105mm 4.0L (80mm) ISO 400

03-26-09 A View West from the Arc de Triomphe

I was in Paris with a student group in 2007 and we had made our way to the top of the Arc de Triomphe. We had timed our visit for this time of the evening - when the sun sets and the lights of Paris come alive. There are so many views and so many things to photograph but this view caught my attention.

In this photo I am looking west along the Avenue de la Grande Armee. In the distance is the ultra modern la Defense high rise complex, which is dominated by the stark, white arch known as the Grande Arche de la Defense. There are three famous arches in Paris which line up along what is known as the Axe historique: the Arc Du Carrousel (near the Louvre), the Arc de Triomphe and the Grand Arche de la Defense. Two of the arches were built by Napoleon and one was built by Mitterand.

Compare this to "Chicago Skyline."

Canon 5D f/1.8 1/100 Canon 50mm 1.4 ISO 320

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License

03-24-09 Tokyo Street Scene

There are so many lines and geometric shapes in this photo and perhaps too many places for the eye to look. But the main point is intended to be the dark figure closest to the camera. He seems solitary but that's a bit of an irony because the night we were in Tokyo every place we went was crowded with throngs of umbrella carrying people. This pedestrian walkway was the sole exception - at least at the moment I took this photo.

Did I work hard to get this picture? Did I have to wait for just the right moment? Nope. In fact this is really more of a snap shot. I was with a group of 4 other people and because it was raining, we were on the move and the rest of the group wasn't likely to be real patient with my attempt to capture the right moment.

Canon 1DII f/5.6 1/80 Canon 24-70mm 2.8L 40mm ISO 800

03-21-09 Early Morning On the Canal

It's good for a photographer to be a morning person and this photo is evidence. The light is good, the breeze has yet to pick up and there is a serenity in this scene that I doubt exists an any other time of the day.

This was taken is the picture-perfect city of Brugge, Belgium, on a trip Deb and I took in June, 2008.

03-20-09 Mauna Kea - View East At Sunset

13,350 feet

03-18-09 Texas Book Depository

By Scott Shephard

03-16-09 St. Peter's Basilica - Rome

Visiting St. Peter's is an overwhelming experience and I'm guessing that the architects had that in mind when they planned this massive place. The dome that appears in this photo was designed by Michelangelo, but sadly he died before its completion. The structure with the darker, bronze pillars rising from the left corner of the photo is called the baldacchino, and was designed by Bernini. It is close to 10 stories tall (98 ft.). That, alone, give you a sense of the scale of the dome.

On the technical side, this camera and lens combination was the first time I was truly amazed by the capabilities of the Canon 5D. I shot with a high ISO and low shutter speed to get this shot and I was impressed by how little digital noise that showed up in the photo and how sharp the photo is - in spite of shooting without a tripod at 1/40 of a second.

Canon 5D Canon f/4.0 1/40 Canon 17-24mm 4.0L (17mm) ISO 1000

03-15-09 The Pantheon - Rome

The Pantheon was built close to 2000 years ago and I am still awed by its design every time I walk in. In fact, I would have to say that the Pantheon is my favorite structure in Rome. For this photo I stood towards the wall of the building and pointed the camera towards the ceiling. I wanted to get some of the oculus ("eye") in the shot, though the bright light flowing in caused a little lens flair. I shot using my 24-105mm lens and I was wishing I had the 17-24mm lens that I had decided to leave at home, though the image stabilization built in to the lens I used allowed me to use a an otherwise impossible shutter speed.

Canon 5D f/4 1/30 24-105 4.0L (24mm) ISO 650

03-14-09 Votive Candles - Zagreb Cathedral

This photo was taken the same day the other Votive Candle post was taken. This time I was experimenting with the amazing Canon 1.2 50mm lens I travel with. This lens is excellent for poorly lit interiors, such as a cathedral. It is also very good at creating a very narrow depth of field, as in this photo. I'm not sure that this is a good photo, given that there isn't a real good focal point. But some people have told me they like it.

Also, I use this photo to illustrate what photographers call bokeh, which is the term used to describe the brighter, out-of-focus points in a photo. Some lenses have good bokeh and many don't. Needless to say, the Canon 50mm 1.2 gives great bokeh.

Canon 5D f/2.8 Canon 50mm 1.2L 50mm 1/250 ISO 400

03-12-09 Palm Leaf

I took this photo in Mexico a few years ago. I don't have much to say about it other than I like the the geometry of the palm leaf. The paradox of nature is that there are so many things that seem random and chaotic. And then there are things that are precise and ordered - as in this leaf. Scientists and philosophers have certainly written about this. I just took a picture.

Canon 5D f/4.5 1/80 Canon 24-105 4.0L 67mm ISO 320

03-10-09 Sleeping Cat - Dubrovnik, Croatia

"The name you will never guess. The name that no human research can discover, But the cat himself knows and will never confess." TS Eliot

This orange tabby cat was resting comfortably amidst the rush of tourists near the Stradun in Dubrovnik. He is a carbon copy of our cat, Mac, and apparently lives near this stone bench because I have seen this same orange cat sleeping in almost the same place in an album of photos some one else had posted of their visit to Dubrovnik. Life is good!

Canon 5D

03-08-09 Votive Candles - Zagreb, Croatia

My wife and I arrived in Zagreb via train from Budapest and had most of the day to explore before a flight took us to Dubrovnik. Except for a wonderful lunch we ate at an outdoor restuarant, we kept moving almost the whole time. We saw the Church of St. Mark, with its beautiful tiled roof, the Croatia Museum of Native Art, among many other things.

At one point in our walking tour we passed through the Stone Gate (Kamanita Vrata) which the tour book said was "the oldest city gate." Just inside the gate there is a chapel with votive candles. I still remember feeling the warmth and smelling the strong odor of authentic tallow candles before i saw them. A breeze was blowing through the arcade, stirring the flames of the candles. I would have stayed longer but my wife thinks that my photography in a place like this is an intrusion into people's spiritual lives. Maybe it is. But I am always drawn to photograph votive candles.

Canon 5D f/10 1/500 ISO 400 Canon 24-105 4.0L (105mm) Photographed: June 1, 2007