Gothic architecture was revolutionary in the 12th century because it allowed for very tall structures with relatively thin walls. And thin walls meant plenty of windows and lots of light. Compared to previous styles, Gothic architecture was light and airy but to inhabitants of the 21st century, these places are dark.
And the darkness makes this photo what it is, since the main lighting is the soft light reflecting up into the faces of the two men attending to the votive candles. In the medieval mindset, light warded off evil, so even a single candle made a dark place safer and more holy.
Canon 5D 1/60s f/1.2 ISO500 50mm
If you look up "bruschetta" on Wikipedia, here's the definition: "[Bruschetta] is a food the origin of which dates to at least the 15th century from central Italy. It consists of grilled bread rubbed with garlic and topped with extra-virgin olive oil, salt and pepper." Toppings of meat, cheese or tomatoes are "variations."
Pink is perhaps a more accurate color to describe this amazing structure. The color comes from the unique, local sandstone from which it is constructed. This cathedral is the 7th tallest church in the world and for 2 1/2 centuries it was the tallest building in the world. The cathedral's namesake town sounds German and the food looks German, but trust me - it is in the beautiful Alsace-Lorraine region of eastern France. On a side note, terrorists sought to detonate a bomb in the square in front of the cathedral in 2000 but the plot was revealed and foiled.
If you were hoping for a photo of the famous "red light" district of Amsterdam, sorry. I've heard that taking photos there can be very risky - the women working there want their privacy protected.
If you lived in Hawaii, I'm not sure that the title of this post would make much sense. Think it's always warm with a chance of rain. But near Dearfield, SD, where this photo was taken, the brown and golden tones suggest that winter approaches. I took this photo out of the window of my truck because it was too darn cold to stand outside. I also forgot my tripod. When I shoot landscape photos, I like small apertures, low iso and (therefore) slower shutter speeds.
This is some kind of succulent plant growing in the back yard of the house we stayed at in Kona, Hawaii. This was a reject from my "Seeing Green" series, but I'm trying to keep my blog going this week without missing a day. My "Seeing Red" series starts tomorrow.
The girl in pink is Megan and she was willing to pose for one of my traffic mirror self-portraits. This time, I'm with a student group in Munich, Germany. Megan and I had split off from the group to visit the Pinakothek Art Museum.
As we experience "the coldest first two weeks of October ever recorded," it's not hard to think of warm, sun-washed places like Santorini, which is pictured here. A student group, my wife and I spent several hours on this amazing island in the summer of 2004. As winter sets in, I long to go back. Do you want to come along?
These were growing over a doorway in a back street in a little village in Croatia. Green things like this seem to suggest the promise of something. Jelly? Wine? Or a meal for birds?
We saw much that was green on our trip this past summer to Sitka, Alaska, including these sea bass. Our vantage point was an excursion boat named the Sea Life Discovery. I was fascinated by the murky, green water that our boat moved through and I was intrigued by the sea life. I took over 100 pictures but most are out of focus. Though this photo is a little marginal, it's one of the better ones.
