Travel
I think it may snow on rare occasions in Berlin, Germany. But if you own a Brandenburg Gate snow globe, you can make it snow whenever you want. I wonder if they sell Great Pyramid snow globes in Egypt? I'm wondering if they even know what snow is in Egypt. . .
I have already mentioned in another post that at the time Deb and I visited Dachau, there were few people present. But there were two groups of young German soldiers touring the grounds. Here, one group waits for another in front of the famous monument to those who suffered and died at this concentration camp.
We had had a great day driving south from Berlin to Rothenburg. But when I ordered "warm raspberries" from the dessert menu at our hotel restaurant, I wasn't sure what I'd get. And when this was served, a great day became almost perfect. Fresh raspberries and creamy vanilla ice cream - it doesn't get much better than this!
It's hard not to admire the craftsmanship in this rustic hand-made gate in rural Slovenia.
Not too far from where Hitler's Chancery building stood and close to where Hitler committed suicide in his famous underground bunker, lies this unsettling memorial to all of the Jews who were murdered in Europe.This memorial was dedicated in 2005 and has been controversial because some say the memorial doesn't attempt to answer questions like "how?" and "why?"I'm afraid that this photo doesn't come close to giving the viewer a sense of this place and a sense of my emotions as I looked for the right way to photograph it. In the end, I chose to include the trees bordering the monument to the west because I liked the contrast.For a brief video explanation, click here.
This was a nearly candid photo but one girl spotted my camera and acted uncharacteristically -- she smiled at me! This is not normal dress for children in this town; it just happened that on the evening we were there, There was a dress rehearsal for a pending religious pageant. Rothenburg, by the way, is in Germany and is a wonderfully preserved walled medieval city.
The Germans that we encountered in our visit there were polite, friendly and happy. They showed respect to us even when we made mistakes due to ignorance of their laws and customs.So when I walked through the famous "Work will make you free gate" at Dachau, I wondered, as many others have, about the paradox that Germany is. How could the country that gave us Bach and Einstein also give us "The Final Solution?"Because this is a photo blog, I won't attempt an answer other than to say that all countries, including my own, can offer up paradoxes in their history.
Deb and I visited Dachau 30 minutes before it closed on a cool, rainy day. It was eerily devoid of people. And it was almost completely devoid of color.Somehow that seemed appropriate.For those interested in photography, you should know that when I took this photo, I realized that tens of thousands of other photos have probably been taken of this gate. So I was thinking about finding a point of view that might help my photo be a little different. So, after taking a couple shots with my standard lens, I took my 50mm 1.2 lens to capture a very narrow depth of field.Canon 5DII 1/640s f/1.4 ISO640 50mm
This is rural Germany, just outside of Rothenburg o.d.T. So why is my first post from our trip to Germany and Slovenia a scene like this? One possibility is that while foreign travel is about seeking and savoring the differences that foreign countries have to offer, there are times when I miss home.
Another possibility is that I liked the cool green and strong blue colors in this scene.
I like the lines and curves and angles in this shot. In fact, if you study my architectural photography, I may seem a little "hung up" on lines, and curves and angles. I guess that's my style?
I wasn't planning to photograph the St. Paul Cathedral yesterday morning. Instead, I went off to photograph the capital building in St. Paul, Minnesota. Unfortunately, there was scaffolding all over the dome. So I took photos of the nearby Cathedral.Some of you are wondering if this photo is "real" or whether I put in a fake sky (or a fake cathedral!)? This is real, though it is actually two photos - my camera doesn't have the ability to expose a bright sky and the north side of a building and make it look this this. In photography talk, it doesn't have the "dynamic range" to do this.Thus, I took two photos, exposing one for the sky and the other for the church and then combined them into one picture. This is called HDR photography. It's a neat trick that helps the camera see things closer to how the human eye does. The human eye has an incredible dynamic range.