Under Way

We are back from a little more than a week in the British Virgin Islands and so I guess this is my first, official post from the trip. We met our youngest son Jon and his friend Eli in Road Town, Tortola, and, having chartered a 41' Beneteau monohull sailboat for a week, we took off for the islands.I didn't take that many photos on the trip, primarily because my point of view was mainly limited to the sailboat. If you ask me, one water-with-an-island-in-the-background shot looks pretty much like every other water-with-an-island-in-the-background shot. Also, since the boat was often moving in pretty good swells and wind, I didn't like taking my camera outside the confines of the cockpit.So, anyway, here's a shot I took lying on my back on the bow of the boat looking straight up. I shot this with my 16-35mm wide angle lens but and even wider angle would have been nice.Canon 5DII 1/320s f/9.0 ISO100 16mm

06-06-12 Master of Ceremonies

I'm off on an adventure for a couple weeks and I'll be off the wifi "grid" for much of that time. Thus, I'm auto-posting things that aren't necessarily new or unseen. Most of the photos you'll see are some of my favorite Instagram photos.

06-05-12 Once In A Blue Moon

On a recent flight to California I had a first class ticket because that's all there was on this particular flight and I had no choice. This is how the other half lives at the front of the plane. (They have real glasses and real metal eating utensils.)

06-04-12 The California Coast

I'm off on an adventure for a couple weeks and I'll be off the wifi "grid" for much of that time. Thus, I'm auto-posting things that aren't necessarily new or unseen. Most of the photos you'll see are some of my favorite Instagram photos.This photo, incidentally, was taken with my iPhone shortly after the plane I was in took off from John Wayne Airport. I had the perfect seat on a perfect southern California day.

06-03-12 Mosaic

This was taken with my iPhone from 40,000 feet. If I have a choice, I always pick a window seat on the side of the plane that is in shadow so I can shoot with the light behind me, so to speak. On this day, it was brilliantly clear as we flew over the Grand Canyon.

05-29-12 Lisbon Trolly #12

Lisbon is famous for its vintage trolleys and If you go, you have to ride them. They are especially useful for making your way up the fairly steep hills that guard the relatively narrow central part of Lisbon. The other good thing about riding local mass transit like this, is that you get to mix with locals, who don't view the trolly as a novelty but as a practical way to get around.

05-28-12 Window Shopping

So I've gone back to Lisbon this week - at least I've gone back to the photo collection from Lisbon, Portugal. This photo was taken on the run under less than ideal circumstances. What drew me to the window was the beautiful purple tones of this fabric. But I also love the presentation, with all of the lines and curves. It has a bit of a seashell appearance to me. The window captured my attention and I captured it with my Canon 5DII. :-)

05-27-12 A View From Above

Inspired by an article on Lisbon, Portugal,in the Travel section of today's NYT, I went back and looked at things I had from our trip there a couple years ago. This photo was taken from the top of a monument to the Portuguese explorers, who boldly went where no European white men had gone before.I am captivated by aerial shots that show shadows and of course there are strong shadows in this photo, though I'm not all that impressed with what I got. Compositionally, I would like something different, though I can't tell what that would be. If I had spent 30 minutes more, in this location, I probably could have gotten the perfect placement of my unsuspecting subjects below.

05-09-12 Belgian Delicacies

I'm not sure if lust makes the list of mortal or deadly sins. And I'm not sure that having a profound desire for real whipped cream and fresh cherries piled on top of a freshly cooked waffle right now constitutes lust. I suppose I could look all of this up but I don't want to know the answer.This delicious breakfast was served in a small cafe in the beautiful city of Brugge, Belgium. Deb and I were there a few years ago and I found this photo as I was working on cleaning up old, unnecessary things on my computer. But Belgian waffles are necessary and so is the photo.But, alas, my breakfast of oatmeal and skim milk is calling me. That's what I have almost every morning when I am home. Fidelity, of course, is no sin. It is a virtue. . . .Canon 5DII 1/200s f/2.5 ISO500 50mm (Canon 50mm 1.2L)

Lil Ann

This is an informal portrait I took of Ann, who was a friend of my aunt Betty. Ann is 90 years old but looks, sounds and acts like she is at least 20 year's younger. You've got to love Ann. And her red Ford with vanity plates.And this photo was taken by LATI Photo/Media second year student Ashley McCormick. It was taken in one of the many famous New Orleans cemeteries. Here's Ashley's web site.

Winging It Again

Because my wife is a Delta Silver Elite member, we sometimes get exit row seats, which are often located over a wing. And because we have been booking our tickets "late in the game," I often get a window seat, rather than my preferred aisle seat. And because our plane left Minneapolis an hour late, I saw the sunset just off of the tip of the starboard wing.And because of all of this, you are seeing a rather mundane wing shot. But in truth I am posting this today so I really have the opportunity to feature another great student photo, this time of a window in an old house. The photographer was Danine Jacobson, the photo is an HDR manipulation and it won a prize in a South Dakota student photography contest. Here's Danine's web site. And here's another view of this same window.

04-13-12 Ready To Ride

It would have been hard NOT to see the bright, purple bicycles lined up at the hotel we stayed in while visiting Friday, Harbor, Washington. I photographed the bikes but didn't ride one.