08-23-12 Refuge

This photo could have been captured anywhere in the western world, I suppose, though its not something you'd see in our small town, mainly because they would feel like they would stand out.This photo was taken in a busy section of Ljubljana, Slovenia, and the woman was so enthralled by her book that she wasn't aware of my camera, which once again turned by into a bit of a voyeur.Canon 5DII 1/125s f/4.5 ISO320 102mm

08-22-12 Take Me Back To Ljubljana

It's not that the beer is so good in Ljubljana, Slovenia, that I would love to go back there. I want to go back because it was such a charming place. But the beer helps.Lasko beer, incidentally, is produced by the largest brewery in Slovenia and the symbol on the glass and can is the Zlatorog, or "White Stag." I never saw the white stag in our travels through the Slovenian countryside. But I did see several Laskos.

08-13-12 A Return To the Painted Trees

This is not the first post of these trees. But this photo offers a slightly different view and treatment. "Do they really look like that?" you ask. Well, I studied and taught philosophy just long enough to be confused by that question. So I'm not answering. . . .

08-06-12 The Painted Church

The Painted Church, aka St. Benedict's Roman Catholic Church, is officially in the town of Captain Cook, though I remember it as being somewhere on the side of a hill away from any kind of urban features. From the outside it is fairly nondescript. But on the inside it is beautifully painted, thus, the name "Painted Church."Rather than talk about the church I want to talk about photography. First, this is a hand-held exposure at 1/15 of a second. I don't travel with a tripod and for interior photography in dimly lit spaces, you have to be lucky to get something acceptable with that shutter speed. Thank you, Image Stabilization!I took this photo in 2008 and at the time, I don't think I knew what HDR was. But but this scene begs for HDR treatment - not to make it seem someone surreal but instead to do a better job of exposing the who scene, including the windows, which are clealy blown out. "Blown highlights" is photographer talk for bright parts of a photo that have no detail because they are severely overexposed. If I had had a tripod, I would have taken one photo that properly exposed for the windows and one photo that exposed for the interior. And then in software, I would have combined the two into one well exposed photo.Like so many other places I have travelled to, I need to go back to the Painted Church and do it right (or at least better). . . .

08-05-12 Window Peeking

In my quest for something other than landscape and macro photos for this blog, I have gone "dumpster diving," which is my term for going back to old photos that people more organized than I would have gotten rid of a long time ago.This picture, taken in Delft, Netherlands, is certainly not art. But it is a narrative. Because of that, I converted it to black and white, in part because it was the two dogs that caught my eye in this scene and they were both black and white to begin with.And why is it a "narrative." Well, I think it tells a story, though, like so many other photos, it has many different stories to tell if you give it a chance. Is it about how life in Delft in different than life in your home town? Is is about the couple? What is the young man saying that is causing the woman to look the way she looks? What about the man in the background with his hand to his head?And, of course, what about the dog looking my way?What I like about candid photography is that though I am really "in" the photo because of how I frame the scene, I am also a kind of a voyeur. And so are you. As a photographer, I am saying "Look into this window and feast your eyes."

07-09-12 Dream Boat

This is the 41' sailboat we chartered in June in the British Virgin Islands. It had a few more creature comforts than my 25' boat, including hot & cold running water, refrigeration and three small, private bedrooms. But I still like my boat better. :-)

07-08-12 On Top of the World

My Garmin Nuvi said the elevation at this point on Mauna Kea in Hawaii was 13,910' though officially, I don't think it is quite that high. What's amazing about Mauna Kea is that you can drive all of the way to the top in your car. It was cold and windy up there and there was snow, which we South Dakotans were trying to escape the December we were visiting our son Jon on the Big Island.

07-02-12 A Few of the "99 Steps"

Charlotte Amalie, on the island of St. Thomas in the US Virgin Islands, has a lot more than 99 steps given that it seems to perch on the hillside above the Caribbean Sea. These steps, though, are a few of a famous stretch of stairs known as the "99 Steps." It was a sultry summer day when Deb and I were walking these stairs and so I guess we burned a few extra calories.

07-01-12 Pussers Bar - Road Town

Deb and I ate twice at this establishment in Road Town on the Island of Tortola in the British Virgin Islands. We liked the character and we also appreciated stepping into the air conditioning after a mile walk for the B&B we were staying at. And the food was good, too. My favorite: conch stew.

06-24-12 A New Friend

So I guess it's about time I post something new. And why not something prosaic like a cat?This cat was one of several who had free reign at a B&B named the Hummingbird House in Road Town, Tortola, BVIs. We stayed there before our chartered sailing trip.He was sleeping when I saw him and I put the 70-200mm lens on my camera because I figured he wouldn't let me get too close and still look so relaxed. I suspect he had a name but I never learned it.

06-23-12 The Sole Remains

A single foot print in the sand caught my attention as I was making my way back to our dinghy after supper. There is nothing particularly creative about this shot or subject but two things stopped me in my tracks (bad pun): the great side lighting of the print caused by the low sun angle and the diagonal striations in the sand caused by the last wave that lapped across the shoreline line.This print was gone with the next wave and so was I.

06-13-12 Pink and Blue

I learned just now that a group of flamingos has a variety of designations. You can call a group of them a pat, a colony, a flurry, a regiment, a stand or a flock. Though my favorite is a flamboyance.These flamingos were flying in rough formation for our benefit as we rounded the east end of Tortola in the British Virgin Islands. I was lucky to have my telephoto lens on my camera when then suddenly took flight and circled overhead.