Yesterday's post asked a question about lines and so I thought I'd post another photo that is obviously linear. I rarely think of vanishing points when I take photos but this one clearly moves the eye to infinity. If you want to see an interest use of vanishing point, check out da Vinci's "The Last Supper." How does the artist use a vanishing point in this photo?
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License
By Scott Shephard
This photo is mostly monotone (brown), with many dominant sloping lines. If anything makes this photo interesting, it's the lines and not the color. Do you look for lines when you frame a photo?
Don't strain your eyes looking for body parts, but most of the people in this photo aren't wearing clothes. You've got to love those free-spirited Europeans and especially the Germans, who outnumbered other nationalities on this beautiful little beach. How do I know? Research.
This beach is called Myrtiotissa Beach and is said to the "the most beautiful beach in Europe." Did the Germans enhance or detract from its beauty? You'll have to do your own research to answer that question.
Canon 5D 1/400s f/13.0 ISO400 24mm
This is what I look like when I travel. I think this is a flattering view! Behind me is the little grocery store that was just down the road from the hotel my wife and stayed at while visiting Corfu, Greece, in 2006. The store had a little bit of everything but was so small that three or four customers would have challenged its aisle space. But the store owner was friendly and thought big: on the awning the store proudly announces itself as a "Super Market" (in English)!
Canon 5D 1/125s f/7.1 ISO500 50mm
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License
I'm embarrassed to admit this but one of the pleasures of visiting Delft last summer was standing in the very spot Scarlet Johansson stood in "Girl With a Pearl Earring." I like Scarlet but I don't think she likes me. This building, incidentally, isn't far from the spot she stood and is pictured in the movie.
Canon 5D 1/80s f/6.3 ISO400 45mm
By Scott Shephard
Who would think that sweat could look so strange?
This photo was taken at the Easter dinner my mother-in-law prepared for our family a few years ago. While waiting for dinner to be served, I started to take pictures of the things in front of me while my family made comments about how strange I was. This is a water glass. And I'm not strange!
By Scott Shephard
By Scott Shephard
This time it's the incipient dawn that looms over the Missouri River in South Dakota.
By Scott Shephard
By Scott Shephard
The Stradun is the main street in Dubrovnik. And for the locals it is considered part of their culture to walk the street in the evening. For the tourist it is a great place to sit and have a coffee and watch the world go by. All three the "people" in this photo appear to be native Croatians but they look like kids (and dogs) anywhere in western society, don't they?
By Scott Shephard
As you look out over the city of Dubrovnik, it's hard not to be struck by the flamboyant red roofs. The color is brighter than one would expect for an ancient city but most of the clay tiles you see in this photo had to be replaced after the bombardment this Unesco World Heritage Site came under in the 1991 war. Our Croatian host said that there was no strategic reason for the city to be bombed - it was done for spite.
During the height of the bombardment, he remembers helping women, children and the elderly board boats in the middle of the night so that they could flee to safety. His own family left that night and he no doubt wondered if he would ever see them again. He also told us he and his fellow Croatians wondered why the US and the other western leaders appeared to be doing so little to help stop the death and destruction. They, too, he said, "would surely want to save this beautiful city."
Both the city and our host survived the seige and he eventually re-united with his family. But 68 percent of the buildings in the walled city were hit by shells and there were many Croatian casualties. Today Dubrovnik has been rebuilt and is thriving. It is fun to sit along the main thoroughfare (no motorized vehicles are permitted inside the walled city) and watch how seamlessly the lives of the locals and of tourists like me mesh.
By Scott Shephard
This view of Dubrovnik, Croatia, is one of millions taken by tourists from the same spot. So why post it? I am leaving for Croatia is less than two weeks and in preparation I was going through photos from a previous trip and I came across this picture.
It was a partly cloudy day when we were walking the walls around the city and I think the clouds can help make a landscape photo more interesting. Another example of this is my view from the Maui coast or of the Black Hills. None of these photos would be as interesting to the eyes with a blank, blue sky. In fact, all of the photos that I've posted of skies show clouds except for one: "A Perfect Place." Compare these and discuss.
View on Panoramio to see this photo's geographic setting.
Canon 5D 1/250s f/11.0 ISO250 24mm
