Green Blade

I have been a little wordy lately in this blog so today I will only say that I'm back to posting something green again.

Inside the Blue Mosque - Istanbul

The Blue Mosque gets its name from the blue tile used to decorate the interior, though I'm not sure the quality of this photo shows that very well. We walked through the mosque on our whirlwind walking tour of Istanbul.The area you see in this photo is for worship, though the mosque itself is as much a tourist attraction now as it is a house of prayer. You can see a few men kneeling in prayer while children pass the time by running on the carpeted floor. You won't see any women in this area because, according to Koranic tradition, females are segregated from the males in Mosques. Incidentally, if you look closely, you can see a large vertical niche in the far wall. This is called the mihrab, which orients those praying to Mecca.Istanbul (which means "in the city") is a fascinating place because you see conservative customs, such as the segregation of the sexes in houses of worship, but you also see the evidence of centuries of western European influence. In Istanbul you can sit in an Internet cafe, surf the web and hear the muezzin's call to prayer echoing through the city. Many inhabitants yearn for stronger ties to the European Union; and others seek to purge Western influences and return to strict Koranic law.

The Infanta Maria Theresa of Spain

Here is another art museum interior in my infrequent "Art Museum" series, this time from the Prado in Madrid, Spain. The group is standing in front of one of the more famous paintings in the Prado's collection. The name of the painting is "Las Meninas," which means "ladies-in-waiting." The main subject is the infanta Maria Teresa, who later married Louis the XIV of France. (Yes, he was the "Sun King" who built the Palace of Versailles.) The artist is Velazquez.Maria is a cute little girl in this portrait but as one source I read said, "she outgrew her cute phase and came to look like the rest of her family." Many of the Hapsburgs were notoriously ugly, but perhaps none more so than her step brother Charles II, who was also the product of many generations of close inbreeding.Consider this: Charles was the son of Mariana of Austria and Philip IV of Spain. These parents were not only related, they were uncle and niece, which meant that his grandmother was also his aunt. Charles' mouth was so deformed, he had trouble chewing his food. Thanks a lot Mom and Dad (or Uncle and Niece)!If you are still intrigued by all of this, check out the intertwined branches of the Spanish family family tree.

Pardon Me!

This is not the kind of photo I generally post here. But today I will make an exception. What's wrong with the picture? Aside from breaking several aesthetic and technical rules of photography, it is a model shoot. And I don't do model shoots. But here's the story behind this photo.I was wandering the streets of Mykonos when I noticed a boat in the harbor. It was clearly a photo shoot of some kind. And so I photographed the event from . . . the backside. The thing that fascinates me about this picture (aside from the nice little white boat) is that there are five people present on this boat. The roles of the model, the captain and the photographer are obvious. But what about the two other men? Are they artistic directors? Agents? Close personal friends? And the real question is: Are they getting paid? The man at the front of the boat certainly seems to enjoy his work!

Shadow and Light

Deb and I were strolling through a small side street in a village in Croatia, when I saw this vine, which wasn't all that exceptional. But what I liked was how the setting sun struck it is such a way to make enlongated and curving shadows. The texture and muted color of the wall helps this shot, too.

Starting the Day Right

A cup of cappuccino topped with foam and nutmeg. Life is good. I took this photo last summer in our hotel on Dugi Otak, Croatia.

Celebrating the Newborn

With billions of leaves bursting into life, who would think that we should revel in the rebirth of photosynthesis? I would.Canon 5DII 1/60s f/2.8 ISO320 100mm

Spring Fern

I was out walking along Iron Creek in the Blacks Hills a few years ago. It was early spring and most of the vegetation still had it's winter colors. But I encountered a small area that was green with new life. I think it was spring fed and that's why there was so much color.These ferns (?) were growing out of a rock wall. I likenthe depth the dew gives the photo. The mile or so along Mission Creek, where I have found so many photos, is one of favorite places on Earth.

Old Stone

I posted a stone carving from a building in Chicago yesterday and observed that it was done in an "era when there was time, talent and money to hand carve decorations for skyscrapers." The building you are looking at is another sort of sky scraper: it is the Notre Dame de Paris. It is the most famous Gothic Cathedral and it took over a 100 years to construct. It, too, was done in an era when there was at least time and talent to construct such buildings.The carvings in this photo are over 1000 years old.

The Great Stone Face

In middle school I remember reading a short story entitled "The Great Stone Face" by Hawthorne. While I remember the title, I don't remember anything about the story. I do remember thinking that my craggy-faced teacher, who was an old lady who rarely smiled, could aptly be called "stone face." How old was she? Maybe 40, which seems ancient when you are 13.Anyway, this is a carved limestone cornice on some building in Chicago. I wish I were more disciplined when it comes to my photos. I know that a "real" photographer would have recorded the precise location. I don't know when the structure this decorates was built, but it was clearly an era when there was time, talent and money to hand carve decorations for skyscrapers. It was probably during a time when Ayn Rand's capitalist utopia was going full bore. Who is John Gault?Canon 20D 1/100s f/7.1 ISO400 61mm

Mercurial

I was disgustedly looking out our dining room windows, wondering if the cold rain would end any time soon. But then I saw the silver lining - wind-driven rain had covered the window in beads of water of random size and shape.I like how each drop reflects the color of the greenery in our back yard and how the bright silver of the beads makes them look droplets of mercury. You've never seen drops of mercury? In the 60's it was part of our middle school science curriculum to get to play with mercury! The teacher came around with a heavy bottle of silver liquid and poured globs onto our tables. It was liquid metal.And when the teacher wasn't looking, we took silver dimes and coated them. They stayed slippery for days as the mercury evaporated. Do I have mental problems and other infirmities because I played with what I now know was a highly poisonous material? No doubt.Canoon 5DII 1/60s f/4.0 ISO800 100mm

My Neighbor's Flowers

I shouldn't admit that I've been admiring my neighbor's purple tulips. But I couldn't help it. All of her tulips are purple and, against the green grass, stunning. And so I sneaked over to their back yard and took several surreptitious shots before I made my way back to our yard. Only their dog noticed me: it barked continuously while I was in their yard. Fortunately, the dog was shut inside. So I was safe. And my wife doesn't know I have a thing for my neighbor's flowers.