Just a quick post and run for today. This image of a flower was taken at Powerscourt Estate just outside of Dublin, Ireland. It is a large country estate which is noted for its house and landscaped gardens. The house was originally a 13th century castle.
Venice Alleyway
Thanks to all who let me know that my site had some viewing issues. The issue has been fixed and is now back in action. Walking around cities in Europe often transports you to a different time. The age of the cities and architecture add so much character and feel to them. My favorite city to walk around is Venice, Italy. Here the city's character is enhanced by the labyrinth of canals that replace streets in other cities. I am always looking down side "alleyway" seeing what beauty lies there. Almost every little side "street" is a photo opportunity. This photo is representative of what a visitor might find walking around. While some other European cities have beautiful canals, there are none with them everywhere one walks.
Yoho Majesty
Yoho National Park in British Columbia is often a side trip from nearby Banff National Park, at least it was for me. After my visit there, I know that the next time I visit the Canadian Rockies, Yoho will more than just a side trip. The main attraction in the park is Emerald Lake which is the largest of the 61 lakes that are contained within it's borders. The lake is surrounded by the mountains of the President Range, as well as Mount Burgess and Wapta Mountain. The lake derives it's name from the color of the water which is most vivid in the summer. Due to its high altitude, the lake is frozen from November until June.
Shooting Through the Raindrops
I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season and a great start to the new year. Today's photo is from our cruise down the Rhine River in Germany. There is a stretch of the river in Germany that features twenty-eight castles and too many little towns to count. Many of these towns have beautiful churches that dominate the surrounding buildings. About an hour after entering this part of the Rhine, the heavens opened up, making shooting a bit tough. Despite this, I was determined to get a few shots despite the fact that everyone on the observation deck had abandoned it (at least there was some cover). I was able to get this shot of the Church of Our Lady in Oberwesel, Germany through the raindrops after which I headed below decks to have some refreshments while enjoying the scenery.
Cape Elizabeth Icon
No visit to Portland, Maine is complete without a visit to nearby Cape Elizabeth and its iconic lighthouse, the Portland Head Light. While there are numerous lighthouses along Maine's rugged coast, this is one of the largest and arguably the signature lighthouse of Maine. The light is surrounded by a huge park where visitors can picnic and engage in recreational activities. Although I didn't shoot this in soft early morning light (I was actually scouting for the next day), it is still a pretty impressive structure.
Olde Mysterium
Late last year I posted this image of "The Old Book". This past spring, I was contacted by an aspiring writer whose wife had seen my image and felt it would be perfect for his first published book. He sent me a copy of his book and it is an uplifting story about broken relationships, forgiveness, and faith. After reading the story, I saw why my image resonated with them. This is my first published book cover and I am pleased that my image is associated with such a fine book. The author's name is Douglas Patten and information about the book can be found at his website.
Osborne Family Festival of Lights
Christmas at Disney is an amazing time with all of the decorations and lights on display. Perhaps the most amazing display that we saw was the Osborne Family Spectacle in Lights in Hollywood Studios. Today's post (as well as yesterday's) features a small part of this wonderful display. I had never heard of the Osborne display prior to our visit and the story behind it is quite interesting. In 1986, a daughter in Arkansas asked her father (Mr. Osborne) to decorate their home in lights. Osborne complied, stringing 1,000 lights around their home. Each year after that, Osborne tried to outdo the previous year and even purchased the two properties next door to expand the display. By 1993, the display had over three million lights and had gotten so big that cars were backed up for miles to see it. Six neighbors filed a lawsuit, saying traffic congestion made trips to the corner store take two hours, and they feared emergency vehicles could not get down the street. Osborne responded by adding three million more lights. The Arkansas Supreme Court ultimately ruled to close the display.
Disney World contacted Osborne about moving the display to its Hollywood Studios Theme Park. Osborne accepted Disney's offer. In 1995, the display was set up in Disney and was known as "The Osborne Family Spectacle of Lights". Today, the display is made up of over 10 miles of lights connected by another 30 miles of extension cords. It takes 20,000 man-hours to install the display each holiday season, starting in September. The lights are turned on at dusk each night, starting in mid-November and runs into the first week of January. In 2004, Disney added 33 snow machines to create an artificial snow effect to the display. In 2006, the park added over 1,500 control switches to the display to enable the lights to switch on and off electronically. The switches were choreographed to a musical scores.
Suffice it to say, the Osborne Family Spectacle of Lights is an overwhelming display that must not be missed. I can't imagine that a more impressive display exists. This image is a small microcosm of the full display.
Merry Christmas
Just a quick post wishing you and your families a wonderful Christmas. I hope Santa delivered the presents that you wanted.
Ornamental
Today is Christmas Eve and I am sure everyone is busy getting ready for the big day tomorrow. I wanted to post something special for today's post and I happened to remember a post that I read last year on Denise Ippolito's blog where she had created an ornament that featured some of her images. I really like the creativity and decided that I would create one this year that featured images that I took in 2012. Thanks for the idea Denise. If anyone is interested in creating one, here is a link to a video from Gavin Hoey Photography that describes the process.
Last of Route 66
On our trip to Arizona and New Mexico, the friends we were traveling with wanted to drive along the famed Route 66. Many of you who live in the American Southwest know that this famous road no longer exists as a US highway. Route 66 was officially replaced in its entirety by the Interstate Highway System in 1985. You would have laughed at us Easterners as we drove around looking for this famed road. There are still some sections of Route 66 that still exist but it wasn't until we stopped in Williams, Arizona and saw this sign that we realized we were searching for something that no longer existed. As a side note, Williams still has a stretch that still has some of the feel and look of the road.
Clearing Fog
One of my favorite scenic drives was when I visited California for the first time and took the drive from Los Angeles to San Francisco on California Route 1 (also known as the Pacific Coast Highway). Being the first time on the west coast, I fell in love with that drive. Whenever I traveled to the west coast on business, I always managed to get there a day or two early to hop onto the highway. There are so many things to see and visit that it is hard to pick one that is my favorite. It is no secret that I have a love of lighthouses. That being the case, it would be hard to leave off the Pigeon Point Lighthouse pictured here off of any list of places to visit on the Pacific Coast Highway. The Pigeon Point Lighthouse is arguably one of the most picturesque lighthouses on the Pacific coast. Built in 1871, the tower measures 115 feet tall that seems even taller as it stands on a rocky promontory above the Pacific Ocean below. It is located just south of San Francisco outside the town of Pescadero. This particular morning, we left Monterey with my brother-in-law and his family and headed to San Francisco. The weather was quite foggy and a bit wet when we left and, along the way, my brother-in-law hopped off the coast onto a major highway. Knowing that the Coastal Highway can clear at any time, I stayed true to my route and by the time we reached the lighthouse, the fog was clearing. Sometimes, perseverance for the shot works out.
Christmas Castle
Just being back from Disney World has put me in the Christmas mood. Disney does such a great job decorating their resorts and parks for the holiday season that you can't help from getting into a festive mood. One of the really cool things they do in the Magic Kingdom is the way Cinderella's castle is used during their "Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party" show. The castle is lit with over 200,000 lights and is used as a movie screen in such a creative way that your jaw drops in amazement. The castle appears to be covered in ice throughout the evening and when they change the color of the lights that shine on the castle, it takes on a different look and "personality". This image is just one of the many shots I took. I picked it to post because it had that "icy" look.
City Walk
I have posted a bunch of images of Lake Lucerne and Mount Pilatus but I realized that I have never posted any of the city of Lucerne itself. Lucerne was founded in the year 750 and has long religious and cultural history. Its architecture is very unique which makes the city a popular tourist destination. On one of my many city walks, I spotted a prime example of the great architecture, namely, the Jesuit Church. The church is the first large baroque church built in Switzerland north of the Alps. Its "onion" shaped steeples are quite the unusual sight in the middle of Switzerland.
Beach Club Reflections
It feels like I haven't posted in ages even though it has only been a couple of weeks. Had a great time in Disney World. The Christmas decorations are everywhere and the lights and parades are second to none. I will be posting a few of those Christmas shots in the coming weeks. In the meantime, this is an image from our home away from home, Disney's Beach Club Resort. I noticed this reflection of the resort but I was pretty tired so I decided to get it later in the trip. This is usually a mistake but the weather was so great (mid to high 70s) that I was sure that I would be able to get it. I captured this a few nights later and have decided I like taking night images.
Goofy's Houseboat
I have posted a number of images this past year from Disney World. We visited there this past February for the first time in over 15 years. It looks like the time between visits is dramatically shortening as we are headed back there today for a little over a week. I was going to dig out a photo to post from Disney for today's post until I remembered this surprise that we spotted on a canal in Amsterdam. After visiting the Anne Frank House, we walked along the canal looking at the numerous houseboats. These houseboats are common due to the cost of owning real estate in the city. Ironically, they are now very expensive because of the limited number of moorings. This one, in particular, brought smiles to our faces. It seems that wherever you go, Goofy and Disney are not far behind. I will not be posting on the blog for the next week and a half while I am away. I will try to catch up upon my return.
Pilatus
I hope everyone who celebrated Thanksgiving had a great one. I have posted a number of images from Mount Pilatus in Lucerne, Switzerland. All of the previous posts were from the top of the mountain. This image today is of Mount Pilatus itself from the waters of Lake Lucerne. This viewpoint shows the beautiful green countryside and small towns that line the lake, all within the shadow of the 7,000 foot mountain. The mountain got its name from a legend that states that Pontius Pilate was buried there.
Night Spires
Last week I posted this image of Cologne, Germany's waterfront. In that image, the spires of the Cologne Cathedral (also known as the High Cathedral of Saint Peter) can be seen in the background. Later that afternoon, it started to rain and we headed back to the ship for some drinks and dinner. During dinner, the rain stopped and I decided to grab the camera and tripod and head to the top deck of the ship to take a few night shots. The spires of the cathedral was even more pronounced in the night sky with all of its lights on. I usually don't shoot at night but I really enjoyed it and hope to make this more of my routine.
On a personal note, with Thanksgiving tomorrow, I want to thank everyone who has visited my site this year. When I started this blog, I wasn't sure how long I would do it. It has been 18 months since I started the blog and thanks to all of you, I am inspired to continue to do so for quite a long time.
Sunrise Over Monument Valley
Two of the characteristics of the American Southwest are the unique shapes and colors of its many sandstone formations. The combination of these characteristics are most prevalent in Monument Valley where you can sometimes feel that you have been transported to Mars. There are certain times of the day where the colors are nonexistent and the shape of the formations become the main focus. Such was the morning when I captured this image. I had gotten up early to shoot the sunrise. We were staying at Gouldings Lodge and was headed to photograph the Mittens a few miles away. I noticed that dawn was about to break and saw the outline of the formations known as (left to right) Brigham's Tomb; The King and His Throne; Stagecoach; Bear and Rabbit; and Castle Butte. The silhouette created by the dawn's colors made the shapes stand out more that in daylight.
Glacier Bay Ruggedness
Of the many attractions in Alaska, the area surrounding Glacier Bay in southeastern Alaska has to be one of the most beautiful. The area includes the national park of the same name along with numerous glaciers and mountains. When sailing the Inside Passage, there are mountains towering above the bay on every side. As a photographer, I have a habit of shooting with a pretty wide eye in trying to capture the overall scene that I am experiencing. I sometimes forget that I should should capture tighter shots that show the details within the scene. In this instance, I remembered to zoom in to capture the ruggedness of the mountains above Glacier Bay.
Indian Burial Ground
One of the cool places we visited in New Mexico this year was the Taos Pueblo Village. It is estimated to be over 1,000 years old and belongs to the Taos Pueblo Native American tribe. As we walked around the pueblo and listened to our Indian guide, it was hard not to feel the spirituality of the Pueblo culture. This was all too true for me as I wandered off and found this ancient cemetery. The simplicity of these grave markers spoke to me and I wondered how many have been buried here over the past 1,000 years.