Just outside Amsterdam, this is an attraction that is a must visit. We found this place, as I really was interested in getting some photographs of windmills (I couldn't have visited the Netherlands and come back home without any). It definitely delivers on the windmill front, with eight windmills onsite. The unexpected surprise is that it is also home to five museums (including the Grocery Museum). There is something for everyone, with shops, barns and houses all built in the Dutch wooden architectural style. Every path you walk, there seems to be something new to see, like this old time farming vehicle. Many of the attractions have been systematically relocated here since 1961.
Tear Drop
When I first started traveling for vacations, I ordered a travel guide from a Southwest Travel Association. When it came in the mail, the cover photo transfixed me. I didn't know where or what is was, only that I had to visit there someday. I found out that the subject was the Tear Drop Arch somewhere on the Utah / Arizona border. Fast forward to 2004, when my son and I decided to go on a hiking / photography trip in Utah when he graduated college. Right away, I knew that someway, somehow, I was going to shoot photos of the arch.
As I began to do research, I found out that the arch was on a large Navajo Reservation that encompasses over 17 million acres. All signs pointed to Monument Valley. I found that the only way to see the arch was to hire a Navajo guide, since it was not on the public 17 miles of dirt road that runs through the valley. When I met up with the guide, he asked me what I wanted to photograph. I told him that the only formation that I had to shoot was Tear Drop Arch. He said he would save it to last. As the sun started to set, he headed toward the exit, and I started to panic. I reminded him about the arch and he told me that the arch was about 3 miles outside of the park high on a ridge. After getting there and shooting the arch, he took us to meet his family, who lived very close to the arch. It was a wonderful experience learning about the Navajo culture and also getting a shot of this icon.
Santorini Dreaming
Right now we are dreaming of a lot in New England. First of all we are dreaming of being somewhere that is warm, where there is no snow anywhere within miles. We haven't seen our grass since December. Next, we all have "cabin fever", and need a trip to somewhere exotic. Although I am looking forward to traveling to Moab in three weeks, it doesn't have that exotic appeal (no, I am not canceling Moab). Since I am still dreaming, I might as well go for the gold and dream that we won the Power-ball Lottery.
What would I do if I really won the lottery? I would rent a place in Oia, Santorini, for a few months and just chill (pardon the pun). This small island off of the coast of Greece is such a relaxed place (except when the cruise ships come to port). I could get used to the wonderful sunrises and sunsets, as well as admiring the great architecture that include all of those wonderful blue-domed churches.
Mount Moran Spotlight
Many wonder (including my wife) why I like going back to places that I have already been to, and end up shooting many of the same scenes that I have previously shot. The answer is that one of the most important factors in making a great photograph, besides the subject, is the light. The light changes every hour of every day, and you never know what you will get. I remember that a famous photographer was asked how he ended up getting a particularly great shot. His reply was that he had visited that spot every year for over 20 years, and he finally got the shot that was being asked about.
This photo is an example of what can happen on any given day. I had been in Grand Teton National Park in July on a photo tour, and shot tons of images of Mount Moran from Oxbow Bend. When my son and I drove from Oregon to Connecticut in September, he wanted to stop in the park and stay a couple of days. The first morning, off I went to Oxbow Bend and witnessed this scene. It was nothing like July (which was a beautiful morning), but the fog, clouds, and the sun met at the perfect moment to light up the top of the mountain. Ten minutes later and it was all gone, and anyone who came later that morning didn't know what they missed.
Sailing the Maine Coast
I started this week with a post of the Nubble Light in southern Maine that I shot on a boat tour. Given the terrible winter we have had in New England this year, I decided to post an image that I took during warmer times of the northern coast of Maine. One of our favorite towns in Maine is Camden. We always stay in one of its wonderful B&Bs, and spend a couple of days taking in the local scenery, great stores, and restaurants. Another favorite thing we do is take a sailboat tour of the area and just enjoy the day. I shot this image of another sailboat as we just cruised around the coast. It was quite warm and relaxing, and I think it is appropriate to dream about such days as we head toward spring.
Run Down
This photo is from the Pennhurst Asylum in Spring City, Pennsylvania. I have posted a number of images from inside the abandoned asylum and decided to capture one of the out buildings that are on the property. I am not sure what building this is (there are at least 15 buildings on the site), but I am guessing it is the Director's House. During our visit there, we were only given access to a couple of buildings, and this one was not included.
The asylum has a long and sordid history. Originally named the "Home for the Feeble Minded and Epileptic", it could house up to 10,000 patients. About half of the patients were placed there by court order and the remaining ones by their families. It was designed to provide care and treatment of the disabled. Somewhere along the way, something went very wrong, and there is extensive documentation of the abuse of patients, including children. It eventually was closed in 1987. Many swear that the asylum is haunted, and, while I didn't see any ghosts, walking through the buildings was quite eerie.
Pier into the Night
I am sorry for the title of this blog post. After publishing almost 500 images on my site, it gets really hard to come up with something original. There are times when I know what the title of the post is before I edit the photo. Usually, it expresses something about the trip I was on, or the feeling that I had when I captured it. Other times, I will finish editing a photo, and just come up with absolutely nothing for the title. It is times like these, that I end up with a lame title like this one.
I am not sure why I couldn't come up with something better, as I was with my son as we scouted lighthouses for his short film. It was quite a magical evening and an unexpected one. We had stopped in Edgecomb, Maine at a hotel that I knew nothing about. The reason I stayed there was that it was relatively near the Pemaquid Point Lighthouse that I wanted to shoot at sunrise the next morning. After scouting out the lighthouse and having dinner, we noticed that the hotel had one of the longest piers I have seen and was lit wonderfully. I got out my gear and we spent a couple of hours talking and shooting.
Busy as a Bee
Okay, I have done it. Every person who has ever taken a photo of a flower seems to want to get one when a bee has landed on it. It is such a cliche type of shot that some will ask, "Why take it?". My only defense is a take on what George Mallory said when asked why he wanted to climb Mount Everest. "Because it was there."
Your next question may be, "Why post it?". My answer is to make a point. I read somewhere that some ridiculous percentage (I think it was 20%) of all photos ever taken were shot in the last 10 years. Boggles the mind. So when all of us head on out to capture some moments, whether we are amateurs, enthusiasts or professionals, the subject is likely to have been shot before. While that might sound a bit discouraging, my advice when heading out to shoot is to get the classic shots out of the way first, and then try to get creative with different compositions. They may not be 100% original, but they are likely to be different from every one else's.
Behind Nubble Light
The Maine Coast is blessed with some of the best lighthouses on the eastern seaboard. Whenever I am asked which one is my favorite, the answer is always changing. So, today my favorite is Nubble Light (aka Cape Neddick Lighthouse) in York, Maine. I have posted images of this famous lighthouse several times. All of those times, the images are the classic view from the land like this one. The lighthouse actually sits on a small island mere yards offshore.
We had taken a boat tour of the southern Maine Coast, particularly to get a glimpse of the lighthouse from the other side of the island. For those interested in the boat tour, it sails out of Perkins Cove in Ogunquit. The light wasn't great (I shot it at noon), but I really wanted to get a photo from behind the island. As we rounded the island, I spotted this small boat and knew that it had to be part of the composition. The clouds in the background added to the interest of the scene.
Mile High Blue Hour
Back in April, my son and I spent three nights in Denver, Colorado. We stayed at the Residence Inn just outside downtown. When I booked the hotel, I had no idea it was located in a prime spot for taking great skyline photos of this great city. We only had to walk two blocks and had this view, and I captured this image during the day's blue hour. Sometimes it is better to be lucky than good.
Historic Dome
Faneuil Hall in Boston, Massachusetts, is a historic meeting hall and marketplace near the city's waterfront. Built in the 1740's by a local businessman, the meeting hall was the scene of many speeches prior to and during the American Revolution by famous orators such as Samuel Adams.
In addition to the hall, the marketplace includes three long buildings known as North Market, South Market, and Quincy Market. Today, the market houses many stores and restaurants. The Quincy Market houses quick service food items with an eating area in the center. This image features a portion of the dome that lies above the dining area.
Bow Lake Reflection
The Icefields Parkway in Alberta, Canada is one of the most breathtaking drives that a landscape photographer (and others) can take. From the world famous Banff National Park in the south, the parkway spans 140 miles to the less famous, yet equally beautiful, Jasper National Park. Lakes, mountains, waterfalls, glaciers and wildlife can be spotted along the full length.
I have been there twice, and am looking forward to going back there in June. It is hard to pick a favorite site (there are many), but in the top five has to be Bow Lake. Laying right along the parkway, it is an easy lake to spot, with rugged mountains as a backdrop. This particular composition is from the south end of the lake, and, if you look closely, you can see the Num Ti Jah Lodge on the opposite shore.
Relics of the Past
Windmills are usually associated with The Netherlands. I am guessing that the association is due to the fact that there were once over 10,000 windmills throughout the country. Today, only 10% of the windmills are still standing, and most of these are non-functional. Despite that, we were determined to get a chance to see them when we visited Amsterdam.
Fortunately there is an open air conservation area and museum just outside Amsterdam in Zaanse Schans. There, along the banks of the Zaan River, the museum has six working windmills. Each one of these relics are adorned with great bright colors, and they really stand out against the river and sky.
Colors of the Southwest
Last year, I was able to drive cross country from Connecticut to Oregon and back again. I have been asked a number of times to recommend an area to visit. My answer is usually the Grand Circle of the American Southwest.
Why? There is something for everyone in this area that encompasses large portions of four states (Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Utah). The Grand Circle contains 10 National Parks that will blow you away. From the Cave Dwellings of Mesa Verde to the vastness of the Grand Canyon, visitors can pick and choose from quite a few types of geological marvels. Arches, canyons, rivers, lakes, canyons, hoodoos, buttes and many more dot the landscapes.
When you include the 31 state parks and the wonders of the Navajo Nation, such as Monument Valley, shown in this photo, it is quite a challenge to figure out which ones to visit first. The one thing that is consistent with all of the sights in the Grand Circle are the great colors of the sandstone and formations that might remind imaginative people of Mars.
Heading Around the Bend
One of the things that I have discovered over my years of travel is how much I love riding in trains. It all started when we visited Vancouver, Canada, for a vacation in the nineties. We had a day to kill, and I saw a magazine ad for a half-day train ride up and back along the British Columbia coast. We liked it so much that we ended up returning a couple of years later to Vancouver to take the Rocky Mountaineer to Banff, Alberta. Now it is pretty routine wherever we go to see if there is a scenic train to take.
We found a great all-day train ride that runs from Durango to Silverton, Colorado, and back through the San Juan Mountains, parallel to the Million Dollar Highway. We have done it twice, and will do it again the next time we are in Durango. I took this shot the last time I was there. It was really freezing out but, being a true photographer that will endure just about anything to get the shot, I stayed in the open air car most of the way.
Docked
Okay Winter, I surrender. Another storm yesterday dropping about a foot of snow followed up by ice here. I know that those of you who don't normally get snow, think it is beautiful out when Mother Nature drops a few inches on us. I have to admit, I feel that way on the first snowfall of the year, maybe even the second. But by now, I don't think it is beautiful anymore. In fact, I hope to never see it again. All that is on my mind is being somewhere warm right now. Maybe on a cruise ship docked in Cozumel, Mexico, like we were a couple of years ago. We definitely should have gone cruising this year, but instead we are headed to New Jersey where they have almost as much bad weather as we have in New England. Next February, we will be headed south for some warm weather.
Racing Against the Storm
No two national parks can be more different in landscape than Grand Teton and Yellowstone. The amazing thing about them is that they are located right next to one another in northwestern Wyoming. Grand Teton is one of my favorites, and I attended a photo tour there last summer. I decided to spend a few days by myself in Yellowstone before I headed back home.
After spending a couple of nights at Lake Yellowstone, I headed to Mammoth Springs, with the hope to shoot Canary Springs during sunset. It was sunny when I left the hotel, and, 10 minutes later, I grabbed my gear and started to walk toward the springs. I noticed that there were dark clouds starting to roll in, and I thought that I had plenty of time. I didn't know how fast the rain was coming, but I knew I was in a race to get in a few shots. It turned out to be one of the fastest photo shoots that I had, and I barely had enough time to shoot a few brackets before the deluge would start.
I decided to process this as a black and white, as I wanted to make sure the mood of the moment came through the image.
Palatial Mural
Snowed again yesterday in Connecticut. The weather this year is so unpredictable and extreme. We normally head south for a week in February, but we decided not to this year. Big mistake. When I thought about all of the warm places I have been, the island of Corfu, Greece, came to mind. I remember visiting the Achilleion Palace, which was built in 1890 by the Empress of Austria, Elisabeth of Bavaria. The palace was named and designed after the mythical hero, Achilles. The palace itself contains many murals and statues throughout the building.
This image is of the mural in the small chapel in the palace. I had to really boost the ISO to take this handheld shot, but thanks to Lightroom's great noise reduction, it came out pretty good.
Half Dome Sunset
How do you visit one of the original national parks and get an image that no one else has gotten? The short answer is you don't. This magical place was made famous by the famed naturalist, John Muir, and brilliantly documented by photographer Ansel Adams. Since then, photographers have flocked to the Sierra Nevada mountain range in eastern California to walk in their footsteps. I'll be the first to freely admit that there may be some small section of the park that hasn't been photographed, but who knows for sure?
Enthusiast photographers, like myself, go there for the beauty and ruggedness of the landscapes, and, at the same time, to walk in the footsteps of these pioneers. One of my favorite formations in the park is Half Dome. It is a uniquely shaped formation ,where it looks like half of the dome has fallen away, leaving a sheer flat side. Geologists believe that 80% of the dome still remains.
This angle of Half Dome is from Sentinel Bridge during sunset. It is fascinating watching the shadows slowly crawl up the formation until the tip is the only thing that is lit.
Lines
One of my favorite photos that I have taken is this one. I really loved the lines in the image and how they interplayed with the buildings in the background. I think that our favorite photos are often not the ones that are perfect, but ones that evoke feelings we had when we took them. I remember walking the streets of Vancouver on the night before we were headed home, and the light was simply beautiful. Everyone else headed in for the night. but I was really in a zone and shot until dark. I knew that I had some winners to look at when I got home.
When I was going through my Lightroom, I happened upon this image, which brought back the same feelings. It is the same scene as my favorite shot, but the composition is a bit different, and I just had to edit and post it.