Not Your Everyday Pool - San Simeon, California

Hearst Castle, San Simeon, California

Along the California coast is an adventure that I never tire of - driving the Pacific Coast Highway (aka California State Route 1) from Los Angeles to San Francisco. It is one of the most scenic drives that I have been on, riding on the edge of towering cliffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean. I love the drive so much, I have made the trip well over ten times (not bad for an Easterner). Some of the stops along the way include Santa Barbara, Big Sur, Morro Bay, and, of course, The Hearst Castle.

The castle lies equidistant between San Francisco and Los Angeles in the town of San Simeon. The drive from either city is probably about four hours, but for photographers driving the full length, take at least two days as you will want to stop almost every half mile to take some shots.

The Hearst Castle was built by William Randolph Hearst and it sits about 1,600 feet above the ocean. The castle materials and most of the interiors were built / furnished with materials, artifacts, and art from Europe. The indoor pool in this image was made to look like a Roman bath, and it's walls and ceilings are made of 1" square mosaic tiles. There are eight marble statues that are positioned around the pool. It is a pretty amazing pool to view and photograph.

Cook's Chasm - Cape Perpetua, Oregon

About two miles south of Yachats, Oregon, there is a very iconic image of a natural spectacle known as "Thor's Well" (aka The Spouting Horn). Thor's Well is only visible at high tide and is extremely dangerous to shoot, due to it's sharp and slippery rocks and very strong surges that threaten the safety of photographers. Given that danger, coupled with the fact that I wasn't there at high tide, I knew I wasn't going to get the shot (at least this time). I did want to scout the area for future reference, so we headed to Cook's Chasm on Cape Perpetua (where Thor's Well is located). As can be seen in this photo, the area is quite photogenic with or without the well. It is very typical of the oceanfront in this section of the Oregon Coast. The morning was cloudy and I decided to take a long exposure to get the movement of the clouds and the surf.

Cascading Falls - East Canaan, Connecticut

Blackberry Falls, Beckley Furnace, East Canaan, Connecticut

Along the Blackberry River in northwestern Connecticut, there's a Connecticut Industrial Monument known as the Beckley Blast Furnace.  This particular furnace was one of three blast furnaces in operation from 1832-1923. It produced pig iron for the manufacture of railroad car wheels. During this period, a dam was built that helped power the furnace, resulting in the falls that we see today.

I shot this image on the way back from a Springsteen concert that we attended in Albany, New York. It was mid-afternoon and I decided that a black and white image would work best in the light.

Side Canal - Strasbourg, France

Today is a special post as it is my beautiful wife's birthday. I want to thank her publicly for all of her support over the years, especially with putting up with my photography addiction. I can't tell you how many times she has waited patiently for me to perfect "the shot". In recent years, she has encouraged me to travel for a number of photography tours. The other reason that this post is special is that I want to thank her for proofreading all of my 500+ blog posts. That is right, I can't string two sentences together without her help. I asked her to pick out one of her favorite photos for today's post and actually write the rest of this post (after correcting this introductory paragraph). So without any further ado...

Hi everyone!  When Len asked me to choose a photo to be posted today, I knew that many of my favorite photos were from our trips to Europe.  This picture was taken on our first river cruise sailing the Rhine River, and is from the beautiful city of Strasbourg, France.  We had a wonderful time sailing down the Rhine with good friends, visiting one old beautiful city after another.  I was especially taken with Strasbourg, from the picturesque canals to the lovely buildings.  Of course, you can't visit France without sampling the wonderful local cuisine, and we all enjoyed a dish called tarte flambee (a thin bread dough covered with creme fraiche, thinly sliced caramelized onions and bacon), as well as the wonderful French pastries.   Good friends, good food and good memories.  (I hadn't realized how hard it is to write a blog--think I'll go back to proofreading!)

 

Looking Out the Barn Window - East Burke, Vermont

A quick post and run for today. This composition was taken on our visit to the Inn at Mountain View Farms. The owners were kind enough to allow 20 photographers to roam their magnificent property for the afternoon. This shot was taken from inside one of the barns to an adjacent one. I liked how the old glass in the windows distorted the barn outside. Have a great weekend.

Northern Ireland Countryside

As I was looking through my Lightroom library, I just happened to come upon some photos that I took in 2007 when we had taken a cruise around the British Isles. One of our stops was to Northern Ireland. When selecting what tours were available to us, my friend Jeff and I decided to take a bus tour to Giant's Causeway that is quite the location. Our wives decided to take a tour of Belfast instead. The morning we got into port, the rain was coming down quite hard, and I suspected that we made the wrong choice. Over the course of our hour and half bus ride, the skies began to clear a bit, and the countryside was different than I expected. We made a pit stop, and I wandered over to the side of the road and was able to capture the farmlands with the mountains in the background. 

Fall Tranquility - Howell's Pond, Hartland, Connecticut

Often photographers don't think there is anything new and interesting around to photograph where they live. I am often guilty of this myself, as I have a insatiable desire to visit new places to capture the unknown. Let's face it though, it is awfully expensive to travel whenever and wherever you want to these places. So once in a while, I hop in the car with no destination in mind and hope to find a new treasure.

I initially found this pond a few years ago when my wife and I went out for a drive one evening. The pond is about 45 minutes from my house, and I fell in love with it immediately, especially as the trees that surround the pond shield it from the wind. That improves the stillness of the pond for reflections. This past fall, I was in the mood to chill, and asked my son if he wanted to take a drive there (it has become one of his favorites too). It wasn't ideal for photography, as it was in the afternoon, and the foliage was in its early stages. I took my camera anyway, and this was the scene that we came upon. Not too shabby at all.

Silk Spools - Lonaconing Silk Mill, Lonaconing, Maryland

While my main type of photography is landscapes and cityscapes, I often enjoy visiting some urbex locations to capture some of history's past. Often, urbex shooting involves visiting abandoned, run down buildings, and capturing the rust, decay and anything else that might be present. So when Denise Ippolito offered a 2-day workshop at the last standing silk mill in the US, I was ready to go. 

Located in western Maryland, it was a 7-hour drive for me to get there. It sort of is the middle of nowhere, but I was not disappointed. Many of these abandoned buildings are in terrible shape, and this one is no exception. The owner is trying to get tours into it to help restore it a bit. The great thing about the silk mill is that many of the items used to produce the silk are still there. This box of old silk spools, for example, was just sitting on the floor, and one might imagine it being used on the last days of 1959, when the mill closed it's doors.

At the Edge of the Wall - Badlands National Park, South Dakota

A 100-mile wall. That is what separates the plains of South Dakota from the dramatic rock formations of Badlands National Park. Interstate 90 runs parallel to the wall just north of it, and, if you didn't know it was there, you might miss some of the most impressive landscapes in the US. Approach it from the south on the backroads and you can't help but see what appears to be a massive stone skyline in the distance. The closer you get, the more impressive it is.

When I started on the road well before dawn, I was targeting one of the park's trailheads. I really wasn't thinking of shooting southward from the edge of the wall. But as I turned a curve in the park road, I saw this scene, and trailhead be damned. The light and the shadows coupled with the contrast between the jagged formations and the flat prairie screamed at me to stop, take it in, and hopefully capture the scene in a photo. Obviously, I listened. 

Buffalo Fork Ridge - Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming

The Grand Tetons are some of the most magical mountains that can be found in the Rockies. They dominate the landscape wherever you drive in Jackson Hole. Every photographer has this place on their bucket list, and even after they visit and shoot there, it stays on the list. The goal of most photographers is to get a composition that is a little different than everyone else's. That is why hiring a tour guide like my friend Jeff Clow is worth every penny. Jeff takes you to all of the great spots, like Oxbow Bend and the Moulton Barn, that you would expect from an expert tour guide. The real treasures are the spots that he has discovered over the years of conducting tours, like this ridge that provides a great foreground of trees to the magnificence of the Tetons in the distance. Jeff even provided a name (Buffalo Fork Ridge) for this previously unnamed ridge. 

Where the Rich Play - Monte Carlo, Monaco

We have these television commercials here in Connecticut that try hard to show you all of the things that you could do and buy if you played and won the lottery. I am sure that these type of commercials air wherever you live. Each commercial touts a different dream that I am sure everyone would want to have. I don't really pay attention to those commercials since I visited Monte Carlo. Talk about rich. Just walk around the city like we did and you will see plenty of things that you could buy. Just like some of these yachts in the harbor. In most harbors I have been in, there are all shapes and sizes of yachts from the small ones to large ones. Not in Monte Carlo. The yachts are big and bigger. So when I dream of what I would do if I won the lottery, I simply think of my time in this rich playground. Of course, now that I think about it, I would probably have to win the lottery a few times to afford living in Monte Carlo.

Denver Reflections - Denver, Colorado

A friend of mine once mentioned to me that I obviously love to capture reflections in my photographs. To that charge, I plead guilty. I admit it, I can't walk past a body of water or glass building without shooting some images when there is a reflection in them. I think the reason I like them so is that they add some depth and interest to a photo, particularly water reflections. Another reason is that they provide an unexpected result, such as the reflection of other city buildings in this photo of an unnamed building that I spotted in Denver. I don't think that this building by itself would have been a great photographic subject, but the reflection made this a much more interesting and compelling shot.

Road to the Gossips - Arches National Park, Utah

The Three Gossips, Arches National Park, Utah

Many of the rock formations in the southwest have unique names that have stuck around for years. I think it is sort of like the old game of looking at clouds and guessing what each one looks like. Everyone sees something different but, since the clouds are transitory, they are only temporary imaginary figures. Not so with a 350-foot tall rock formation found in Arches National Park known as the Three Gossips (pictured in the upper middle of this photo). I have seen similar formations in other parts of the southwest that are named the Three Sisters (Monument Valley) and the Priest and the Nuns (Castle Valley). I often wonder how many names each of these sandstone formations were given before the ones we now know them as became permanent. One of life's little mysteries that probably no one thinks about except me.

The Lonely Tree - Custer State Park, South Dakota

On our cross country drive back from Oregon this past September, my son and I decided to head to Badlands National Park, a destination that had been on my bucket list for a while. In doing research, I found that there were a great number of places in the surrounding area that were ripe for photography. One such place was Custer State Park, located in the Black Hills of southwestern South Dakota. 

After driving from the Oregon Coast and over the Rocky Mountains, the park was a very different landscape. Rolling hills and active wildlife can best describe the park. You can see buffalo throughout the park, and we saw plenty. The park is pretty big, covering about 71,000 acres. While parts of the park have lots of trees, there are open spaces with a tree here or there. This photo is one of those trees. I really wanted to shoot a minimalist composition after spending the previous days shooting the massive Grand Tetons.

Taos Adobe - Taos, New Mexico


When you see a photo like this one, there is no mistaking where you are. One look at the iconic adobe houses with a wooden ladder tells you that you are somewhere in the American Southwest. This architectural style is known as Pueblo Revival and is inspired by the Spanish Missions and Indian pueblos. It is most prevalent in New Mexico. 

These structures seem to take on a great color when illuminated in soft light and become very photogenic. Often, there are great shadows that are cast by the beams, ladders, and windows, like this one I found walking around Taos. As many of these ladders that I have seen, I have yet to find anyone climbing them. I suspect that they are more for decoration than actual use.

Overhanging - Charleston, South Carolina

Boone Hall Plantation, Mt Pleasant, South Carolina

I am sure that many of you have seen photos of places that you immediately put on your bucket list to visit. Charleston, South Carolina, has been on my list for a very long time. We have planned to visit there quite a number of times, but it seemed like something always came up at the last minute and we were unable to go. Like most things worth doing, we were persistent and finally got to visit there last year.

One thing that attracted me to the Charleston area was seeing various photos of the area, many composed of rows of oak trees with great Spanish moss hanging from the branches. The best ones are early morning shots, when the mist and fog give the trees a great look. The first morning of the trip, I headed to Boone Hall Plantation in the hopes that the look would be there. The weather was looking awesome, but as I made the turn into the plantation, the gates were closed and I couldn't get the shot I wanted. We ended up visiting there later in the day, but the weather had gone south on me. White skies and no early morning light. I decided to take this composition instead, using the fence as a leading line instead of the road (the normal shot). This came out pretty decent, but now I have to revisit Charleston and figure out how I get that morning shot.

The Stone Quarry - Barcelona, Spain

La Pedrera, Barcelona, Spain

It is no secret that the cities in Europe have a long architectural history that you won't find in the United States. Nowhere is this more true than in Barcelona, Spain. The city was founded as a Roman settlement  over 2,000 years ago, and there are still remnants of the architecture that remain. Over the years, Barcelona has been known for producing architecture that was decidedly different. This is especially true of the Modernista (aka Art Nouveau) architecture that sprung up in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. 

The name that is mentioned most when talking about Barcelona and the Modernista architecture is Antoni Gaudí.  Almost everywhere you look around the city, there seems to be a building that was designed by Gaudí or was influenced by him.  It is no surprise that when we took a bus tour of the city, we drove past numerous works of Gaudí. Pictured in this photo is Casa Milà, also known as La Pedrera (translation: The Stone Quarry).  Constructed between 1906 and 1912, it was built as a multi-family living structure. Today it serves as a museum and tourist attraction. The building is massive, but, due to the fact that I took this shot on a moving bus, I could only get a clear shot of the top of the building. I think the roof's design gives a good feel on how the rest of the building looked.

Passing Storm - Colorado National Monument

Colorado National Monument, Fruita, Colorado

Some of the most memorable photographs are the ones that have what some would call bad weather. Early in my photographic journey, I always hoped that I would be blessed with blue skies and would be glad when they came. After studying other photographers' images, I realized that I had it all wrong. Plain blue skies are boring! I found that the images I liked the most were the ones that had clouds that contrasted with the sky. Even dark and stormy clouds add to the drama of a photo. Now when I head out, I hope for some not so good weather.

This image is a perfect example. When I headed out toward Colorado National Monument, the weather was actually pretty bad. It was stormy and raining a bit, and, if it continued, my planned sunset shoot would be a bust. As I drove up the road leading to the park, the sun began to break to the west, and I was rewarded with some terrific golden hour light on the sandstone rock formations. Even better, the dark and stormy clouds were still visible to the east. My kind of photographic contrast, and it reinforced the notion of heading out to a location no matter what the weather looks like.  

Grazing

Sorrel River Ranch, Colorado River Scenic Byway, Moab, Utah

On my way to Moab in March, I drove from Grand Junction, Colorado, and took the scenic route on the Colorado River Scenic Byway (aka River Road). Along this road are some spectacular sights not to be missed. As I traveled the road, I passed the Sorrel River Ranch, which brought back some great memories. The first time I visited Moab, I stayed at the ranch with my son. It is a beautiful ranch located on the Colorado River. We splurged a bit (it isn't a cheap place to stay) and spent three nights there. 

Our first night there, I was awoken with the sound of scurrying. I got out of bed and noticed a large mouse walking across the room. The next morning, I stopped at the front desk to report our little visitor. The clerk looked at me like I had two heads and deadpanned, "You do know this is a working ranch, don't you?" With that I stuck my tail between my legs and headed out.

 

No Backbone

New England Aquarium, Boston, Massachusetts

Every aquarium worth their salt has at least one tank of jellyfish. To be honest, growing up near the Jersey shore, the last thing I wanted to see or feel was a jellyfish. That dislike is still true, unless I can stand behind a glass enclosure and watch them. To be honest, they now fascinate me with their looks and movements. They are almost hypnotic to me as they move about the tank. This photo was taken at the New England Aquarium in Boston, Massachusetts. I really loved the way it was backlit by the blue background.