The Achilleion Palace on the island of Corfu, Greece 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 is a monument to Achilles with paintings and statues of him throughout the building and its surrounding gardens. The back of the palace is impressive with its checkerboard marble patio that is surrounded by impressive statues. Off to the side of this patio is a terraced walkway that leads to a viewpoint that overlooks the surrounding countryside.

This image was taken from the viewpoint looking back toward the palace. It was early morning and the light was streaming through the gardens leaving streaks of light and shadow on the terraced walkway. I was taken with the textures of the stone and wanted to make sure I composed as much of it as I could leading toward the vanishing point of the walkway.

While walking around Washington Square in New York City, I spotted this squirrel coming down this tree. It was late in the day and the sun was just beginning to set. The tree was in shadow except for this small patch of light. As I approached on the sidewalk, the squirrel stops in the sunlight and just poses for me, daring me to take his image. I move closer but the squirrel doesn’t move at all, not even a twitch. So I figure the squirrel is an out of work actor and needs a shot for his portfolio and take it for him.

I’m not exactly sure why animals in NYC seem to give me these looks (see my post with the annoyed cat) but I am guessing that he was looking for nuts and found one.

This image is of Hartford’s semi-famous Boat Building with the Travelers Tower in the background. Hartford, often referred to as the “insurance capital of the world”, is also the capital of Connecticut. You may not be able to tell, but the Boat Building is actually a two-sided building that looks like a football from above. Built in 1963, it was the world’s first two-sided building. The building is located on Constitution Plaza adjacent to the Connecticut River immediately to the east. When approaching from the east, the building looks like a sail of a boat that is docked against its moorings.

The building itself has a lot of meaning for me as I moved to Hartford from the Philadelphia area for a job in 1992. I worked in that building on and off for about 10 years. I shot this image during Scott Kelby’s “Worldwide Photowalk”. I was drawn to the contrast between the glass of the building with it’s refections against the more traditional Travelers Tower.

Continuing our New England lighthouse tour, today we visit the Eastern Point Lighthouse in Gloucester, Massachusetts. This is the third lighthouse to reside on this spot and was built in 1890 (the original light was built in 1832). The location of the lighthouse is at the entrance to Gloucester Bay and watches over very treacherous waters. In fact, between 1830 and 1910, 779 vessels and 5,305 persons out of Gloucester were lost at sea. If this lighthouse looks familiar, you may remember it from the movie, The Perfect Storm.

This image was shot from the breakwater that extends into the harbor. The 2,250-foot breakwater was built using 231,756 tons of Cape Ann granite blocks to protect the harbor. Before the breakwater was completed, nearly forty ships had crashed into it, demonstrating the need for a light to mark the outward end of the obstacle, and one was added in 1905. Today, visitors and fisherman frequent the light.

If you are interested in visiting the lighthouse, follow Eastern Point Blvd. past a beach on the right and the main road will turn to the left. Continue to the right on Eastern Point Blvd. through the granite pillars (ignore the “Private - No Entry” sign as it is not a private drive). Follow Eastern Point Blvd. to the end and park in small parking lot next to the breakwater.

I have always considered Italy my destination of choice. There is something about it aside from the fact that my maternal grandparents were born there.

I was especially excited about my trip last September in that I was going to visit the Amalfi Coast. The last time we were there, we opted to spend the day on the Isle of Capri. This time, we had just one day and had to choose whether to travel along the coast via a small tour bus or take a boat that would cruise down the coast to Amalfi. We decided on the latter and took a bus out of Naples toward Salerno to meet up with our boat.

I had always wanted to visit Salerno as it is my mother’s family name and I am sure some of my ancestors originated from there. As we approached the city, the rooftops became visible. While it wasn’t the golden hour, the light was still pretty good as I pressed my camera against the bus window. Luckily, I was able to capture the scene without any reflections from the windows or buses passing by in the opposite direction.

Today, we revisit the Bay of Kotor, one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. Located in Montenegro in between Croatia and Albania, it is surrounded by towering mountains making everything seem small in comparison. We had spent the morning touring the bay and taking in it’s wondrous sights. The afternoon was set aside to walk trough the town of Kotor. Walking through the streets and alleyways, we felt like we had been transported to a time long ago.

Everywhere we turned, the old buildings looked and felt that they had thousands of stories to tell. This house was illustrative of the look and feel of the town. Obviously the weather had worn away at the facade, shutters and unusual chimneys. The rustic look was prevalent and set against the backdrop of large rugged mountains, it begged us to stay a little longer than we were able. I hope to be able to revisit Kotor for an extended stay sometime in the future.

After sailing through the Icy Straits, as described in a previous post, we entered into Glacier Bay en-route to the Margerie Glacier. Along the way, we passed wonderful scenery and wildlife, including hump-back whales, seals and eagles. Glacier Bay is a pretty amazing place and even more amazing is that it was a wall of ice in 1791 when explored by George Vancouver. The ice has retreated 65 miles since then leaving 16 major tidewater glaciers (a glacier which generates sufficient snow to flow out from the mountains to the sea).

As we approached Margerie Glacier, it was hard to believe the it has a total height of 350 feet, of which 250 feet rises above the water level. It is one of the most active glaciers in the park with respect to calving where chunks of the glacier break off of the forward ice wall into the water with a resounding roar. This is probably the main reason why most cruise ships visit this particular glacier. As can be seen in the photo, the glacier is surrounded by rugged mountains where pieces of the mountains collect on the glacier making it look “dirty”. Margerie Glacier has tones of blue color as the ice crystals in the glacier absorb light of longer wavelengths (i.e. red) leaving the blue color.

As I mentioned in a previous post, my son and I spent the better part of a week scouting New England lighthouses as potential sites for his movie short. This is the first of a number of lighthouses that you will be seeing on my blog in the upcoming weeks.

Today, we take a visit to the tip of Rhode Island to see the Beavertail Lighthouse located in Jamestown. The lighthouse got it’s name after the southernmost part of Conanicut Island which is known as Beavertail, for its shape on the map. The lighthouse is now part of Beavertail State Park.

The lighthouse was built in 1749 and is considered the premier lighthouse in the state. It stands 45 feet in the air and its light is on 24 hours a day. The light provides navigation for boats entering the Narragansett Bay between Conanicut Island and Newport, Rhode Island. As can be seen in the photo, it is surrounded by rugged rocks on three sides. It is not only a destination for tourists but it is also popular with the local fisherman. In fact, I had to maneuver between fisherman to get this shot. We observed quite a few fish being caught during our visit.

All in all, the beauty and location of the lighthouse keeps it on the short list as a potential location for my son’s movie short.

This past weekend, we all watched with fascination and horror as mother nature roared. Hurricane Irene left a destructive wake in her path up the eastern seaboard of the US. At times like this, we realize that nature can be quite devastating. This past May, I visited another force of nature that possesses the same brute force but in a beautiful and non-destructive way. I am talking, of course, of Niagara Falls. Standing alongside the edge of the American Falls, you can feel and hear the power of the falls as the Niagara River plummets over the edge on its way from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario.

While setting this shot up, I made sure that I had a rain cover for my camera and lens. It is a necessity as the spray from below can drench anyone and anything close to the edge. The river rushes over the edge so fast that you almost don’t need an ND filter to get the silky smooth look to the water. For this shot, I used a 3-stop ND filter and fired off a 5 bracket set of images.

A quick post today. Back in June, we attended the wedding of our friends daughter. The wedding and reception was held at Saltwater Farm Vineyard in Stonington, Connecticut. I had never heard of the vineyard but the location was quite beautiful especially for a wedding. As I was standing on a balcony and the sun began to set, the soft light and the shadows that the buildings cast on the vineyard grounds were lovely.