Sep 25 - Typical Peruvian Hairless Dog, Intact with sweater

I don't know how much more I need to say about this photo.. Happy Friday!

Sep 24 - Iguazu Monkey

We watched this little monkey for quite a while. He found himself some fruit and was just happy as can be. We found him in the rainforest that surrounds Iguazu Falls. Not much else to say about him. Enjoy!

Sep 23 - Black Rhino and her Baby

No, this was not a telephoto lens. Yes, I really was that close. About 6-8 feet to be exact. No, they aren't tame Rhinos. This was a wildlife preserve. Are they used to humans? Probably. Our entire goal when walking the land was to crouch and look like deer. Rhinos are herbivores, so they aren't going to eat us, but they certainly don't like things in their territory.

Their eyes are kind of beady and can't see well, so as long as we look like deer, we must be deer. No fast movements, we don't want to look like lions or cheetahs. They were walking towards us, just looking for grass to eat. What you don't see in this photo is the male rhino that was definitely keeping track of us and our movements. Not because we were a threat to anyone's life, but because he wanted to mate with her and he wanted to make sure we weren't moving in on his woman. At least that's what the guide told us.

Sep 22 - Zebra

I've showcased a few of my animal pictures from Africa, but this is one of my favorites. They just look so happy and in love don't they? They certainly didn't even care that we were there. I don't have any other exciting information about Zebras, so enjoy.

Sep 21 - Emu

This week I decided would be animal week. I had people, then buildings, so why not animals. It makes it a lot easier for me to decide on a photo if I have a topic in my head. This guy comes to us all the way from Australia. He's an Emu. I love this photo for a few reasons. The first of which is I didn't really know how to take photos in 2004 except for to point and shoot. I didn't know anything about depth of field, aperture, etc. I just think there is a great expression on his face and he pops because the background is blurry. He looks like he's ready to have a conversation with you. So, enjoy! More animals coming this week from Africa and South America.

Sep 18 - Colonial Cathedral, Cusco

This is the Colonial Cathedral in Cusco, Peru. It is considered one of the most beautiful Cathedrals in the Western Hemisphere (ie North and South America). This is not necessarily because of what is on the outside, but more so, what is inside.

The Incas loved gold, but not as a monetary value, they just thought it was pretty and they put it on all their buildings. The top of all their walls would be covered in it. The friendly neighborhood Spaniards thought that was a waste of the gold and melted it all down and put it inside of their church. So, all the full sized wall murals and alters and pretty much everything inside this church is gold. There was one wall that was all silver and that looked pretty cool too.

The Spaniards pretty much knew nothing about earthquakes and their architecture took a hit. This church has been rebuilt 3 times since the 1600s. The Incan buildings that weren't destroyed by the Spainards to build their own buildings are still standing because they understood the science of Siesmology.

Sep 17 - Concha y Toro

This is the Concha y Toro house at the largest winery in South America. Originally built as the owners homestead, it is now used for events. Beautiful Spanish sytle building is about all I know about it.. Sorry.. It is pretty though, don't cha think?

Sep 16 - Blue Mosque

This is the Blue Mosque in Istanbul, Turkey. Known as a Blue Mosque because of the blue tials that are attached to the ceiling inside. Random note: 6 months after I visited, the Pope visited, only the second time in history that a pope has visited a Muslim place of worship. Anyway, I was enjoying the architecture here and took a break to sit on a curb in the square. I really liked the angle that I had and decided to snap this shot. I have other pictures of the Blue Mosque that are fairly "standard" but this is one of my favorites because of the angle and lines of the shot.

Sep 15 - Monte Carlo

Continuing on my building theme this week, this is the Monte Carlo Casino in Monaco. I'm not sure why I'm partial to the evening/night time pictures right now, but I think there is just more color and contrast to them. I love the blue of the fountain and the lighting of the building.

Monaco was pretty cool to go to. I won 100 Euro at blackjack and then decided to be fun and bet it all on one hand.. The dealer had a 9 showing I think and I got two 8's. Crap.. I wasn't willing to spend another 100 Euro to split them, so I just hit.. and I bust. Oh well, it was a lot of fun. Although you can't see it here, there really are a lot of ultra expensive cars parked up front, just like you see at the movies. The casino inside actually wasn't all that amazing, but as I said, it was fun.

Sep 14 - Looking out the Louvre

When Apryl and I were in Paris, we spent two days at the Louvre. We stayed until the evening on this day and as we were walking through, I saw that the sun had set outside (we didn't realize how late it was) but it wasn't yet dark. I really like the color of the dark blue sky and the light on the building. I even think the lines from the window add to the photo. This week is going to be building week I just decided, so I'll post some of the architecture that I've visited over the years.

Happy Monday!

Sep 11 - Girls in St Marks Square

To round out the week (and the world, as this is the 4th continent in 4 days) I'm posting one of my favorite environmental portraits. In fact, I even entered this into the Orange County Fair a couple of years ago (no, it didn't win anything). I just really like it because they just seem to be having a lot of fun in the picture. I sat there and waited until they both had a pigeon at the same time. (Too bad the pigeons don't know there's birth control in that bird seed). Finally it happened and I took the shot.

On a different note, I too will never forget where I was on Sep 11 and hope that the families of the victims are at peace. Have a great weekend everyone!

Sept 10 - Singing Girls in the Sacred Valley

Continuing on my Environmental Portraits theme, these two little girls met up with us while we were touring the ruins in the Sacred Valley near Machu Picchu. The come from the Highlands and wear their traditional garb. Most of the people that dress this way in Peru will allow you to take photos for a "tip", these girls went above and beyond and tried to sing for us. I stress the "try". We gave them a little tip, took a few photos and went on our way.

Sep 9 - Boys in Africa

These boys in Africa are destined for a short hard life, but for now they are enjoying the day and the visitors (that's us). I visited these natives of Namibia as part of my African tour and the same day that our truck broke down for two days. There is very little water here and the people never bathe, but that doesn't mean they are dirty. They actually cover themselves in a local red clay and because they put it on every day, they actually remove any of the old dirt by exfoliation, so luckily, they don't smell.

These little boy were running around the village, trying to get in our shots, just hamming it up. This was their home as we were about to go inside to see how they prepared meals and the boys were right there to greet us. In the future they will have to travel 5 miles each way to gather water and learn to hunt with their dads. For now, boys will be boys.

Sep 8 - Cancun Bar Waitress

I decided to take a Portrait class at my local community college because I wanted to get better at taking photos of people. I consider that one of my weaknesses with my photography. One of the first "homework" assignments was to find examples of Environmental Portraits, ie, people in their environment. I was looking through my pictures and found this one. I laughed out loud because I had completely forgotten about it. Here we are in a bar in Cancun and this waitress goes walking by with 4 levels of drinks on here head.

We couldn't believe it. We watched her take off the drinks, go back to the bar and get another set. This time we got her to stop her motion and take a picture for us. Crazy right? Anyway, I hope you enjoy today's photos. I should be back on a regular schedule. You'll probably see more "people" from my travels as I begin to look over my photos for them and learn from my good photos and my mistakes.

Enjoy. Hope you had a great long weekend.

Sep 3 - Ica Dunes

Hello my beautiful people. I'm back. The photo takes us back to the Ica Dunes in Peru. We spent two hours on these dunes on a buggy and was able to sandboard down quite a few of them. This picture shows how mountainous the dunes are and makes you feel like they go on and on forever. The sun was just starting to get low in the sky, so the light and shadows aren't too harsh and really create some great detail in the photo.

Sep 1 and Sep 2 - No Photo

Sorry guys.. a couple of days off.. Busy at work and activities at home.. I'll make sure there's something on Thursday!