Oct 8 -Paris Fall Colors

We went to Paris in mid-Nov 2008, so we missed the peak of fall colors in Europe by quite a bit, but there were still some leaves to be had while wandering the city. Flanked by the Arc de Triumph, this tree was still hanging on dispite the cold rainy weather we experienced while in the City of Lights.

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!

Aug 19 - Eiffel at Night

Last year Apryl and I went to Paris in November. Although it was cold, it wasn't horrible and all the touristy things were easy to get into. Since we were near the Arc, we decided to go up to the top and wait for the Eiffel Tower light show. This one is a little out of focus, but it's the best one I have and I still think it's pretty cool. It prompted us to get a little travel tripod for our future trips (including our honeymoon).

Aug 17 - Cliffs of Moher

This photo was taken in Ireland at the Cliffs of Moher. I'm sure you've seen pictures of them, or been there yourself if you've been to Ireland as they are one of the most popular tourist places. As I've said before, the hardest part about taking pictures of popular tourist places is the tourists.

I took this a little farther away from the standard photos of the cliffs where you see all of them lined up (I have a picture of that, maybe I'll show it another time). This is a picture of one individual cliff and I like it not only because of the action of the waves but also because everything turned out so bright and blue. Most of my Ireland pictures are kind of hazy, because Ireland is kind of hazy. As in, its usually overcast or misty everywhere we went. At this moment, the clouds went away and the humidity hadn't yet climbed. People didn't tend to walk this far, they went to the viewing location, snap pics and headed to the gift shop.

Enjoy!

Aug 4 - Roman Coloseum

The Roman Coloseum is the first New Seven Wonder that I visited, although I visited it before it was voted on. I hope that means it still counts. Trying to see Rome in only two days is a big achievement and sacrifices had to be made, so in this case, we decided not to take a tour of the interior. If I knew it was going to become extra special, I might have made more of an effort, but Apryl and I both want to go to Rome again, so I'll make sure to put it on the list.

Another one of those tourist attractions that are hard to take without people in it, I tried to minimize them as best as possible, although having them helps give you an idea of the size of the Coloseum.

Tomorrow you'll see something I've already posted, but it goes with the series and I'll try to find a different angle.

July 30 - Vienna City Gardens

While in Europe, we landed in Vienna, Austria for my birthday. After having one of my favorite pork knuckles, enjoying good company at an Irish Pub and crashing in our amazing suite at the Le Meridien, we wandered around the city of Vienna. This is the city gardens and overlooks many of the government buildings of this beautiful capital.

PS, This is one of the many crazy locations I've had the pleasure of spending my birthday. This year, I'm spending it in my beautiful home with my beautiful wife. I couldn't be happier.

July 22 - Hookah Pipe

I feel like being a little artsy today. If you don't know, this is a hookah or shisha pipe. It has tobacco in it and tobacco ONLY. Just in case you thought it was something else. We found this little cafe in Turkey and decided to stop in for some local flavor. It also got us relaxed before we got beat up by large harry Turkish men.. I mean, before we went for our Turkish massage.

I decided on B&W for this image mainly because I thought it looked neat and put more focus on the pipe and not the background. Sometimes getting up close to something gives it a little more life.

July 20 - Italian Pride

I'm not the biggest fan of soccer and I could care less in a match between France and Italy, but I love the atmosphere of a big game. I was traveling through Europe during the World Cup that was taking place in Germany. I landed in Rome on the day before the World Cup Final between France and Italy. How could you miss a party like that? So we headed down to Circus Maximus, a big field where they had big screen TVs and joined the party.

I love this shot because it not only shows the enthusiasm of the crowd without really showing the crowd, it has color and history all in one. How could you not be excited imagining yourself in the middle of this crowd, loving their team and country.

July 16 - Waterfall at Night

Nights shots can be a pain in the butt or they can be a lot of fun. This is the shot of a waterfall outside of Lauderbrennen in Switzerland. They spotlight the waterfall at night (our tour guide tried to tell everyone they turn off the waterfall at night and then waited to see how many people watched for it to be turned off).

I had the camera on the tripod. I actually had the aperture at 7.1, basically right in the middle. I didn't want too much light to come in or the waterwall would have been washed out, but I didn't want the aperture to be small and have to leave the shutter open for a longer time. I figured this out mostly with trial and error, and ended up exposing the shot for 30 seconds. Enough to make the water look like it's flowing and you get a lot of detail in the rocks and the sky has just a little bit of color which helps define the mountain top.