Montserrat Abbey

This is the courtyard one proceeds through in order to access the Basilica at the monastery.  

Evening Conversation

Another iPod4 photo.  These statues are located at the National Gallery, Barcelona.

Become A Peddler In Barcelona

Barcelona is a very pedestrian-friendly city.  They are doing what they can to get people to stop using cars. And here's a great idea.  For a monthly fee, you can pick up a bike like this at any number of spots in the city, ride it to where you need to go, and drop it off at any nearby place just like this.  Ethan and I were walking one day in the evening sun and there were long shadows flowing through the small piazza and folks were strolling and pigeons were eating.  It was a beautiful scene to end the day.

This is also on iPod4 photo.  PS3 editing including noise reduction, Ilford film (125 ASA), neutral density, dodging and burning as well as a background blur feature.

Traveler's First-Aid Kit

A little experiment here:  I took this with my iPod 4, HDR setting, edited on PS using a Ilford HP4 400 film, tonal contrast used selectively, some silver reflector effect and a wee bit of cropping.  Oh - and a bit of blue filter.

Ibiza Town

Ibiza Town (on the island of Ibiza, east of Valencia on the Mediterranean Sea) has an ancient fortress perched atop the harbor.  From it, one gets fantastic views of the ocean and the surrounding city.  It was very difficult to capture a feeling of the entire city, so I chose to use the 300mm and capture just a part.

Moonpath

My New Best Friend

While strolling through Ibiza Town - the location was the ancient walled city - a cat emerged from the alley and began following me, complete with serpentine movement through my walking legs, as well as purring and other ministrations designed.  Marlene laughed and said it confirmed (once again) my status as Dr.  Dolittle.

White Camelia

Monserrat - On The Pilgrim Road

While walking around Monserrat, I came upon this view of a building hanging upon the side of the mountain.  There were people walking to and from it - it was quite a far way away.  Thanks again for a 300mm.  These shots are all colour, so the discipline of finding something that transfers to B&W has been a good discipline.  I chose this one because of the different textures - the distant bushes (somewhat flat and grey), the closer bushes (tops bathed in sun), the house in shadow and sun, and then the cliffs.

Monserrat - View Into The Valley

The monastery at Monserrat, Spain is a spectacular location.  Since the fifth century, pilgrims have travelled here.  The walk must have been brutal.  I took the funicular instead.

Woman In Barcelona

While in Barcelona last week, I sat for a spell in a large café and tried to be as unobtrusive (!) as possible - with a 200mm lens attached to my camera... She was sitting with a friend, they were smoking and chatting in an animated way.  

Evidence of Life

And This Is Love

Today, as I was making lunch I happened to look at the back patio door and there lay my two favorite barn friends:  Peanut with his trusty sidekick.  And who says we can't get along, anyways?

Winter on the Peconic River

Your Last Stop

Outside Gap, Pennsylvania

While in Pennsylvania this past spring, I happened upon a graveyard one afternoon.  I find graveyards notoriously difficult to photograph, mainly because of the amount of subject (undifferentiated) in the viewfinder.  For a Canadian, seeing this many flags in a cemetery is unusual (I've been to Germany many times and one rarely sees flags).  I'm not sure this photo works, but its an attempt to portray the primacy of one's duty to the state with their own self becoming blurred in the process.   

Bicycle on Chestermans Beach, Tofino, B.C.

Vancouver in cold January

Docked

I am a photographic undertaker

Quiet in death, ca. 1930s


This is one of the many photos I have been restoring over the past year.  This is the daughter of a family friend named Lydia Penner.  Beyond the name on the back of the photo, nothing is known of her.

Lily pad

the burning book

Carcassonne No. 3, Walls at Night

Listening

During our brief visit to the Basilique Saints-Nazaire-et-Celse, the former cathedral in the old walled city of Carcassonne, France, a quintet of Russian men powerfully sang some Russian Orthodox church music, hoping to sell some of their CDs.   The sound in that Gothic sanctuary was simply awesome.  Without exception, everybody stopped and listened, lost in their own thoughts, in the mysterious darkness of the basilica.  

Great-Grandfather's Estate

This photo was nearly destroyed in certain sections.  I had to rebuild eyes, faces, replace walls and clothing.  I'm a complete novice with Photoshop, so I don't know if I did this efficiently or could have saved a load of time by taking a course (or reading a book!).

This is my great-grandfather's estate in Russia.  On the estate was the village school.  My grandfather is on the right, above the teacher's left shoulder.  This is one of two photos we have of my grandfather as a very young child.  I only knew him as (what I perceived as a child) an old man - which he was. By the time I was 10 years old, he was over 80.

The gene pool represented here is typical of Mennonites in Russia.  I can see facial similarities between many of these children and students I have taught.  In fact, the young girl in the middle (with the plaid dress - third row from the top) looks as if she could be the sister of a friend of mine.