Caravan, Northern, Ireland

Image made after a clearing storm in Northern Ireland. Spotted the Caravan getting pounded by the most beautiful flat front light and had to stop. While making th eimage all I Could think of was the cover of Leon Russell's Carney album and the song 'Tightrope' quoted below. Go Figure!!!


'Like a rubber-neck giraffe
you look into my past
well maybe you're just to blind to - see
I'm up in the spotlight
ohh does it feel right
ohh the altitude
seems to get to me'....Leon Russell

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France, more Images...

Sunrise, Moon setting, Marcay, France

I am sitting in the Brussels airport processing images while waiting for a flight to Glasgow- only 90 more minutes.....

Church Ceiling, Notre Dame

Here are a few more images from the last 10 days in France.

Falaise d'Amont, France

France

Chateau de Chinon, Chinon, France

This has been quite the trip...Left New York on Dec 27th and have been to Brugge in  Belgium and then on to France. Lots of driving but note that the steering wheel is on the left side and one drives on the US side of the road.....I guess it is really the French side of the road as they are much older then we are. At any rate it is nice to be able to not think about making turns etc.....

Shop Window, Brugges

Not much posting going on as the internet has been fairly non-existent or so slow one can hardly read emails. So here are a few of my favorites from the past week or so....

Chateau De Marcay, France

 In the end I thoroughly enjoyed France - much more then I thought. Specifically the food was off the charts - basically we ate our way through the country. There are officially no more croissants or foie gras left in the country. All kidding aside this is one beautiful country and the locals have been quite accommodating. Today is Versailles.......

Happy New Year and all the best for 2013.

Dubai, Fossil Rock

Fossil Rock, Dubai

'What would the world be, once bereft

Of wild and wilderness? Let them be left,

O Let them be left, wildness and wet;

Long live the weeds and the wilderness yet'.....Gerard Manley Hopkins

Brooklyn Bridge, Homage to Edward Steichen

Homage to Edward Steichen

There are so many ways to depict this bridge - my favorites being the older platinum and gum prints from Edward Steichen. Matter of fact he was the impetus for me starting to photograph the bridge -  I lived under that bridge for many years in the mid eighties.

This particular image started as a 4x5 pinhole and today I processed it on my iPhone5.....so many uses for iPhone processing and they keep getting better......

Desert Sunset

Desert Sunset

A bit out of my comfort zone on this one. At first it seemed to dark and then I realized that it worked dark - mostly because it was dark....great lesson here for me....stay out of the way...reminds me of the Garry Winogrand Quote, ''I photograph to find out what something looks like photographed'...need to remember that....off to wrap a few gifts...

Dubai, The Creek

The Creek, Dhows, Dubai

As mentioned in a previous blog Dubai is very capable of being very cosmopolitan and yet there are parts of this city that still function in ancient times.......it has been said that the  Dhow dates back to the 10th or 11th century in India...a distant cousin of the Junk.....

This image, that was made just next to the Spice Souk (market), clearly shows that juxtaposition. From Rolex advertisements on the horizon to ancient Dhows that span hundreds of years in Dubai history. There are sightseeing Dhows' which take you around the city....They are also used as water taxis' in some parts of the city not to mention you could take a dinner cruise on board one of these ancient vessels.

Detail of the Ancient Dhow

And if you are a fan of modern architecture then check out the horizon line...It has been said the 25 percent of all the cranes in the world are working in Dubai...

Fossil Rock, Dubai, UAE

Fossil Rock, UAE

Before leaving for the United Arab Emirates the one thing I wanted to do was four wheel in the red desert just outside of Dubai . My friend Alex, who lives in Dubai, did a bit of research and suggested Fossil Rock as a good location. . After searching the internet I was all in......

On Monday, Alex and his hired guide, Mez, picked me up and off we went in search of Fossil Rock. After about 45 minutes the color of the sand started changing from a pale red to the red you see in the image above. Just after the color change we started to see Fossil Rock off in the distance - I , for one, was very excited.

Fossil Rock, UAE

Next stop was to deflate the tires to grip the sand and off we went into the dunes. The dunes are similar to riding a roller coaster with a touch less stability...A cross between a coaster and being on ship in rough sea....at times we would come to a crest on top of a dune without being able to see the other side, usually a steep vertical drop that left one feeling a bit nauseous....they tell you not to eat before dune riding...

At any rate. long story short, we made to Fossil Rock. We did get stuck on the top of one dune but Mez was able to get us out....

Whoops.....

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Burj Khalifa - Dubai

Burj Khalifa, Dubai, UAE

 Stayed in Dubai an additional day - way to much to see and photograph. I hired a guide and it turned out he really understood photography and what I was looking for. Matter of fact I almost stayed one more day.....maybe next time...

We started out at 5:45AM trying to catch the sunrise on the Burj Khalifa, the tallest man made structure in the world at 829.8 meters (2,722 feet). Not only that but the building opened on my birthday in 2010 - so I had to make an image...

Leaving Dubai tomorrow morning - what a neat place - desert, city, old world, modern and much more....stay tuned for more images on both blogs.

Fossil Rock, Dubai

Camel Walking

Finished up my business in Dubai on Sunday night. A local friend had a plan take me to the red desert on Monday - four wheeling over the sand to Fossil Rock. As we were driving a group of camels suddenly appeared simply walking down to road.

Our guide told us they are let out in the morning, walk around most of the day, and then return to their farm late in the day for water. I would estimate about 15-20 camels just WALKED ON BY....what an added surprise...

Grabbed a few images of the camels and headed out to the rock. Of course we got stuck on the edge of a dune for about 20 minutes but eventually the guide figured it out and off we went to Fossil.....Stay tuned for images of the rock....

 

All in all quite a fun experience. Going back out today to photograph the city of Dubai...

Zion, Moonrise

Zion National park

'Landscape photography is the supreme test of the photographer - and often the supreme disappointment'.....Ansel Adams

Lake Monroe, Bloomington, Indiana

Sunrise, Lake Monroe

'One should not only photograph things for what they are but for what else they are'....Minor White

Day for Night

Day for Night

'I came to mistrust my desire to explode the picture and supercharge it in some way... what is more important is a feeling of strength in reserve – tension beneath calm'.....Richard Diebenkorn, American Painter, San Francisco

French Lick, Indiana

Sunrise, Lake Pakota, Indiana

I had eye surgery last week in Bloomington, Indiana - yes Bloomington - and decided to spend a few days in French Lick before going back for a follow up visit....My friend Tom Fielder met me at the West Baden Springs Hotel so we could make a few images in this area of the country.

Yesterday, we went out early looking for a sunrise and were treated to a most fabulous morning. This time of year the fog rolls in at night and leave you with some breathtaking scenery in the AM.

This image was made at Pakota Lake about 11 miles outside of French Lick.....I posted an iPhone image yesterday and this one is from my big boy camera.....

Harvest, the Palouse

“Sometimes I arrive just when God's ready to have someone click the shutter.”

Ansel Adams

The Great Midwest

'And they call this the Great Midwest
Where the cornfields grow and flow
They're all 5 years ahead of their time
Or 25 behind, I just don't know'......JohnMellencamp

Greece, Landscape

Landscape, Greece

Renaissance Fine Art and Design

Another image from my show at the Renaissance Fine Art and Design Gallery in Carmel,  Indiana. Hope you can make it.........

A portion of the proceeds goes to 1Maters.org, an organization that helps the un-housed find domestic autonomy.

Greece, OPne More Church

Leaving Greece tomorrow for Frankfurt and then home on Saturday. What else to post today bnut one more church. This church lives high above the sea and would appear to be on a private piece of land, possibly a farm, although in my two visits I have yet to see a human being.

The image below was posted on my iPhone-antics site today - I placed it here so one could get the scale of the church in the landscape. 

Greek Churches

Church, Greece, 

IF I have learned anything on this Greece trip it was making images of churches  - teverywhere you look there are blue and white churches.  They are everywhere....on the sides o f hills, behind houses, hanging on cliff's. Slowly this trip has turned into a photogrpahic tour of these very churches....

Some are easy to reach and others are on private property - but they are ever-present in Greece......

Today's church was found hanging on a small cliff just off a nude beach near Naoussa.....PS: There were no swimmers today....