We went on an excursion away from the Danube to the Czech Republic and the town of Český Krumlov. This town of about 12,000 inhabitants is a UNESCO World Heritage site. Walking from the parking lot the first thing you see is the first photo. Now, there’s something you don’t see every day! The second shot shows a map of this place. Budvar is Budweiser in Czech, but it’s not much like the American version—not the same company at all. Lots of tourists, for a reason, and what would a tourist town be without souvenirs? (Are Crusaders PC?) It was difficult to cut down the number of photographs to post here.
Short stop in this river town, good for a walkabout. There is a theme developing here. Churches and castles.
Next stop was Passau, Germany. Passed many churches and ruins, but the first lock was interesting. The boat barely fit with only a few inches to spare—that shot was from our balcony. The row of buildings lining the river at day and at night. To say that the Danube has flooded is an understatement, the water level in 2003 almost reached the record level recorded in 1501!
The place of embarkment for the cruise, Vilshofen, Germany, on the Danube. (The white specks in the nighttime steeple photo are birds.) Ritter Tuschl is a school; I liked the mosaic but I doubt that it has been there since 1376, though the town is.
This is the first in a series from our trip to Europe this Summer. We were fortunate to enjoy a river cruise on the Danube that began in Germany. We spent a couple of days in Munich before the cruise. The first three were shot from the top of our hotel. The next is a pop-up shrine by Michael Jackson fans that lasted all these years since his death, across the street from our hotel—the hotel where he often stayed. The sculpture is at the place where Hitler had one of his first important rallies. The people are looking up at the Rathaus-Glockenspeil that puts on a show twice a day. The last one is of the post-war synagogue built like a fortress in downtown Munich.
Fun Saturday excursion to Bardstown, Kentucky, with the photo club. Started at My Old Kentucky Home (yes, the actual one). The first pic was taken with a pinhole lens I recently acquired of the Spring House in front. The next one is the inside of the smoke house. The third one is at the Willet distillery just outside of Bardstown. Then I drove out to Marion County where I encountered a strange obelisk, perhaps from ancient visitors to our planet. Or not.
Drove to Lexington for a meeting and took the backroads in Woodford County to get there. The first three were shot with my infrared camera, a converted Nikon D700, that makes green into white (among other things).
Here are a few shots from South Florida this Spring. The two monochromes are from Morikami Museum and Gardens using my infrared camera. The fresnel lens is in the Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse. These are ones I did not post before.
For the first time in a long while, we went to Louisville’s Waterfront Park for the Derby Festival Balloon Glow. Besides the balloons, there were rides, world-class junk food (‘Garbage Fries”!) and a huge crowd.
Going to be spending more time in the Sunshine State. I’ve been exploring the beach and wildlife preserves and here are a few from South Florida in December and January. The beach shots were just before sunrise. I’ve never seen a tree like that.
I spent a Saturday morning with the Louisville Photographic Society at Cave Hill Cemetery. The place can be overwhelming, and there is something interesting at every turn. Colonel Sanders and Muhammad Ali are here, but I didn’t care so much. Here are few shots.
Every Summer, the National Street Rod Association has its confab in Louisville. Who am I to not shoot some of these works of art and artisanship?
New York in the Summer, Lower East Side. Reminded me of New Orleans in some respects. Had a little time to look around.
A couple of weeks ago, I tagged along with three friends to Alabama. They went for the dirt roads on their motorcycles, and I went for a support role (if needed) and for the photo ops. First stop was Anniston, about 50 miles East of Birmingham next to Talladega National Forest, Chehea State Park and not far from the Superspeedway and the International Motorsports Hall of Fame. (I toured the Hall but the speedway was off limits.) Next stop, Selma. No photos of the Edmund Pettus Bridge—it would be too cliché even for me. Drove the backroads including lots of dirt roads and gravel roads. Cotton fields and churches abound. Saw both sides of the “tracks” in these towns showing stunning contrasts. Even some of the churches were abandoned. Here are a few shots. The first one is a slave house.
As a member of the Louisville Photographic Society, I often enter in the monthly contests. The contests have a theme or category, and last month’s category was Events (with people). I was fortunate enough to get a first place, third place and two honorable mention winners. This club has some very, very good photographers in it, so any honor is a big honor in my book. Here they are.
Just spent a week with my bride in the mountains of northwest North Carolina among the Blue Ridge Mountains. Though the leaves have not turned yet, it is a wonderland of vistas, forests and waters. Well worth getting up before dawn.
We’ve had nothing but time for the last few months, to state the obvious. So, I called my friend Nick and suggested that we go shoot some photos somewhere. He suggested downtown because he had taken an online class on using Photoshop to make dramatic architectural photographs. So, we met on a Sunday morning and had at it. I took the class and here are the results.
I recently learned of this place near Charlestown, Indiana. It is a nature preserve with old growth forest and a pretty creek. Nothing else to do, and, keeping my social distance, I ventured over the river to Indiana. The flower is a Curved Trillium, a particular species of Trillium that is a native wildflower supposedly somewhat rare. The fourth photo is an eddy near the falls.
Yes it has. I have been shooting some photos but things always slow down in cold weather, which I hate. I haven’t taken any interesting trips and now it looks like nobody is going to travel for fun for quite a long time. So, here are some pics from the past few months. The two trucks, a Ford and a Chevy, were in Hartsville, Tennessee. The organ pipes are in the amazing Nethercutt Collection in Sylmar, California. Check that out. If you ever go to L.A., you should go there. It’s free but you need a reservation in advance. The creek and falls are in Fairmont Falls Park, part of the Jefferson Memorial Forest in south Louisville.
Just spent a great long weekend in New Orleans. I had not been there for 40 years! Terrific food, as everyone knows. Different city than any other, no doubt.
