Travel Favorites

I spent about 18 of my 24 hours in Agra at the Taj. This shot was taken about 6 a.m., and even then, I had to remove about 30-40 people from the picture. I also removed the fountain spouts and some plumbing from the reflecting pool.

During my European Grand Tour in '65, I visited Spain and Pamplona and found the art of bullfighting fascinating, although I had and have trouble with the moral and ethical aspects of the sport. I later made a few trips to Mexico and attended bullfights there. On one of those trips, I shot a couple of rolls with a 300mm lens and 1/4 to 1 second exposures. I got two shots I really liked. This is the better one, and probably one of my favorite photographs.

At the Brenda Tharpe workshop in Santa Fe, I was shooting an adobe building and was so focused on the composition that I barely noticed the bird on the drain. It is a bit too small, but adds a bit of interest that improves the picture.

Essouira was one of our favorite places in Morocco. A combination of beach, French tourist influence, and the working harbor make it a great place to relax and take pictures. This particular afternoon the light was just spectacular. There are other shots in the galleries taken around the same time. I tried several framings of this shot, but this vertical one worked out best, especially with the cooperation of the sea gulls lining up on the wall.

The village of Chefchaoen in Northern Morocco is famous for its white buildings and blue doorways. I'm not sure of the origin of the blue, but it is quite wonderful. I found these steps on one of my early morning outings. They almost look like an ice sculpture.

The Changangkha Lhakhang (monastary) in Thimpu was a favorite spot to shoot. I liked this particular perspective, again with a very wide angle lens which gives both an intersting perspective and color contrasts.

The picturesque church in Hellnar (actually looks like most of the churches in Iceland) had a great sky and light behind it. I call this my Wyeth. Have been back to the same spot with different light and it is not nearly as interesting.

It is difficult to take a "different" picture of the pyramids. We were walking around and I wondered what it would look like from the corner with an extremely (16mm equivalent) lens. Here it is. There were only a few tourists in the background that needed removing in Photoshop.

Abu Simbel is one of the wonders of Egypt at two levels. First is the original execution as a monument to Ramses II. The second is how it was rescued from the rising waters of Lake Nasser and reassembled. If you look closely, you can see the cutlines where it was taken apart and put back together. We were there mid-morning so the light was so-so. I like to shoot into the sun and was in the entrance with my wide angle lens. Looking out at 16mm, the walls seem to lean towards each other and framed the blazing yellow sun nicely. I had to do some work to get rid of some flare, but I really like the resulting shot.

Pura Luhur at Uluwatu, is one of the famous sea temples in Bali. The monkeys are everywhere. This fellow was obviously in his element, and very well fed. You can't see them here, but he has huge canine teeth, quite a surprise.

On a family trip to Spain I managed to get in some serious photography time at the Guggenheim Museum in BIlbao and got several good late afternoon abstract shots of the exterior. This one is my favorite.

In the old quarter in Hanoi, there were many vendors who sold these small birds, I'm not sure for what. The whole booth was sheltered by a translucent, purple plastic tarp which lent the cage this wonderful color. The focus was tricky, about half the time the camera would focus on the cage and not the birds. The pattern of the out-of-focus cage works well in contrast to the sharply focused, green & white birds with their somewhat whimsical poses.

There was a one-hour rain one morning at Ankgor Wat. I spent most of the time in the gallery around a statue of Buddha near the entrance. Behind the Buddha and along the corridor there were several statues which I spent some time shooting. This is one of the two best shots. The light was coming from behind me, so in order to get some contrast, I had to play with curves in Photoshop. I also applied some vignetting.

One of the more interesting spots in Hanoi, historically as well as photographically, was Quoc Tu Giam (National University), originally built in 1076. I was fascinated particularly by the roofs and tiles. The two facing roofs and the background trees make a nice composition in this shot. I struggled with separating the foreground and background visually in Photoshop, ultimately settling on blurring the background.