Category: Travel

Sometimes It’s About What You Don’t See

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Normally, Tuesdays on this blog are reserved for “Time-warps”, pictures taken some time ago, as opposed to recent images. Today things will be different; since it’s my birthday, I will indulge in a break from routine and post an image I captured a couple of hours ago. As I write this, it is a beautiful sunny morning in Cologne, but the day started out with the city wrapped in a dense, swirling fog. I grabbed my camera and ran out outside the hotel to capture it before it burned off. My favourite image is below.

Fog and Bridge, Cologne

There is a symbolism here; the bridge shows the direction of travel, but the destination is a shrouded mystery; I won’t be able to see it until I get there. The bridge is life, and the destination is the future, and getting there is half the fun.

Another Cathedral Catches the Light

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I am in Cologne, Germany on business this week, and of course I am taking advantage of the location to do some photography. This morning the light was amazing for a brief interval, and it was breathtaking to see the Cathedral across the Rhine take on the ruddy colours of a red-sky morning.

Bridge and Cathedral

Time Warp Tuesday: Quebec City 2007

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I think Quebec City is my favourite city in Canada; it’s a close to being in Europe without crossing the Atlantic. It’s also a photographer’s dream.

I took the photo below in 2007, taking advantage of a non-crowded moment. It is slightly underexposed on purpose, to de-emphasize the benches, and emphasize the lines and texture in the wood. It also makes it a challenge to determine the time of day this image was created, and I like that mystery.

Outside Citidal

Vibration Reduction to the Rescue Again!

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I took this image of the harbour in St. John’s, Newfoundland on Wednesday night. Even with the ISO cranked up, the exposure was half a second, and hand-held; I did not have a monopod, let alone a tripod with me, so I was stuck.

The Vibration Reduction on the D90 got me out of the jam, to an extent; it’s not tack sharp, but close enough that it captured what I was looking for.

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Time-Warp Tuesday: North Rustico, Prince Edward Island, 2004

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Again not too far back into the past this week. This is an image I made in North Rustico, Prince Edward Island back in 2004. The image appeared (to my eyes) rather non-descript in colour, but when I converted it to black and white, I liked it a a lot better. I used my old Canon Digital Rebel, with the 18-55mm kit lens at 18 mm (equivalent to about 24mm for a 35mm camera) to include as much foreground as possible.

North Rustico

Telling a Story

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I like street photography that hints at the stories that are hidden inside of everyone. I took this photography in Brussels this past August, in an historic part of town called Central Place. It is an amazing old square with a lot of great historic architecture, but the people who filled it gave it its vibe, and its stories. We only had one night there, but I am longing to go back.

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True Measures

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I created this image in 2004 with my Canon Digital Rebel, in New Brunswick. I got up early to catch the light at the exact right time, and I guess I was successful; I do like this image.

Sunrise On the Rocks

However, this is the kind of subject matter that I find hard to deal with; how does one try to say something new, instead of ending up with a pretty cliche, such as this image?

The true measure of a photographer is what he or she can  do with subject matter that is not pretty. For me, a perfect example of this is Irving Penn’s cigarette butt still life. If an artist can make a cigarette butt interesting, I’d say that’s a pretty good measure of the talent involved.