I absolutely love contrasts in light. Dark and light, hard and soft, warm and cool. One of my favorite times is just before sunset really gets going. The layers of atmosphere start to warm up the light in the western sky, but the east is still blue and wonderful. There is this smooth transition from warm to cool that you can see in today’s photo. The west, to the left is very strong and warm, but towards the bridge you see a normal and wonderful day.
A quick photo for today…all over Geneva, I encountered incredible doors. I have been to several cities around Europe and to many old parts of these cities, but I don’t recall seeing as many wonderful, ornate and LARGE knockers on doors as I saw during my time in Geneva. I have several of these shots, but I really like this knocker of Poseidon (I believe it’s Poseidon) on this dark wood with metal studs. Enjoy!
Sometimes on our journeys, we come across obstacles. A way that can only be walked by a single path. This path can at times be scary, dark and lonely. It can fill us with a sense of unease. The path can be broken, uneven, difficult to navigate in the darkness. We risk falling down. We risk making our lives worse. We risk hurting ourselves or the ones we love. But for those of us who are brave…the light is patiently waiting.
When it comes down to it, I want to dedicate my life to going awesome places and photographing amazing things. That sounds like complete fantasy to some people, but an interesting thing has developed in my life…I decided this idea was too important to me to not do! Callings are interesting really, some people heed them, others die with dreams unfulfilled. Thoreau talked of resignation and quiet desperation, but I find myself looking more and more to places of inspiration, of hope.
The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation. From the desperate city you go into the desperate country, and have to console yourself with the bravery of minks and muskrats. A stereotyped but unconscious despair is concealed even under what are called the games and amusements of mankind. There is no play in them, for this comes after work. But it is a characteristic of wisdom not to do desperate things.
~Henry David Thoreau from Walden
I love finding really cool places no one has heard of…I love finding pieces of history that remind us how far we have come as a people, how far we have to go and how much we owe to those pioneers who blazed the first trails. While I was in Barcelona, I was privileged to visit Sala Gimbernat, an 18th Century Medical Theater. Build in 1758 it is one of the oldest Surgical Theaters in Europe and was built for The Royal College of Surgery of Barcelona. The Sala is old. It smells old, it has an amazing old world design; you can feel the history all around you. What we know today of medicine, owes much to this history.
Pamela asked what I wanted to do for my birthday…I said go to San Francisco (of course). Aside from being my favorite U.S. city, it’s perhaps one of most comfortable cities for me, almost like I am called there; pulled by some cosmic force. I am very lucky, because we made the pilgrimage to The City, Pamela and me. Lucky because we are able to make the trip, both physically and financially. Lucky because I have a wonderful spouse that understands my love of wandering and wants to share in it. Lucky because we have each other to go to, Pamela, me and The City by the Bay.
When I travel, I usually have a very loose idea of what I want to see. I don’t make concrete plans, everything stays very fluid…I am a Pisces after all. My general mode of transportation is almost always walking. I prefer to see a city by foot. I often walk so much I end up destroying my feet for weeks to come after my adventures. I am learning the importance of good socks and proper fitting shoes. One morning when we were walking around I shot this street scene in New York City. The light is dramatic, but otherwise it’s street much like you would see in any city. I think that simplicity and the wonderful warm light are what I love about this shot. To me it screams New York in the morning.
The Swiss are efficient. They did not appear to enjoy repeating themselves for me, but my French is not the best and sometimes the latitude I was given in Geneva surprised me. I asked the docent of Saint Pierre Cathedral if I could take photos. He said yes. I asked if I could take photos with my tripod…he gave an irritated yes. Not because, I think, he was annoyed at my tripod, but rather because I didn’t take his first yes at face value. I love old churches and Geneva was build around this church. The entire history of the city can be traced in the foundation of this building. It is simple, but it was also the home of John Calvin for a good deal of time. I decided on doing a little something different with the processing. I generally do not like selective color, but I think in this way, it works.
The thing I always have trouble remembering his how gorgeous light becomes the lower it is in the sky. I say I have a hard time remembering because outside of places like Iceland, you have such a very short window of nice light. The quality changes so much, so rapidly it is often difficult to keep up on one subject, much less when you are someplace like the National Mall. With such a grand set of options, it’s difficult to decide what you are going to photograph at that perfect moment. This shot was while I was walking to the Lincoln Memorial for sunset. The sun was still strong in the sky, but you can easily tell the quality of light has started to change here for the better.
There are times where the depth of beauty and amazing creativity of the human spirit move me out of myself into another place. Most concert halls are dark and have mechanically controlled light, in Catalonia I found a jewel that was the exact opposite.
I was amazingly lucky to be allowed to time to photograph the breath taking Palau de la Música Catalana while in Barcelona, Spain. The amazing people at the Palau gave me complete access to this treasure. Though difficult to see in this image (don’t worry there are many more), the skylight of the Palau is three dimensional. It was lovingly said to me, the skylight is like the sun and the Palau is as a garden of music. A more perfect description could not exist. I only hope my photographs will do some justice to the glory of the Palau.
Something magic happened to me in Geneva, that I can’t really explain. I hesitate to share it. What I can say it that the bells of Saint Pierre Cathedral touched my soul. For an instant I felt deeper than I thought possible. It startled me so, I lost it. I will continue my search. I am only sorry I can’t share, or explain the moment better.
The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao;
The name that can be named is not the eternal name.
