Tag Archives: Europe

Notre-Dame de Paris One Morning

Posted on April 2nd, 2018 by

The area outside Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris is BUSY! My suggestion is to go at night, when you get to see what a real Parisian sewer rat looks like (literally Pamela saw one and said…TELL ME THAT WAS A CAT….THAT WAS A CAT RIGHT)! Nope, that was Not a cat. Or get up early, this isn’t REALLY early, but the crowds are not crazy yet. Honestly, I would suggest going at various times around Ile de la Cite and Ile Saint-Louis. The area is absolutely beautiful and the rats really only come out at night (well at least the kind that live in the sewers).

Notre-Dame de Paris One Morning
Notre-Dame de Paris One Morning

Photo Technical Info

  • Aperture: ƒ/8
  • Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark II
  • Taken: 23 March, 2014
  • Focal length: 16mm
  • ISO: 100
  • Shutter speed: 1/100s
  • Title: Notre-Dame de Paris One Morning

Italian Statue Under a Tree

Posted on December 18th, 2017 by

Shaded

This beautiful statue stands on the grounds of one of the most beautiful villa‘s in Italy. She longingly stares out across Lago Como, waiting. The canopy tree keeps her shaded in the hot Italian sun. She is beautiful, surrounded in luxury, but strikes me as so utterly alone.

Italian Statue Under a Tree
Italian Statue Under a Tree

Photo Technical Info

  • Aperture: ƒ/8
  • Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark II
  • Taken: 6 April, 2014
  • Focal length: 35mm
  • ISO: 1000
  • Shutter speed: 1/2000s
  • Title: Italian Statue Under a Tree

Looking to the Lake

Posted on November 27th, 2017 by

I have been very few places in the world as perfectly beautiful as Lake Como in Italy. I came to this spot, as I do many spots looking for this specific place. So often I find I journey great distances to find the places in photos I have seen…I find so much more. It was a cool, windy day on the lake, but warmer than it should have been for early April. The ferries were filled with people come for the day. People shopped in a way that only Italian’s can. People ate gelato, in spite of the cold breeze as if to signal how utterly over winter they all were. This day, the beginning bloom of the wisteria and the warmth of the sun was all people needed…we were alive.

Looking to the Lake
Looking to the Lake

Photo Technical Info

  • Aperture: ƒ/8
  • Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark II
  • Taken: 6 April, 2014
  • Focal length: 25mm
  • ISO: 400
  • Shutter speed: 1/1600s
  • Title: Looking to the Lake

Under the Colosseum

Posted on November 13th, 2017 by

It was a thing to see, the Colosseum. This view is from one end (the Emperor’s Box is to your left), the floor of the area would have sat atop these underground chambers and passages (hypogeum). This is where performers (Gladiator, animals and otherwise) were brought in. It was also built with a series of machines…pulleys and trap doors to aid in creating an unexpected environment for those in the arena.

Under the Colosseum
Under the Colosseum

Photo Technical Info

  • Aperture: ƒ/6.3
  • Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark II
  • Taken: 16 January, 2016
  • Focal length: 16mm
  • ISO: 400
  • Shutter speed: 1/400s
  • Title: Under the Colosseum

The Ceiling at Uffizi

Posted on October 23rd, 2017 by

Even the Art Museums are treasures of antiquity in Italy. If you happen upon the Uffizi Gallery, the building is honestly as much a treasure as the art (and these are some of the greatest examples of their era).

The Ceiling at Uffizi
The Ceiling at Uffizi

Photo Technical Info

  • Aperture: ƒ/4
  • Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark II
  • Taken: 15 January, 2016
  • Focal length: 16mm
  • ISO: 2500
  • Shutter speed: 1/60s
  • Title: The Ceiling at Uffizi

Anne Frank Huis

Posted on October 9th, 2017 by

History

It is terrible and wonderful thing to be in the Annex, the place that sustained Anne Frank, her family…several families. The boards creek beneath you feet in a way that you feel, viscerally the fear of movement, of discovery. It is sobering to see through slivers of window to the outside and dream of the normal world before the Nazi’s occupied Amsterdam.

Most everything from the Annex has been removed…was removed right after the families arrest. Otto Frank, the only Frank survivor of the concentration camps wanted the rooms left open, but small accents still exist. Walls, and sinks and wood hold memories long after the people are gone.

I was fascinated by the sink in the kitchen. I stayed there, losing time, just feeling the world of it’s texture. I LONGED to climb the stair to the attic because I knew this was one of the places Anne was able in the early morning to see the world through the high window.

The whole place is suffused with this boredom, isolation and fear, but at the same time it is so terribly wonderful to feel a small bit of this. The atrocities of the past, must never be allowed back into our world. They must be remembered as must the people who’s beauty was taken all to soon from this world.

Anne Frank Huis
Anne Frank Huis

Photo Technical Info

  • Aperture: ƒ/5
  • Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark II
  • Taken: 19 February, 2017
  • Focal length: 35mm
  • ISO: 640
  • Shutter speed: 1/500s
  • Title: Anne Frank Huis

Everyday Florence

Posted on September 25th, 2017 by

What Places Look Like…How it IS

This is an odd photo for me. Truth be told, I tend to show photos of the exceptional. The things people create, the MOST beautiful things in the world. I love these achievements because they are perhaps the most wonderful expressions of our shared humanity. I will also admit, these are often not my favorite things about the places I visit. To me, the variation if every day is invigorating. From the heart filling songs of birds I have yet to ignore. From the smell of spice I have never once tasted. From the flourish of a language I cannot comprehend. The feel of breathing in new pollen, yet rejected by my body. All of these are more are foreign to me, but yet SO familiar. This view of rooftops in Florence made me think of all of this. How familiar, this everyday scene, and yet how beautifully…new.

Everyday Florence
Everyday Florence

Photo Technical Info

  • Aperture: ƒ/8
  • Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark II
  • Taken: 15 January, 2016
  • Focal length: 16mm
  • ISO: 100
  • Shutter speed: 1/250s
  • Title: Everyday Florence

555 in Amsterdam

Posted on September 18th, 2017 by

Bicycles and Row Houses

This scene caught my eye walking back “home” (hotel) while in Amsterdam from Anne Frank Huis. The yellow bicycle against the mostly monochrome row homes really stood out in my mind in this way. It was only later that I noticed how fun the most prominent home number is here. I also saw my first Banksy in the wild nearby. Amsterdam is a wonderful city for cycling and walking, you can’t get away from the general humanness of the place…which I just adore.

555 in Amsterdam
555 in Amsterdam

Photo Technical Info

  • Aperture: ƒ/2.8
  • Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark II
  • Taken: 19 February, 2017
  • Focal length: 20mm
  • ISO: 320
  • Shutter speed: 1/1000s
  • Title: 555 in Amsterdam

Red Room in Amsterdam

Posted on September 4th, 2017 by

Draped in Satin

I visited Amsterdam earlier this year and found a new member on my short list of favorite cities. It’s an amazing city in many respects with a rich and interesting past. I was taken by this scene…I’ll let you guess WHERE the red room is located and WHAT its propose is, but it oddly made me thing of death; and a little person speaking backwards in riddles (thanks David Lynch). It turned out not the greatest of photos, but I like it all the same. How do you feel about the red room?

Red Room in Amsterdam
Red Room in Amsterdam

Photo Technical Info

  • Aperture: ƒ/2.8
  • Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark II
  • Taken: 20 February, 2017
  • Focal length: 18mm
  • ISO: 3200
  • Shutter speed: 1/200s
  • Title: Red Room in Amsterdam

Outside the Colosseum in Rome

Posted on August 28th, 2017 by

Colossal

Rounding off the month of BIG PLACES, how about a place with “big” in the name…the Colosseum in Rome! I was standing outside after my visit. I was truth be told gawking at all the people in line and smiling ever thankfully that I got up early for my visit. The sun was behind part of the facade and I snapped this quick shot of the massive structure!

Outside the Colosseum in Rome
Outside the Colosseum in Rome

Photo Technical Info

  • Aperture: ƒ/8
  • Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark II
  • Taken: 17 January, 2016
  • Focal length: 26mm
  • ISO: 400
  • Shutter speed: 1/500s
  • Title: Outside the Colosseum in Rome