When in Rome……visit the Spanish Steps! This famous flight of steps climbs a steep slope between the Piazza di Spagna at the base and Piazza Trinità dei Monti, dominated by the Trinità dei Monti church at the top. My visit to Rome was short. I didn’t get enough time to explore or delve more deeply into some of these classic areas…which is a very good excuse to go back. Although, I think I prefer northern Italy over Rome. It’s all overrun with tourists and the attendant wolves that feed off them…. More to...
read moreBack in ’09 I had a vacation in Venice. My first trip to Venice, and I had a lovely time. One of the shots I wanted was a view of the Grand Canal from the Accademia Bridge. When I got there I had to compete with a German camera club for a spot to shoot from. One thing you don’t realize until you get there is that the Accedemia Bridge is made of wood and vibrates with foot traffic. With shutters speeds dropping like a stone post sunset, this was problematical. The solution was to move to the southern end of the bridge where...
read moreRecently, I had the privilege of visiting India and had the opportunity to get down to the city of Agra for a day. This being my first trip, I was heading for the Taj Mahal, of course. It’s probably on everyone’s bucket list and I couldn’t pass up the opportunity. This would also be the first time I got to put the new camera through it’s paces. It’s been shot a million times, from all angles. Indeed, my guide took me to all the viewpoints and told me where to stand and where to sit, everything except what...
read moreWe acquired one of the new Nikon 70-200mm f4 G AFS ED VR lenses over the holiday and I was very keen to try it out on my new body. I’d had a bit of a play with it to compare it against my older 80-200mm f2.8 AFD lens and I already knew it was a better lens. It wasn’t as fast wide open, but on the D800E it was superior due to the more modern optics. I’ve loved my 80-200mm AFD, but it’s time to move on. That lens is great on a D700, but just can’t cut it on a D800E. So just how good is the new lens? After all...
read moreRemember Warm Times in Abu Dhabi! Seeing as it’s a bit nippy in Houston at the moment, I thought I’d post a warmth inducing pic. This was taken in Abu Dhabi in the late summer, the day after this image. Sunset fast approaching and the Abu Dhabi coastguard goes out to round up the late jet skiers and tow in the characters who ran out of fuel. This was taken from the end of the breakwater by the Abu Dhabi Theater. Then I found out that taxis don’t go out there. Had to hike back to the Marina Mall to find one, which...
read moreSo it’s finally time to switch up. The siren call of the Nikon D800E has finally found a new victim. Have I just succumbed to the hype and wasted money unnecessarily? What do I gain by blowing hard earned cash on this? After all, I have a perfectly good D700 which has served me well for years, and still takes just a good a shot now as it did when I first got it. If I felt I was missing something, why not a D600 or a D800 instead of the E version? I’ve loved the D700. The low light performance, full frame sensor has been a...
read moreA trip earlier this year to visit family included a trip to Ludlow Castle on a very rainy day. I love spiral staircases, with examples here, here and here. This one was green with moss and very slippery in the wet, but every spiral staircase has its own unique twist to it. They are all lit differently, they may be true tight spirals or open square spirals or take any number of different form factors. They all have their own patterns and stories to tell. I cannot help but wonder who climbed these stairs to look out over the Welsh Marches, or...
read moreIf you get a chance, a visit to the Czech Republic yeild lots of unique and facinating experiences. Driving from Prague, I got the opportunity to visit the Sedlec Ossuary. This is a facinating place, with art made from human bones. Thousands of bones are collected together is a rare sight. It’s a little incongruous in parts, and very gothic! More to...
read moreGoing back to Prague I had a chance to get some more unique material. I had a little more time than usual and used it to get to the Cubist Cafe and shoot the unique stairwell. A second place I went to was the Clock tower in the main square. This is famous for the Astronomical Clock housed in the tower, but I was after a different view. If you go to the base of the tower and look up, you see this futuristic elevator support structure surrounded by spiral ramp up the tower. It’s beautifully lit and I’ve seen multiple treatments of...
read moreUsing the sophisticated planning tools, I planned to visit this bridge which is is a modern part of Buenos Aires, Puerto Madero. This is a revitalized urban area, with lots of dockside restaurants. The east bank of the river is teeming with people in the evening, joggers, strollers, rollerbladers. As the sun set, I set up and enjoyed the changing light, within the milieu of the middle class of the city. Then the mosquitoes attacked! It was like a scene out of a Hitchcock movie – swarms of the buggers. I was bitten 26 times. Faint from...
read more
500px
