Giant in the mist

Posted on 27 March, 2011 by Eric

I took this image (actually, a panorama of two images) several years ago, and just recently thought to revisit it in my “workflow.”

What I like best about this image is the people in it. For many of us, Paris and the Eiffel Tower are romantic places seen only on occasional trips. But for the locals, they’re a regular part of the scenery — almost taken for granted. So while I was working to get a good composition of this image with the tower, the people that lived nearby were going about their regular lives, paying little attention to the tower.

From out the gaping maw

Posted on 20 March, 2011 by Eric

Should you ever manage to visit Antelope Canyon in Arizona, don’t forget (from time to time) to look up:

By the way, this is a 3-image HDR composite, with the original images being shot 1 stop apart. Even then, the sky is nearly blown out.

It’s a tricky place to work, that’s for sure.

Ready for takeoff

Posted on 16 March, 2011 by Eric

Seen at the Houston Museum of Natural Science’s Cockrell Butterfly Center:

I suppose I could have taken this shot from the side, so that more of this little guy would have been in focus. But I preferred an over-the-shoulder approach, you could almost share his point of view.

Out for a swim

Posted on 11 March, 2011 by Eric

A Wood Duck at the Albuquerque Botanic Gardens.

Assigned

Posted on 3 March, 2011 by Eric

A Red Postman Mimic takes a break on a sign at the Houston Museum of Natural Science’s Cockrell Butterfly Center:

As natural history museums go, Houstons’ one is pretty pricey for what you get. But pricing there is a la carte, so if you’d like, you can get a ticket to just the butterfly center.

Looking a bit rough

Posted on 28 February, 2011 by Eric

A slightly ragged looking little hummingbird

Seen at the Phoenix Zoo.

Stacked

Posted on 23 February, 2011 by Eric

On a trip through Glacier National Park, we ran across a stack of small thin rocks that someone had made near one of the visitors’ centers:

Maybe it was built on a lark by one person, maybe it was the product of many individuals as they passed through. Just the same, it was a nice bit of whimsy to find in the middle of a long road trip…

On the hunt

Posted on 19 February, 2011 by Eric

A shot from our Alaska cruise a few years back:

This came from our near-miss with visiting Victoria, British Columbia. While waiting at sea for the winds to calm (they never did), some were entertained with movies, while the rest of us were entertained by the local gull population.

Lavender and green

Posted on 16 February, 2011 by Eric

Seen at the Yampa River Botanic Park in Steamboat Springs, Colorado:

Democracy Wall, Beijing — 1979

Posted on 13 February, 2011 by Eric

A lifetime ago, I was fortunate enough to be part of a cultural exchange trip to China for a few weeks. It was 1979, and much of the country was just opening up to visitors from outside. When our group travelled through Beijing, it was months after the main activity at the “Democracy Wall,” but some sections of it were still in active use as a community discussion board:

I’d forgotten about this slide (taken with my trusty old OM-1, recently scanned), but current events in Egypt reminded me that I’d never done anything public with this image.

I have to suspect that authorities in China are being very careful w.r.t. how they handle news of the events in Cairo.

Update: turns out, they are…