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Ever since Linda and I visited Italy last year, I have had this strong yearning to return. Not surprising I suppose, it is such a beautiful country. We loved everything about it, from the hustle and bustle in Rome, the rustic beauty of Tuscany, to the romantic atmosphere in Venice. We loved the food – first time I ever tasted truffles – and the fabulous coffee . . . . oh the coffee! We even bought an espresso machine when we got back . . . just love those Americanos . . .

This is one of my favorite shots in Venice. It is the first “view” of the Grand Canal I had after winding through the many narrow streets and then emerging from between building to this fabulous view! I had seen pictures, read all about it, but nothing really prepares you for that time when you first lay eyes on the Grand Canal.

We did take a ride in one of those gondolas, but not on the day this picture was taken.That first day was all about exploring and taking photos of that wonderful place.

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This looks like two pictures put together, but it is not. It is a shot from inside the glass pyramid that stands in the courtyard of the Louvre Museum in Paris. It is also the main entrance and you can see the people standing in line to get tickets.

I really liked the “split personality” characteristic of this shot. The old architecture of the Louvre at the top, the modern architecture at the bottom. When I first saw pictures of the glass pyramid, I was somewhat aghast, offended almost at how the ultra modern construction contrasted with the gorgeous, classic architecture of the past. However, having been there and seen the two, I have to admit that “it works”, almost stunningly so. It did raise my appreciation of what the architects must have gone through in designing this. Hats off to them!

The Louvre is a fabulous place where you can lose yourself for hours, if not days. Linda and I stayed in a hotel nearby and first checked it out on a Sunday, only to be blown away by the number of people waiting in line to enter. Quite off-putting and we stayed clear of this place until several days later when, during the week, it was a pleasure to visit. You are allowed to bring your cameras which was a real treat and we spent many hours enjoying, not just the art on display, but the magnificent building itself.

If you ever go to Paris, make sure you include a trip to the Louvre, but try and avoid the weekend.

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This view of Yosemite was made famous by Ansel Adams. It remains today one the most spectacular views of the valley and you will find countless photographers there every single day, regardless of the weather. As the day comes to an end, you will often find a dozen tripods lined up with photographers waiting for some sunset magic to happen.

As they say, the golden hour is that special time of day when the light is softer and wonderful shots can be made. No guarantees of course, but you usually have much better images thanks to the light.

So here I am, waiting for dusk to fall, yes standing alongside many people with cameras. Most have a point and shoot or cell phone, but there are about ten tripod-wielding photographers who are clearly more dedicated. I have this theory that the quality (and price) of their tripod is a good indication of how serious they are about their photography. My reasoning is simple, I know people who will spend thousands on a fancy camera, because they have the money, but have little clue about serious photography. A tripod on the other hand is the non-glamorous part of of photography, so when you see someone with a nice carbon fiber tripod equipped with a quality ball head, you know this is someone who is serious about their work.

So, with that said, a quick look around and I see 7 or 8 carbon fiber tripods, all holding the usual Nikon or Canon gear. The Canon users have lenses with the famous red line, the Nikon users have the gold-colored markings on their lenses. One guy has a Lee Neutral Density Graduated filter in front of his lens, looks like a 3-stop soft-edge kind. A true landscape photographer! I like him already!

So we wait and wait . . . and are all somewhat disappointed. No magic tonight. No color in the sky! This shot you see here was taken relatively early and those clouds you see were all gone by the time the sun actually set, a wonderfully uninteresting sunset! Bummer, now I will have to come back again!

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Standing on Cathedral Beach in Yosemite, temperature is 23F (-5C) waiting for the sun to come up and hit the top of El Capitan. Being January, this didn’t happen until almost 9am. While that sounds civilized, I got there very early hoping for some pre-sunrise magic which never happened. As a result, I was frozen to the bone by the time the moment finally arrived. Linda had already gone back to the car, but I was stubborn enough to wait. My hands were sore and that was with gloves. You can see the ice on the water and the frost on those leaves in the foreground.

In the end, it is all worth it of course and now I can tell the story (which undoubtedly will get better overtime) how I braved the cold for this shot.

I used my favorite 17-40mm lens for that great wide-angle effect and which lets me get real up close to subjects like that log. In fact, Linda and I had given ourselves the assignment of only shooting with our wide angle lenses. For me that was the 17-40 mm on my 5D Mark2 and for Linda, with her 7D, it was the 10-22mm.

HDR, for shots and processed with Oloneo Photoengine.

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The Marin Headlands make up the area just north of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. There is a road that turns off Hwy 101 and leads into the Marin Headlands from where you can get fantastic views of the Golden Gate Bridge. In fact, many of the shots you have ever seen of the bridge were most likely taken from there.

What a lot of people do not know is that there are many other photo opportunities to be found when you continue down that road (most people shoot the bridge, then turn around and go back). Below is one of those opportunities that present themselves. This is the Point Bonita Lighthouse, built on this rocky outcrop in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.

The lighthouse is still in active use today and is maintained by the US Coast Guard and is open to visitors (although the bridge is being replaced at time of writing this making the lighthouse inaccessible until spring 2012).

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When my son bought himself a new Canon DSLR, it was inevitable we would go on a photo-shoot one day. That opportunity presented itself during the Christmas and New Year break when we decided to go to Napa Valley and see what we could shoot. We were surprised to see many vineyards with flowering mustard. I’ve only ever seen this around February/March and this was December. We also spent some time in and around the Beringer Estates, where the Rhine House is an landmark building. This house stands amidst beautifully kept gardens and there is wine tasting inside.

While the sun threatened to break through now and then, it never did and the day stayed very grey. In many ways, this is an ideal situation for some HDR treatment, the sky is normally SO bright, it ends up completely white in the picture. So here is a 3 shot HDR with some detail in the sky. The composition is quite deliberate as there was an ugly red cone on those steps and I used the fountain to hide it from view.

The day ended up being a great outing and I am sure it won’t be the last photo-shoot done with my son.

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The Dutch town of Gouda is perhaps best known for it cheese. If you have ever seen those creamy Dutch cheeses with the red colored waxy stuff, that is Gouda cheese. I personally prefer the aged Gouda cheese, which is hard to find in the US, but SO much more flavorsome! Anyway, I digress.

Today’s post is about the other thing that Gouda is famous for – their “Stadhuis”, the old city hall situated in the middle of the town square. It was built in 1450 and is still in use today! It is one of the best known monuments of Gouda and in the summer months, a genuine cheese market is held on the square surrounding the Stadhuis. Is doesn’t get more Dutch than that!

This picture was taken last year when my wife, Linda and I visited my sister who lives in Gouda. The rest of the town is equally charming and shows its heritage throughout the city center with lots of magnificent old buildings.

This is of course another HDR, processed in Oloneo PhotoEngine, an HDR application I am really liking more and more.

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In the spirit of Halloween, here is a spooky castle to put you in the right mood.

It is a scary place and if you listen carefully, you can hear the clanging of chains and lost souls crying out in sorrowful moans. A cold shiver runs up your spine. Would you dare stay overnight here?

Well you can, this is Brodie Castle in Scotland. No it is not haunted (that I know of) and is owned by the National Trust for Scotland and you can stay overnight here (look it up).

I was here during the day in mid-summer so no fear of ghosts or anything more spooky other than those clouds. An HDR treatment and a B&W conversion completed the look.

Happy Halloween everyone.

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One morning early, near Mono Lake, this great view of the Sierra Nevada mountains presented itself. As you can see the sun was just coming up behind me and lit up the mountains in this red glow.

The sky was pretty spectacular too, all the more rewarding to see as this was my last day and there had been no clouds in previous days. This is always a beautiful area and there is always something wonderful to shoot, but when Mother Nature helps a lending hand with such beautiful clouds and color, it is a very satisfying thing. I “knew” I had a great shot as I tripped the shutter and a quick look at the LCD screen confirmed as much.

About this shot:

Canon 5D Mark 2 with a 24-105 f/4 L lens, set at it widest (24mm). 1/6 second at f/18. Shot on a tripod with cable release.

This is a 3 shot HDR using Photomatix’s fusion process to blend. I find it a less “aggressive” method of blending these shots.

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As you can see this track takes off to who knows where!

We followed it for a few miles, looking for fall color. If you look closely, you can see these colored trees snaking down the slopes, there is a creek there and the vegetation follows the water, quite a site to see a strip of golden foliage coming down the mountain! From a distance it looks like liquid gold.

This scene is near Mammoth Lakes on the Eastern side of the Sierra Nevada. We found there was lots and lots of spectacular color to be found. All you needed to do was go look.

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