You walk in reverence, overwhelmed by the sheer number of white markers that shine bright in the midday sun. At Arlington the gravestones go on and on until they disappear over a short rise and continue on, unseen. On a sweltering July day in Gettysburg they march in lines from the bright unrelenting sun, to …
This week, Ritva Sillanmäki leads the Lens-Artists Challenge with the topic, Choose a Color. ” . . . select one color (excluding black and white)”. . . “where your chosen color is the prominent hue . . .” In the hills of Granada is the Moorish district called the Albaicin. It is a free for …
My San Francisco is a series of posts that describes my own personal relationship with The City. My San Francisco pieces might be photo essays, or life stories, or commentaries – or a combinations of all three. My impressions aren’t always paeans to San Francisco. It’s a beautiful city, but like any city, it’s dirty, …
An American’s observations of a first time trip to France. “Brittany has something of Ireland’s melancholy and Spain’s passion, with its cliffs like fortresses and its villages like sanctuaries.” ~ attributed to Victor Hugo. Every July, year upon year, almost without fail, I cruised the French countryside. I rumbled over the narrow cobblestone streets of …
An authoritarian has been toppled in Hungary. The rise and fall of Viktor Orban should provide a lesson for nations in the grip of authoritarians, and those struggling with creeping authoritarianism. And that especially goes for the United States. Viktor Orban was in power for sixteen consecutive years. His total stay in power was twenty …
The blog site Travel With Me, published by Sarah Wilkie is one of my favorites. There’s an old country song titled “I’ve Been Everywhere,” recorded by various artists (I’m most familiar with the Johnny Cash version). The lyrics of this novelty song lists the various places the singers have (purportedly) visited. Sarah could record her …
An American’s observations of a first time trip to France. “You’re driving in France?” That’s my friend Jenny’s response after I’ve told her that I’ll be renting a car during our trip to France. Her reaction is troubling. Not the question so much as the tone. Her inflection could’ve said, “oh how exciting,” or “what …
This is my first foray into the Monochrome Madness Challenge. The topic is Minimalism. I tend to be long-winded but in keeping with the topic, I’ll keep my comments to a mimimum. All three images above and the banner image were taken during COVID, when going out meant the backyard.
This week Patti Moed has issued the challenge to share images using the technique of framing. But Patti’s challenge is a little more, uhh, challenging. She writes, “This week, we’re focusing on one technique: framing the shot using the 3 grounds (or layers)—the foreground, the middle ground, and the background. Foreground: the part of the …
When I first saw Egidio’s challenge and the words “Black and White,” I thought, well, this is right up my alley. I love monochrome. I literally chase scenes that ask for monochrome. And then I read on, “Even when a scene is presented entirely in shades of gray, our brains—conditioned by a lifetime of experience—can …
