I took this picture of Chiesa San Rocco in Venice back in 2005. I took this as it was getting toward sunset, and people had started to gather for dinner, socializing, etc. The church is on the right, and the accompanying Scuola Grande di San Rocco (Saint Rocco's School) have a courtyard in front of them, and it's a popular gathering place. The scuola is known for its large collection of paintings by Tintoretto.
This is a view of the Grand Canal in Venice, taken from the Ponte di Rialto (Rialto Bridge). I took this in May of 2005. The weather was definitely a factor this day--we went from total sunshine to a medium-strength rainshower, and back, in the space of less than an hour.
I shot this about a month ago in my brother Tom's backyard. He lives in a farm community and his house is surrounded by cornfields on 3 sides. He had an old tree that'd died, and it became fodder for a bonfire. I caught the tree and the moon at just the right angle here.
This is almost more of a "snapshot" than a real photo (although the difference, if there is any, is pretty thin) of the newest member of our family--a 4-month old black and grey tabby named "Bella" (or, as we like to call her, Bella Boo). We got her from the Naperville (Illinois) Humane Society when she was 2 months old. She's an absolute spaz, but she's also completely stolen my heart. She loves to play until she's ready to fall over from exhaustion, and then cuddle up on me or on my wife and go to sleep.
This is a beautiful stained glass rose window in the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris. I took this on a visit there in May of 2005.
This is from a vacation trip to the southern Caribbean in 2003. We visited the island of Aruba, where they have something called "The Butterfly Farm". It's an open-air environment (screened in, of course) with many different varieties of butterflies in their natural habitats. They're all incredibly photogenic, and I really liked the soft glow/sheen off this butterfly's wings. I couldn't tell you what species it is, just that I found its coloring beautiful. It was also very peaceful and relaxing to watch the slow, deliberate wing movements--almost hypnotic.
This picture does not really do justice to Hong Kong, but it gives you just a taste. I took this during the week leading up to the Lunar New Year, the biggest celebration of the Chinese calendar. This is looking down Nathan Road, Kowloon side. I took this picture at about 1AM--if you look closely you can see lots and lots of people still out on the streets. I was amazed at the number of people out at all hours of the day and night.
This is the London Eye, also known as "Millenium Wheel", located very near the Thames River in London. I took this shot from a bus--it was challenging to get the right shot from a moving vehicle, what with trees, people, etc., coming in and out of the frame. I go back and forth on this picture...sometimes it strikes me as very interesting (the color/texture of the sky, the placement of the wheel, etc.), sometimes not so much. Today, it struck me as interesting enough to be the Photo of the Day for my site. Hope you enjoy it...
I took this just a few weeks ago at the Dachau concentration camp memorial just outside Munich, Germany. This is the interior of the shunt room (Schubraum)--where incoming prisoners were processed. The room, as it exists now, looks basically like it did when the camp was in operation...it's dark, barren, and impersonal. It was designed to begin the process of stripping prisoners of their humanity and their identity.
This is the Bridge of Sighs in Venice. It sits just behind the Piazza San Marco, and in between the ducal palace on the left and the ministry of justice on the right. It's said that, as condemned men were taken to the ministry of justice to be executed, the windows on this bridge offered them their last glimpse of the outside world.
This is a statue of St. Wolfgang of Regensburg. This statue stands behind a church named after him, which is in the town named after him, in the Salzkammergut region of Austria. He holds his bishop's staff in the right hand, and a statue of the church in the left. Legend has it that St. Wolfgang fought the devil with an axe. He threw the axe at the devil, and the spot where it landed is where the church was built.
This is the Matterhorn, possibly the most famous mountain in the Swiss Alps. I took this picture from our hotel room in Zermatt, Switzerland in May of 2005. One of the distinguishing characteristics of Zermatt is that there are no gas powered engines on any of the vehicles in the town--everything runs off electricity, which keeps the air clean and pollution-free. As a result the air there is clean, crisp, and clear. It makes for great pictures. We got a much closer look at the Matterhorn from Gornergratt, but I felt like the panoramic view of the valley was the better picture.
Cats can sleep anywhere, in practically any position. I took this shot of a sleeping cat under a statue of Buddha in Kyoto, Japan in the fall of 1996. The cat made me believe that, somehow, it had found its own small Nirvana--at least until it awoke from its nap and went off in search of food or companionship.
