Since it's so stinkin' cold here in the Chicago area, I thought a sign of spring might warm things up. This is opening day at U.S. Cellular Field (a.k.a. Comiskey Park for us old-timers), home of my beloved Chicago White Sox.
We have a couple of cottoneaster bushes in front of our house and while the leaves turn color, they usually don't drop off. This, along with the fact that we had some ice that formed over a few of the branches, made for some nice pictures. I just got a 10X macro filter for my camera, which effectively turns any lens into a macro. I shot several pictures of this plant over the past couple days, and this is one of my favorites.
This came from my good pal Daniel. I wasn't sure what an acequia was, so I wikipediaed it (that doesn't have the same ring as "Googled", but whatever...). It's a community-operated waterway used in Spain and in the former Spanish colonies for irrigation. Daniel lives in the southwest, so I can see why they'd have a lot of these there.
The Altstadt (old town) section of Salzburg, Austria, with the Salzach River in the foreground and Festung Hohensalzburg (Salzburg High Fortress) in the background mist.
The Meiji Shrine in Tokyo is one of my favorite places to walk, reflect, and photograph. I took this shot there in 1996, but there's something comforting about the fact that the place doesn't really change all that much.
I took this in Brussels in 1999. Near the center of town there's a street called Rue De Boucher (Butcher Street) that is now chock full of outdoor restaurants. Street animals--dogs and cats--stroll around the tables and are usually very tame. I was really taken with this cat, as she looked so prissy and refined. She sat while I snapped a couple shots and then wandered off.
This is the Marienplatz square in downtown Munich. The big spire on the right is the town hall steeple, which contains the Glockenspiel (carillon). The two spires on the left in the bottom third are Frauenkirche. This square is a popular gathering place, and is the heart of the older part of Munich.
I've been waiting a good long while to take this picture. This barn is on Interstate 55, about 90 minutes south of the Chicago suburbs where I live. I pass it every once in a while and keep hoping for the right conditions for a picture. Tonight, driving home from a dinner with family, it was finally the right conditions. I did only a little post-processing on this, but what you see here is what I saw tonight. It just goes to show that patience really pays off. This came out just like I wanted it to. Hope you enjoy.
This is another shot from my nephew Ryan. As you can see from his other stuff, he really likes black and white photos. I really like this one--you can tell it's fall/early winter from the trees, and it looks like a slightly foggy day.
This shot is a statue of Oliver Cromwell that stands in front of the Houses of Parliament in London. I wish I would have had more time to set this up, as it would have been a nice shot. As it was, I got a mediocre shot from the top of a double-decker bus. I played with this in Photoshop for a while, and ended up using a few techniques to make it look like a painting. I thought it came out pretty well.
Electric-powered trolley car, on the Embarcadero in San Francisco. San Francisco has one of the top mass-transit systems in the US. With their use of electric for trolleys, busses, and trains, it's also one of the cleanest.
I took this almost 11 years ago on a weekend trip to New York. It's not one of my better efforts--if I recall correctly I had to take this out the window of a cab as we were stopped at a light. Having said that, the Flatiron Building is so iconic, and so "old New York" to me, I couldn't pass up the opportunity.
Yet another great image from my good pal Dan. He says he took this "right off the road, by his property."
Our next door neighbor has a fence to keep their two dogs in the back yard. They also have lots of flowers and bushes around the perimeter of the fence. I shot these flowers this summer--I thought the bright greens and reds of the plant made a nice contrast to the grey-brown of the fence. I also like the fact that I did no post-processing on this other than to crop it. I hope you like it!
It occurred to me this morning that I should probably post something "New Year" related today, but I don't really have anything that fits the bill. However--it's cold (20F at noon, as I write this) and snowing here, so I thought something warm and sunny would be appropriate.
