Category Archives: photography

California State Capitol

I’m just getting settled back in from a trip to Sacramento, California, where I attended a board meeting of the Society of American Travel Writers (SATW). In between rain showers and meetings, I did manage to get out and shoot a little. This shot came from a short afternoon outing where I just walked the few blocks around my hotel, limiting myself to just my 85mm Rokinon lens. It was threatening rain, I wanted to travel light, and I sometimes enjoy that limitation of one focal length to force myself to see a bit differently.

But for this shot, I really needed a wide angle. The capitol grounds are filled with trees so there was no “zooming with my feet” for this one. If I stepped back further, my view became obstructed. Instead, I shot a grid of about eight or nine images and stitched them all together later in Photoshop. A nice side benefit is that it resulted in a really large file, should anyone ever want to order a reeeeeeeally large print.

New Spain book just arrived

There was a package waiting for me at the Post Office today that contained sample copies of my two new Spain books. One is a Spanish-language version of the book I previously made on the Extremadura region (blogged about here last May) and the other is a brand new title in the Journals of a Travel Photographer Series — Spain2: Five Days Exploring the Province of Granada. Both are now available on my Blurb bookstore.

Here’s the cover of the Spanish version of the first book on Extremadura:

and this is the cover of the new book on Granada:

If you’re a follower of this blog, you’ve probably seen a few images from this book already, but here are some sample spreads from Spain2:

There are 80 pages in Spain2 and over 90 photos from Granada, Lanjaron, Almunecar, Guadix and other locations in the province of Granada. Here are a few more of the images featured:

More information on both of these titles — and others in the Journals of a Travel Photographer Series — is available at the Blurb store and my own website. Thanks to everyone who helped with, or was a part of, these trips to Spain. I hope to see you all again soon.

More to come in 2015!

Alcala de Henares, Spain

As the holiday season gets into full swing and the year winds down, I want to share just a couple more Spanish cities that I visited in 2014 but that I haven’t mentioned yet because they weren’t the focus of the trip. On all of my 2013-2014 trips to Spain, I’ve flown Iberia and landed in Madrid-Barajas Airport. A great airport and a fantastic airline. While Madrid has never been my final destination, I have needed to stay a night after flying in, or before flying out, before catching my next flight. Twice I’ve stayed at the wonderful Parador de Alcala de Henares just outside of Madrid and not far from Barajas.

Alcala de Henares is the birthplace of author Miguel de Cervantes who wrote the classic Don Quixote. Both Cervantes and his characters are commemorated with bronze sculptures in the heart of this historic city (the core is a UNESCO World Heritage Site).

The parador itself is well located near the main plaza and, like many paradors, is based in an historic structure — in this case a 17th-century monastery and school. But this parador embraces the modern as well, and many of the rooms are situated in newly-built structures that are almost subterranean, with a garden deck located on the rooftop. It’s hard to describe but, trust me, the rooms are wonderful and well lit while feeling very private and secluded.

Within easy walking distance, you have all manner of historic architecture, restaurants, bars, shops, etc. I often had a couple of hours to kill after arriving or before my airport shuttle arrived to explore and aimlessly walking the streets never disappointed.

Keep the Parador de Alcala de Henares in mind if you ever find yourself needing a stopover on your way through Madrid. It’s a great spot to park your bags for a night and to enjoy your first taste of Spain, or to drink in a bit more Spanish hospitality before you depart.

Oh, yes. The storks that I first encountered in Extremadura are here as well. I’ve come to love the rhythmic clatter of their bills and their ever-present — and enormous — nests (although I’m happy to not have one on my own chimney!). Next post — another of my “layover stops” when coming and going from Madrid…

Back to Spain – the Region of Murcia

Just over two weeks ago, I was jetting my way back to Spain — this time to photograph the region of Murcia in the southeastern part of the country. The first night was spent in the Parador de Lorca. Paradores have become a favorite of mine — always unique and often historic in one way or another. This one was a new build, but in a historic setting sharing a mountaintop with a 13th century Moorish castle.

The parador was nearly complete when an earthquake struck in 2011, damaging both the new building and the old castle. Repairs were made and the structural banding added to the parador became a design element that distinguishes the new construction from the old. As stunning as the structure is, however, it’s the setting high above the city of Lorca that draws your eye.

Above, the parador (in the lower left of the image) as seen from the top of one of the castle towers.

Above: Looking down on the city of Lorca from the parador grounds.

Construction of the Parador de Lorca was also delayed and re-imagined whenever ruins were found during excavations. One discovery was this 15th century synagogue — now preserved, adjacent to the hotel:

For a small admission fee, the castle itself can easily be explored on foot from the parador and provides spectacular views.

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In my next post I’ll venture down, off the mountain, and into the town of Lorca.

Iceland, Day 4, the East Fjords

My fourth day in Iceland started off great. I got up early and drove over the high mountain pass to the small coastal town of Seyðisfjörður. This would be the easternmost – and northernmost – point of my trip to Iceland. The early morning drive up and over the ridge was beautiful. The image above is the first view you get of Seyðisfjörður. If you’ve seen the recent remake of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, the road I was traveling here is the one that Ben Stiller skateboards on.

As you drop into the fjord valley, the road parallels a river that drops over a series of waterfalls. Perhaps the largest — that you can see from the road, anyway — is Gufufoss. There’s a small turnout near the falls so I parked the Tiguan and walked to the falls, through a small group of sheep that were far to focussed on grazing to worry about me. The sun had not yet topped the ridge so I began shooting the falls while they were in full shade:

As I repositioned my tripod, the sunlight began to creep down the cliff face and just began to touch the foreground rocks:

I’m still not sure which of those two versions I prefer. I could have happily stayed and shot longer, but I had a full day ahead and pressed on, down into the valley.

The town was still fully in the shade when I arrived so I drove on through and made a few pictures along the fjord as the sun rose.

Working my way back into town, I went through a bit of an industrial area and loved this old, weathered boat. The sun was just now reaching down into the town, so I made my way to the small inlet so that I could get some shots of the buildings reflected in the water.

I finished up in town and began driving back west — I was officially on my way back to Reykjavik, but had plenty of stops in mind for along the way. First, I decided to stop and shoot the lake that I’d found at the top of the pass earlier in the morning. In the distance you can see what I’m assuming is more smoke from the volcano erupting not far away:

Instead of taking Highway 1 back the way I’d come, I took the smaller highways — 92 and 96 — that stayed closer to the coast. Crossing into the next fjord, however, the clouds began to lower and the weather changed abruptly.

I find Iceland to be particularly beautiful in these dark, moody conditions and was not disappointed at all about losing the sun. I was beginning to realize that I had not seen many people over the last few days. I doubt I’d spoken more than a sentence or two for at least 48 hours. I don’t mind the solitude, but one of the categories of the photo shootout I was participating in was “people” and I began to wonder if I would ever get a chance to make a portrait.

Stopping along the road to get this photo, my luck changed:

I’ll admit it: I was shooting this one out of the car window when I noticed another car pulling off and parking on the other side of the road. When I saw a man with a snow white beard get out of the car, I realized my portrait subjects had just found me. I trotted across the street and spoke with the bearded man’s friend (who seemed to have better English), telling him about my photo project. They agreed to pose for a photo before setting off on their hike, but the English-speaker’s phone rang and he stepped aside to take the call. While he was occupied, I made a few photos of his bearded friend:

The phone call over, I photographed the pair of friends with their hiking gear. This shot was the sole “people” shot I entered, and I was happy to take the gold for it:

Thanks to my patient subjects for postponing their hike long enough to humor me for these images. Back on the road, the clouds continued to descend and sheep were my only companions once again. They tended to linger along the roadsides, but seemed to have enough sense not to dart out into traffic, thankfully.

I finally arrived back to intersect with Highway 1 and soon found myself near the falls I’d shot the afternoon before — Foldafoss. Since I had actually been thinking that those falls would have looked nice in gloomier weather, I thought it was worth a shot to go back up my gravel road a bit to see how they looked in the low clouds. I was so glad that I did as the conditions were perfect and I got several shots of the falls that rank among some of my all-time favorites. It began to rain while I was finishing up and the clouds sank ever lower as I drove back west. The conditions worsened to the point that I could only see a few yards and the mountains and ocean views were lost to me for the rest of the day. I rolled into Vik for the night and scrubbed all my photography plans due to the rain and fog. Skaftafell and the other shots I’d saved for the ride back had to be scrubbed as well. The shootout period continued until 5:00 the following afternoon, but I didn’t get another single frame that I felt was worth entering. Hard to feel too bad about it, though, when I finished up day 4 with these shots of Foldafoss before the sky fell:

Iceland, Day 2, hitting the road

Long post — make yourself comfortable…

My second day in Iceland began on a much better note. It was still a bit grey and dreary as I was given my rental car in Reykjavik, but I headed back to the airport in Keflavik with sunshine in my heart in the hopes of seeing my luggage again. And I did. While I had flown to Iceland via Minneapolis, my bag seems to have spent a night in New York. I hope it enjoyed itself and stayed out of trouble. Regardless, I was happy to have him back and I tossed him in the Tiguan and headed east. I was about an hour and a half to two hours behind schedule due to the airport stop, but it could have been much worse.

I put some miles in before stopping at all, but the sky was beginning to break as I approached the waterfall named Seljalandsfoss, and I decided to make my first photo of the day. The shot above is from this stop. I used a heavy neutral density filter to get a slow enough shutter speed to achieve that misty quality on the falls.

From my research, I knew there was another fall I wanted to shoot down the trail from Seljalandsfoss. Gljufurarfoss is similar in scale, but falls into a sort of canyon/cave and is accessed through a narrow opening in the cliff face. Here’s one shot of it, and another was one of my winning Shootout images featured in a previous post:

I couldn’t get the long exposures I’d wanted here because the mist was blowing out through the crevice so strongly that I couldn’t keep my lens clear long enough. I made several exposures hand-held from the opening and from inside the cave, then headed back toward the car, grabbing a few more shots of Seljalandsfoss along the way.

Back on the road, the light was getting better and better as beams of sunlight were breaking through gaps in the cloud cover.

I arrived at one of the south coast’s most famous waterfalls, Skogafoss, but decided to only grab a quick snap from a distance. The wind was very strong and I could see the mist was blowing directly up into the overlook where I’d hoped to get a few shots. Given my recent experience with trying to shoot into spray, I decided to push on. After all, I’d have another chance to stop at Skogafoss on my way back in two days. At least that’s what I thought.

My drive next took me through an extensive lava field, covered in green moss. I stopped a time or two to grab a photo, but kept moving so that I could arrive at Fjaðrárgljúfur Canyon before I lost the sun. The road I took to get there wasn’t quite as primitive as this one, but I definitely got my first taste of leaving the asphalt:

The canyon certainly didn’t disappoint, and it did give me another of my Shootout-winning images (see it in this previous post).

It was not a place for the faint of heart. Paths like the one above would take you out on narrow fins of earth with dizzying drops on all sides to the river far below. Here’s the view down from the end of the path in the last image:

One more quick stop for Icelandic horses, and I made it to my hotel for the night in Kirkjubæjarklaustur.

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The sun had set but the sky continued to be nice for quite some time, so I took advantage and walked around the small town, finding this shot of a church just a short distance up the road:

The hotel asked if I would like a wake-up call should the northern lights make an appearance. Sure, I said, and just half an hour or so after getting into my room, I received my call. I gathered camera and tripod and headed back outside, only to find the show was already over. I made a few long exposures to humor myself — and could see some remaining aurora in the resulting images — but didn’t get anything I will bother to share with you here. I can say that I have seen the northern lights, but you’ll just have to take my word for it.

Iceland, Day 1 in Reykjavik

I’ll do a little day-by-day of my SATW Photo Shootout experience over the next few posts. In this report, I’ll show a few images from my first day in Reykjavik.

I’ll admit, I was off my game. My luggage didn’t arrive and, while I had everything really critical with me in my carryon, I didn’t have my tripod which I’d planned on using for some long exposures both at sunset and sunrise. Suck it up and adapt, right? That’s what I tried to do, although my first day of any trip is seldom my most productive. You need to make a start, though, and get those creative juices flowing.

I had arrived early that morning and would be staying at the Icelandair Marina Hotel in Reykjavik that first night. We’d each get a rental car the following morning, to begin exploring the country on our own. So, really, this was kind of a warm-up day without too much expectation. The Photo Shootout participants met mid-day and we were given the rules and cut loose to start shooting.

I knew I wanted to get some images of Reykjavik’s iconic Solfar sculpture, even though I doubted I’d enter any in the competition because it has been shot so many times and in so many ways. I didn’t imagine I’d get anything “new” but I wanted to shoot it for my files nonetheless. Here are a couple that I ended up liking. One fairly straightforward and one more abstract, made by spinning the camera during the exposure:

Next stop was the famous church, the Hallgrímskirkja, and the statue of Leif Erickson:

Nearer sunset, I returned to the church hoping to get some color in the sky but it turned out to be fairly grey. Still, there were some nice shots to be made as the lights were beginning to come on around downtown.

In the end, none of my Day 1 shots made it into my 15 shot Shootout portfolio, but I hadn’t really expected they would. The following morning I’d get my car and drive back to the airport to (hopefully) pick up my lost luggage, and begin the “real” part of the Shootout. I was looking forward to seeing some new country — and to seeing my luggage again.

Iceland Photo Shootout

I spent ten days in Iceland earlier this month attending the Annual Convention of the Society of American Travel Writers (SATW). As a pre-tour, I participated in a Photo Shootout. It was my first time doing so and, in this case, it amounted to nine photographers arriving five days early, being provided rental cars (my VW Tiguan and I became very close) and hotels for our first night in Reykjavik and the following three nights scattered all around Iceland. We were each on our own to photograph what we wanted and, at then end of the shooting period, we each entered 15 images to be judged during the convention. On the final night the results were announced and I’m happy to report that I came away with 2 Golds, 1 Silver and 1 Bronze.

I believe the images in this post are my winners. I can’t be certain because I spent most of the presentation show marveling at the shots the other 8 photographers made during the Shootout. I think this is correct, but I’ll post a correction if I find out that I’ve mislabeled one.

The shot at the top of the post was, I believe, my Bronze in the “scenic-water” category. It’s a waterfall named Gljufurarfoss that falls into a space behind a sort of slot canyon, or natural arch. It’s a fairly tight space to get this shot from the entrance to the falls and it’s a challenge because the spray from the falls is being blown straight toward you — and your lens. I’m glad my effort paid off and I was awarded for this one. I’m also glad I didn’t fall into that water, which I’m pretty sure was fairly cool.

The above shot of Folaldafoss in eastern Iceland is — I think — the shot that took the Silver in in the same “scenic-water” category. I really should have taken notes during the awards show. This fall I visited twice. The first time was on the previous day and I arrived late enough that the falls were backlit and the light was very harsh. I remember thinking at the time that it would really look great in more overcast weather and, the next morning, I was rewarded with just that. I made another stop at the falls and hiked through the brambles to get this shot in much moodier light. I thought the weather conditions fit the scene much better.

I took the Gold in the “scenic-land” category and I’m more confident that it was for this shot (above) of Fjaðrárgljúfur canyon near Kirkjubæjarklaustur (what a fantastic language, Icelandic!). This was a spectacular hike that followed the eastern ridge of a canyon with sheer drop-offs to the river below. Fins of land jutted out into the canyon at regular intervals, just wide enough for a footpath. Not a place for those with height issues, but it was spectacular and not easily conveyed through photographs.

My other gold was in the “people” category and I only had one photo entered in that one so this is it. I spotted these two hikers getting out of their car as I was setting up for another shot across the road. As soon as I saw that beard, I knew I needed to see about taking their photo. They were very agreeable to working with me and I hope they enjoyed their hike afterward. I’m sure they also enjoyed a few chuckles as they reminisced about that crazy American that wanted to take their photo.

I’ll post more Iceland shots — and the stories behind them — soon. Stay tuned…

Puente la Reina, Spain, and the countryside

I did escape the crowds of Pamplona’s San Fermin for one afternoon with a short trip out to Puente la Reina, a beautiful town situated on the Rio Arga. The Church of Santiago el Mayor (above), dominates the smaller facades of Calle Mayor. We walked the length of the street to the 12th century bridge for which the town is named, taking in the architectural sights along the way.

Someone mentioned wine and we suddenly found ourselves getting an impromptu tour of the nearby Palacio de Muruzabal winery. These things happen when in Spain.

Back on the road, we made our way to Uterga.

One last look across the fields toward Muruzabal:

And back to Pamplona just in time for sunset and another fine dinner overlooking the Church of St. Lorenzo:

Bullfighting in Pamplona, Spain

I know there are a lot of strong opinions on bullfighting and, if you want to stop reading right now, feel free. I’ll understand. I, myself, hesitated when faced with the opportunity of photographing a bullfight. In the end, I decided it was an important part of the Spanish culture that I wanted to experience for myself. And, truthfully, I’m glad I did because the spectacle of the setting, the suits, the movement and the excitement all made for an incredible evening. I’m not saying I’m now 100% pro-bullfighting, nor would I encourage anyone to go that didn’t want to, but experiencing different cultures is good. Getting outside of your comfort zone is good.

Just seeing the bullfighters prepare before entering the ring is special enough. The clothing is spectacular and you get a real sense of the focus and concentration that is needed.

Bullfighters are celebrities in Spain and the tunnel that leads to the ring resembles the red carpet of a Hollywood event. Photographers are asked to keep back a few meters to give the bullfighters space, but beyond those few meters it’s a chaotic scene of media and bullfighting fans. Still, at some point you see the bullfighters begin to find their inner calm.

Then the entourage enters the ring.

The fights themselves move quite quickly. I found many of my favorite shots were those I made using slow shutter speeds so that the movement and speed of the bull was apparent.

And don’t believe that there is no danger in it for the matador. Here the bull’s horn pierces the pant leg of matador Ivan Fandino and lifts him off the ground (he was not seriously injured and managed to finish the fight):

And here are two last images, this time of matador Juan Jose Padilla:

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