Moody Morning at the Pier

On a recent trip to the beach, I wanted a plan to find some sort of subject more than the cold deserted beach in the winter. Structures around water can provide for some fantastic images.

I did some Google Maps searching for docks, piers, and jetties in the Bethany Beach, Deleware area. It didn't take too long to identify the Ocean City, Maryland Pier because it was made of wood pilings, it was the right height and weather conditions looked good. I wanted a morning that would be a little moody and have some waves. It also helped that it was the only pier for about 40 miles.

Since 1907, the Ocean City Pier has been an icon for tourists. Since it was first built, the pier has been beat-up by storms and even damaged by fire. Tropical Storm Sandy took its toll on the pier in 2012 demolishing much of the decking from the seaside end towards the beach. In December 1925, a huge fire destroyed the pier and several blocks of the downtown area.

A very cold and windy morning to make the image, but I had the beach to myself. This kind of picture is created with long exposures of about 25 seconds. A regular photograph might be about 1/60 of a second. The long exposure turns all the crashing waves into a light white cotton candy look near the edge of the beach.

A good plan and I was happy with the results.

Hanoi at Night

One of the more visually exciting parts of Hanoi is the colors of the streets at night. The Old Quarter of Hanoi is a walking part of the city for the most part. Shops stay open until close to 8:00 pm. This makes for many people and scooters still very active in brightly light streets.

The range of light colors come from the many different types of lights used in the shops and streets. Fluorescent, LED and incandescent all have a unique color temperature look in the camera.

North Vietnam

As a kid growing up in the 1960s, evenings were spent around the TV watching the nightly news. The Vietnam War was the lead story at that time, and it was also the centerpiece of much of the unrest in the United States. I couldn’t help 50 years later having a strong desire to see and meet the people of this country so many years later.

Not surprisingly like most people I have met around the world, they were delighted to have Americans visiting their country. Considering everything I remember how the US was engaged in the war, they have found their own way today and are successful.

Street Shop

The Hanoi Old Quarter holds much of the historic charm, character, and energy of the city. It is marked by its curb-side street merchants offering an overwhelming abundance of food, goods and photo-rich images in a maze of streets dating to the 13th century.

Napa Wine and Fire

My favorite trips for food, wine and photography is a trip to the Napa Valley and California. We made our way back on our about the fifth trip to the wine region. As always planning the trip is part of the excitement. We always visit some of our favorites and find a few new wineries to explore.

Napa Valley Balloon

This was the first time for a balloon ride for us. The magnificent views of Napa Valley only beat the quiet and peaceful trip.

Pine Ridge Vineyard

Silver Oak Winery

We were staying in an Airbnb about 10 miles up in the hills west of Yountville. We were surprised to wake early our second day to no power, water or cell phone coverage.

We knew some high winds the night before but did not realize the enormity of the situation until we turned on the car radio. The radio news provided only sketchy details of fires all over the region. We drove into Yountville to access the situation and soon saw the fires on the west side of the hills and across the valley extending over to Sonoma County.

The news was very scattered with still no power or cell coverage even in town. With the extent of the fires, it looks very bad for many in the region. We returned to our house, packed up and headed to Carmel.

Napa California Fires