Blue Monday

There is nothing like seeing a pre-visualizing a picture and the reward accomplishing that image when it’s complete. That rarely happens to me. Most of the time I have an idea, pursue the image and I end up having something that is pleasantly different.

Blue Monday

Blue Monday resulted from a morning drive with an image and no location to shoot it. The fog set in and knew I wanted a woodsy fog shot with a blue feel to the morning. I really lacked any location I knew would work and after heading towards a road the sort of met my needs, I stopped the car a looked into the woods for a scene. With no real good composition insight I turned my camera down the road I just came on to see my exposure. This image of Blue Monday appeared for me.

Charles Bridge in Prague

Charles Bridge is a historic bridge that crosses the Vltava river in Prague, Czech Republic. Its construction started in 1357 under the auspices of King Charles IV, and finished in the beginning of the 15th century. It is one of the many iconic features of Prague and an important location I wanted to capture while in town.

Charles Bridge from the Maines Bridge

Spending only relatively short periods of time at locations while traveling requires some planning before you arrive. My primary Plan A was to shoot the bridge from atop the Old Town Bridge Tower looking across to the Prague Castle just after sunset at the blue hour. Plan B was to shoot from the Maines Bridge to the Old Town Bridge Tower (shown above). I didn’t have a Plan C.

Charles Bridge from Old Town Bridge Tower

I had to run from the Maines Bridge to the Old Town Bridge Tower figuring I need about 15 mins to get there and set up. I had to cross my fingers there was room for me at the top of the tower with the crowds before blue hour hit. A tight spot and my back is still hurts. Plan A came together and took some pretty long exposures that were to mitigated the large number of people on the bridge. This all worked, but weather conditions and scene were less than ideal. Once blue hour did occur the ambient sky light and city lights never mixed well for me. The sky had muddied grey blue clouds, city lights came on late and the castle lights overpowered everything with orange lights that were maddening.

Good thing I had a Plan B because Plan A turned out to be an epic fail.

John of Matha, Felix of Valois and Saint Ivan

Madonna and Saint Bernard,

After those attempts of some iconic shots of the bridge, the next evening I enjoyed capturing some of 30 different baroque statues that line the Charles Bridge. Fitting statues for the King Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor, to have added to the bridge.

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