15
Sep
2009
Cambridge University
The University of Cambridge (informally Cambridge University) is the second oldest university in the English speaking world. It was established in 1209 and consists of 31 colleges dotted around the landscape of modern Cambridge.
Kings From The Cam
The Backs is the view of the colleges from the River Cam. The chapel on the right is quintessential Cambridge. This Chapel is both the symbol of Kings and the logo of the city council of Cambridge. Although locally the college is simply referred to as Kings, this is King’s College of Our Lady and St. Nicholas in Cambridge. Established in 1441 by Henry VI, the gothic styled chapel took a hundred years to complete.
Kings
This is the street side view of Kings – you can really feel that gorgeous gothic style in this black and white print. The exterior height of the chapel is 94 feet tall and the interior ceiling contains the largest fan vaulting in the world.
Emma
This college is known as “Emma” locally – it is Emmanuel College. It was established in 1584 and intended to be a place of religious training for puritans. It’s scope has broadened over the years, but it had strong ties to the Puritans of New England. In fact, Harvard University was named for an alumni of Emma, John Harvard. The baroque building in the center is the chapel and was designed by the renowned English architect, Sir Christopher Wren in 1677. The care of the lawn here is apparent down to the little green garden tractor you’ll see waiting parked in front of the chapel!
This is only a taste of Cambridge. It would easily take days to document all the colleges never mind the rest of the architecture in this city. I hope I get the opportunity to some day. To see more of England and the UK, please check out my Britain Prints Gallery.
21
Jul
2009
Isle of Skye Prints
The Isle of Skye was a true highlight from my Haggis tour of the Scottish Highlands. An incredible place of natural beauty, the island is the northernmost of the Inner Hebrides. Archaelogical digs on the island shows that it has a long history, dating back at least to Mesolithic times. The Gaelic name for Skye is An t-Eilean Sgitheanach, the exact meaning of which is unknown. It may mean notched or winged isle. Amongst the earliest written references is the Romans which labeled the isle, Scitis. The island also has Norse history and some of the clans that called Skye home claim Viking heritage, attested to by a winter fire festival at Dunvegan that continues today.
Where Land Meets Skye - Isle of Skye Panorama
With views like this, one understands why Skye has such a long history of human occupation. This is the Quiraing, the most dramatic landscapes on the island. This view is formed from large sections of land faulting and slipping away from each other at different rates. The process continues today and the small road that leads up to this vantage point has to be repaired every year because of the slippage damaging it. The land here really spoke to me. It was amazing and unforgettable. So much so that when I saw a preview for Stardust, the movie adapted from a graphic novel by Neil Gaiman, I knew that parts of that movie were filmed here. Even without this fact, a great story, but the crew who picked this location did well. You can easily imagine a fantasy adventure unfolding on this land.
Go Forth!
Another view of the Quiraing, part of the Trotternish ridge. In this view, you get a real feel for the size of this place. The tiny figures are my Haggis tour group wandering down to the edges for closer looks at the dramatic drops in this place. The area is well traveled with foot paths but if a fog rolls in can become deadly quickly if one is unfamiliar with the land. Still, I’m sure it’s the walk of a lifetime on this beautiful island.
Grass Sea
This dramatic landscape is a view from near the coast of Skye looking towards the Trotternish ridge. This was actually taken before we made our way over to the Quiraing. So, you can see how easy it is that the tops of those hills could be socked in with clouds and fog! We were lucky to have such clear views by the time we got over there later in the afternoon. The vistas on this island are just incredible!
Faery Lands
One last view on Skye, this is a little stream near Sligachan, a tiny village on Skye. This was actually our first stop of the morning. The mountain range in the background would be the Cuillin mountains. You can see a tiny house in the upper left beneath the gloaming sky (that’s the sunrise reflecting off those low clouds). The single house is a reminder of how few people live on Skye today. Before the Highland clearances, the population numbered near 30,000 people. When the land became more important for sheep production that people, the clearances took place and people who had historically called this land home were banished by the lords. This happened in the mid 19th century and the effects are still evident today. The population of Skye today is roughly 9,000 people, and this reflects a recent population increase!
There are actually even more prints from Skye in my Britain Gallery – I hope you’ll check them out!
17
Jul
2009
Brooding Farm Prints
Sometimes when you shoot landscapes, the weather decides for you what the outcome mood of the photos will be. Both of these images were shot the same day in the back roads of Macon County, Georgia.
The first photo was shot in the morning. It was an overcast morning and I was really out looking for some possible mist or foggy bottoms, but that never panned out. Finally, a bit of sun poked through and was illuminating this scene before me.
Future Days
There it was, a weathered silo in a field that’s obscured by the roadside flowers. It’s those flowers that seem to bring some balance to the brooding sky in this rural landscape. There’s something powerful in my mind about silos. They speak to the future and our preparations for days ahead when bountiful harvests have passed. They dot the countryside down here, and though they tend to be similar, they all have a little character of their own.
It was actually at this point that I also spotted this little weathered farm house. The sun was behind it in the morning which wouldn’t make for a great photo, so I resolved to come back in the evening, when the setting sun would illuminate it. Much as in the morning, the sun still didn’t entirely cooperate with me and decided that this too would be a bit of a brooding shot.
Farmhouse Gothic
The sky was still partially overcast in the direction the light was coming from. The glow in the windows is not house lights or some ethereal ghost light. It’s actually the reflection of the dim rays of the setting sun. Meanwhile, the sky in the background was a deep dark dusk blue. I knew even when I was taking this shot that I was going to take it into photoshop and imitate a lomo photograph. The results are above, what I have termed “farmhouse gothic” hence the title, however inaccurate you may think it is. It’s mainly a reference to the pervasiveness darkness in the shot. At first I was tempted to go back and try for what I was originally after in this shot but ultimately, I’ve found myself happy with what I got. It’s unique and I’m afraid anything else in this location would pale in comparison. Sometimes, you just know you’re done with a shot. Other times, you keep going back to the same place, looking for something different or more to your vision.
13
Jul
2009
Mérida – Yucatan Capital Prints
Mérida is the capital city of the Mexican state of the Yucatan. The Spanish founded it in 1542 on the foundations of an older Maya City, T’ho. Because it’s foundations were laid on an older city, Mérida is said to be one of the oldest continually occupied cities in the Americas and its centro historico (Historic district) is among the largest. Mérida has architecture stretching from it’s foundations to today gracing it’s easy to follow numbered streets. Because of the hot temperatures (at least in the summer), the city tends to close down in the afternoon and re-open as the sun goes down. I never did figure out when they close back down again! Even the local car rental place I used one day while I was there closed in the afternoon and re-opened in the evening.
Mérida Cathedral
The Cathedral in Mérida may not be the largest or grandest on the earth, but it is the oldest in the mainland of the Americas. It is also far older than one might think. The Cathedral was built between 1561 and 1598, using readily available stone. The Spanish pulled down the temples the native Maya had built and used it in this cathedral. This photo was taken in the late afternoon as the city was just waking up again. The warm glow is from the sun hanging in the west.
Iglesia de Santa Ana - Mérida
The city of Mérida is a collection of neighborhoods or barrios built around neighborhood churches. This is probably among the older ones and was likely built on the platform of a Maya temple. Originally built in the 1500s, the Iglesia de Santa Ana was built to serve indigenous Maya and mulattoes. The church was reconstructed in the 1700’s and in the 1800’s, the nearby Paseo de Montejo, a wide Parisian style boulevard was built and this barrio became the address to have. The people who lived in the area were eventually pushed into other parts of the city. Today, it’s a beautiful if eclectic church (observe the pyramids on the towers).
Wired
This photo is the epitome of Mexico (in my mind anyway). Gorgeous colors and textures that just call for photos. No matter how much you upkeep things in this partof the world, nature is constantly fighting you. Anywhere else, I would fight heaven and earth to eave out the power lines, but here, they are such a huge part of the landscape it’s hard to imagine a photo without them (despite the fact that they obviously weren’t there when these buildings were new). This photo is from the streets of Mérida, a simply beautiful and friendly city.
Neon Dreams
Mérida is very much a place that’s proud of it’s city. It’s an incredibly clean place where they have managed to preserve so many of the buildings that have been built there over the centuries. I don’t know any of the history of this theater, but it looks very art deco to me and there was a sign that I believed indicated it was owned by the government, but very much still an active part of the community. On my last night in town, I managed to catch this shot of it with the marquee and neon lights accenting the architecture. An enjoyable shot both for the place and for those of us who love these old movie palaces.
More photo prints from Mérida are available in my Mexico Prints.
2
Jul
2009
London Calling – Print Available
To date, my most popular print was taken on my second trip to the UK in May of 2005. I have always had a fondness for the traditional British Red Telephone Boxes. There’s something about them that immediately says Britain. I simply cannot tell you how many photos I’ve taken of them in previous and subsequent trips. In some ways, they have very much become dinosaurs in this age of mobile phones, but from Scottish Islands to city streets in London, you’ll still find these boxes dotting the landscape.
The first Red Telephone Box was the result of a competition in 1924 and was designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott. There were a few iterations culminating in the current design in 1935 to celebrate the silver jubilee of King George V. This is the familiar design that has found its way throughout the United Kingdom and beyond today.
London Calling - Red Telephone Box
This particular phone booth was photographed near the Embankment Tube Station near the Thames. It was taken with my simple point and shoot Olympus camera. Obviously, I then utilized photoshop for the final product, converting the image to black and white and then with a virtual brush, removing the black and white layer just from the phone box to allow the booth to really shine. While I’ve seen this type of selective color treatment done frequently, it’s definitely a style that requires just the right image. I believe I found it in this case.
Although so far I have mainly created work that was destined to be printed for display, this is one work that I have also converted into a popular t-shirt which is also available.
London Calling T-shirt
