10
Sep
2009
City of St Albans
St Albans has a long history connected to London. It was once a day’s ride from London, so became a major stop for the coach trade. Today at about a half hour by train, it’s become a charming bedroom community. But the history here is longer still, being the site of an ancient Roman town and the first Christian martyr from Britain.
St Albans Clock Tower
St Albans is home to the only remaining 15th century clock towers in England. This tower was apparently something of a snub to the nearby monastery clock tower also visible from the town. The locals were basically saying we run our own lives here. It was nearly demolished in the 18th century but was saved and restored and stands today as a museum in the center of town.
St Albans Abbey
This is known as the Abbey to the locals, although it’s actually in current times a cathedral of the Anglican church. There have been a succession of buildings in this general area dedicated to St Alban. The original roman town was in fact relocated to be nearer this place because of its heritage as the site of the death of St Alban. He was martyred in this area sometime before 324 AD and became the first Christian martyr in Briain. For years this was a site of pilgrimage, hence the relocation of the village to be nearer the visitors (and their trade). The tower at the rear of this picture is what remains of the original Norman structure from 1077. The rest is romanticized Gothic from a 19th century restoration. The wealthy benefactor fancied himself an architect and chose the style of the restoration, apparently not in keeping with what had been there. This shot includes an interesting atmospheric anomaly. As you can tell by the light on the church, the sun was behind me, but there was some sort of reflection/diffraction of light in the cloudy sky, so truly a unique photo of this old church!
For more photo prints of Britain, please check out my British prints gallery.
25
Aug
2009
Stonehenge On The Plains
On my last trip to the UK, there was some repeat stops. Since this was my 5th visit to Britain, this should not be a surprise, however. The truth was, that my last visit to Stonehenge had been over 4 years earlier and before I bought a digital SLR and truly got into photography seriously, so it was time to return.
Ancient Plains
The second time through, I skipped the audio tour. They may well have updated it in the past four years, but I really just wanted to wander around and take photos and enjoy the view in relative silence. Unfortunately, a large road is nearby, which somewhat kills the feeling of those still plains that must have once existed, but it’s still an incredible place to visit. The skies shifted a lot during our time there as clouds rapidly passed by and the light (when there was any light) was special.
Round The Henge
The day we visited, I noticed that a professor I’d seen on the history channel, Mike Parker Pearson, was filming a piece on Stonehenge. The professor has put forth one of the newest theories on the purpose of Stonehenge. He believed that there would be a second site near Stonehenge and discovered a wooden contemporary village down a nearby river. He put forth the idea that the wooden village was occupied primarily at the spring and fall equinoxes and that on those days, the people who built Stonehenge visited it to celebrate and to mourn the fallen whose cremated remains where left behind here. It makes logical sense for a people who were far more tied to the seasons than most of us are today. But you have to wonder if we will ever really know the minds of the people who built this place 5,000 years ago.
Ruins Of The Lost
A last view of this incredible ancient monument to a lost people. I’ve been twice and although I would love to see more of these ancient stone age sites, I would gladly visit Stonehenge again. I’d love to get the chance to visit on an Equinox and see what the ancients saw. Sadly, I’ve heard from more than one person that Stonehenge was a disappointment. It failed to live up to their expectations! I find it hard to believe, but it’s not as large as some people think it is, and for understandable reasons, you are not allowed close to the stones anymore. Still, try to imagine building something like this yourself with nothing but stone tools, creativity and ingenuity! I know I wouldn’t know where to begin designing it never mind erecting it! You absolutely have to put a site like this into context when you visit it.
For more prints from around Great Britain, please check out my Britain Print Gallery.
23
Aug
2009
Red Sea Camp
An amazing part of our trip was two days relaxing on the Red Sea at the Sawa Camp near Nuweiba.
Sinai Sunrise
We literally stayed in straw huts a few steps from the waters. Here you can see an early morning shot of the beach and huts with a mountain range as a backdrop. After over a week of being on the move, this was a great place to just relax. Some in the group went scuba diving and their was a wealth of options like that, but this was my chill place. Just looking at this photos puts me back into that same state relaxed state of mind. Check out the clouds streaking the sky with pinks and blues!
Red Sea Sunset
And this is a colorful photo of the sunset. The mountains you can just see silhouetted on the left side of the photo is Saudi Arabia. This was taken with a neutral density lens so that it was a long exposure – this is what creates that soft feel to the water and really gave the camera time to soak up some of that rich color. If it looks like paradise, it’s because it was the next thing to it. Amazing stark contrast, though, a beach location and yet so dry. There’s very little rainfall and the water to this little community on the beach has to be brought in by truck. Still worth it for a view like this…
For more of my photo prints from Egypt, please check out my Egypt gallery.
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.
10
Jul
2009
Puuc Hills – Uxmal & Kabah Prints
If you’re ever planning a trip into the Yucatan to see ruins, you should really try to get into the Puuc Hills. From Mérida, Uxmal and Kabah are an easy day trip, but there are more Puuc Hill ruins to see to the extent I wish I had more time when I visited to travel a bit further afield. None-the-less, the ruins I did see were excellent. The ruins in this area of the country have the distinction of having a style of Maya architecture named for them. They are also different from their low land counterparts in not being built over Cenotes (sink hole access points to the underground rivers of the Yucatan). Instead, the Maya built large cisterns in these cities to capture rain water for the dry months. If the theory that droughts were largely responsible for the end of the Maya way of life, these people were probably the first to suffer.
Uxmal, the first place I visited is still touristed but not nearly so heavily as Chichen Itza. People were living at Uxmal around 500 AD. It flourished for sometime as the main city in the region, but it’s star dropped after the fall of Chichen Itza. By the time the Spanish arrived, Uxmal was already largely abandoned.
Uxmal - The Nuns Quadrangle
This is part of a large complex of buildings adjacent to the main pyramid at Uxmal. The first Spaniards to study this location thought that it looked like a nuns convent, hence the name. It’s believed that these buildings may have been a school for princes. This was the last building of the quadrangle, note the masks on the corner, these are masks of Chac Mool, the rain god, and are on each corner of this building. Also note the elaborated decorations. This is typical of the Puuc style. The prominence of Chac Mool highlights the importance of rain to the people living here.
Palacio del Gobernador - Uxmal, Mexico
This is another of the buildings at Uxmal, said to be one of the best examples of the Puuc style. Built in the 9th an 10th centuries, it was probably an administration building for the region. As with other Maya buildings, it is aligned with the heavens, the main door lines up with the planet Venus.
Inheritance of the Maya
The site of Kabah is yet less touristed and there’s been far less reconstruction here. There was a city here as early as the 3rd century which reached it’s height around the 8th. By the 11th century, the site was abandoned. This palace appears to have had 30 or more rooms and is remarkably intact considering how long it’s been since it was inhabited.
Uxmal is a UNESCO World Heritage site. Kabah is not listed, but should be on the list of anyone who appreciates the ruins of our past cultures.
More photo prints from both sites are available at my Mexico Prints.
