Category Archives: Travel

Photography, Travel

P.O.P.T.P.

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This wasn’t my idea…she just stopped in front of the camera. Sometimes you take what you get!

It’s been sort of an unofficial and undeclared project of mine to take photographs of people taking photographs, aka Pictures Of People Taking Pictures.  ‘Unofficial’ because I don’t “set out” looking for such photos, I just happen upon them.  ‘Undeclared’ because I haven’t published or printed any groups of them.  I just have a growing number of “P.O.P.T.P.s” in my collection and sort of figured that one day there would be enough decent ones to make up a series.

I was on the beach at Hilton Head a few weeks ago taking photos at sunrise.  Most people see the tripod and walk behind me.  A few of them are so oblivious to my presence that they walk right in front of the camera.  Occasionally they stop.

This woman was with a group of 4 people walking by.  I was set up for my shot and had Live View activated, so I was able to watch the scene in case they “posed” for me.  One of the hidden advantages of Live View is perhaps the ability to take pictures when it doesn’t look like you are taking pictures?  I was able to watch as they walked into my scene.  I thought they were going to keep walking, but at the very last moment this woman stopped and took several shots.  While she was standing still I was able to click off a few frames of my own.

Photography, Travel

Protection, or Overkill?

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Curves and Angles

When I was growing up I had an aunt, or a cousin or some relative who had the seats in her car covered with plastic.  I always thought that was a little strange, to take this nice comfortable fabric and cover it with hot, sticky plastic, just so it wouldn’t get dirty or wear out.  I don’t remember for certain, but I think she might have had the furniture in her house covered in plastic too.  People used to – probably still do – use plastic carpet runners to keep people from walking on the carpet.  I’ll admit that I can see the logic in covering carpet with carpet runner, in the winter, when it used to snow, and we people would come in the house with snow on their boots.  But in the middle of summer?  Nah!

Too Lazy for Sunrise

Today, we can’t buy a cell phone without being offered a “screen protector.”  I don’t understand why I would buy a fancy new phone with a gorgeous display and stick a piece of foggy plastic on it.  So it won’t get dirty?  It’s a touch screen, for Pete’s sake!  It’s going to get finger marks on it!  When I bought my last laptop, one of my students was appalled that I hadn’t paid another $50 or more for some rubberized piece of goo to cover the computer.  I said, “someone went to a lot of trouble to make this computer look so nice, why would I want to cover it up?”  We get sold $10 UV filters to put in front of our camera lenses, we can buy “skins” to cover up our cameras and lenses, but for what?  So it won’t look like we use them?  Come on, we don’t use them enough as it is, why cover it up with some aftermarket stuff someone thinks we need, just to keep our gear looking nice.

I have no idea why that was stuck in my head today.  Well actually I do, and I feel much better now.  Thanks!

Stucco Shadows
Photography, Travel

A Week At The Beach

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Sunrise on the Beach, Hilton Head Island, SC

I’ve been away for a while.  I didn’t go far, but things are finally settling down after a difficult and hectic August.  Kathy has gotten her Dad’s affairs pretty much in order, and to the extent that I’ve been able to help I have helped.  Work demands have taken some of my attention too, so there just hasn’t been a lot of time for writing and creativity.  The blog got pushed to the side for a little while, but here I am.

Sunrise on the Beach, Hilton Head Island, SC

Kathy & I spent Labor Day week at the beach.  Besides all the hoopla that was already playing out in Charlotte (the DNC, for those who pay even less attention than me) it was time for a break.  Kathy was just about wrung out and so was I, so it was perfect timing.  A trip to the beach was definitely in order.

Our “beach of choice” is Hilton Head Island, SC.  We’ve been going there for years, starting with a weekend each year, then a week, and now we try to get there for a week and several weekends each year.  We like it there, the beach is beautiful, and it’s generally quiet.  There is plenty of activity for those so inclined, but this year we literally rented beach chairs for 7 days straight and sat on our backsides.  We walked, talked, read and just generally chilled.  And I took a few photographs.  Not many, but I managed to haul myself out for sunrise a few mornings, and even got Kathy to come with me for one (I promised her breakfast!).

Sunrise on the Beach, Hilton Head Island, SC

One of the best things about “going to the beach” for us is the state of mind we go with.  We don’t live hectic lives by a lot of peoples’ standards, but it gives us a chance to “put it all away.” And yes, while the DNC was perhaps a historic event, just because it happened to be in Charlotte didn’t change my lack of interest, and it certainly didn’t give me reason to turn on the TV.  We don’t watch TV anyway, so we certainly don’t do it at the beach.  I guess we had a TV, but I never opened the doors of the entertainment center to look.

Sunrise on the Beach, Hilton Head Island, SC

I do very little blog reading or Facebook on vacation.  I don’t have a need to post constant “jealousy updates” that my friends can “Like” and tell me how lucky I am.  I do some photography but that is not the focus of our time or attention there, and unless I have a rainy day with nothing else to do, I’ve gotten completely away from processing photos.  I prefer to live in the moment, and the minute I put my nose into the computer screen “the moment” goes away.

The same holds true with writing.  I sometimes think I’d like to spend some time writing while I’m at the beach, but instead what I do is think and take notes. For the same reasons I don’t like to process photos, I don’t want to take time and attention from being there.  In many ways I write for escape, and when I’m already “escaped” I want to keep it that way.  So I think my thoughts and make my notes to refer to later when something sparks the need to write.  I plant seeds.  I like it that way.

Sunrise on the Beach, Hilton Head Island, SC

We don’t completely escape from reality on vacation.  Hilton Head has numerous wonderful restaurants.  We have a number of “have-to” favorites and always like to try some new places.  This year the new ones were about 50-50 successful, some of the old ones are getting a little old, and a few places we had been to only a few times but tried again were worth a visit.  We sometimes get out to do some shopping or visit a gallery or two, but this year the weather was so beautiful we didn’t have a reason to leave the beach.  We do more of that in the winter if we visit in January or February.

Sunrise on the Beach, Hilton Head Island, SC

But we’re here now, back to “reality” for a little while.  I’ve got some photos to share and a few stories to tell.  And we’ll be back to our usual traveling routine after a few weekends at home.  So, sorry if you missed me, but thanks for sticking around.

Sunrise on the Beach, Hilton Head Island, SC
Photography, Travel

Finding A New Normal

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South Beach Marina, Hilton Head Island, South Carolina

This year has truly exemplified the term “roller coaster ride.” Kathy’s Dad died last week after an extended illness.  Her Mom died in May.  They had both been ailing for quite some time before they moved to an assisted living facility in April of this year.  In between we managed to squeeze in a trip to the beach, several weekends to the mountains, including a great weekend with friends at Shenandoah National Park in April.  Then her Mom died in May, later in the month we took a wonderful vacation to Alaska and California, and since then we managed to sneak in a few weekends away, but in general the last several months were consumed with taking care of Kathy’s Dad.

It’s been a tough year.

Kathy & I love to travel, obviously.  And we often use our travel as a way to escape – both mentally and physically – from our everyday realities.  The last 6 months or more have been emotionally and physically draining, and we feel fortunate to have been able to intersperse the grief and sadness with some well-timed getaways.

Beach at Sunset, Hilton Head Island, South Carolina

It’s surprising how the body and mind can take on additional burden without us realizing it, until such time as the burden is lifted from us and we realize how much we had been carrying.  We are starting to feel that lifting now, and it may take a while longer before we fully appreciate it.

We were talking with friends this past week and one of them mentioned that we would be “trying to find our new normal.”  That comment hit home for both of us, and we have talked about it a lot over the last few days.  I really like the concept of “a new normal,” as if feels like what is happening to us now (I say ‘us,’ but of course Kathy has been carrying the burden, and I have been supporting her as much as I can).

It’s a huge change, to go from caring for two people who have loved you for your entire life to having them gone completely in a few short months.  I went through it myself years ago and it still comes back and smacks me in the head when I least expect it.  And I suspect it will continue to do so for a long while to come.

South Beach Marina, Hilton Head Island, South Carolina

The attraction of this “new normal” idea is that it presents one of those rare times when we have at least a little bit of influence about what that “normal” looks like.  Will it mean big changes for us?  Probably not.  But I know that losing both of my parents at an early age – my Mom was 53 when she died, my Dad was 54 – has had a profound influence on how I have looked, and how I continue to look, at my own life as I approach (and hopefully pass) those ages.  Let’s just say that I’m hoping for a heck of a birthday party for July 2013!

The concept of “a new normal” is very appropriate to me, because it aptly describes the adjustment process that inevitably takes place when a major change occurs in our lives.  Many of these changes are very subtle, such as not having to remember to make a phone call, or not having to plan our route so we come home via Statesville.  Some of them are pretty major, as in the fact that having someone living close by and being primarily responsible for their care was one of the major influences to us in terms of staying in the area.  Does that mean we’re going to sell the house and move to Alaska?  Not today, but when we do decide it’s time to sell the house – which is the only “physical” thing keeping us here – who knows?  The kids are here, and our jobs (for as long as we want them or as long as our employers want us) are here.  But fewer ties mean more possibilities.  And that is what “new normal” means for me right now.  What will it mean in a few months or a few years?  Time will tell, but I’m looking forward to figuring it out.

South Beach Marina, Hilton Head Island, South Carolina

We had already planned a trip to the beach over Labor Day weekend, but we had an opportunity to extend that into a full week.  I think a week of sand, sun and ocean will do us good.  Some quiet time to think and talk, a nice beach for long walks, and a number of good restaurants where they treat us like locals.  It is one of our favorite places to visit, and a good place to start getting in touch with our new normal.  Indeed.

Photography, Travel

A Visit to Roanoke

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Mill Mountain Star in Roanoke, VA. In-camera HDR with Canon 5D Mark III

Kathy & I recently visited Roanoke, Virginia to visit with our friend Steven Norris and attend the opening of a gallery show that Exposure Roanoke is having at a gallery there.  We had visited Roanoke many, many years ago, and had good but fading memories of the place.  We had been intending to return for a long time, and this gave us a good chance to go.

Evening shower, Roanoke VA

We didn’t have a lot of time there, but we stayed at the Hotel Roanoke, which gave us easy access to the downtown area.  With the expert guidance of Steven & Cheryl we visited some of the downtown highlights on Saturday night, and I returned for a little shooting on my own on Sunday morning, before meeting up with our friends for the sumptuous breakfast buffet at the Hotel Roanoke.

I’m not exactly sure what ‘Tomato Water’ is, but if they can make a Martini out of it, how bad can it be?

Roanoke is a railroad town, having grown around the success of the Norfolk & Southern, now Norfolk & Western.  A lot of coal moves through Roanoke.  With a population of just under 100,000 with 303,000 in the MSA, it’s a happening place without the sprawl and congestion of larger cities.  Situated right near the mountains and The Blue Ridge Parkway and an easy drive from Charlotte, it’s a place we need to spend more time visiting, especially with friends there.

Roanoke VA at night
Roanoke VA at night

Despite the amazing number of railroad tracks, there are numerous bridges and pedestrian walkways, so getting around is easy.  Our hotel had a walkway right across from the entrance, so we could be in town within minutes of leaving our room.  And with the exception of going out to the gallery, once we parked our car we didn’t need it again until we left.  My kind of place!

Pedestrian overpass in Roanoke, VA

We didn’t visit the Transportation Museum, deciding to spend our limited time seeing more of the town.  We did visit the O. Winston Link Museum on Sunday afternoon and learned the story of Link and is railroad photography.  The Link museum is a fascinating place, located in the former N&S passenger depot.  It’s definitely a must-visit for any photography and/or railroad buff.

Taubman Museum of Art, Roanoke VA
Taubman Museum of Art, Roanoke VA
Taubman Museum of Art, Roanoke VA
Taubman Museum of Art, Roanoke VA

The Taubman Museum of Art is across the tracks from the Link Museum, and provides an interesting architectural contrast with much of the older architecture in the area.  I got the impression that there were only two opinions about the place most residents considering it either a hideous eyesore or beautiful.  In my opinion there’s no point in making an art museum look like a Wal-Mart, so I guess I would fall into the “beautiful” camp.  I’d vote for spending my tax dollars on it.

Taubman Museum of Art, Roanoke VA

We had a nice weekend in Roanoke, a wonderful visit with Steven and Cheryl, and hope it isn’t another 30 years before we return for another look.

Taubman Museum of Art, Roanoke VA
Photography, Travel

A Stop at Mabry Mill

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Blacksmith shop at Mabry Mill, at MP 177 on the Blue Ridge Parkway near Meadows of Dan, Virginia

Kathy & I headed to Roanoke, VA this past weekend, and as we often do we took the “slow way,” stopping at Mabry Mill, on the Blue Ridge Parkway at MP 177 in Virginia.  There’s a little restaurant there and some of their buckwheat pancakes are “just the thing” if you like that sort of thing.

Barn and vines, Mabry Mill, at MP 177 on the Blue Ridge Parkway near Meadows of Dan, Virginia

The mill itself is probably the single most photographed thing on the Parkway, so I don’t even aim my camera in its general direction these days, unless there is something really special to shoot.  After our sumptuous breakfast we took a few minutes to wander the grounds before heading back up the road.  They were setting up for their weekend demonstrations, and I got a couple of nice shots in the blacksmith shop.

Blacksmith shop at Mabry Mill, at MP 177 on the Blue Ridge Parkway near Meadows of Dan, Virginia

Here are a few photos from Mabry Mill to satisfy the curious until I get the Roanoke photos processed.

Old wagon at Mabry Mill, at MP 177 on the Blue Ridge Parkway near Meadows of Dan, Virginia
Photography, Travel

Just One Shot

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Rain, Billy’s Restaurant in Roanoke, VA

Kathy & I spent this past weekend visiting friends in Roanoke, VA.  More on that later.

Sunday afternoon we were walking around the downtown area, when a thunderstorm passed through.  Taking refuge under the overhang of the City Market, we were right across the street from Billy’s, a restaurant we had stopped at for cocktails and appetizers the evening before.

The girl in this photo is a hostess at Billy’s.  During the height of the downpour, she pulled up in front of the restaurant in her car, and one of her co-workers from inside came outside under an umbrella and handed her another umbrella through her car window.  She then drove around to the side of the building to park.  Sensing a possible photo opportunity, I maneuvered into a position I thought might be suitable, and waited for her to come down the sidewalk.  As she approached the front of the building, I lifted my camera, took this one shot, and she immediately covered her face with the umbrella and that was it.  But this is the shot I was looking for, and the expression on her face makes it for me.

Passing the Umbrella, Billy’s Restaurant in Roanoke, VA

The photo itself is probably not a big deal, but what excites me the most is that I envisioned the scene, saw it coming and made it happen.  The fact that I only got one shot is interesting, but I only needed one, right?

More to come on the rest of our wonderful visit with good friends, but I wanted to share this one before I go back to working on the rest of my photos.  I’ve got a few more!

Photography, Travel

Long Overdue

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Kathy & I had been trying to find a weekend to head to Waynesville, NC – our favorite little town in the NC mountains – since March.  With the exception of our Alaska and California adventure, things just haven’t been very conducive to getting away for the last several months.  We finally had our chance this past weekend and took advantage.

As luck would have it we didn’t get a lot of relief from the high temperatures, as Waynesville – while about 10 degrees cooler than Charlotte – was still unseasonably hot, to the point where most of the HVAC systems were doing their best to keep up.  Most of them were up to the task, a few were not.

We wisely headed out early and got our in-town sightseeing done early.  In the heat of the afternoon we headed up to the Blue Ridge Parkway for a few hours, and while it was 97 in town, it was an unusually warm but relatively cool 84 at Waterrock Knob, an overlook and visitor center at 5,820 feet.  After a stop for ice cream it was back to town for a nice dinner and some rest in our thankfully-air-conditioned room.

Sunday was spent getting back to reality, and after a stop in Statesville here we are.  A couple of work days with a holiday sandwiched in, and before we know it we’ll have another weekend!

No serious photography this trip, but I had a camera with me at just about all times!

Photography, Travel

Wine Country!

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This vacation was our first visit to California, so naturally our visit to California’s Wine Country was our first visit there as well.  It was something we had been planning for a long, long time and as we sailed back to San Francisco from Alaska we were very anxious to get the next step of our vacation started!

Once we disembarked our cruise ship in San Francisco on Wednesday morning our first order of business was to get a taxi to the airport to pick up our rental car.  This was sort of bass-ackwards as the airport was the opposite direction from where we wanted to go, but that turned out to be the cheapest place to rent a car.  Plus we wanted to be able to drop the car off at the airport on our return as it was much more convenient.  After an exciting ride with a Greek cab driver (You like my driving, no?”) we made it safely to the airport and navigated the rail system to the rental car desk.  Soon we had our car and were back on the road.

We had Wednesday afternoon, all day Thursday, Friday and Saturday for our adventure, so we wanted to make the most of it.  Our first order of business after crossing the Golden Gate Bridge was to locate Highway 1 and head toward the coast.  Our intention was to stop at Muir Woods National Monument, but for some reason the place was packed – on a Wednesday!  The main parking lot was full, the over flow parking was full, and the overflow for the overflow parking was full and people were parking on the road.  We decided to drive on, and people were parked along the road for nearly a mile from the entrance.  We hadn’t done any research ahead of time, so maybe the place is always that crowded.  I’d sure hate to go there on a weekend if it is even busier.  Amazing!  We’ll have to do that another time.

After a brief stop at the Muir Beach overlook to get a view of the Pacific Ocean from the land side, we headed on North along Highway 1.  What a view!  Nothing like we get along the East Coast, that’s for sure.  We stopped at a little restaurant in the town of Stinson Beach for lunch, then headed inland toward Santa Rosa, where our hotel was located.

We knew that with nearly 4 days, we would have plenty of time but we also knew that we had a lot to see.  We also decided that we didn’t want to have a “death march” through wine country, although how hard is drinking wine, right?  Seriously though, this was less about seeing how many wineries we could visit or how much wine we could drink and more about seeing the countryside, exploring side roads and having plenty of time to enjoy our time there.

We had started planning our visit several months in advance, and with the invaluable advice and assistance of our good friend Jon Dressler of Dressler’s Restaurants in Charlotte, we had arranged private tours of 4 wineries.  Two of our tours were on Thursday and two were on Friday, with one tour each morning and one tour each afternoon.  We purposely left Saturday completely open in order to see what else we wanted to do.  As it turned out we used Saturday to visit Napa, as none of the wineries we visited were located there.  We had an 11:00 flight on Sunday, so that day would be spent solely on travel.

We used the four scheduled tours as the framework for our visit, and I think it worked out very well.  We got an early start each day in order to have as much “piddle time” as possible with plenty of time to get to our first destination.  We left time between tours for lunch, with plenty of time to drive to our afternoon destination.  Our standard practice after the second tour of the day was to head back to our hotel, make a dinner reservation on Open Table, then take a nap.  Like I said, no Death Marches for us!

Three things stand out to me from our visit:

(1) Distinctive geography – we always hear about the differences in climate, soil and terrain and how those differences affect the grapes and ultimately the taste of the wine.  It’s one thing to hear, but to actually the area is to appreciate the descriptions.  When someone describes a wine as coming from grapes “planted on a steep mountainside at 2500 feet” or coming from “the sandy and rocky soil of the Carneros Valley, it really drives home the distinctions that each area has to offer.

(2) Each winery has its own very distinctive character, from the style of the building, the layout of the winemaking area to the design of the bottles and labels.  What I love about this is that it really allows us to enjoy the wine as a unique statement of everything that goes into the product.  Each bottle is a representative of the winery, since every decision about every ingredient and every step of the process has some kind of an impact on the final result.  Just like photography, everyone starts with the same basic set of tools but ends up with their unique expression of those tools.

(3) Thirdly and perhaps most importantly, is the amount of passion that people have for their business, from the winemakers to the tasting room people to the staff in the restaurants we visited.  The people we encountered were visibly passionate about their work, and that passion is contagious.  This made visiting the wineries, dining at the restaurants, and generally visiting the area a very pleasurable experience.

I’m going to have more to say about our experience in future posts, but the time since we’ve returned has slipped by in a hurry.  I wanted to get this post wrapped up so I can “put a bow” on the overview and get back to some specific commentary about other parts of our vacation.  Hopefully this collection of photos will provide a bit of a sampler of the 4 days we spent in wine country.