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Tag Archives: Photography
“Chad”
Currently back on land with a little time to look at photos, so I’ll be posting a few random frames. Here is an interesting scene from Sint Maarten a week or so ago.
Postcard From Fredericksburg, Texas
This past weekend, Kathy & I spent some time in Fredericksburg, Texas, which is the heart of Texas wine country. Didn’t know Texas made wine? Well, sure ’nuff they do!
We stayed at a lovely motel located at the Gillespie County airport called the Hangar Hotel. It is styled after a WWII hangar from the 1940s, complete with an Officer’s Club bar and an airport diner. It was a great place to hang out for a few days, watching the planes come and go, including an impressive number of business prop and jet aircraft.
We’re in Florida now, getting ready for another cruise that starts Friday. More photos in the works!
Rescue At Sea
On the first day of our cruise we were at sea, headed to Costa Maya, Mexico. At some point in the afternoon we started to notice that the ship had slowed and started a big turn. As passengers realized this we started to wonder what was happening, and soon word started to spread that someone had spotted a stranded sailboat.
Soon the captain came on the PA and explained that we had passed a disabled boat and that the passengers were waving for help. It is a maritime rule that the closest vessel is obligated to perform a rescue, and that was us.
While the rescue was taking place, the cruise director kept asking for “no photos or videos,” which is a lost effort when everyone on board is carrying a camera! I took a few photos of the rescue, but they are heavily cropped. The one time on the cruise where I wish I had packed my long lens!
Turns out it wasn’t much of a sailboat. We learned the following day when the rescued people were turned over to Mexican authorities that they were refugees from Cuba, had been at sea for over a month, and had recently run out of food and water.
I can only imagine the desperation that people have that would make them want to undertake such an effort. I am thankful that any ship I sail on has plenty of food and water!
A Slice of Color From Belize
Kathy & I are in Fredericksburg, TX after our cruise on Norwegian Prima, and I just took time to look at my photos so far. We didn’t get off the ship in Costa Maya, Mexico because we got in to port late and the weather was iffy, which turned out to be the right move because it rained most of the time we were in port!
Our stop in Harvest Caye, Belize was cloudy and overcast, so I didn’t get any “postcard worthy” photos, but I did manage to find some slices of color in this interesting foliage.
I’ve taken a bunch more photos and will get them posted in due time!
Postcard From Vicksburg, Mississippi
Kathy & I are enroute to Texas for the first leg of our winter travels. We made a long overdue stop in Vicksburg to visit the National Military Park there. It is a solemn reminder of the price many have paid over our nation’s history.
We visited on a cloudy and overcast day, but thankfully with no rain. The whole time I photographed there I was envisioning the photos in black & white, in an inadequate homage to the photographs that were made in the heat of the moment. The battlefields as they exist today are a distant reminder of the horrors of battle, but the tribute paid in the form of monuments and memorials is moving.
Travel With Friends
Most of the travel that Kathy & I do is by ourselves, but many times we arrange to see some friends along the way. We have started doing a pretty-much-annual “Friends & Family Tour” each summer, since for some reason a lot of our friends won’t travel to see us. Likely because we’re “never” home! 😉
We do have a few couples who we can count on to let us know when they are planning a trip and who ask us it we want to come along, or come along with us on a trip we are planning. Most of these friends are retired and travel nearly as often as we do. We did a river cruise in October with three other couples and it was great. We all did things that suited our interests and went different places in different combinations. Our travel agents – who have also become friends – even booked a cruise after they found out we booked it, and we’ll be cruising with them in February! Other friends arrange to meet for a weekend or a few weekdays in an equidistant location.
We enjoy travel with friends because it sort of forces us to change up our routines, perhaps look at places or things a little differently, and sometimes we just end up someplace we haven’t thought of. Group photos are fun, too. Although more often or not we’re having so much fun we forget to have someone take them. I do take a few photos with my camera, but then I’m never in them! Selfies are okay, but we do like the occasional group photo taken by someone else. Especially if it is a large group – my arm isn’t long enough for a selfie!
Touring Curacao
The final stop on our recent cruise was the island of Curacao. Together with Aruba and Bonaire, it forms the ABC islands. Collectively, Curaçao, Aruba, and other Dutch islands in the Caribbean are often called the Dutch Caribbean. Curacao is the largest of the ABC islands in both area and population as well as the largest of the Dutch Caribbean.
For our time on Curacao we booked a private tour with Henry Plaate, a taxi driver who I found on a Curacao tourism website. Henry and I communicated multiple times prior to our visit, and he did a fantastic job in showing us the highlights.
The waves along the northeast (Atlantic) shore were pretty incredible!
I sometimes have problems with caves, but this one was not too deep, and the photo ops made me forget about any issues. Very cool!
Beaches and boats, some of my favorite scenery!
Turning The Page
I hesitated to jump on the “23 for 2023” bandwagon, but I didn’t want to let the old year slip away without somehow acknowledging its passing. For those of us with way more “Before Times” than “Future Times,” I think it is generally better to keep our eyes forward with just the occasional glance in the mirror. But it is kind of fun to look back on the prior year before diving into the new one.
Just to be different, I skimmed through my Lightroom catalog and chose one photo from each month (except April – I took no photos in April, strangely. So I chose two from March). Not necessarily the best or most memorable photos, just one that would represent where I was and what I was doing.
In January, we welcomed Ben to the world. He was born in December 2022 but Kathy & I didn’t get to meet him until January. Ben is my grand nephew, my brother’s grandson and son of my brother’s daughter. Here’s Ben today:
We spent the month of February on cruise ships. It didn’t matter what photo I chose, but I like this one.
In March we visited Stanton, Virginia with friends. I made this photograph as well as the one below it which represents April.
This colorful character was maintaining contact with the outside world instead of enjoying the Conservatory at the Biltmore Estate.
We visited a lot of distilleries in 2023, including Bardstown Bourbon Company in June. I even made a few photographs. 😉
In July we made our first-ever visit to the U.P. of Michigan. I just had to stumble out our friend Jeff’s front door to make this photograph. Thank goodness for articulating LCD screens!
In August, we were visited by the world’s second heaviest gross weight production cargo airplane and heaviest operating cargo aircraft, the Antonov AN-124. It occasionally makes a stop in Charlotte to deliver aircraft parts, and I was fortunate to be able to catch a glimpse from the Airport Overlook at Charlotte Douglas.
September found us back in Bourbon Country again. I managed to make a few more photographs before a tour. We could almost give the tours, but they are always fun.
In October we ventured back to Europe for the first time in 5 years. I actually stink at candid photography but every once in a while even the blind squirrel finds a nut. I found this one during dinner at an outdoor restaurant in Prague.
November found us back on a cruise ship. This scene was a photograph waiting to happen. It was not our ship. 🙂
After our November cruise, we stopped by to visit some friends near Orlando. One evening we visited Disney Springs, and this scene was from the restaurant where we had dinner. A photograph was required.
We have lots of travel already planned for 2024, and I have a few more posts to make from our 2023 travels which I hope to have finished in the next week or so. For now, Kathy & I hope everyone has a joyful and enjoyable year in 2024. Thanks for sticking with us!
Being Knotty
For some reason, I have a thing for ropes and knots. I can’t tie a decent knot to save my life (even my shoes!) but I do like photographing them, especially those along docks and on boats. This is a small collection of photos from our recent cruise plus time in Florida.
