The Search for Sky Rock

I like this blog post by Hank Cristensen, kind of a personal account of finding a “secret Native American petroglyph.” Plus, the picture of the petroglyph itself is quite lovely, taken at dawn somewhere in the Owens Valley. This is just the kind of thing I like to throw into my writing. In fact, my piece on searching for the “False Kiva” archeological site at…

A Visit to Taos

Driving to Taos, you get a wonderful sense of why the town attracts artists. This part of New Mexico is 7,000 feet high, part of the Colorado Plateau.  It’s high desert and mostly flat. But out of the plains, the Sangre do Cristo mountain range rises up, to over 13,000 feet at Wheeler Peak. And the landscape, the backbone of mountain, shapes the town and the…

Walkabout: A Photographer’s Creative Path

The more I explore Photo Universe, the more I know that often my best work happens when I leave the structured trip mindset behind and Go Walkabout. Walkabout. The word really entered the collective consciousness in 1997 when Nic Roeg’s film of that name was released. With my interest in meditation and spirituality, I totally got the message: be in Nature, listen to your own instincts and find your place in…

Doing the Sistine Chapel and the Vatican Museums

Ask a friend heading off to Rome what they’re going to see and the Sistine Chapel will be on the short list. When they come home, they’ll tell you that the Sistine Chapel was so magnificent. And that they got a sore neck just looking up so very long. True. But no one tells you how much bother can be involved with the Sistine experience — or how to make…

Italy: The Street Artist

I love coming across street artists when I travel. They are often working close to one of the big art museums. This guy, doing his version of the famous Vermeer, was just outside the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. Right next to him was an artist doing da Vinci. The guy doing the Mona Lisa seems to be a bit out of his league here. But hey, his…

Italy Images: The Uneasy Supplicants

Beggar that I am, I am poor even in thanks.   Hamlet When we went to Italy this June, I was struck by one image that kept repeating, of old women begging. Now obviously, living Southern California, there are no end of homeless folk who ask for donations. Here in So Cal, we have a relatively predictable relationship with the homeless; so for me, the beggars of…

Siena and Tuscany: A Tour From Florence

While I was in Florence I did a couple of tours with Walks of Italy: their day long tour of the city and its museums and the day trip out to Siena, San Gimignano and a gaggle of Tuscan wineries. That trip had several photo locations that are worth mentioning. The trip, like everything Walks of Italy does, was nicely organized. We all met at…

Roller Derby Photos

Marina and I headed to Torrance last night to watch the Beach Cities team, a roller derby group my buddy Mindy is associated with. My perceptions of the sport are dominated by what I saw on TV growing up: super-theatrical roller skating on a banked track, girl-on-girl fights, whipping a sleek jammer around (or under) the opposing team, and gals being flipped over the track railing by…