Warm waffles on a cold day, perhaps with a little something sweet… One of the many treats that await as you walk through the historic city center of Copenhagen. I was privileged to be able to spend a recent Saturday exploring this interesting city, and fortunately I had my camera in tow. From my hotel just north of city center, I was able to find plenty of pedestrian friendly walkways, and had a most enjoyable photo walk.
Looking back through the photos in my library, I thought it would be cool to dredge up some old photos and post them here, perhaps with a few new edits with the latest software. This time, we’ll take a look at nighttime in Manaus.
Manaus is a city in Brazil, located in the middle of the Amazon rainforest. While it is a bustling city, with over two million people, there are no main highways connecting it anywhere, and nothing but wilderness for hundreds of miles in every direction. Nevertheless, it is a cultural and industrial marvel, having once been the capital of the rubber industry.
In city center is a stately old opera house, quite an architectural marvel:
Nearby, a statue commemorates some of the city’s historical ties with Asia:
And, in the square surrounding the opera house, you can find outdoor food stalls, local vendors selling various wares and snacks, and even some street entertainment:
I especially like the last photo, given the lighting, and the old woman watching over the rail in the background. This was a fun place to visit!
Be sure to check out more of my travel photos on Flickr.
In “real life” I work with a team that is geographically diverse. We are spread over the US and other parts of the world as well, so forming a team spirit is a challenge. Enter team-building as the solution!
My team meets on (approximately) a quarterly basis, for 3 days of intense strategy discussions, and “Death by PowerPoint.” But, the part of the week that really brings us together as a team are the extra curricular activities. Over the years, we have tried everything from golf to bowling, to dinners, to paintball melees. But last week, we were fortunate to have a really, really great team-building event: White-water rafting.
We were in the Boise, Idaho area, and last Thursday afternoon, trekked off into the surrounding mountains to visit the Cascade Raft & Kayak center on the Payette River, just outside of Boise.
We were torn between anticipation and trepidation, but 13 of us decided to go for it, and we were rewarded for our efforts!
I’ve been wanting to get back to Tarpon Springs for quite some time now… it has been several years since my last visit. It isn’t all that far away, but with traffic it amounts to a good hour’s drive. Finally, last weekend, Carol & I decided to make the run up there. We would have dinner, and walk the Sponge Docks, allowing my to take lots of pictures in the golden hour before sunset!
Nature didn’t cooperate, however; as we drove north we could see the clouds rolling in, east to west, and before we got there the entire sky was a gloomy grey. Rain was threatening, and sure enough, just as we arrived, the drizzle began. But an hour’s drive is an investment, and we decided to go ahead and have dinner anyway, and see what we could find worth photographing.
Being indoors, in the scenic Greek restaurant (The Parthenon, 751 Dodecanese Blvd; excellent food!), gave me a chance to try some high ISO images with my new Canon 7D. At ISO 12800, the images came out a bit on the noisy side, but Photoshop CS5’s Camera Raw features made quick work of it.
But the best was yet to come…
Technology can be a great enabler, but it can also be a challenge. This week, I visited Seattle for the first time, and decided to embrace both sides of the coin. My mission; my challenge: a travel blog created entirely with my iPhone.
I like to bring my DSLR with me on trips (when possible) and I had it this time. But, I opted to favor my phone for photos. In addition, I made use of the Phone’s GPS and apps wherever practical. The results are here in this blog post.
As I mentioned last week, I’ve been a traveling fool so far this year. And, back at the end of January, I kicked off an around-the-world trip with a visit to the island of Penang, Malaysia. Located on the western coast of Malaysia, a few hundred miles south of the border with Thailand, Penang is an island of about 400 square miles and is home to both a booming manufacturing industry as well a a small but interesting agricultural segment.
Penang is an interesting place, with deep ties to British colonialism as well as its roots of Malay, Thai, Indian and Chinese culture. Once known as the Pearl of the Orient for its beauty and tranquility, Penang today is a juxtaposition of modern technology and industry with ancient and primitive traditions.
Penang is one of my favorite places in the world, due to its variety of cultures, interesting and often eclectic mix of new and old, and especially its food!
Well, it has been over two months since my last entry, and in that time I’ve been around the world and back again, visiting such places as Malaysia, China, Norway, Scotland, Germany… the list goes on. Sadly for my bird-loving friends, I haven’t had much time for birding, but I have been lucky enough to have my camera with me on many of my trips, so I will be posting a few shots over the coming days and weeks taken from the road.
In addition to some fun travel photography, I’ve been fortunate enough to have a chance to be a beta-tester for the forthcoming release of Adobe Photoshop CS5, which is scheduled to be announced on April 12. I’ve been digging in to the new features, so watch this space after the announcement for some new tutorials and demonstrations of the great new capabilities to be found in this latest version of my favorite software!
I’ve not been totally idle online during my blog’s hiatus, however – I’ve been authoring a series of Monday tutorials on the ins and outs of Photoshop’s powerful Blend Modes, and you can find them on the fun and informative TipSquirrel blog. Just go to the blog and look for the link to posts by Mike Hoffman, including my latest, demonstrating 3 ways to use Luminosity blend modes for sharpening. While you’re there, be sure to check out the many other great tips and techniques shared by the great TipSquirrel authors!
That’s it for now; I’ll be back soon!
…or, “What I learned on my recent trip to Europe.”
OK, I’ve been on the road and traveling for over 2 weeks and across 10 time zones, so maybe it’s me that’s a bit schizophrenic. But, bear with me a little bit as I relate a tale of many cities, and when we’re done, we can compare notes. I think you’ll agree that there are strange things afoot.
