From 2004 - Longwood Lily

This water lily was captured at Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania. Some bubbles on the surface of the water were taken out in Photoshop, but otherwise this photo is untouched.

From 2004 - Stafford Recital

A shot from the Chinese dance recital in Stafford. Naturally, one of my favorite individuals is a part of the scene.

Very little post-capture work was necessary for the Stafford shoot. I have often wondered...if a little bitty 3-megapixel camera like the FinePix 3800 can produce perfect white balance every time for indoor pictures, and the exposure control seems to work every time also, why couldn't they do that for the 7000? Maybe it's because there are so many more pixels crammed into a small area...

From 2004 - Nature Preserve

This was taken on a nature walk in the Houston area...

From 2004 - Longwood Tower

Back to the 2004 favorites, which were all taken with the Fujifilm FinePix 3800.

This was taken in Pennsylvania, at Longwood Gardens. Some photoshopping was done to remove trash that had accumulated next to the bin near the stairs. Also, some minor rotating was done, but otherwise the photo is untouched. That little 3800 had superb exposure and white balance control, which necesitated a lot less post-capture work than the 7000.

From Europe - Title Piece for Collage

This is a title piece put together for my son's collage. Six pictures were used, selecting portions of each using a 50-pixel feather. They were then blended together using layers, spilling over the outside edges so there would be a hard border.

One of the goals here was to work with the lettering. 98% of my Photoshop work is done in Elements 7, but especially in the lettering I've found it necessary at times to utilize the CS3 version for full control. It may be difficult to see here, but the letter fill is only at 85% opacity, which is what was used to build the pre-loaded effect for Elements. I opened the document in CS3 with the objective of upping that to 100%, but ultimately decided to leave as is...

From Paris - Urban Garden

Tinkering around with pictures from Europe, I found this one that should have been put in favorites. It was taken on our walk from the hotel to the Pompinou museum in Paris.

Since I have a black thumb instead of a green one, dooming any plant under my care to die within two weeks, I admire those who seem to have the magic touch. This is a very determined gardener, and by all appearances a successful one at that.

From North Heathrow - Alleyway Flowers

The flower and garden thing must be done for the benefit of the home's occupants, and not as a show for the whole neighborhood, as evidenced here. This doorway was hidden in an alleyway, facing nothing but a stream and some brush...
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Well, this is it - these are all of my favorites from Europe. I will now go back to posting 2-3 times per week, and will resume favorites from 2004.

From North Heathrow - Rooftop with Vines

This was directly across the street from the hotel. The English are really, really good at the flower thing...the two photos below were captured just a few steps away from this first one, using the roof with vines as a back drop from different angles.

From North Heathrow - Back Garden

We were walking along, on our way from the hotel to the pub that was in yesterday's posting, when suddenly this magical place appeared. The most beautiful and well-manicured yard we'd ever seen in our lives was there before us. Wow!

The English are known for their fastidiousness in keeping gardens and making their living spaces beautiful (aka "Yard of the Month" here, from their descendants), and this example topped the charts, in our opinion. I kept looking for some sign to indicate that this was a business or club of some sort, but it was just somebody's yard. The boys walked on ahead to find a place for dinner, but I stood transfixed to the point of obnoxiousness, trying to discreetly snap photos of this beautiful place.

It wasn't noticed right away, but to top it all off, the roofs were thatched! Good grief. If I ever go back I'm going to knock on the door and shake the hand of the people responsible for this creation.

From North Heathrow - English Pub

Once we made the decision to stay in hotels instead of hostels, we found some good ones. Our room in Paris was excellent, one I hope to share with my wife and daughter some day.

Heading back to the States we overnightted in North London. Our objective was to keep it quiet for our last night in Europe and get some rest before the long flight home. We didn't expect to be so successful, but this little neighborhood close to the airport was exactly what I'd been wanting to see...a typical English suburb sans tourists.

About a block from the hotel we ran into this pub. I'd had some fixed ideas about what a typical English pub was like, based on James Herriot's books, and found them to be totally accurate. The inside was warm and cozy, the English patrons settling in for a pint on their way home from a day's work. This photograph shows the exquisite care taken to keep the outside immaculate; here you can see to the right a separate place for darts and sports television. The proprietor in the blue shirt is standing watch over the comfort of his guests...all of them English (except us), sitting and smoking and drinking and complaining about the struggles of the day. I finally saw what I came to see in England.

Except Thirsk. I'd like to visit Thirsk, where Jim Wight did his work that became famous in the James Herriot books.
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The other day I discovered something strange about our cat. I suppose that in the cat world "strange" is a relative term, but this was the first time I'd heard of a cat that likes to eat tortillas. Yes, tortillas. And I wouldn't've believed it if I hadn't'a seen it...

From Paris - Thumb Statue

In an earlier posting I expressed admiration at how the Parisians thumb their noses at convention and do their own thing. Suppose there is no better way than this to do just that...

From Paris - Auger Sculpture 02

This is the same sculpture; just a few feet to the left, using the side of The Box as a backdrop.

From Paris - Auger Sculpture 01

This was taken next to The Box...the sculptures were set up behind the steps in the back.

From Paris - The Box

...and speaking of The Box, here it is up close. The sheer magnitude of the structure is indicated by the size of the people seen on the steps. The cables of the elevator shaft are clearly in evidence here, as well as the layout of the offices within the sides of the building. We were told that there are no offices at the top, so suppose it serves as only a crossover of some sort.

From Paris - Downtown Cluster

This was taken from a position in front of The Box; the building in the September 10 posting is to my left.

From Paris - Glass Lattice

Resembling the pyramid at the Louvre...

From Paris - Downtown Skyscraper

The posting for August 7 features a panorama of downtown Paris, a cluster of modern buildings concentrated off to one side. My nephew had plans with friends, so Andrew and I took the subway and headed there on our last full day in the city.

What we found was that the concept of anything modern struck us as being incongruous - didn't fit in Paris somehow. But the buildings are beautiful, and made for some good captures.

From Paris - Napoleon's Resting Place

We didn't go in, but this is the place where Napoleon is lying in state. Andrew and I mulled over whether the gold is real. I suspect so...

From Paris - Eiffel Silhouette #2

Even in silhouette the Eiffel is imposing and beautiful. From the top we saw the place where Napoleon is entombed, so from here we walked in that direction...

From Paris - Arc from Eiffel

This picture was taken from the very top of the Eiffel Tower, of the Arc de Triumph (covered in postings for August 1-3). It seems that all of Paris converges at that spot, which is even more obvious if one looks at a map of the city. Even the layout of the infrastructure bespeaks the artistic nature of its people!

It was here at the top of the Eiffel that we had our first experience with a pickpocket. During the entire trip I had been paranoid of this petty thievery, constantly placing my hands where all pockets would be protected. Once reaching the top of he Eiffel Tower, however, I relaxed a bit. After all, these were all wholesome, family-oriented, awe-struck tourists, right?

The answer would be a resounding No! Turns out that the top of the Eiffel is the perfect place for pickpockets...in fact, there are signs everywhere, even in the elevators, warning against their presence. The tourists are packed into a small place, they are distracted looking out into the city and taking pictures, and, like me, move about with a false sense of security, being away from the crowds on the ground. So what is it about these signs? No one here looks like a pickpocket!

Again, as stated in the posting of July 24th, you don't even know they're there until you become a victim. I was taking pictures for a panorama, with my son standing to my left, and felt a little tug on the right side of my shorts. Immediately I glanced down and saw a hand pull away. Looking up at the owner of the hand, I observed that he was a well-dressed middle-aged man that looked like any of the other tourists milling about. He was with a lady, who could have passed for his wife, and a child of about 10 or 11. He was talking the entire time to them (some language that sounded vaguely like German...definitely not French), looking out over the city and, with the hand that was not busy trying to pick my pocket, pointing to this and that as if they were tourists seeing things for the first time. He did not break vocal stride even when discovered.

I was wearing the type of shorts that had two pockets on each leg in the front, the lower one having a button on each side; he had successfully unbuttoned one of them. I showed my son the button that had been undone and pointed to the guy, saying "That guy just tried to pick my pocket!" The man stayed put and just kept talking to his companions, pointing to this and that in the cityscape. He began to appear nervous only when Andrew and I stayed put also, and kept talking about him and looking at his so-called "family". He must have concluded that we weren't going to stop, so, after the briefest of glances in our direction led his little group away to the other side of the tower.

At times I wish I'd had the presence of mind to take his picture, but didn't - Andrew and I just kept gawking and talking, a little surprised at the man's sustained pretense of being a tourist. It was amazing, and a lesson well-learned.

From Paris - Eiffel 02

The people at the bottom of this shot provide a sense of scale...

From Paris - Eiffel 01

Seeing the Eiffel up close is amazing...the structure is massive. I didn't know before arriving that there are three levels for tourists. We paid the 9.5 euros to go all the way to the top.

From Paris - Venus at Le Republique

The next day we set out early to go to the Eiffel Tower. After looking at it from afar throughout our stay in Paris we were anxious to meet the thing up close.

On our way to the subway at Le Republique I spied Venus and crouched, giving her a chance to complete the frame of leaves with the sprig that she was holding...

From Paris - Building with Fountain

After finishing our tour of the cathedral, we headed back on foot to the hotel. This was on the way...

From Paris - Notre Dame 06

The line of tourists threaded all the way around the sanctuary. This was captured at the far end, behind where the service was being conducted.

It was interesting to observe that these 1-euro tea candles were available for those that could not afford the larger, 5-euro candles that were seen in the previous postings. This is in keeping with the Old Testament concept that if one cannot afford to atone for sins in a prescribed manner, then provision is made to accomplish same using other materials (Leviticus 5:5-13).

From Paris - Notre Dame 05

This is the fellow that was singing, taken from my better-than-front-row position. It was at this time that I was glad not to have had a fancy DSLR, which would have made noise as each picture was taken...