Photo Blogging

Trafalgar Square

Absolutely had to visit St. Pancras station, which is so Victorian.

This is the back of Buckingham Palace.  We did a tour of the state rooms and the gardens.  For a palace, it has a cozy feel – there’s not the sense of history I saw at Windsor, or the grandeur of Blenheim.

This is the front of Buckingham Palace, with the Queen Victoria Memorial

This is the grand escalator hall at Harrods.

We did a boat trip down the Thames to Greenwich.  This is the Tower Bridge from the boat.

For our first climb, we climbed Wilson Peak.  We camped at the trailhead, and we were to only people in the parking lot.  We got up at an ungodly hour to eat breakfast and begin the climb.  By 4:45 we were on the trail, hiking by headlamp through the forest for a couple of mile.  As we broke out of the trees at about 11,200 feet, we were greeted by a spectacular sunrise.

We climbed through the Silver Pick Basin, past several Ould mines, and worked our way up to Rock of Ages saddle, near the RoA mine.

From the RoA saddle, our route headed up the southwest ridge, aiming for the false summit above.  I felt like we were Frodo and Samwise climbing into Mordor, hiking across steep, sometimes loose rock.

Views from the summit were amazing.  This view looks to the east.  The prominent peak that is just to the right of the middle of the photo the Lizard Head Peak, one of the most dangerous climbs in Colorado.  The risk of rockfall climbing that peak is very high.  I was glad to have the solid rock of the Wilson Group for our climbs on this trip.  Maybe someday I’ll get up the nerve to climb Lizard Head, but not this trip.  Beyond Lizard Head are the four Chicago Basin 14er’s, a trip for next summer.

Another view, looking north from the summit.  On the right side you can see the ski slopes of Telluride.  On the skyline is another set of 14er’s, including Umcompahgre and Wetterhorn.

After lunch at the summit, we still had to descend the peak.  Our route took us over the false summit, visible on the right side of the phono, and then down the long ridge the low point on the left of the photo.

Columbines in the basin.  We missed seeing them in the dark on our way up.

I will submit Part 2 soon.

This cemetery is really big (590 acres). It has broad roads inside, private cars are allowed on all other days, and there is even a bus route of the Viennese public transportation system inside the cemetery.

Getting closes to the center brings the first glance at the Art Nouveau church. The graves there are upper class, showing more elaborate carvings and decorations.

There is also a section for the fallen Russian soldiers of WW2.

I love those Art Nouveau churches. This one was built from 1908 to 1911 to designs by the architect Max Hegele.

We’re still inside the church, this is the view up inside the dome.

This is one of the side portals.

The bridge is over Silver Creek about halfway along the Trail of Ten Falls. Google Silver Falls State Park and you will find many picture of the ten falls. Every step along the way has a few wonders.

Star Trails at Twin Bush

I’ve shot the Milky Way at Twin Bush many times and thought that star trails with the Santa Monica Mountains as a foreground would make a nice photo. The cliffs along Pacific Coast Highway remind me a bit of the Red Cliffs at Red Rock. Prior to shooting at Twin Bush that night I shot the Milky Way at Leo Carillio State Park and met another group of photographers, it turns out they later shot in the hills above where I was shooting and you can see their lights behind the telephone pole at the right.

One of the challenges with processing this photo is the highway in the foreground.  The original stacked version contained car headlights shinning into the camera producing glare and airplane trails.  I spent several hours reducing these flaws in the photo to get what I thought was an acceptable product.

Star Trails at Red Rock.

Normally, when I shoot star trails at Red Rock I shoot towards the Red Cliffs. This time I decided to shot to the east.

Star Trails over Los Angeles.

Most star trails that I’ve shot have been taken in dark locations. This is the opposite, star trails over Los Angeles with the moon in the sky. Rather than a black sky the sky is more blue and the horizon is dominated by the yellow from the light of the city. This is actually a series of 30 second exposures with a shorter exposure used for the city to capture the detail in the cityscape.

This shot took a little over a hour to shoot, but took about 5 hours to remove the aircraft trails since the land approach for LAX runs east to west just south of Downtown Los Angeles.

Shiprock in the distance, Common Raven in the foregound

Swainson’s Hawk, one of many seen in this part of Colorado

Osprey observing the crowd scene near the beach

Acorn Woodpecker, one of the clowniest birds on the planet

Yellow-billed Magpie, a bird species that is only found in California

We were pretty lucky with the weather. There was some fog in the morning, but that lifted while we were walking a nice path on the mountainside with their dogs (two Corgis, Bilbo and Dwalin). Arriving back at the cars, we could see Kaprun castle.

The high mountains in the background is the “Steinernes Meer”, part of the northern limestone alps.

Behind us, in the Kaprun valley hosts one of Austria’s most significant hydro energy infrastructure: a set of dams that can store electric energy by moving water between the artificial lakes. See https://www.verbund.com/en-at/about-verbund/power-plants/our-power-plants/kaprun-oberstufe-limberg-2

The next day we hiked up a difference mountain (well, to be honest, we drove most of it and then continued on by foot).

This is the view in the reverse direction: towards the south, to Kaprun. The snow-covered peak is the Kitzsteinhorn. That’s a really neat skiing resort that makes use of the glacier.

This is the view directly towards Zell. The mountain behind the village is the Schmittenhöhe which is used for alpine skiing.

I’ve shot the Milky Way at Twin Bush many times and thought that star trails with the Santa Monica Mountains as a foreground would make a nice photo. The cliffs along Pacific Coast Highway remind me a bit of the Red Cliffs at Red Rock. Prior to shooting at Twin Bush that night I shot the Milky Way at Leo Carillio State Park and met another group of photographers, it turns out they later shot in the hills above where I was shooting and you can see their lights behind the telephone pole at the right.

One of the challenges with processing this photo is the highway in the foreground.  The original stacked version contained car headlights shinning into the camera producing glare and airplane trails.  I spent several hours reducing these flaws in the photo to get what I thought was an acceptable product.

Normally, when I shoot star trails at Red Rock I shoot towards the Red Cliffs. This time I decided to shot to the east.

Most star trails that I’ve shot have been taken in dark locations. This is the opposite, star trails over Los Angeles with the moon in the sky. Rather than a black sky the sky is more blue and the horizon is dominated by the yellow from the light of the city. This is actually a series of 30 second exposures with a shorter exposure used for the city to capture the detail in the cityscape.

This shot took a little over a hour to shoot, but took about 5 hours to remove the aircraft trails since the land approach for LAX runs east to west just south of Downtown Los Angeles.

This is the Circus, a crescent of Regency townhouses.

Childhood home of Anne Boleyn

Ruins of the Lady Chapel at Glastonbury Abbey