Tag: light

Amsterdam Glows in the Morning

I was at the beginning of a walk that would take me to Amsterdam’s botanical garden and the small but lovely Wertheimpark when I walked into this image. Thinking back, it seems to me the walk had a specific destination, but a month later sitting in Hoi An, I cannot remember what that might have been. The sun was still low in the sky at 7:30 in the morning; the light on the tree and the water literally glowed. The dome of St. Nicholas Church is in the center of the photo. Amsterdam is genuinely a beautiful place.

Though I did not know it at the time, I was standing on the historic Armbrug bridge when I took this photo. The original bridge dates back to 1538; the current bridge, the product of a renovation undertaken in 1988, is not particularly memorable. I happened to run across the history of the bridge when I decided to post the image above and went looking for where I was standing when I took the photo. Not that anyone has asked, but as a point of information, I use an application called Mapy.com when I do map searches online. While Google Maps is better for finding nearby restaurants, unlike Mapy, it had nothing about the Armbrug bridge. In fact when it comes to using a map as a map, Mapy comes out ahead of Google in virtually every respect. Developed and headquartered in the Czech Republic, Mapy has Android and Apple apps, and works fine on my Windows PC. Fed up dealing with criminal organizations like Google? Check out Mapy. And that is today’s unsolicited advertisement.

Sunset on the Final Day in Prague

The Church of Our Lady before Týn is on the east side of Old Town Square; it’s Gothic towers were directly opposite the sun that was soon to set in the west. St. Nicholas’ Church, pictured below, is on the north side of the Square; the light on its facade was a subdued gleam, not the intense glow of the other church. The next morning I would leave Prague on a train headed to Krakow in Poland. The magnificent sunset on my final evening in Prague was a wonderful send off.

Sunrise on the Grand Canal, Venice

The Grand Canal glows as the sun rises behind Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute. It’s a breathtaking view from where I am standing on Ponte dell’Accademia, which spans the Grand Canal several hundred meters distant from the basilica.

Countless thousands of photographers have stood on the same bridge – the morning I was there, I shared the bridge with more than a dozen people photographing this sunrise – taking similar photos of Grand Canal sunrises. In short, this photo is a cliche, I know it, and am genuinely thrilled to have the image in my portfolio.

Warmth of the Sun, Amherst

I shot this picture as the sun broke through the clouds to bath the field and trees in weak late afternoon sunlight. The horse and pasture in yesterday’s post are just to the left of this scene. Both shots were taken from the backyard of my friend Kate’s home in Amherst. Kate chose the quiet beauty of this locale to settle in after her years in China. The welcome contrast between the tranquility of this Pioneer Valley landscape and the stress, congestion, noise and politics not of the good kind we both experienced living in Beijing could not be more stark.

This photo was taken in mid-September just as the trees in central Massachusetts were beginning to turn color. I was not able to organize my trip to arrive when the autumn colors were peaking. No complaint, just an observation. The fact is I love visiting this part of New England at any time of the year.

At the Entrance to Ta Prohm

This photo was taken standing just outside of the entrance to the Ta Prohm temple, called the Tomb Raider temple by many because it was a location in the film of that name. Sunlight breaking through the overcast sky provides dramatic lighting for the trees against a background of dark, threatening rain clouds. Angkor Wat and the surrounding countryside are in the middle of the annual rainy season featuring almost daily rain showers, steamy humidity, and enervating heat.

I had a 20mm lens mounted on the camera. I love this lens – another superb piece of equipment by Nikon – but the distortion caused by the very wide angle of the lens limits the situations where it can be used effectively. In this photo, I think the distortion adds tension to the composition and this enhances the already dramatic lighting.