Photography – Page 14 – The Bald Heretic – Short, bald dude with a goofy beard

Valencia – Day 4 Addendum

Notice: Undefined index: image in /home/geekradio.com/domains/baldheretic.com/httpdocs/wp-content/plugins/highslide/wp-highslide.php on line 56

Notice: Undefined index: thumbnail in /home/geekradio.com/domains/baldheretic.com/httpdocs/wp-content/plugins/highslide/wp-highslide.php on line 56

Notice: Undefined index: altdesc in /home/geekradio.com/domains/baldheretic.com/httpdocs/wp-content/plugins/highslide/wp-highslide.php on line 56

Notice: Undefined index: captiontext in /home/geekradio.com/domains/baldheretic.com/httpdocs/wp-content/plugins/highslide/wp-highslide.php on line 56

Notice: Undefined index: thumbid in /home/geekradio.com/domains/baldheretic.com/httpdocs/wp-content/plugins/highslide/wp-highslide.php on line 56

Notice: Undefined index: image in /home/geekradio.com/domains/baldheretic.com/httpdocs/wp-content/plugins/highslide/wp-highslide.php on line 56

Notice: Undefined index: thumbnail in /home/geekradio.com/domains/baldheretic.com/httpdocs/wp-content/plugins/highslide/wp-highslide.php on line 56

Notice: Undefined index: altdesc in /home/geekradio.com/domains/baldheretic.com/httpdocs/wp-content/plugins/highslide/wp-highslide.php on line 56

Notice: Undefined index: captiontext in /home/geekradio.com/domains/baldheretic.com/httpdocs/wp-content/plugins/highslide/wp-highslide.php on line 56

Notice: Undefined index: thumbid in /home/geekradio.com/domains/baldheretic.com/httpdocs/wp-content/plugins/highslide/wp-highslide.php on line 56

Cynthia did the smart thing and rested most of the day. We did go out in the afternoon as the Ofrenda was beginning. It seems all the marching bands pass right by our hotel so sleeping was futile.

The Ofrenda is when all the people of Valencia put on their traditional costumes and parade in from all corners of the city to offer flower to build the statue of the Virgin Mary in the cathedral square.

After chasing the Falleras for awhile we decided to go to the City Of Arts And Sciences so I could take some night shots.

Later in the evening we found this restaurant called Alma del Temple that was simply fantastic.

Everything was presented well and the restaurant itself had a nice atmosphere. Oddly, the music playing over the sound system was 80’s gothic new wave. Bands like The Cure and Joy Division with some Brian Ferry and the like sprinkled in. I enjoyed it quite a lot and asked our waiter about it. Turns out it was his selection of music. I let him know I appreciated it and that seems to please him to no end.

We had a bottle of wine and enjoyed our meal and finished the evening off with a coffee and postre (desert)

After this we were pretty beat and called it a night.

Valencia – Day 3

Today Cynthia woke up in pretty bad shape. While the one eye is getting better, the other is starting to have trouble. She is very fatigued and in need of rest.

We had scheduled lunch with our friend Manel who we met during our first visit to Valencia. When he arrived at the hotel Cynthia simply didn’t have the energy to accompany us. This was unfortunate as Manel speaks little English and I speak little Spanish. Cynthia usually acts as the translator, but today we were on our own.

Manel and I had a good time using our iPhones to make the more difficult translations and it was a fun morning, if not slightly comical.

We made our way back to the hotel so I could check in on Cynthia and so that Manel could make his way to his other commitments. When I check with the desk clerk, Cynthia had left a note saying that she was feeling better and had walked over to the park to enjoy some sunshine and fresh air.

When she did make her way to the room she was looking to be in pretty good spirits, but confided that while sitting on a park bench and enjoying the various dogs and birds passing and flying overhead she apparently looked so sad and pathetic that a passing cyclist stopped and offered her food (which she politely declined).

Suffice to say, she was mortified. It took me some time to convince her that she did not look like a wretched, diseased homeless person with a bad eye.

Since Cynthia was feeling better we decided go for a walk and get some lunch. We enjoyed sitting outside the restaurant and soaking in the sunshine.

After lunch we went back to the room and had a siesta.

When we woke up we were both feeling a bit better. I wanted to go to the City of Arts and Sciences to take some photos and Cynthia was going to go see some things she wanted to see. I ended up making a short trip of it as the City of Arts and Sciences was having some kind of event and I couldn’t really get the shots I wanted. When I got back to the hotel I ran into Cynthia who was excited that she was able to photograph an unusual pigeon we had spotted a few days ago.

We suspect he has been painted by someone. The bird seems ok and flies around the plaza without a problem.

We took the rest of the afternoon and evening to do some more site seeing. We’re still not 100% but we’re not giving up.

Tomorrow and Monday are the days of the Ofrenda when the women of Valencia parade in to the Plaza Of The Virgin and offer to her their prayers and carnations. The carnations are used to make Mary’s gown. It’s quite a site.

Valencia – Day 2

Sad to say, we are still quite under the weather. Last night was the worst. To make matters even more gruesome, Cynthia’s right eye is having some issues. We suspect a scratch on the eyelid that was likely inflicted during all the tossing and turning last night. She’s a little stressed about it, understandably.

It’s up and down. We sleep and it’s fitful. We get up and move around and we get back to something approaching normal. I think we are on the mend, but it’s slow going. Perhaps tonight we’ll sleep through…if we’re lucky.

We’re keeping our spirits up. The festival is still amazing and it’s picking up steam as the fallas continue to be set up all over town. And the crowds are growing.

You can tell the festival is truly getting underway as the explosions are happening with greater frequency. Festival goers, armes with fireworks the size of M80s and larger, are detonating at will all over town and all day long. The explosions bounce of the stone walls and echo down the streets. Tonight will not be quiet, but I don’t recall it being all that bothersome. You actually kind of get used to it.

On the plus side, I am getting some great photos.

Madrid – Day 3

Today, to our surprise, the sun came out again. There was still enough cloud cover to indicate that rain was still a possibility, but we ventured out without our raincoats or an umbrella anyway.

We decided to go to the Reina Sofia to see Picasso’s “Guernica” painting. This was our second opportunity to see this painting and it always moves me. Sadly, no photos allowed.

From the Reina Sofia we made our way to The Prado to see even more masterpieces.

This museum contains the definitive Goya collection. It is also home to Las Meninas by Velázquez which is always worth seeing in person. Sadly, no photos allowed in this museum.

We walked down Paseo del Prado taking in the sites. We stopped and had some lunch and the went off in search of the Caixa Forum to see the living art wall which is an outdoor vertical garden green designed by French botanist Patrick Blanc. This wall of green has 15,000 plants of 250 species covering a 460 meter square wall.

While we were admiring the wall it started to rain a bit so we made our way to the subway to go back to the hotel and have a siesta. I have to say, the siesta is now my favorite Spanish tradition.

After sleeping for a few hours we made our way to the Metropolis for some night photography.

(thanks to Cynthia for this photo!)

It was cold, but we had a great time shooting the Metropolis and the Plaza de Cibeles

After the photo session Cynthia and I found our way to a lovely tapas restaurant and had a fantastic dinner and a bottle of wine. We sat down around 9:30 and left around 11:30. Dinner comes late in Madrid.

Beware The Internet

In December of 2008, as I was getting ready for a vacation trip to Brussels, I posted a self portrait of myself sporting my new winter coat to my Flickr account.

I didn’t think much of it after posting it and I’d pretty much forgotten about it over the years.

Today, as I was reading some discussions about people having their photos used to create fake online identities I decided to use Google Image Search to see if any of my self portraits could be found anywhere on the vast Internet.

Honestly, I was not expecting to find anything. It was more of an expression of idle curiosity that I thought would amount to a few minutes squandered before moving on to bigger and better wastes of time.

Imagine my surprise when I found this “interpretation” by a Flickr user called Leeber

I have no idea who Leeber is or why he chose my picture to transform. But unlike *that* previous experiences where I have had a photo I created used without permission, I’m not really offended nor am I seeking to have the photo removed. Mostly because I am amused.

A similar incident came up with this photo I took of my dentist

Years later I found this posted as a winner of a Photoshop contest at Worth1000.com

Again, I’m not so interested in asserting my copyright because I find the work creative and amusing and I don’t see that the person is profiteering off of my work.

I guess it just goes to show that you can never fully tell what people may be doing to the content you post to the Internet or how they might be using it.

Fisheye Fun

I just acquired the Rokinon 8mm f/3.5 HD Fisheye Lens with Removable Hood. It doesn’t quite give a full circular fisheye result, but it comes close on my new full frame Sony A99. Plus, it’s relatively inexpensive when compared to the Sigma. It yields some rather dramatic results and I think it will be a lot of fun to play with. The focus peaking feature of the A99 combined with the large live view screen allows for greater manual focus control.

David Beebe 3 + 1

Some fun at Natachee’s Supper’n Punch with David Beebe, Allen Hill, The “Dazzling” Pete Gray and Jim Henkel

Munich – Day 7 (Final Day)

It’s our last day in Munich. We head home in the morning. As much fun as this has been, I am ready to come home and so is Cynthia. Munich and Salzburg have both been great destinations and we have had such a good time, but we both look forward to not carrying around our heavy packs and having to put on and take off our heavy coats and scarves and hats.

We woke up this morning to temperatures well below freezing, but with lots of sunshine and blue skies so we decided to go to the BMW complex wich features a museum.

I have to say, this museum was one of the highlights of the trip. It is well laid out and very engaging. It’s like history meets science meets modern art.

The entire history of BMW was on display and it looked really cool seeing it presented in this venue.

After touring the museum we made our way back to the hotel to recombobulate and then treated ourselves to a very nice, very leisurely lunch/dinner at a nearby Italian restaurant.

We spent the rest of the day just relaxing and packing up. Our flight is at 7:00 am so we’re getting up pretty early to get to the airport.