Setting Sail...

(Ari soaks in one last Sicilian sunset in Marzamemi.)

Tomorrow we leave Sicily and the Mediterranean cousins, and will track north to Bavaria. Tonight's farewells were full of tears for some. The last few days we have meandered through a few notable cities in the southeastern corner of the island.

I wish that I could do more than share images. I wish you could hear the guttural melodies of the local dialect, taste the culinary delights...as complex as the history layered about the land, breath in the aromas of sea salts, sand and wild sage, but I leave you with some of my favorite impressions...



If you want to share in our nostalgic farewell at your own pace, click here.

Sightseeing in Sicily....

Yesterday Daniela and I visited Vendicari, a nature preserve. The walk through the now parched marsh led to the beach and the stone carapace of a three-hundred year old "tonnara," a site into which fishermen would herd tuna and trap them.

Later we escaped the heat traveling to another beach. The kids have been running around with their cousins. I've been walking around the garden. And we've all been enjoying the fruits of the sea, and other food oddities.



If you want to peak over my shoulder at your own pace, click here.

La Sicilia...un pezzo di paradiso

I arrived yesterday, and joined the rest of the family. Daniela and the kids are sporting a deep terracotta hue. They gave me an opportunity to catch up. Today was a warm Mediterranean Sunday, and Sicily reminded me of other islands with their unique customs, faces, architecture, and oddities. It feels so familiar...timeless in a way.

A handful of images from today...



If you prefer to explore at your own pace, click here.

Two Stripes Makes It Three at the BBC...

I'm partial to geometries, grids, lines, contours and contrasts...abstractions, desolate spaces, a few faces, and industrial places. Once in a while, I have found it good practice to cast aside my preference for cold and dark moods, and photograph moments of a different nature.


(If you want to view the slideshow, click here.)

Pylons, Perspectives and a Few People...

This morning, I set out to test my new tripod. The Jefferson monument, as seen from across the Tidal Basin, was deserted. So I gathered up my gear and headed west to visit Honest Abe. By 0815 the place was teaming with early risers eager to beat the heat. I saw an opportunity for a shadowy self-portrait and took it, but before walking towards the colonnade, I noticed the array of square granite pylons next to me, a poorly disguised but well-designed security barrier.


Those pylons, the ones I glanced over upon my arrival at the edge of the Reflecting Pool, turned out to be the key to an enjoyable series of shots. After watching people flow along and through them and walk across their shadows, I gained a new appreciation for the blocks, and their design. You probably won't share my enthusiasm for the granite cubes, but take a peek anyway.




If you'd like to weave between the granite, at your own pace, click here.

Camera-Ready Conveyance...

Shaun Irving turned a truck into a camera. He then toured the Spanish countryside and took incredible large format pictures. "That tour," he writes in his website, "made me realize that in the truck, meeting people, and taking photos is where I need to be." I envy his focus.

If you are ever near Richmond, Virginia...you should visit him. Here is a gallery of his work:




Here is a short movie about him....

Curiousity Cabinets...

Museums...they display, exhibit, arrange, catalog, categorize, expose, feature, and showcase. And one of my favorites is the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, a particularly intriguing social space always swarming. For a few hours this Saturday, I dissolved myself in the crowds. The Tourists. The Spectators. The Voyeurs...those infused with a nostalgia for the past and for human exploits over nature, those are the people-objects I came to see. (The displays in the cases bore me after a few minutes.) The museum experience I relish is the interplay between the gazers and the objects they confront, ignore, gawk at, pass over....

Among the curios and curious, I spied innocence reclining near the remains of the past.

Take a look for yourself, and eye the Other(s) and their interactions.

If you want to collect specimens at your own pace...click here.

ISO-metric Imagery...

It was a dark and grainy night...photographically speaking. How it ended up that way, I'm not exactly sure. Perhaps it was the hours I spent at the pub with other fans before the game and my affinity for the graininess of Guinness draught. Perhaps it was the compulsion to change the textures and experiment a bit...to reflect the upcoming noise at the Stadium. I vaguely remember taking a deep breath, adjusting the ISO setting to 3200 and then heading to the nearest Metro Station. Two stops later, we arrived at RFK Stadium to watch the US Men's National Team play Honduras. The National team played well, and fans on both sides provided much of the entertainment.



If you want to go against the grain, at your own pace...click here.

Back in Black...at the BBC

A few months ago, I planned an early morning weekend visit to the steps behind the Lincoln Memorial, and Ari volunteered to tag along. We sat on the steps and watched the crew teams row along the Potomac. We talked and we took pictures. I saw that his shadow was taller than mine, and I couldn't resist musing about the omen and its interpretations. Click. After about an hour, he gave me the look , "Are we done?" So, we headed to our favorite bagel shop for breakfast.

That day will arrive soon enough, the day foreshadowed by the moment when a father sees his son's shadow reach beyond his own. For now, I'll defer the future and focus on the specific moment...that hour on those steps.

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The category was Black. Click here to read the BBC Blog Editor's comments, or sidestep the narrative and click here for the gallery.

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