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Welcome to my blog, in which I post photos from recent travels and photography ideas.
These are posted irregularly, so log in at your leisure to catch my latest ramblings.
January 1, 2025 - Tuscany
Welcome to 2025.
Last October, we travelled in Tuscany for three weeks.
We flew into Milan, picked up our rented car, and drove to Pisa.
Our rental car, Renault Arkana
This is our rental, a brand new Renault Arkana.
T_24_1041Tuscany House
This is our Airbnb in Pisa, Tuscany House, on the right.
T_24_1042Lilliin
A short walk down the street was this cafe and bar, called Lilliin.
T_24_1044Lilliin
This was a great place to have our breakfast. No need to shop for food items to cook ourselves.
After our morning croissants and coffee, it was time to find our way to Pisa's Field of Miracles.
T_24_1045Leaning Tower of Pisa
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This is the Duomo, the huge Pisan Romanesque Cathedral.
T_24_1049Duomo and
Leaning Tower of Pisa
Next to the Duomo was the reason we came here, to see the famous Leaning Tower of Pisa.
T_24_1050Leaning Tower of Pisa
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Just to keep us safe, Veda is propping up the leaning tower.
After touring the grounds of The Field of Miracles, we wandered outside the walls to find a lunch place.
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And what else other than pizza would we lunch on while in Italy.
We then returned to our lodgings, Tuscany House.
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Ending our first full day in Tuscany with snacks and a bottle of Brunello.
The next day we would venture further into Tuscany.
December 23 - Best Wishes
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Happy Holidays to all.
May the new year be a happy and prosperous one.
November 25 - What to Photograph?
While visiting in Waterloo this summer, we decided to go for a walk.
I thought that I'd take my camera along to see what I might find to photograph.
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This is a former Seagram's distillery, now an apartment building.
So what was here that drew my eye?
Henry David Thoreau said, "It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see."
I saw not a building but patterns, the repetitive shapes of the windows and shutters.
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Here again I saw patterns in the repeated vertical lines of the fence boards.
Oh, yes, the orange flowers? They break up the pattern and draw your eye.
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Look, it's a hat. Instead I saw not a hat but circles.
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More circles creating a pattern.
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Someone had already created the art. I only saw and copied it.
The railing and step add another dimension, depth.
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The famous Magnum photographer Ernst Haas said that colour is joy.
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The diagonal line created by the stairs adds visual flow, taking your eye through the photograph.
Many people look, but few see.
Photographs can be made once you remove the labels and see shapes, patterns, lines, colours, etc.
November 18 - Images of Morocco #17
This morning we left Essaouira on the last leg of our tour of Morocco, heading to Casablanca.
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We passed through a number of small towns and villages on our drive.
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We would occasionally stop for a coffee and washroom break.
Hamid, our tour organizer, salutes us (or maybe just his coffee) at this stop.
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At times the countryside is quite arid.
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Two young girls kick around a soccer ball in one of the towns that we passed through.
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A local poses for a portrait.
Our final destination was Casablanca. We had now completed our circuitous tour of Morocco.
T_24_1027Hassan II Mosque
We were back again at the Hassan II Mosque.
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A Casablanca street scene near the mosque.
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A young girl enjoying the playground in this same area.
The next day we would fly from Casablanca to Montreal, spend that night there, and the next day take Via Rail to Ottawa, where our car had been parked. Then the last leg was our drive to Sudbury.
A memorable trip had taken us on a large circle route to many Moroccan highlights.
November 11 - Images of Morocco #16
Early this morning I took a walk to the fishing harbour of Essaouira, which was close to our hotel.
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There was not the usual high activity at the fishing port on this day, but the colourful boats were interesting subjects to photograph.
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I then walked around the harbour area looking for other images.
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Later this day we drove south from Essaouira, where we found this goat herder.
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His goats would climb into the argan trees browsing the branches to feed on the nuts. The goats would eat the outer fleshy part of the argan fruit.
The hard inner nuts would fall to the ground, to be collected to make the expensive argan oil.
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All this made for a happy goat herder.
We then returned to Essaouira.
This was the afternoon scene at the ocean waterfront.
That evening we had a great dinner at this restaurant.
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To conclude the day, we had a pleasant evening walk back to our hotel.
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