R. Doug Wicker's Blog, page 162

It’s Time Again for Doug’s Christmas Specials — A Poe Christmas

The first of my two annual Christmas “Specials”. This one is a satirical piece on what it might look like if Edgar Allan Poe had written A Christmas Carol. The Mickey Spillane-inspired sequel will run on Wednesday.

A Poe Christmas

Once upon a snowstorm dreary, through which I trudged all weak and weary,
Past many a quaint and curious number of advertisement lore
I saw the ad, above some wrapping; on the door I started tapping
At first it was a gentle tapping, tapping at the storefront door...

Fun Photo Friday — Valparaíso Favorites Part 2

Trash

Today’s Fun Photo Friday I present to you one last glimpse of Valparaíso before we continue our journey northward along the South, Central, and North American coastline beginning the week after Christmas. Next week I’ll be rerunning some of my favorite Christmas shorts — a Christmastime parody of Edgar Allan Poe‘s The Raven, and a hard boiled Mickey Spillane-inspired satire of Dickens.

Click on any image below to enlarge and bring up today’s slide show:

Filed under: Fun Photo Frida...

Valparaíso — Up and Down

A Different Slant

Rather than take the funicular back down the hill, Ursula and I decided to walk back toward the town center. This gave us more color to experience and photograph.

Corner Building

Had we taken the funicular back we would have missed a really fascinating tribute to one of the great Post-Impressionists (and one of my all-time favorite artists).

Van Gogh View

And despite the graffiti, I simply adored the colorful neighborhoods up here on the hill.

Color

Once we made it back into...

Walking Valparaíso’s Neighborhoods

Invasion of the Toursists

Ursula and I spent much of the afternoon walking the hilly neighborhoods high above Valparaíso. As you’ll recall from last week we arrived up here after ascending in a funicular — one of eight still serving this Chilean port city.

Cobblestones

The cobblestone streets up here offer up some great views of the bay far below.

Street Scene

The houses up here also display a certain charm.

Shutters and Pickets

The Doorway

And, yes, there is lots of color as well.

Ursula at...

Fun Photo Friday — Valparaíso Favorites Part 1

Reflections

This Friday and next I present to you some of my favorite images of Valparaíso, Chile. Click on any image below to enlarge and bring up today’s slide show:

Filed under: Fun Photo Friday, Photography, R. Doug Wicker, travel, vacation Tagged: Chile, Fun Photo Friday, photography, R. Doug Wicker, travel, travel photography, vacation, Valparaíso

Overlooking Valparaíso

Poles and Power Lines

The views from atop the hills surrounding Valparaíso can be spectacular.

The Dead among the Living

And the bay takes on a whole new look as well, with sights revealed that you might otherwise miss. Here you can see a freighter hoisted inside a floating dry dock:

Dry Dock

But what struck me, photographically at least, were the colorful buildings up here in the many neighborhoods surrounding the city.

Dalí Rainbow

It’s definitely worth the effort to walk these hills lookin...

The Port City of Valparaíso

Overlooking Valparaíso

Ursula and I left Santiago on the morning of March 13 and traveled via bus to the port city of Valparaíso, arriving there in plenty of time to do some major exploration on foot. It was quite a change from Santiago, both visually and culturally. The murals of Santiago are displaced here by graffiti, and architectural beauty is much less abundant.

Corrugated building

Our accommodations were first rate, however. We stayed at the colorful ibis Hotel located along the bay an...

Fun Photo Friday — Mo Ho-Ho from Santia-Go

Gotta Light?

Walking the Dog

Fall Leaves in March

Filed under: Fun Photo Friday, Photography, R. Doug Wicker, travel Tagged: Chile, Fun Photo Friday, photography, R. Doug Wicker, Santiago, travel, travel photography

Santiago Ho-Ho — Part 4

Santiago Ho-Ho

Street art can be entertaining, and I certainly don’t mean graffiti. While graffiti is the bane of many communities, sometimes painting on walls can be a source of beauty:

Santiago Ho-Ho

The difference between art and crap isn’t so much the “eye of the beholder” as it is talent and execution. Any destructive little twerp with a penchant for vandalism can “tag” something. It takes an artist to do a mural worth photographing.

Santiago Ho-Ho

And if that aforementioned destructive...

Santiago Ho-Ho — Part 3

With a couple of exceptions today’s Ho-Ho views will concentrate on street scenes of people.

Santiago Ho-Ho

If you want to get a true flavor of a city then this is the way to go unless you’re photographing iconic architecture such as New York’s Chrysler Building or Paris’ Eiffel Tour.

Santiago Ho-Ho

As you can see Santiago has much to offer. It’s both clean and safe, and the people are quite fun to watch as they go about their daily activities. Even the street art (more on that Wednesday) ha...