Bill Murray's Blog, page 159
February 22, 2012
Taksim Square, Istanbul - Wednesday HDR
If you click this photo you can see a much bigger version, which is good because there's a lot to see - all the little people and the yellow cabs around Taksim Square, the Galata Tower further on down toward the Golden Horn and the Sea of Marmara in the background. Just a few of the countless things that make Istanbul one of my top five world cities.*
It's a confluence of civilization, continents and cultures in a breathtaking physical setting. For a kid from the American south, the...
February 15, 2012
Rainy Wednesday HDR
The Wednesday HDR this week is the much swollen Mekong River during the rainy season, upstream from Saigon, Vietnam. I wrote this little story about the trip at the time.
Click the photo to make it bigger. This photo comes from multiple exposures of a single RAW, shot with a Nikon D-700, combined in Photomatix & finished in CS5 with Nik tools. There are 355 more HDRs here and 385 more photos in the Vietnam Gallery at EarthPhotos.com.
February 13, 2012
New Photographer Link
I've added Justyna Mielnikiewicz to the category Photographers, with Respect in the sidebar, below right. When you have a few minutes, please go see her work. Her bio says she began her career in Poland before moving to Tbilisi. Our photos of Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan don't match the grit, the real, I-live-here feel of hers.
February 10, 2012
Friday Photo Quiz #141 - Where in the World?
Okay... Where would somebody in a pointy hood be walking around at sunrise? With some kind of watchtower or fort thing on the hill? Looks positively old world, doesn't it?
In fact, a university here, founded in AD 859, claims to be the world's oldest continuously functioning university.
This photo is currently ranked number 54 of 976 in the Most Popular Gallery at EarthPhotos.com (but make your guess before you click through to the Popular Gallery).
Can you name the city? The country...
Unsettling Weekend Reading
We've all done trips that were ... less fabulous ... than others. (Funny: Search "worst travel" on Amazon and the Lonely Planet guide to Ukraine comes in at number twelve.) Let's just say these are trips that involve more trials than, oh, losing your luggage. I can nominate my friend who had to have an emergency appendectomy in the Soviet Union in the mid-80's, for example. No, no, he didn't speak Russian.
Farther along on the scale, maybe, here's the Amazon description of the book The...
February 8, 2012
The Katherine Gorge, Australia's Northern Territory - Wednesday HDR
Here's the photogenic Katherine Gorge in Australia's Northern Territory. There was about a half day stop on the Ghan train between Darwin and Adelaide, and the only way to get in in that amount of time was with a kind of paddle boat thing with twenty or so others.
With a little determination, you could get out ahead of the others in time to set your tripod down and fire off a few photos without getting Phil and Marge from Brisbane in the picture.
As usual, it's multiple shots with a...
February 7, 2012
Common Sense and Whiskey, the Book - Tibet, Chapter Eleven
Here is Chapter Eleven of Common Sense and Whiskey, the book. We're publishing each chapter here on the blog (Track down previous chapters here). You can order the entire book at Amazon.com, at BN.com, or direct from EarthPhotos Publishing. Here's the Kindle version (just $6.99). Click these photos to make them bigger. More photos and additional commentary are available at A Common Sense and Whiskey Companion. And here's the China Gallery at EarthPhotos.com.
11 TIBET
Ashray Raj Gautam...
New Affiliations
You can now read CS&W as part of Open Salon and we're on Scribd.com, too. I'll share Chapter One of Common Sense and Whiskey, the book (Amazon.com, BN.com, Kindle), at both places today.
Meanwhile, later today we'll publish Chapter Thirteen of Common Sense and Whiskey, Tibet, here on the blog.
February 1, 2012
The Vatican, Rome - Wednesday HDR
Here's an HDR combined from three exposures, not exactly hand held, but propped up on the wall at the Castel Sant'Angelo in Rome. That's the Tiber River on the left, and the dome in the background, center, is the Vatican. Click it to make it bigger.
There are 354 more HDRs here at EarthPhotos.com.
Shot with a Nikon D-700, made HDR in Photomatix, finished with Nik plug-ins and CS5.
January 27, 2012
Friday Photo Quiz #140 - Where in the World?
It's a UNESCO World Heritage site in a formerly war torn land.
Can you name the city? The country? The answer is below.
And a good weekend to all from Common Sense and Whiskey and EarthPhotos.com.
And the answer is ..................................................... it's Dubrovnik, Croatia.
When Croatia declared its independence from the former Yugoslavia, Yugoslavia's federal army attacked in October 1991.
"The walls that have...
