Italy 2012

So I promised not to bore you with travel photos. However, Italy is one great photo opportunity. My wife and I spent time in Venice, Burano, Lucca, Cinque Terre, San Gimignano, Volterra and ending up in Milan. Here's a sampling of the photos of a beautiful country. I will let the photos speak for themselves...for the most part.

Busy Waterways of Venice

Busy waterfront in Venice

 

This canal was on our walk home to the hotel at night. Dali is looking over us..

St Marks Square at night

The Campanile at St Marks, Venice

Had to do the tourist thing in Venice

Burano - No, there is nothing wrong with your eyes...the church is tilting

Burano Windows



All the houses are required to be painted according to a color code

Waterways are a part of life in Burano

One of the five towns in Cinque Terre

A view from up top

 

Fishing boats and taxis all in one

Boats at low tide in Cinque Terre



My beautiful wife Amy in Lucca

The market in Lucca



Snacks at the market of all types
 

Immediately in the center of this photo, is the patio of our apartment in Lucca. Charming!

And of course it rained

We had some weather one evening in Lucca

People, bicycles and cars roam this street

Torre Guinigi view

This wall which surrounds the city of Lucca is 40 feet tall and was constructed in the 1400's. It now serves as a walking and riding path for the city.



San Gimignano looking down

San Gimignano


Volterra

What's a drive through the countryside without sheep

The Duomo of Milan

Inside Galleria Vittorio Emmanuel II for shopping? For only those with Titanium Amex Card please



Sunset in Milan with the Duomo on the left. Time for our journey home

Alpacas in Oregon?

This past weekend, we took our son to college in Southern Oregon. While we were delaying our departure, we decided to tour some of the little towns in the area as well the wineries. We came upon a winery called Caprice Vineyards. It's just outside of Jacksonville, OR. This little winery makes a fine cabernet, particularly their 2008 and 2009. But the story continues as they are also alpaca ranchers. What a photo op this was. These are photos of the females and they are as different as people. I hope you enjoy these funny critters. Thanks to Jim and his wife at Caprice for letting us roam around their property and get to know their "family". If you are ever in the area, do stop by and visit, have a glass of wine and say howdy to the gang.

http://capricevineyards.com/home

 This lady would be Penny. Hear to tell she's not the most friendly of the bunch. Come to find out she's a great Mom but a dominant tyrant in the herd.  Actually quite nice when she's not pregnant so say the owners. She was not pregnant and was fine with us.

 

 



We have named this lady the Rasta-Paca. Pretty good photo from an iPhone. Credit goes to my wife for this shot.

Vineyards in Paso de las Robles

On a family weekend, we spent some time at the Algunas Dias Yineyard. Beautiful property with some amazing landscape. Hope you enjoy these shots.

These Syrah grapes still need a bit more time.

Another Family Pet

This is Grace, our 11 year old Golden Retriever taken 6 years ago in RAW now converted to JPEG. She's a peaceful old pooch and the mainstay of our family pets. Many of you know her and love this dog. Still the old gal plays with the pups! Some of the kids when they were younger call her the noble steed. No riding allowed but lots of hugs and love.

Jenner-by-the-Sea

Here's a nice landscape shot taken on the northern coast of California

The weather was trying to clear that day but it really never happened. Regardless, the scene ended up beautiful none the less. I hope you enjoy this capture.

Marin Headlands Landscape Workshop

This past weekend I was shooting with the Aperture Academy at the Marin Headlands as part of a landscape workshop. It was close to the worst weather conditions in which I have shot for some time. Very foggy, high winds (20+mph) and chilly. We had to wipe our lens every 30 seconds or so just to see. The fog and the tides where rolling in and we were loosing our light. All these pictures are just as they were taken with the exception of cropping. No Photoshop magic. Neutral density filters and long exposures were the name of the game. Thanks to Scott and Jean...two very helpful instructors for their coaching. We made the best of it anyway. Good experience.