LexLuthor

Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Hall - Hiroshima Japan

This is the only building left standing directly under the blast of the Atom Bomb. The bomb was dropped at 560 meters altitutude and about 160 meters radius away. No one in the building survived the blast. All the other buildings under the blast were flattened. Some other buildings further away survived.

Note:

Made in Japan but designed by a Czech Architect.

The view from the top of Himeji Castle - Himeji Japan. Notice how they have inner and outer walls. The moat is beyond the outer walls.

Glad to see a fellow Europe-traveled person.

Spain - Drove from Barcelona all the way to the French Border

France - drove all the way from Spanish Border to Paris.

England - from South of London to York, Wales, Shropshire

Ireland - Dublin, Waterford and Wicklow

Japan - Tokyo, Osaka, Hiroshima, Himeji - just had a thrill doing the skinsansen thing

Korea - saw the DMZ

Hongkong

Taiwan - From Kaohshiung to Taipeh

USA - CA, WA, TX, CO, ID, NV, FL, NY, NJ, CT

My France and Spain experience was special because I traveled with my exboss ( who is French) and his wife. He had a BMW 7 series and he had an apartment in Spain and a vineyard villa in Southern France (Corbiere region). Barcelona, what can I say, they are like Filipinos. In Barcelona, walking along La Rambla (their famous boulevard) you recognize fellow Filipinos. You might not know them but you know fellow Fils and they can tell about you too. In Barcelona, dinner does not start until 9pm. What else can I say. Food, one thing, they have paella and they have jamon de serrano (good ham). They also have San Miguel (Spain). I got to drive the autopista (Spanish autobahn), the French autoroute (French Autobahn). Driving these roads are incredibly expensive. I think it was about equivalent $70 driving the autopista/autoroute from Barcelona to Narbonne France. Another equivalent amount all the way to Paris. The big experience is this, you are driving a 160 kph (100mph) on the 2-lane autoroute (right lane of course) and you see a car in your rearview mirror ----far away---- flash his headlights - and in a few seconds you feel the car overtake on the left as if your car was standing still. You hear the roar of the porsche engine as it passes, the push of the wind on your car as the porsche is going by. You just estimate that it is probably going ove 200kph. The porsche passes and merges to the right to keep the left lane clear for any cars that wish to pass. Normal courtesy.

Well I got to see Scenic France starting with the French Riviera - Nice, Antibe, Cannes, Monte Carlo. It is true, on the beaches, the women go topless. This is funny, I saw a lady with a bikini take off her bottom on the beach, shake off the sand and put the bottoms back on. I did not know how to take that. My boss said that she probably did not want to pay to go in the pay dressing room. More, the beach chairs on the beach are for rent. From Monte Carlo hills, it is close enough to see Italy but that was not in the Itinerary. I did get to take a peek in the Casino in Monte Carlo. In Cannes, I got to walk the Boulevard des Anglais used in many movies, rock videos and site around the Cannes Film Festival. The fish soup in Southern France is the best. I got to drive through Arles ---- the sunflowers go crazy there and Van Gogh is famous for painting the sunflowers. Many other places like Lyon which is a college town as well as town where the french aerospace industry is. Had Coq Au Vin - ok - chicken cooked in red wine - big deal - chicken adobo is better.

Paris ----- is beautiful. The parisian people are beautiful but the parisians' attitude stinks. They think that they are God's gift to the world. The parisians think that they own culture and the rest of the world are barbarians. My boss pointed this fact out to me and even translated their high brow attitude when he hears their conversation. My boss is not a parisian! The food in paris is fantastic. You need someone to take you to a good restaurant and order the food for you. One thing, dogs are allowed in restaurants! I got a chance to experience the full French Cuisine, starting with the aperitif, the appetizers, ok I remember that I had escargot. It was presented in tray - kind of like an icecube tray except circuilar indentations and they give you an escargo fork. I also had stingray and served with a funny fish knife that looked like a cake cutter. And of course different wines to go with the meal. Although the food was seafood, they served special red wines. And red wines are not chilled but served at room temp. Enough of that. In Paris, do the tourist thing, the tower Eiffel, the ARC, and the walks down the Champs. On Sunday, got to go to Notre Dame Cathedral and got to listen to the choir sing with the magnificent organ. This is highly recommended - very few places where the choir is so good along with the acoustics of the cathedral and accomplished organ player. If you have your coffee in an outside a cafe on Sunday morning by the Champs, you will see the some parisians riding horses in a group(dressed in spats and riding caps). My boss said that they were the children of the very rich going for their ride. Alongside the Notre Dame Cathedral is the River Seine. There are good walking areas on the left and right banks (rive salt and rive gauche) but only recommended only in the daytime. At night, some of these walking paths are cruised by prostitutes, transvs and people you do now want to meet. Get pictures taken in front of the designer houses like Lui Vitton, Chloe, Channel, Charles Jordan and other names only seen in magazines. So the leather goods might be expensive in these places but they are designs that might not be available outside of France. Another thing, they have colognes and perfume lines that are also not available outside of Paris. Sadly, did not have time to see the Louvre. Do the parisian thing, sit on an outside cafe table drinking pernod - (red liquer that turns yellow when ice and icewater is added) in front of the Champs watching the beautiful people walk by. I did not do this but you can do the American thing and have a burget at burger king with wine - they do serve it there. You can also do a simple french thing like going to the nearest patisserie and get a baggette (french thin bread), get a slice of cheese (brie is ok - camembert is too strong) from a fromage shop (cheese) and sit outside in a park eating the cheese and bread - one thing missing is the paper but they are in french. Don't ask for tap water - it is unhealthy and you willl get the strangest looks. Ask for bottled flat water or carbonated water.

French Beer? French don't know how to make beer. San Miguel is better.

There was a parade on the Champs around the ARC with French sailors passing by. I saw some ladies come to the sailors and patted the top to the sailors' hats (the pompoms) and kiss the sailors on the cheek. My boss said that it was for good luck.

To be continued

Save for this BMW watch with builtin MP3 player:

http://www.bmw-online.com/PIKE_products.as...&s1=99000006509

Himeji Castle - Himeji Japan.

Taken from inside one of the inner walls.

A few movies have been filmed here. I guess mostly samurai. A western James Bond Film - You Only Live Twice, had some scenes of this castle.

The castle dates back to the era of the Shoguns.

Small note, Himeji has some great shinto shrines. Tom Cruise filmed scenes of the last samurai in a shinto shrine on Engyoji Mountain on the edge of the city. Its a walk though and at this time of the year - too hot and humid.

On a ferry to Miyajima island near Hiroshima. What you see is the Itsukushima Shinto Shrine guarded by the Red Gate in the water. The shrine has lots of tame deer all over the place. I sat down and a deer came and tried to eat my brochure on the shrine thinking it was food.

The shinkansen stopping at Hiroshima station. Shinkansen is the Japanese bullet train. The picture is of either the Hikari or Kodama class - 285 kph speed. The fastest is the Noizomi (300kph). I'll try to take a picture in a few days. I was at another station waiting at a track when a Noizomi zoomed by without stopping. The feel of the wind and vibration of the train as it passed is incredible.

Night Traffic around Trafalgar Square.

If you look at the clock, around 9pm.

Kings Cross Train Station tracks 2 & 3

Was looking for Harry Potter and the train to Hogwarts.

Couldn't find it so decided to go to York instead.

Bayswater London - By Kensington Palace

Ever seen a Mercedes Benz A140?

As small as a MiniCooper.

Was Princess Diana's private sunken garden at Kensington Palace.

York Minster

agxo3,

Haven't done serious in years.

Here's my mock Ansel A. No tripod so handheld, not all in focus /narrow depth of field

Asgarth Lower Falls

nzchick,

My version of Hobbit Land

There is a slight green cast!

Yorkshire Dales

agxo3,

great Point L shots does remind me of Ansel A. I would like to have seen the 1st in B/W and show all the tones.

nzchick,

I think that I will turn into a hobbit and visit.

agxo3,

Fountain Abbey

I lost detail outside the window on this one.

One benefit with digital is that with a flip of a switch, I can go from asa 100 to asa 1600 and handhold the shot.

Just pointing out that film still rules. Not just film but med format.

You could take your work to poster size. What is the largest print you made?

Let's see more of your work. Do you have a website?

agxo3,

If you're scanning 4x5 at high res, your files must be something over 3 mb each in jpg or over 16mb in tiff?

Must either must have lots of gig hd storage or you archive to DVD.

Must have the nikon super coolscan filmscanner to eat up the med format with firewire or scsi. interface to PC.

Yup the film has great dynamic range. Your picture proves it.

Mine kinda lost it at here Fountain Abbey. Highlight detail started to disappear. The quirkiness of digital is the white balance can be fooled and I have to postprocess if it there is a color cast.

agxo3,

Your last picture shows what film can do. Can see detail in the shadows. A digital would have lost detail in shadows.

Film has a lot more lattitude.

Used to do the darkroom thing too but they are all in the garage. I just threw out tons of mitsubishi paper developer and agfa, mitsubishi and ilford paper that I bought in Japan years ago. I used to print my color at SJ city college. They had color enlargers and processors that could print 11x14.

But alas, converted to digital last year and slowly learning to know the limitations of the ccd. It is easier traveling with a digital. No negatives to worry about being xrayed. And Costco will do 8x10 for $2.00 and will do a good job as long as you you know how they print. I have seen prof photogs get their large prints from them. I acknowledge that you will not have print control compared to having a darkroom.

Check out the comparisons of prof digital slrs (13mpix Kodak and 12Mpix interp Fuji):

http://www.onlocationportraiture.com/comp0.htm

And if you are interested in the dynamic range of these digitals, check out this thread:

http://digitalphotographers.infopop.cc/eve...65&m=4686053165

Not Monterey.

San Jose.

Don't want to do the Great America as I do not want to get caught in the traffic.

You're showing B/W.

Blackest black to the whitest white eh? You into that f64 thing ala Ansel A - zone wizard/gray controller/contrast master ka ba? Or should I say painting with light (exposure).

agxo3,

For the July 4th fireworks display, depending on the fog of course, you could try shooting the GG bridge as a background to the fireworks going up all over the place. The fireworks are in several places: Crissy, Fisherman's wharf, Pier 39 and the Ghirardelli.

For me, I might try to get on a boat off the Monterey Coast and shoot the fireworks shot off a barge overlooking Monterey bay. Depends on whether I can get friends to go.

agxo3,

Just a little tidbit about Bakers Beach. Just to the right of it is a nude beach hangout area. I guess you were concentrating on the scenery and not the nudists huh!

Excalibur,

Great night shots. Looks like time exposure. Is this 35mm and scanned to digital?

Is the by the bay picture - taken by the breakwater looking at MYC?

Please post more. :cool:

Trafalgar Square July 03- London

They had the xtreme sports events

London - The House of Parliament and Big Ben - taken from the London Eye

It looks like a ferris wheel and in a way it is a larger version.

That's the London eye at the bank of the River Thames.

Each car holds about 25 people. Each car can hold a vw passat. It takes about 45 minutes for 1 revolution. When the car is at the peak, you can see all the way to Buckingham Palace.