Spring in MA

A 10 minute garden session with the G9. I notice I am not sneezing like last year. More pictures here

Taken as red

Red is my color, my football team, my favorite film, my favorite wine. For some reason, US politics have their red and blue confused. Red leaves in New England. Here is a four-shot panorama of Mann's Pond in Sharon, Massachusetts. It was a beautiful sunny morning, as we dragged Rachel out of bed to enjoy a wander through the leaves. More pictures here

Postcards from San Francisco

The only way to keep your heart beating, as a photographer, is to shoot what you love....Joe McNally [The Moment it Clicks]

I spent 2 weeks in northern California, with the most important people in my life. Postcards are here

Prossima fermata...Roma

Somewhat similar to Paris, Rome has that golden light, for a short period in the afternoon between the afternoon cappuccino and the first beer of the evening. The humidity and the pollution add a soft fuzz to the distant backgrounds, that gives a glow to the shots against the light. We've just spent a week in Rome, with temperatures in the 50's F. Photo sites included Circus Maximus, the Colosseum, Villa d'Este, Villa Adriano and the Pantheon. Yes, the Appian Way is flatter than many Boston roads. Yes, walking for several hours, on cobbled streets, does interesting things to your back, ankles and knees.

This was the first real trip for my Canon G9, the new pocket-sized camera that produces some amazing shots. It has a wild dynamic range and can handle shots against the light better than much more expensive cameras. Many of my shots were in the late afternoon, with the sun low in the sky. I was using exposure compensation almost all the time. Add that tiny flash to fill in dark foregrounds and this is a really cool camera. It had two obvious disadvantages. The rear screen shows slightly more than it captured, leading to cutting off several feet. The high ISO images have plenty of noise, as somewhat expected, compared with the 1D level cameras. So I did carry both; wondering what it would be like to be on a trip with only the G9 and the tiny Vye computer

Aside from being on time and polite, Swiss airlines get a special mention for being the first airline in several years to successfully deliver a vegetarian meal. Compare this with the Untied [;)] airlines flight attendant, on the DC to Rome flight, who said to me, 'The pasta's going to take a while. Are you sure you don't want the beef?'

On her first day back at school, the history teacher asked that question. Rachel was the only kid in her class to have seen the Colosseum. Maybe it was worth the hassle of the long layover in DC, the TSA security theater, the international germ exchange....Rome photos here.