Muchas Gracias, Senor Torres

Snow in England? No, really, the optimism continues. Liverpool beat Chelsea today, for the second time this season. After dominating possession for most of the second half, we saw some magical play from Fernando Torres. This photograph was taken by Fiona Hammond. I am sure the ground was shaking as she took it. If you can't read it, it says Liverpool 2 Chelsea 0.

Optimism...

Bruce Springsteen:

"I spent most of my life as a musician measuring the distance between the American dream and American reality. For many... the distance between that dream and their reality has never been greater or more painful. I believe Senator Obama has taken the measure of that distance in his own life and work. I believe he understands in his heart the cost of that distance in blood and suffering in the lives of everyday Americans. I believe as president he would work to bring that dream back to life.

"So I don't know about you, but I want my country back, I want my dream back. Now is the time to stand together with Barack Obama and Joe Biden and the millions of Americans that are hungry for a new day, roll up our sleeves and come on up for the rising."

Black belts

We watched a recent black belts award performance at North Attleboro high school. Students and instructors from America's Best Defense, a group of martial arts schools in Massachusetts. This is where we train in Krav Maga. Pictures here were taken with the new Canon 5D II, include stills and video. The lighting was fairly low, so the stills were almost all shot at ISO 6400. The lighting quality could have been better. There was virtually no front light on the faces of the people on stage.

Board Breakers

Video was shot with the Canon G9. This is a simple camera to operate in video and the auto-focus behaved surprisingly well. Video here

Rangapravesha

I was honored to shoot a Rangapravesha dance performance recently in Canton, Massachusetts. Pictures are here...

Some of my pictures have now been published on the Indian community website, Lokvani, here

Guanajuato, land of the frogs

We have spent the past couple of weeks in the Mexican province of Guanajuato. We have visited the cities of Guanajuato, Dolores Hidalgo and yes the Gringo haven of San Miguel de Allende. I am overwhelmed by the warmth of people, the smiles and the eye contact, all features in short supply in New England these days. Maybe the election result will help people improve their moods a little. But really, even with the violence in the news these days in Mexico, I have not been to a more welcoming place. Hasta luego mis amigos. Pictures here...

Si, nosotros podemos

We were happy to vote before we left the country for 2 weeks in Mexico. We are even happier now with the result. Please let this be a new beginning, to put the US back into play, in the international community. Let the Palin circus side-shows end. One friend from England said 'welcome back to the international community'. Let it be...