I photographed this bull Cape buffalo in Tanzania’s Serengeti National Park.
The Cape buffalo of Africa is one of the world’s largest and strongest land mammals. It can toss full-grown lions with a shake of its head and horns, and they are not afraid to attack lions if their herd is threatened. In Tanzania, where I shot this, I was told they are among the most dangerous land animals in Africa. This enormous male bull looks like it had tussled before with a lion, and clearly it did not lose that battle. I would hate to cross their path if they felt threatened. (Click on the photograph to see a larger picture on a separate picture page.)
Who the hell cares if it is a little cold outside. How about a run?
One of the truisms of true runners is, a runner runs. And they run no matter what the hell is happening outside, hot, cold, pollution, whatever. I took this shot of a running buddy, Janelle, on a great Anchorage area backcountry run on snow. Yes, you can run on snow that has melted a bit and then froze crust hard. Our adventure traversed the length of Chugach State Park in March 2007. Many a time I had ice on my eyelashes and whiskers when running during an Alaska winter.
Some things take time … a long, long, long time. Timing requires great patience, and also knowing when to act. In life, lucky is the person who can be both patient and know when to act. I am very, very lucky.
In late September 2014, I celebrated, here, at La Jolla Beach, the place I had come 25 years earlier, when this chapter of my odyssey began. I will forever have an endearing attachment to this place. It was here where I finally felt what I had long wanted.
Nothing more to say about this one other than it was a fabulous sunset and I only had my point and shoot. It turned out fine, for my tastes. Really loved Carlsbad. Shhhhh. Secret, except to the thousands who surf there and the many, many more thousands who live there, and drive through there, nestled just south of Camp Pendleton Marine Base. Bring your camping gear if you’re car camping, as the camping spots at the state beach are incredible. (Click on the photograph to see a larger photo on a separate picture page.)
This amphitheater was also used for Roman gladiatorial games.
The discovery of a nearly 2,000-year-old wooden toilet seat by Hadrian’s Wall in England brought to my mind just how expansive the Roman Empire was, stretching from the highlands of Scotland to the Atlas Mountains of Morocco to the Upper Nile in Egypt to the deserts of Iraq. They were creative, violent, organized, and pragmatic, and they left a lasting legacy in every land they conquered and administered. The toilet seat also reminded me of the famous Monty Python skit from the film The Life of Brian. One of the rebels named Reg, who is plotting to overthrow the Romans, summarizes the local grievances against their masters: “All right, but apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, the fresh-water system, and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?”
Modern-day Turkey, long at the heart of the Hellenic world, was ruled for centuries by Rome and then into the Middle Ages by the Byzantine Empire until the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks. You can see the Roman footprint everywhere in Turkey–Istanbul, Antakya (brilliant mosaics and ruins everywhere), Adana, Myra, Ankara, Ephesus, and countless other historic sites and ancient cities. Here are just a few of some of the pictures I took. I have never published these before until now. Thanks Python crew for reminding me of all the things the Romans never did for us. (Click on each photo to see a larger picture on a separate picture page.)
More pictures of my trip to Turkey can be found on my Turkey photo gallery. Skit from Monty Python below.
Central Washington is wide open and vastly different than the moist, wet western half of the state.
Washington’s nickname is the Evergreen State. Well, that is for everyone who lives in the Cascades or west of them. For those in the rain shadow to the east, the climate is distinctly dry, parched, and a genuine desert ecosystem in areas. Massive irrigation, thanks to the dams built during and after the Depression era, turned a lot of the Columbia River Basin into productive agricultural areas, which grow everything from cherries to wine grapes to apples. I love the terrain. Right now, a lot of the dry hills north of where this photo was taken, near Vantage, are either on fire or at risk of fire, with the greatest fires the state has seen. This photo and others of the state’s many faces can be found on my Washington state photo gallery. (Click on the photograph to see a larger picture on a separate picture page.)
Anglers cast for spring Chinook on the Deschutes River, at a spot managed by the Warm Springs Indian Reservation (2014).
During a short road trip to central Oregon the first week of June, I accidentally discovered this amazing fishing area on the Deschutes River, north of Maupin. It is called Sherars Falls. I camped here, and I was in heaven. The fishing area is managed by the Warm Springs Indian Reservation, and I’m fairly certain Native fishermen have been visiting these falls for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. This shot was taken shortly before 6 a.m. as the morning crew arrived to cast lines for spring Chinook. The night before, the guys did not stop fishing until about 10 p.m. I love salmon fishing and passion it brings out in anglers. And this was one of the prettiest fishing locations I have ever seen. (For a larger photo, click on the picture to open a separate picture page.)
My favorite memory of Italy, in a small cup, served hot.
The thing I remember best about Italia? Cappuccino, every morning. Normally I do not drink coffee. I am a tea person. But in Italy, there was no choice but to render unto Caesar. And every cup is treated and prepared with care. Beautiful. (Click on the photo for a larger image on a separate picture page.)
Mt. Rainier looms like a giant in the distance above the Duwamish River, in south Seattle (2014).
This happens to be a “picture” I see often, at least when the clouds let me see Rainier behind the industrial facade. Maybe I just like the Duwamish River because it is the one I see most often, and feel some deep pity for. It was once a living thing. Now it is just a place where we built a city, a port, an economy. Seeing the Duwamish every day some times reminds me of what I felt when I saw the Mississippi in Louisiana, where the river is subverted to human desires and the many industries that thrive there. Maybe I just have a thing for rivers?
What Beautiful Light 