-
·
📸 Meanwhile: Behind the Camera
Just a quick photography note from behind the camera . . . I’ve updated my photography portfolio with new photo essays from Japan, South Korea, and Shanghai. I’ve also added new images to my ongoing projects — Street Photography and Street Art & Graffiti — and started documenting my apparently inevitable descent into photographing manhole covers. I’m not entirely…
-
·
📸 The Great Travel Camera Debate
Here is the situation I find myself in every single time we travel: I own a Nikon D800, a Leica Q3, a Sony RX-10, and an iPhone 17 Pro Max. That is, objectively, too many cameras. And yet somehow, packing for a trip always involves the same impossible calculus: which one(s) comes with me, and…
-
·
📸 Photo Essays: Make-up Edition
A little bit of housekeeping this week: I realized I forgot to post my photo essays from our Danube River cruise trip. Well, that’s not completely true. I posted my Turkey, Hungary, and Croatia photo essays, but then I got sidetracked with life, and forgot to post Serbia, Bulgaria, and Romania. In putting together my…
-
·
🇧🇬 Ruse: The Little Vienna (?) of Bulgaria
Good morning from Ruse, Bulgaria – about 75 kilometers south of Bucharest, Romania. Viking had the herd buses lined up and ready this morning. One was going to a monastery made out of rocks. Maybe interesting, but also a 2 hour bus ride. Pass. The other bus was a shuttle into town. Kind of a…
-
·
🇧🇬 Vidin, Bulgaria: Tracksuits, Roses, and an Underground Communist Toilet
Good morning from Vidin, in the extreme northwestern part of Bulgaria, on the border with Romania. What to say about Vidin? If someone were to design a travel brochure for Bulgaria, Vidin isn’t going to make the cover. Hell, I’m not sure Vidin would make page six. Vidin is one of Bulgaria’s oldest cities –…
-
·
🇷🇸 Golubac, Serbia: A Demanding Hike & Scenic Sailing. PLUS: A Poll
We’ve got white caps on the Danube today. Everyone is seasick. Kidding. Well, I overheard one lady say she was seasick. Not sure how. Being on a river boat is like sailing on glass. I think she might be confusing seasickness with some sketchy goulash. Viking’s Demanding Hike Early this morning, Ken went on what…
-
·
🇷🇸 Belgrade: Three Weddings and a lot of Gray
We are docked in Belgrade, Serbia today. And we can walk into town from the port – no herd bus. Huzzah! If nothing else, I’ve learned a lot more about Eastern European / Balkan geography on this trip. Belgrade is located at the meeting point of the Danube and Sava Rivers. The Danube connects Belgrade…
-
·
📸 🇭🇷 Photo Essay: Croatia
My Croatia photos are almost exclusively from our Danube River cruse visit to Osijek and Vukovar. I do have a few shots of Dubrovnik from a visit in 2022, but most of my photos from our day in Dubrovnik are not of the town, but of my daughter and her friend (we were there on…
-
·
🇭🇷 Osijek & Vukovar: Homemade Brandy and the Scars of War
Good morning, Croatia. Woke up to more fog, but prettier fog. Celebrating our 33rd wedding anniversary today. I got Ken a very special anniversary gift this morning – Diet Coke for breakfast. We are docked in eastern Croatia along the Serbian border, in the town of Vukovar, which saw intense combat during the Croatian War…
-
·
📸 🇭🇺 Photo Essay: Budapest & Hungary
We spent four days in Budapest in advance of our Danube River Cruise. And as much as the photographer in me wants to be using my Leica or my Nikon, you cannot beat the iPhone camera for convenience. It has become my go-to travel camera – it fits in my pocket (or purse), weighs next…
-
·
🇹🇷 🇭🇺 Istanbul to Budapest: A Security Surprise, Bullet Holes & Wine Tasting
Phone. Wallet. Passport. On the move today. New experience unlocked: in Istanbul, you have to go through a full security check just to enter the airport. They aren’t messing around. But they are also not especially organized. A massive crowd, and total confusion about which line you’re supposed to be standing in. Good times. So, heads up…
-
·
📸 🇹🇷 Photo Essay: Istanbul, Türkiye (and a few closing thoughts on the city)
We were on the ground in Istanbul for less than 48 hours. There was A LOT to absorb – overstimulating is probably the right word. I felt like I was taking pictures of everything and nothing at the same time. And as much as the photographer in me wants to be using my Leica or…