Some pictures of Tonto Creek and Canyon Creek on the Mogollon Rim in Northern Arizona. Fishing was subdued but the scenery was magnificent.

All but the last three photos where taken on my new iPhone 4s. Impressive camera, but check out the last three taken on my Nikon 200 and you will see the difference.

Pictures are Here.

Lake Mead

It has be a very long time since I Processed anything to post. I have decided to keep up occasional entries where I make photography excursions. No longer living in Europe, my subject matter is going to be less exotic and expect to see more landscape and nature photography as I get back in my passions for the wilds.

We traveled to Boulder City Nevada, just outside Las Vegas, so Kai could participate in a 1/2 Marathon along the lake and to Hoover Dam. Kai finished with good time and I caught some good shots of the race.

I broke the tripod out for some serious night shots and ran my ultra-wide lens through its paces with some satisfactory results. The glow in the background of the night shots are the light of Las Vegas.

Photos are here.

Scottish Borderlands & Hadrian's Wall

Pictures are Here

We traveled on a tour bus that had stops at Roslyn Chapel, the borders, and at an old Roman outpost along Hadrian's wall called Vercovicium, or Housesteads.

Rosyln Chapel was an amazing structure. It is currently covered by a steel superstructure to keep the rain off and allow moisture to dry out of the sandstone structure prior to sealing. The moisture has been destroying the chapel. Unfortunately, there is no secret Templar library in the basement, just a small room, but there is an intriguing hole in the top of the staircase revealing an empty space beneath the chapel. A few years ago they good sonar readings from the ground beneath the church and found that that their are catacombs beneath it and that the space below is as big and deep as the space above. Pictures where not permited inside and trees and the steel structure made any attempt to frame a decent shot outside futile. It will have to stick in our memory. The steel frame should be dismantled by August 2010.

Hadrian's wall was well worth the long drive southward. The old fort is nearly all rubble, but you can get a real feel for the this one time dividing line between civilization and the frontier by standing on the wall and staring off into the northern frontier. The wind was very harsh and sheep where many making walking very hazardous. forget about laying on that grass.

Very beautiful country.

West Highlands of Scotland

Photos are here.

I have to say I originally hated the idea of taking a bus tour while on vacation, but the more of them I take, the more I like them.   Here we traveled from Edinburgh into the West highlands visiting castles and lochs.

• Castle Duone -- Used for a number of scenes in Monty Python's Holy Grail.
  
• Castle Kilchurn -- Ask Kai for the story on how the driver almost did not take us to see this great castle.  This is situated on the shores of Loch Awe.
  
• Invernary Castle -- The seat of the clan chief of clan Campbell, the Duke of Argyll.
  
• Loch Lomond -- Yes the one in the song.
  
• Stirling Castle --  Everyone who has seen Braveheart knows this one.
  

The Highlands are striking for their spartan beauty and unspoiled wilderness.  Driving in and around Scotland was the first time that I felt like I had entered country that nature holds more sway than man while I was in Europe.    A remarkable place.

The best shots of this trip was a series I caught of Kai looking out of the window on the second floor of castle Kilchurn.   I try not to repeat a lot of shots, but I like these a great deal so posted all of them.  She looks great.

National Museum of Scotland

The National Museum of Scotland allows photos.   Some really great stuff here for history fans, but no great aesthitic photos.    I liked the Isle of Lewis Chess set and Pictish ornements--particuarlly the chains of estate and authority that look very familar to me.

Pictures are here

Edinburgh

Pictures are Here

Our last big vacation while living in Europe was a trip to Scotland.   I will divide this trip up into four sections: Edinburgh, Scottish National Museum, West Highlands, and the Borderland & Hadrian's Wall.  

In Edinburgh, we stayed in The Caledonian off Princess Street and in the shadow of Edinburgh Castle.   The Caledonian used to be a train station in the hey-day of rail.  That past lends its classic look to the hotel today and was a great place to stay aside from the late night fire alarms.

I got lucky with my landscape shots of the castle.  I hit just the right light for to contrast the rocks beneath the castle.  I could not be happier with these shots.

Aside from the national museum, we did a lot of walking around the city.   We saw the castle, inside and out, walked the high street a few times, and toured Holyrood. 

On High Street we had the best pizza we had in all Europe and tried the famous deep fried mars bar.   All in all the food was much better than we had expected.

Crecy

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Crecy was the first example of English forces using force multipliers to defeat a larger force of well trained French soldiers and nobility.    Crecy also saw the first recorded use of cannons in a battle in Europe and was where the sixteen year old Edward the Black Prince proved himself as a leader and "won his spurs" as it is said.

I did not have a lot of time to take in the battle field.  I had scarcely 20 minutes of time to get the layout of the field and take some pictures when a storm from moved in with such speed and violence that staying on the hill, even my car felt like pure foolishness.  I saw what I came for so beat a hasty retreat up through Belgium and back to Amsterdam that night.

The English clearly had the high ground, but it was not steep enough to be decisive.  As with Agincourt, the English victory depended as much on poor choices by the French as their own initiative or control of the battle.