Thank you for a great story of photography (and much more).
I mentioned Route 66 because that is probably the only route number in the US that I really know (and even then I would not be able to point it out on a Rand McNally road map. I am sure there are many (better) routes to follow and explore.
I do remember that we took a few spectacular routes while we were roadtripping in SW-USA roughtly 12 years ago :
I remember a road through Monument Valley and one through the mountains south of Las Vegas.
And of course the road that hugs the pacific ocean between SF and LA.
(The exact year of our trip was the year of the Obama re-election - we toured the NW-USA in the year of his first election - easy to remember.)
Thanks, Chris. I agree with your preference, some of the spring images get drowned in green so the differences in yellows and greens as defined by the lighting help make sense of the image.
Thanks Mike. Both the tupelos and the cypress have wide trombone shaped bases that widen as the trees get older/taller. Both are adapted to live in water, their trunks acting as pumps to suck up and store water. The tupelos have broad leaves and produce berries that squirrels find addicting. Cypress are deciduous firs that shed their needles in winter. Cypress are surrounded by "knees", root structures that emerge from the water in a circular pattern around the tree. The tupelos have taken the upper hand since the derecho 4 years ago.
Thanks Roel. The water is always smooth as glass in the swamp because it has no movement in or out, and it sits in an old riverbed protected from wind.
Thanks Rich. The lime greens are rather overwhelming in spring. They will subdue a bit in summer.
You have seen more of this country than 99% of those of us who actually live within a few miles of the places you have visited! Good for you!
One of the great ironies is that people who grow up and live in iconic "tourist locales" anywhere in the world don't get to see a lot of those places until visitors come and want to be "shown the sights."
I lived on the island of Maui for 15 years. Our house was at the 2000 ft elevation of Haleakala. Haleakala is a 10,000 ft dormant volcano. It is a prime tourist destination with organized tours and thousands of people experiencing the spectacular view at the top, looking into the extinct caldera and otherworldly, moon-like landscape.
Every day, for ten years, I drove down the mountain to work, at sea level, and back at night. My shop was a few feet away from one of the tourist bus services. It wasn't until my son and his fiancee came to visit that we drove to the summit on New Year's Eve to watch the New Year sunrise (de rigueur for tourists visiting at that time of year). And like all the "stupid tourists," we froze our asses off because we weren't dressed warmly enough. It was balmy, warm and tropical at sea level when we started, but 30 degrees F (0 C) at the summit with constant winds of 40 knots.
When looking at the small version I thought the branch was a bit clumsy and broke up the image, but then I looked at the full size version. The branch still breaks up the image, but now I can see it frames two parts of the story and then actually brings them together. The branch is old and withered, a ruined tree if you like and so very appropriate to frame a ruined castle. The branch at the bottom is also withered and is probably the same tree. It’s arm points to the cable bridge whilst the fingers spread to further emphasise its course across the ravine. Very neat.
The photo really captures the spirit of such a place, although my memories of such a place are only virtual. I remember what they are like from films I have seen, from photos from people like Egglestone, imagined scenes from books I read. I was never there at the time or the place, but the photo backs up my „memory“ in a reassuringly accurate way!
I too appreciate Andrew‘s edited version for the same reasons mentioned by Roel.
A nice sequence of interesting photos. Maybe the story line would be better with the Buddha statue as the final photo, following a narrative of through the gate, to the building, past the guards and culminating with Buddha?
The swamp still looks good, even if a hurricane did try to destroy it recently. The reflections are great, even if I do have to keep telling myself they are not pictures of knee-joints.
Yours is another great and recognizable story.
I live in Belgium, but I can say that I have seen a lot of the sights here.
Sometimes we have visitors from abroad for a few days, and then we take them to all the usual (and some unusual) places.
And I discovered a lot of hidden gems of my own country (and the Netherlands) while doing the photography for "Hidden Belgium" and "Hidden Holland".
