La Défense

I’ve been visiting Paris now for over 20 years and somehow haven’t made it west of the Seine River to explore the La Défense area. Well, the other day I finally decided to break that streak.

La Défense is a bit out of character with the rest of what folks view as typical Paris, a much more modern setting with skyscrapers, mall and corporate offices. But the really fun thing is the architecture of not only the Grand Arch itself but the somewhat brutalist architecture that sits just off the banks of the river. As you walk west, toward the Grand Arch the architecture changes from basically an homage to Blade Runner to proper 21st century buildings.

As usual, I had my trusty Sony RX10iv along for the job. It’s sort of the anti-camera for me with its all in one zoom lens, large body and jack of all trades features. But you know what? It gets the job done and allows some great flexibility in focal length. So alas, here’s a few favorites from the other day.

Hello Moon & Flug

Captured this SkyWest E175 descending into KDEN last night. We were in the backyard enjoying a cold beer on my first day off after a long 6 day trip when I noticed arrivals were lining up with the moon.

So I ran inside, grabbed the Fuji X-T3 and slapped on the XF100-400mm lens with a 1.4x teleconverter. And bam! Basically 520mm of zoom going on here.

Turned out pretty ok for a jet lagged handheld shot after a cold beer!

SkyWest E175 descends into Denver International Airport

Madeira

We had just arrived on the Portuguese island of Madeira the evening before I took this shot and despite little sleep, the weather was looking great for a potential sunrise shot. As I do often when we travel, I laid out my gear and clothes for a silent escape in the morning so my wife could sleep a little longer. I raced along the coastal road through the numerous tunnels hoping I'd get to the beach in time as navigating Madeira's roads can be a bit of a challenge.

Having made it to the beach just in time I managed to skip and hop over the many large boulders with reasonable sleep deprived grace to frame my shot. I quickly set up the tripod but wasn't happy with my location. Then moved farther down toward the water and lowered my perspective as well. Once satisfied, I added my 10 stop ND Lee Filter and tried a few shots to see how the scene was coming together. After a few more adjustments I got this image and was glad for the peaceful morning watching the sunrise in this far away place.

Rijksmuseum

The Rijksmuseum is perhaps one of my favorite buildings in the world. In it, is an amazing collection of all things Dutch history dating back 800 years. Including a biplane!

Outside, it’s a beautiful piece of architecture finished in 1885. With a sprawling plaza called the Musemplein it’s a wonderful place to casually stroll and relax.

Under it, is a cycle path that thousands of people travel daily on their bikes as a part of the Dutch government’s plan to get people outside to live happier and healthier lives saving billions in healthcare annually

Unlike Nigel Powers, I happen to really like the Dutch.

Purple Mountain Majesty

Along with much of the world we’re experiencing 100+ degree temps in Colorado right now and it’s hard not to think back to cold winter mornings such as this one. This scene came together one early morning at nearby Chautauqua Park in Boulder after a big snow in March 2021.

The day before when it was dumping snow, I noticed the following morning’s forecast was for clearing skies and I immediately checked one my favorite photography apps for some sunrise beta. Sure enough, The Photographer’s Ephemeris handy Skyfire feature was showing a good probability of a colorful sunrise. So I loaded my gear into my bag and set my alarm about an hour before sunrise hoping for a gorgeous morning and was well rewarded.