It was about two years ago that I was making plans for a very special photograph.  The concept was to photograph a bristlecone pine with the full moon rising behind it.  I also wanted the full moon in the earth shadow.  That’s the band of pink that rises in the east as the sun sets in the west.  Above the earth shadow the sky is a light blue.  In the shadow it’s a much darker blue.  And in the band between light and dark is a spectrum of colors, much like what happens in the west but more subtle.

Photographic Situation

Timing was going to be critical.  I needed to pick the right day of the month so that the moon would be in the earth shadow.  Too early and the moon would be too high when the shadow appeared.  Too late and the moon would rise well after the shadow was gone. 

Bristlecone Moon (2008)

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Cliché, to many photographers this is a dirty word.  Photographs of Yosemite Valley from Tunnel View, the Tetons from Ox Bow Bend, the Watchman in Zion from the bridge, Delicate Arch – all are considered by many to be clichés.

What exactly is a cliché?  Something that has lost its originality, ingenuity, impact from long overuse.  In other words, it’s been done before – and many times.  Some have gone so far as to suggest that there are no photographs left in Yosemite Valley that are not clichés.

Not all of us agree.

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Last week I published a post in which I presented a photographic situation and solicited input on what decisions might go into getting the shot.  The situation was to photograph the interior of the beautiful Cologne Cathedral in Germany.  Here’s a link to the post.

Getting the Shot – Cologne Cathedral

In this post I’d like to share what was going through my mind as I prepared to push the shutter.  For starters, here’s the final photograph (click the photograph to enlarge it).

Cologne Cathedral

You may recall from the original post that I spoke of two things that go into every work of art – the artists Creative Vocabulary and the Interpretive Decisions he or she makes.

In this instance, which focused on the technical aspects of getting the shot, the Creative Vocabulary consists of the capabilities of the camera and the knowledge to use them.  The Interpretive Decisions are those decisions made in the moments that lead up to the instant the shutter is pressed.  So let’s step through what was going through my mind as I prepared to capture this image.

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I finally got a chance to work on a few more Eastern Sierra workshop photographs from June.  It’s amazing how many things barge to the front of the line.  But I finally got to these.  I hope you enjoy them.

Alabama Hills Vignette

This one was taken before the workshop started.  It’s just one more wonder to be found in the Alabama Hills.  I get a very quite feeling from this one.

Lone Pine Creek 2

One of the exercises we did during the workshop was to photograph the chapter, paragraph and sentence on Lone Pine Creek at Whitney Portal.  This was my sentence photograph.  The water is swirling around the rocks going every which way.  This image captures the whole turbulence of the cascade in this little microcosm.

Bristlecone Dusk

I keep coming back to this bristlecone pine in the White Mountains.  And each year the interpretation is different.  It was somewhat overcast this year and as night was coming on the clouds created subtle patterns in the sky.  One of the things I like about this tree is how it grows high above Great Basin.  It’s been here for thousands of years.  On this evening it softly glows as the day turns to night – one more time.

Half Dome Storm

The Tioga Pass road opened just a few days before we arrived in Lee Vining.  So there was no doubt that we would photograph sunset in Yosemite.  Olmsted Point provides a unique view of Half Dome from the back side.  As luck would have it a storm was rolling across the Sierra and we were there.  I love the power in this photograph.  When I look at the image I can’t help thinking how good it would look in a Southern California arts and crafts style house.

These will be up on my website soon but I wanted to give you a preview.

Join me on an upcoming workshop.

To see more of my photographs click here.

I have what I think is a fun idea that can lead to an interesting discussion.  Let me explain.

I often think of art in general and photography in particular as involving two very important elements – creative vocabulary and interpretive decisions.  Creative vocabulary is the knowledge, skills and techniques we use as artists and just like our verbal vocabulary, we use the ‘words’ in our creative vocabulary to express ourselves.  As we grow as artists our creative vocabulary grows and we are able to more fully and richly communicate our thoughts and feelings.

Interpretive decisions recognizes the fact that each of us has a unique world view and a unique thing to say.  When creating a work of art we make numerous decisions, decisions that shape the way we interpret our subject and thereby communicate what it is we have to say about it.

So, this leads to my fun idea.

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Our vacation is over and we’ll be departing for home from Amsterdam in a couple of hours.  I must confess; it’s very much of a blur right now.  But to recap our ports, we departed Basel, Switzerland last Sunday  (7/11) with the stops in Breisach, Strasbourg, Rudesheim, Koblenz, Cologne and last but not least, Amsterdam.    Side trips took us  to Colmar and the Alsatian Wind Road (Breisach), Heidelberg castle and city(Speyer), and Marksburg castle (Koblenz).

With the factual stuff out of the way, what were the highlights? First on the list was having dinner and attending a magnificent concert with our friends in Rudesheim.  I got to meet the rest of Andreas’ family and was proud to introduce mine to him.  Other memorable events were spending an enjoyable evening in a Koblenz beer garden with new friends from the boat, the unbelievable gothic cathedral of Cologne of course, a similarly magnificent but much smaller gothic cathedral in Strasbourg, the Alsace village of Colmar and a first hand introduction to Alsatian wines, Marksburg castle,  the university in Heidelberg, and the castles along the Rhein to name the first few that come to mind. 

Basal memories include the expensive meals (breakfasts was $100 for three), the cathedrals and art museum, sitting at a sidewalk cafe enjoying fondue and walking back to the hotel in the rain, and getting lost on the way to the boat.

My original intention was to publish a post on the blog every day.  But although the boat was advertised as having WIFI, it was spotty and when we did have it, there wasn’t enough bandwidth to upload photographs.  And besides, the days were so busy that there wasn’t much energy left at the end to upload photographs, work on them, write a blog and publish it.  I was able to get quite a few images on Flickr.  There are still more to publish so you might want to check back in a few days.

The WIFI situation not withstanding, there are a lot of great things to say about Uniworld, our  cruise line, and the experience they provided for us.  We loved the staff, the boat and the guests. Because of the size of the boat and the small number of guests the entire cruise had an intimate, friendly and warm feeling.  We’re already talking about which Uniworld cruise we’ll take next.

Well, it’s time to pack up and head off to the airport.  See you back in the states.

Last night the angels sang for us.  We joined our friends here in Rüdesheim for dinner and a concert that they arranged for us.  The diner was on the grounds of Closter Eberbach, a monastery that dates back some 800 years.  We had a dish that is traditional for this part of Germany, a dumpling stuffed with goodies and covered with a sumptuous mushroom sauce.  We drank the local Rheingau wine and had a chance to get to know my friend’s family better.

Then we walked across the grounds to an 800 year old Romanesque basilica where we were to enjoy the concert.  The basilica held several thousand people and it was full.  The clean, unadorned simplicity of the massive columns and arches formed the perfect setting for what we were about to experience.

The concert was part of the Rheingau Music Festival and was attended by political leaders and dignitaries from all over Germany.  And we know of three concert goers that came all the way from California.  Our seats were off to the side and we couldn’t even see the performers but that was of no concern.  The music we were about to hear filled the hall to the very ceiling and surrounded you in beautiful harmonies.

The program consisted of three pieces – the Vivaldi “Gloria”, Bach’s cantata “Wer Weiß, wie nahe mir meine Ende,” and Shubert Mass Number 2.  The Munich Chamber Orchestra was joined by four soloists.  The opportunity to hear this wonderful orchestra was exciting in itself but the reason everyone had come from so far away was to hear the Windsbacher Knabenchor.  It would not be an exaggeration to say they are one of the finest if not the finest boys choir in the world.

When the music started I knew I was listening to the voices of angels.  The boys range in age from seven to fourteen and give concerts to rapt audiences all over the world.  Their pure voices filled the hall with with moving, inspiring perfection.  The Gloria was sun with joy and exuberance.  The Bach cantata was given to us with that depth of profound human emotion for which Bach is the undisputed master.  And all I can say about the Shubert Mass was that I wished it would never end.

Yes, too soon the concert came to an end and we walked out of the basilica greatly moved and profoundly grateful for having had the opportunity to participate in such beauty.  We are grateful to Andreas and Barbara and their son Juan for making possible this memorable evening of friendship, food and music.  It is and will remain the highlight of our vacation in Germany.

Out last day in Basal ended up being a bit of an adventure, not that it started out that way.  On the way to dinner in old town Saturday night we walked by another beautiful cathedral.  So we returned Sunday morning for a visit.  And it was well worth the effort.  The Elizabethenkirche is another towering cathedral with a vaulted ceiling and wonderful beautiful stained glass windows above the alter.  We were surprised there wasn’t a church service on Sunday morning so we were able to wander around inside.

We returned to the hotel in time to get all cleaned up and head for the boat that was going to be our home for the next eight days.  I had no idea of how futile our  efforts to make a good first impression were going to be.  We got directions to the dock from the hotel front desk.  They asked us if we wanted them to call a cab.  We asked if it wouldn’t be possible to take the trolley.  They said it was and told us what line to take and where to get off.  With maps in hand we set off to catch the next trolley.  You see, we like to take as many different modes of transportation as we can when we’re on vacation.

We road the trolley to the end of the line – the stop they told us to get off on.  From there we walked down to the river, carefully following the map they had given us.  We didn’t know it but we had the wrong map.  When we got to the  river we turned upstream and walked for about a mile.  I believe I mentioned yesterday that the weather here is like a Midwestern summer day – hot and muggy.  We all worked up quite a sweat.

When we got to the place marked on the (wrong) map there wasn’t anything like a pier in site.  In fact, it was a public bathing beach.  We called the cruise line, told them where we were and they had no clue.  So we got the phone number for, you guessed it, a taxi, made the call and got a ride in a Mercedes taxi.  The pier was not more than a quarter of a mile downstream from where we had come out on the river. 

I had a pocket full of Swiss franks which were not going to be any use to us in Germany so I tried to give them all to the taxi driver.  She wouldn’t take them.  The taxi ride was 20 franks.  She insisted on giving me change.  I tried to give her a 20 frank tip and she shook her head and said, “Too much.”  She begrudgingly accepted a 10 frank tip.  Can you imaging a New York taxi driver saying, “Too much?”  If we did that in New York, they’d be thinking “Sucker.”  Not in Switzerland.

The cruise boat is beautiful.  It’s very long, narrow and low.  Our cabin is incredibly small.  We have a huge bay window looking out on the water and being on the lower level the water surface is not five feet below our  window.  It’s really vey cool.

We got settled in, enjoyed tea time followed by the mandatory orientation talks by the staff.  Then we sat down to a very nice dinner.  After dinner we went up topside and fed bread crumbs to the swans.  No, we’re not at Disneyland or a zoo.  They actually have beautiful swans all over the river.  It’s like walking through a Grimm Brothers world.

We’ve already made new BFFs.  And with such a small boat with only 125 guests we’ll quickly make a lot more.  The atmosphere is so friendly that you’d have to be a total grump not to.

So our adventure continues as we move into the next phase.

Ok, enough talk.  Here are the photos.

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I have a bit of catching up to do.  The wifi connection on the boat has been spotty.  But not to complain, we’ve been having a fantastic time.

Monday we toured the Alsace region of France, visited the old parts of the cities and drank the local wine.  We enjoyed Colmar very much.  It’s a city of major significance in Alsace but not the largest one.  That honor goes to Strasbourg.  Colmar is often referred to as the “Venice of Alsace” because of its beautiful canal. 

Colmar was our first taste of a European village and specifically a Alsatian village.  We experienced first hand the timbered buildings in architectural styles that date back 500 years and more.  The villages are clean and inviting now but during the Middle Ages the streets and waterways were open sewers with the wretched odors that went with them.  It would have been very unpleasant to say the least.

Today the old town of Colmar is, well there’s no other way of describing it but  charming.  Window boxes filled with flowers are everywhere.  The buildings are painted in bright colors.  And canal is nothing short of beautiful.  What a perfect place to sit in a riverside cafe and enjoy the local cuisine and beverages.

The photographs tell the story best.  So enjoy.

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I didn’t know what to expect in Basel, Switzerland and therefore didn’t really have any expectations.  But after spending all day yesterday exploring the Old Town, the magnificent Münster Cathedral, the street market, the art museum, supper at a sidewalk cafe and a walk back to the hotel in a gentle rain, well, it’s very simple.  We all love Basel.

I wouldn’t say Basel is clean.  One big surprise is the amount of graffiti everywhere.  But it’s a city where you feel safe walking around in the evening because everyone seems to be out walking around in the evening.  There’s a very active night life in Basel on a Saturday evening with couples and groups of friends enjoying a beer and conversation at the many sidewalk cafes.

The city has a rich cultural history and presence.  The art museum has one of the oldest collections if not the oldest collection of 16th century paintings in all of Europe.  And entering the museum you are greeted by a copy of Rodin’s “Burgers of Calais.”  What a fantastic start.  One of the free wings has an amazing collection of ‘modern classics’ that include Picasso, Braque, Miro, Matisse, Klee, Mondrian and more.

The Münster Cathedral was under restoration so the exterior photographs show a huge scaffolding on one of the towers.  But it is still magnificent.

So, enough talk.  Here are the photographs in no particular order.

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The thunderstorms predicted for last night didn’t quite materialize.  Instead we had to retreat from our sidewalk table to inside the cafe last night as a gentle rain started to fall.  And we had the pleasure of walking back to our hotel in the same gentle rain.  It was really very nice.

Today we’re going to catch a few more sites in Basel and then we board the ship this afternoon.  The weather forecast is for temperatures in the high 80s with a 50% chance of precipitation.  The weather is like the Midwest as the humidity  is also quite high.  But no one is complaining.  We’re loving it here.