Posted in Architecture, Photography, Travel, Urban, tagged belgium, brussels, Canon A620, Grand-Place, palace on September 12, 2014| 2 Comments »
Although I am here in Brussels for work, I did have some time to play tourist and visit some of the beautiful sights of the city, including the wonderful historical buildings on the Grand-Place, the ancient center of Brussels. Even with my old point-and-shoot camera, the details of the buildings really sparkle.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Art, Photography, Travel, Urban, tagged belgium, brussels, Canon A620, graffiti, grate, potato truck, Tintin on September 12, 2014| 9 Comments »
What is street art? I tend to think of street art as a category that encompasses a broad range of artistic expressions in a public area. As I walked through the streets of Brussels during this trip, I saw art everywhere—underfoot, in the form of a brass grate in the street; in the air, in the form of a Tintin mural on the side of a building; and at eye level, in the form of a grafitti-covered security cover for a shop and in a stenciled image on the side of a potato delivery truck.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Photography, Portraits, Travel, Urban, tagged belgium, brussels, Canon A620, costume, mannekin pis on September 11, 2014| 3 Comments »
One of Brussels’s notable tourist landmarks, the Manneken Pis, was wearing a different set of clothes today. The costume is that of the Red Knights of Belgium 1, the local branch of an international firefighters motorcycle club. According to a city website, “The costume was offered to honor the many firefighters, but also the American Red Knights, who vanished during the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York on 11 September 2001.”
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Photography, Travel, Urban, tagged belgium, brussels, candy, Canon A620, chocolate, SUCX on September 11, 2014| 5 Comments »
You can find fine Belgian chocolate everywhere in Brussels, but if you want other kinds of candy, this is the place to go to find almost every kind of sweet treat that you can imagine. Of course, I smile every time that I pass by the store and read its name—I can’t quite imagine a candy store with the name of SUCX succeeding in the United States.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Photography, Portraits, Travel, Urban, tagged belgium, brussels, Canon A620, costume, mannekin pis on September 10, 2014| 3 Comments »
Whenever I am in Brussels, I always try to be sure that I see the Manneken Pis, the little boy who is one of the symbols of the city. Normally, he is naked and is peeing into a fountain, but on special occasions he is clothed in one of his many costumes. Yesterday, he was wearing an athletic suit, with what appeared to be a Belgian flag, and running shoes. The statue of the boy is not very big and I am also posting a shot of the alcove in which he is located to give you an idea of his size.
I will try to check him again before I leave and see if he has changed into a different set of clothes. If so, I’ll be sure to post another photo.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Architecture, Art, Photography, Travel, Urban, tagged Adventures of Tintin, Broussaille, brussels, Canon A620, Frank Pé, murals, street art, Tintin on September 10, 2014| 7 Comments »
One of favorite things about walking around in the old area of Brussels near the Grand-Place is that you can unexpectedly come across giant murals on the sides of buildings illustrating scenes from the Adventures of Tintin. This series of comic books was created by Belgian artist Georges Remi (who wrote under the pen name of Hergé) and was one of the most popular European comic series in the 20th century.
Although I am fortunate to make trips to Brussels a couple of times a year, my trips are short in duration and I never get to know the city very well. As a result, it’s a real joy to rediscover a Tintin mural when I am wandering through the winding streets of Brussels, as I did yesterday, when I stumbled onto one of my favorite murals, depicting two boys walking together.
CORRECTION: It turns out that there are a lot of different comic book artists have works depicted in murals throughout Brussels and this mural from a series by Frank Pé with a main character called Broussaille, not from the Tintin series. Broussaille is the blond character on the right and his girlfriend Catherine is on the left. The mural was painted in 1991 and then repainted in 1999 to make Catherine appear more feminine—many believed the mural depicted a gay couple, given the proximity of the mural to Brussel’s gay district.
You also can see some interesting signs in the streets of Brussels, like this one, which seems to be advertising a beer by using a baby.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Flowers, Gardening, Nature, Photography, Summer, Urban, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, green spring gardens, Tamron 180mm macro lens, water lily on July 15, 2014| 5 Comments »
Some amazingly beautiful water lilies were in bloom at a local garden yesterday morning and seemed to be glowing from within.
Green Spring Gardens is a county-run historic garden just a few miles from where I live. I used to shoot there really often, but have been spending more time instead at my local marshland park. A couple of recent postings by Rob Paine on his blog I see beauty all around reminded me of the beauty of this garden and I spent several hours there yesterday, getting shots, primarily of the water lilies, lotus flowers, and dragonflies.
This image is a sneak preview of yesterday’s shoot, with more to follow in the near future.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Crew, Photography, Portraits, Sports, Urban, tagged Anacostia River, Canon 50D, Canon 70-300mm telephoto zoom lens, Capital Sprints Regatta, crew, DC Strokes, DC Strokes Rowing Club, regatta, Washington D.C. on July 13, 2014| 12 Comments »
Readers may have noticed that I rarely take photos of people and never photograph sporting events, but yesterday I found myself supporting one of my friends at the Capital Sprints Regatta in Washington D.C. on the Anacostia River. This was her first competition as a member of the DC Strokes Rowing Club and it was great to get some shots of her in action to commemorate the event.
I had never before been to a regatta and I took a lot of photos in an effort to capture the feeling of the experience. I selected a few of my favorites for this posting, including some close-up portraits as well as some action shots.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, Travel, Urban, wildlife, tagged Black-billed Magpie, Canon A620, Colorado, Denver, Magpie, Pica hudsonia on June 26, 2014| 9 Comments »
I couldn’t help but notice Black-billed Magpies (Pica hudsonia) here in Denver, Colorado, which I am visiting on a short business trip. The magpies are loud and boisterous, even in the area of my hotel just off of a major road.
It’s particularly nice to encounter these attractive birds because we don’t see them at all in Virginia. As is usually the case when I am travelling for business, I took these photos with a little Canon point-and-shoot and not my regular DSLR.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Architecture, Landscape, Photography, Travel, Urban, tagged belgium, brussels, Canon A620, moon, palace on June 12, 2014| 13 Comments »
Another short business trip to Brussels is coming to an end. Here are some images of this beautiful city taken during the last few days with my old point-and-shoot Canon A620.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, Travel, Urban, wildlife, tagged Canon A620, ducklings, fountain, mallard duck, Vienna, Vienna Austria, Volksgarten on May 8, 2014| 11 Comments »
As I was walking through the Volksgarten in Vienna, I was a bit surprised to encounter three ducklings, living in a fountain along with two male adult Mallards. The city had constructed a ramp so that the ducks could enter and exit the fountain and a couple of plywood platforms, where the ducklings would rest and play.
Obviously there was a mother duck involved in giving birth to these ducklings, which were no longer babies, but I did not see her at all during any of my three visits to see the ducks.
Although I had only a point-and-shoot camera with a small zoom lens, the fountain limited the movement of the ducklings and I was able to move in close for some pretty good shots, which show the personality of the little ducklings.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Posted in Humor, Photography, Travel, Urban, tagged 25 Hours Hotel, Canon A620, come as you are, hotel, Vienna Austria, we are all mad here on May 7, 2014| 11 Comments »
It would be somewhat of an understatement to say that my hotel in Vienna is quirky. The individual rooms are decorated with a circus motif; just above the entrance is a sign that boldly proclaims, “We are all mad here;” and the rooftop sign for the hotel announces that you should “come as you are.”
The 25 Hour Hotel in Vienna is obviously designed for a younger, more hip crowd, but I really enjoy the vibe of the hotel, even if I am outside the target demographic. Moreover, it is really conveniently located for the work I need to get done.
It’s hard to capture the feel of the hotel in a few photos, but I hope these images give you a sense of the experience that the 25 Hour Hotel provides—it’s a welcome change from the sense of faded glory that characterizes some of the older, more traditional Vienna hotels.
Headboard mural in my room
Large sign over hotel entrance
Hotel entrance
Rooftop hotel sign, “Come as you are.”
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Posted in Landscape, Nature, Photography, spring, Travel, Urban, tagged benches, Canon A620, chairs, park, Vienna, Vienna Austria, Volksgarten on May 6, 2014| 8 Comments »
Vienna can be a crowded city, overflowing with people much of the time, but early morning in the Volksgarten, I had my choice of seats—both the chairs and the benches were completely empty.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Posted in Architecture, Art, Photography, spring, Travel, Urban, tagged Athena Fountain, Austrian Parliament Building, Canon A620, conservatory, Rathaus, statue, Vienna, Vienna Austria on May 5, 2014| 5 Comments »
I am back in Vienna, Austria for a short business trip and captured a few of the sights of this beautiful city on an early morning walk today as the city was coming to life.
Conservatory in Vienna
Vienna City Hall (Rathaus)
Athena statue outside Austrian Parliament Building
Statue in Volksgarten
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Posted in Arachnids, Art, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, spring, Urban, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, jumping spider, KIA Soul, Runnymeade, spider, Tamron 180mm macro lens on March 22, 2014| 12 Comments »
Sometimes you don’t have to travel far to get good nature photos. I noticed this colorful little jumping spider on my car yesterday when I was loading my camera gear, getting ready to go out shooting. 
It was a fun challenge trying to get shots of the spider as it moved to various parts of the trim surrounding the windshield, many of which were reflective. I wasn’t sure how long the spider would hang around, so I didn’t set up my tripod and I think it would have been pretty awkward to do so.
I am hoping that nobody snapped pictures of me as I sprawled my body across the hood of the car, trying to find a way to brace my body and get a decent shooting position. My Tamron 180mm macro lens lets me get in close, but it does not have image stabilization.
One of the first things that I noticed when I reviewed my images was that my car is dirty. In this area, they use a lot of salt on the roads when it snows and I suspect that those little white spots are salt residue. I thought about removing them in post-processing, but decided that I like the more urban, gritty feel that they give the images (and besides, it would have been a lot of work to get rid of all of them).
I am always thrilled when I find a jumping spider. There is something special about all of those eyes that simply fascinates me and I am particularly happy when I manage to get reflections in the eyes.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Posted in Architecture, Landscape, Photography, Travel, Urban, tagged belgium, brussels, Canon A620, city hall, Grand-Place, mannekin pis, moon on January 17, 2014| 3 Comments »
The city was mostly deserted when I took a walk through the center of Brussels at 5:00 this morning, my last day in Brussels for this trip. It was a little eerie to visit some of the major tourist sites in the moonlight and to be mostly alone.
Mountains of bulging trash bags and folded cardboard were piled up outside the businesses as I made my way through the cobblestone streets of the pedestrian area. The buildings of the Grand Place were as beautiful as ever, though I didn’t really care for the series of off-and-on lights that illuminated them (and they made it tough to get a proper exposure). I finished up my early morning stroll with a visit to the Mannekin Pis, the little boy who is one of the symbols of Brussels. Occasionally I have seen him in one of his many costumes, but this morning, he was au naturel.
Despite seeing again some of the famous landmarks, my favorite subject this morning was the moon as it lit up the clouds in the sky. I tried to capture some of the feeling in the first photo, where the moon shows itself in between parts of the roofs in a downtown house.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Posted in Architecture, Landscape, Photography, Travel, Urban, Winter, tagged belgium, brussels, Canon A620, city hall, night photography on January 16, 2014| 6 Comments »
I really like the different types and colors of light in this shot of a portion of Brussel’s nightime skyline, taken from an overlook near the city’s Central Train Station.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Posted in Art, Landscape, Photography, Travel, Urban, Winter, tagged belgium, brussels, Canon A620, moon, night, night photography, statue on January 15, 2014| 3 Comments »
It rained most of the day in Brussels, but finally the skies cleared a little in the evening and the moon was visible from time to time, peeking through the clouds. I enjoy walking through this old city at night and observing the interplay of the light and shadows.
It’s a fun challenge to try and capture the effects of light at night with an older point-and-shoot digital camera and I am always looking for solid objects against which to lean to steady myself.
This was my most “artistic” shot of the evening, an attempt to balance the effect of the weak light of the moon with the artificial lights that illuminated this statue.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Posted in Architecture, Art, Landscape, Photography, Urban, Winter, tagged belgium, brussels, Canon A620, city hall, snow on January 13, 2014| 8 Comments »
I am drawn to the colors and shapes and patterns in this image of the roof of the Brussels City Hall, one of the iconic buildings of the central square of this beautiful city.
I am back in Brussels for a brief business trip and have not yet had a chance to shoot any new photos. I took this shot last year in mid-January, when the city was covered with a light coating of snow. This year, it looks like it’s a bit warmed and I was shocked to see some sunshine yesterday, the day of our arrival. In my experience, the skies are usually gray and cloud-covered and it is unusual to see the sun at this time of the year.
I hope to have some new photos of Brussels soon, work permitting, which you should be seeing for the next few days.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Posted in Christmas, Travel, Urban, Winter, tagged Canon A620, Christmas, National Christmas Tree, Washington D.C. on December 24, 2013| Leave a Comment »
Last night I made a trip into Washington D.C. with some friends to see the National Christmas Tree. Despite the fact that I have lived in this area for more than 20 years, this was the first time that I had seen it live—I have seen the tree-lighting ceremony on the news many times.
The large Christmas tree, which is a live tree, is surrounded by 56 smaller decorated live trees, representing the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the unincorporated territories of the United States. Underneath the tree was an elaborate set-up of model trains, reminding me of my childhood.
It’s the day before Christmas and most of us are in high gear for the coming holy day. Best wishes to all of you for a joyous Christmas and a wonderful and blessed New Year.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Posted in Architecture, Christmas, Photography, Travel, Urban, tagged Canon A620, Christmas, lights, night photography, Vienna, Vienna Austria on December 13, 2013| 15 Comments »
The streets in the pedestrian area of Vienna have spectacular displays of lighting for Christmas that are simple and elegant. Each of the streets has its own motif that is repeated in white or gold lights. My favorites are the giant chandeliers in one of the main streets, but others are equally impressive. Do you have a favorite?
I am including a selection of photos in a gallery to show you some of the different lighting schemes—click on a photo to see the photos in the gallery at higher resolution.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Architecture, Photography, Travel, Urban, tagged Canon A620, Hofburg Palace, night photography, Vienna Austria on December 12, 2013| 8 Comments »
There are so many beautiful, historic buildings in Vienna that I often walk around with my eyes looking upward (fortunately I haven’t run into anything yet). These are shots of a couple of elements of the Hofburg Palace, a former palace that is right in the center of the city. Vienna does a nice job of lighting up many of these buildings at night, which makes for some nice opportunities for me to hone my skills in night photography.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Architecture, Art, Photography, Travel, Urban, tagged architecture, Austrian Parliament, Burgtheater, Canon A620, Rathaus, Vienna, Vienna Austria on December 8, 2013| 7 Comments »
I was a little jetlagged, but managed to take a short walk through part of the city this afternoon, the day of my arrival, and got these photos of some of the notable buildings in Vienna, Austria.
There are so many beautiful and interesting buildings in Vienna that you could easily spend weeks photographing them. I have been in this wonderful city quite a number of times, so many of these buildings are familiar to me. I realize, however, that is not the case for most of my readers, so I thought I would share some of that beauty in a few photos from the point-and-shoot Canon that I have with me during this business trip.
Burgtheater, Vienna
Detail of Austrian Parliament Building, Vienna
Detail of Rathaus (City Hall), Vienna
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Art, Butterflies, Flowers, Gardening, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, Urban, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, crabapples, Limenitis arthemis astyanax, Red-spotted Purple butterfly, Tamron 180mm macro lens on August 31, 2013| 10 Comments »
In the townhouse community in which I live in Northern Virginia, many of us have crabapple trees in our front yards, and the fallen crabapples are a nuisance at this time of the year. However, they do provide food for certain butterflies that prefer rotten fruit to flower nectar, like this Red-spotted Purple butterfly (Limenitis arthemis astyanax) that I photographed this morning.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Posted in Landscape, Photography, Urban, tagged Canon Rebel XT, full moon, moon, Sigma 135-400mm telephoto zoom lens, supermoon, Vienna VA on June 23, 2013| 3 Comments »
I didn’t go to a lot of trouble to set up a really cool backdrop, but did manage to get a shot yesterday evening of the supermoon. It was amazing to see how much light it put off and I had no trouble handholding my camera to take a shot, even with my 135-400mm zoom lens. I decided to add a little visual interest to the shot by shooting the moon with the shadowy outline of an electrical tower of some kind in the foreground.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Posted in Photography, Travel, Urban, tagged Canon 55-250mm zoom lens, Canon Rebel XT, night photography, Three Servicemen Statue, Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Washington D.C. on February 25, 2013| 4 Comments »
When most people think of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, they think only of the black granite wall with all of the names, but the Three Servicemen Statue is also part of the memorial.
Frederick Hart, the sculptor of these statues, described his work in these words (according to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund):
“The portrayal of the figures is consistent with history. They wear the uniform and carry the equipment of war; they are young. The contrast between the innocence of their youth and the weapons of war underscores the poignancy of their sacrifice. There is about them the physical contact and sense of unity that bespeaks the bonds of love and sacrifice that is the nature of men at war. And yet they are each alone. Their strength and their vulnerability are both evident. Their true heroism lies in these bonds of loyalty in the face of their aloneness and their vulnerability.”
I visited the memorial one evening this past weekend and took these photos of the statue. The first photo shows the torsos of the grouping (the statues themselves are full body, but I wanted to show the details of the upper bodies) and the others show the faces of each of the three soldiers.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Posted in Architecture, Landscape, Photography, Travel, Urban, tagged Canon 55-250mm zoom lens, Canon Rebel XT, night photography, orange sky, Washington D.C., Washington Monument on February 24, 2013| 8 Comments »
Fog, low-hanging clouds, and reflected light gave the skies of Washington D.C. an orange-colored glow last night, which made for dramatic shots of the Washington Monument.
I don’t really understand the scientific basis for the phenomenon (perhaps air pollution contributed to it), but tried to capture it with my camera. I took these shots at about nine o’clock in the evening using my tripod and a long exposure, even thought they look like they might have been shot at sunset.
A friend convinced me to go with him to Washington D.C. with the goal of getting some photographs of the Washington Monument shrouded in heavy fog, which turned out not to be the case. Instead, we got something totally unexpected that turned out to be even better than that for which we had hoped.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Posted in Architecture, Photography, Travel, Urban, tagged Canon 55-250mm zoom lens, Canon Rebel XT, Francis Scott Key Bridge, Georgetown University, Key Bridge, Potomac Heritage Trail, Potomac River, Washington D.C. on February 15, 2013| 2 Comments »
The familiar often looks new when perceived from a different angle, as I found out last weekend when I hiked along the Potomac River and looked across the river toward Georgetown University.
Although I have lived in this are for almost 20 years, I had never heard of the Potomac Heritage Trail, a narrow trail that begins in Washington D.C. and continues upstream, mostly at at river-level. I have driven past this scene many times and the buildings of Georgetown really stand out, but I never really saw the green boathouse tucked in at the base of Francis Scott Key Bridge, which crosses from Virginia into the District of Columbia.
The first shot shows a view from the Virginia side of the Potomac River, looking directly toward Georgetown University, and the second one shows the Key Bridge. I love the arches of the bridge, which I have crossed many times.
My little hike was a good way to force me to look at the familiar in a different way—I hope to be able to do the same with some of my other subjects too.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Posted in Art, Photography, Travel, Urban, Winter, tagged brussels, Canon A620, smile, statue on January 17, 2013| 3 Comments »
Walking around in Brussels, I came upon this stone statue with a smile that simply drew me in. There is a kind of mischievous glint in the eye that matches the smile.
I hope that you’ll smile too when you see him.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Posted in Architecture, Art, Photography, Travel, Urban, tagged Adventures of Tintin, art, brussels, Canon A620, murals, Tintin on January 16, 2013| 4 Comments »
One of the cool things about walking around in the old area of Brussels near the Grand-Place is that you can unexpectedly come across giant murals on the sides of buildings illustrating scenes from the Adventures of Tintin. This series of comic books was created by Belgian artist Georges Remi (who wrote under the pen name of Hergé) and was one of the most popular European comic series in the 20th century.
Here are photos of a few of those murals that I took in September, during a previous trip to Brussels. I really like the colors and the style of the illustrations and the way that they were integrated into the buildings on which they were painted.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Mike Powell 
Abandoned
Posted in commentary, Nature, Photography, Urban, tagged abandoned, Canon 55-250mm zoom lens, Canon Rebel XT, Potomac Heritage Trail, Potomac River on February 21, 2013| 8 Comments »
Last weekend as I was hiking along the Potomac River in Virgina, following the narrow, rocky Potomac Heritage Trail, I came several large metal objects that appear to have been abandoned. They are shaped like some kind of water or fuel tanks and have lots of bolts and/or rivets. To me, they look very industrial. There also was a large wheel-like object. Although I was only a few miles from Washington D.C., the area where I saw these items was very isolated.
Does anyone have any idea about what these objects were used for and why they might have been abandoned?
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
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