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Posts Tagged ‘Canon A620’

Vienna in the rain

Posted in Gardening, Photography, Travel, tagged , , , , , on December 9, 2013| 5 Comments »

It was windy and rainy all day in Vienna and I got drenched during a short walk today. Fortunately I was able to get this shot of a carriage that ferries tourists around the city—I think they are known as fiacres. The horses were had on some kind of blankets, but were otherwise unprotected from the weather. The driver was nowhere to be seen, though I suspect he was inside the carriage or maybe inside one of the nearby coffee houses.

I took this shot outside of the Volksgarten, a beautiful garden in the center of Vienna that has a wonderful rose garden with hundreds of different species. The rose bushes are now covered with individual burlap coffee bags for protection.

carriage_blog

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Architecture in Vienna

Posted in Architecture, Art, Photography, Travel, Urban, tagged , , , , , , 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

Burgtheater, Vienna

Detail of Austrian Parliament Building, Vienna

Detail of Austrian Parliament Building, Vienna

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Detail of Rathaus (City Hall), Vienna

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Macro with point-and-shoot in Brussels

Posted in Flowers, Gardening, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, Travel, tagged , , , , , , , , on September 14, 2013| 8 Comments »

It’s been gray and rainy almost all this week in Brussels, so many of these shots feature raindrops. When I am away on a trip for business, I generally carry only my point-and-shoot camera, an old Canon A620.

This trip I decided to experiment with the macro mode and see what kind of shots I could get. I was pleasantly surprised with the results and even managed to get some insect shots, despite the fact that I had to get really close to them, compared with the macro lens that I normally use. I never had to worry about harsh sunlight—I never saw any the entire trip—and mostly had to shoot a a high ISO and an almost wide-open aperture.

I did get some shots of the buildings in Brussels, which looked almost monochromatic in the gray light, but will post some of those images when I return home from the trip.

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© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Nightfall in Vienna-part 2

Posted in Architecture, Photography, Travel, tagged , , , , on April 26, 2013| 1 Comment »

Here are a few more shots from my last night in Vienna. The first three are of a portion of the Hofburg Palace. The last one is of St. Stephen’s Cathedral (Stephansdom). I can’t recall the name of the church in the penultimate photo.

Hoffburg1_blogHoffburg2_blogHoffburg3_blogchurch1_blogStephen1_blog

Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Nightfall in Vienna

Posted in Architecture, Art, Landscape, Photography, Travel, tagged , , , , on April 25, 2013| 4 Comments »

On my last full day in Vienna (at least for this trip), I decided to take some photos of the city as the sun started to set.

This is a shot of the Rathaus (Vienna City Hall), just after they turned on the lights to illuminate the building. I did not have a tripod with me, so I braced on or against various objects in an effort to steady myself. I may post a few more night shots of Vienna later (if I am not too sleepy or wake up really early), but thought I’d share this one right now.

My trip to Vienna was brief, but enjoyable. I got a lot accomplished work-wise, but had enough free time to really enjoy some amazing spring weather.

Rathaus1a

Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Strauss in Vienna

Posted in Architecture, Art, Photography, Travel, tagged , , , , on April 25, 2013| 4 Comments »

When you travel to a well-known location, do you feel compelled to take some touristy photos of the famous landmarks? I confess that I almost always feel a need to take at least a few shots of the iconic sights.

In Vienna, one of the most photographed monuments is the gold-plated bronze statue of Johann Strauss II in the City Park (Stadt Park). Strauss was an Austrian composer in the 19th century and is probably best known for popularizing waltzes. The statue itself was unveiled to the public in 1921 and was covered in gold in 1991, replacing the gold that had been removed in 1935.

One of the more interesting things about the statue is that people are permitted to climb right up next to the statue to have their picture taken. It was a lot of fun to watch the various poses that people would assume, including one lady who posed while trying to hold upright a large pitbull-type dog.

strauss1aStrauss2a

Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Sunrise in Vienna

Posted in Architecture, Landscape, Photography, Travel, tagged , , , , on April 24, 2013| 4 Comments »

At this time of the year the sun rises pretty early in Vienna, Austria, but I was able to capture a few shots this morning from my hotel window. In the distance you can see one of the spires of St. Stephen’s Cathedral (Stephansdom), one of the major landmarks of the city.

My little Canon A620 seems to have a maximum shutter duration of one second, so I had to play around a little with aperture and f-stop to try to get a decent exposure. I used a little tripod on the window sill to steady the camera for these shots.

Sunrise1aSunrise2a

Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Not an American Crow

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, Travel, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on April 24, 2013| 11 Comments »

Walking through some of the parks here in Vienna, Austria, I couldn’t help but notice that the crows here are not at all the same as the crows in my part of the United States.

I am here in Vienna for work for a few days and have spent my free time walking through the parks, checking out the birds and plants.  Most of the birds that I see are pigeons, but I was really struck by the large black-and-white crows that periodically fly onto the scene.

A little research on the internet reveals that these are Hooded Crows (Corvus cornix), and not the  all-black American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos) that I am used to seeing.

The only camera that I have with me is my trusty Canon A620 point-and-shoot. It is compact, but its 4x zoom makes it less than ideal for capturing birds. However, several crows were relatively cooperative yesterday and let me get close enough to get these shots.

I’ll probably post a few photos of buildings in the next day or two, but wanted to let folks know that I am still drawn to seek out nature, even in the midst of a big city.

crow1b_blogcrow_frontb

Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Night in Brussels

Posted in Architecture, Art, Photography, Travel, Winter, tagged , , , on January 18, 2013| 1 Comment »

On my final night in Brussels for this trip, I made one last walk through the city. Despite the frigid cold, there were still a lot of pedestrians stopping in the Grand-Place to take photos or to visit one of the numerous bars and restaurants in the area. Some of the previous times that I was in Brussels, the buildings in the square were illuminated, but the were pretty dark this time.

I balanced my camera on my stocking hat to stabilize it for this first photo, which you can probably guess was a pretty long exposure. I like the way the different lights in the scene turned out differently, with varying strengths and colors.

The second photo is one of Mannekin Pis, a statue of a little boy that is one of the symbols of Brussels. Sure, it’s a touristy thing place to visit and the statue certainly doesn’t rate high in terms of art. However, I usually try to stop by and see him, because sometimes he is wearing one different outfits for different occasions.

Tomorrow I’ll be home and will probably return to posting mostly nature shots in my blog.  It’s been an interesting experience the last few days trying to orient myself to photographing different things in a completely different environment.

night_blogmannekin

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Smile from Brussels

Posted in Art, Photography, Travel, Urban, Winter, tagged , , , 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.

statue

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Tintin Art in Brussels

Posted in Architecture, Art, Photography, Travel, Urban, tagged , , , , , 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.

TinTin1TinTin2TinTin3TinTin4

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Frozen city flowers

Posted in Flowers, Macro Photography, Photography, Travel, Winter, tagged , , , , on January 15, 2013| 2 Comments »

Brussels is still blanketed with a light coating of snow. The outdoor areas of the restaurants on the Grand-Place, the old city square, are deserted, but they continue to be surrounded by flowerboxes full of hardy flowers, like this little pansy. My eyes were drawn to this splash of color in a sea of grayness.

The little point-and-shoot Canon that I have with me has a limited zoom range, but it does have a macro mode that lets me get pretty close to my subject. I have tried to capture simultaneously the colors of the flower and the sense of winter. I did find the ice to be particularly difficult to render in a realistic way, probably because of its reflectiveness.

pansy1pansy2

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Brussels pedestrians

Posted in Photography, Travel, Urban, Winter, tagged , , , , on January 15, 2013| 2 Comments »

What do you do when you wake up early in the morning in a hotel in a foreign country and have the desire to take some photos? If the weather were a bit nicer, I might have gone for a walk in the city, but it was bitter cold last night and snow has fallen, so instead I took a few shots looking out my window.

My room overlooks one of the entrances to the Central Train Station in Brussels and there are interesting lights and colors. The fresh snow is already covered in footprints, although not many pedestrians were yet visible when I took my photos. I particularly liked one sidewalk area that goes off to the side of the station and the two shots I’m posting show pedestrians walking in this area. The photos have kind of an urban vibe that is new to me. I’m starting to understand a bit what attracts some photographers to taking photos in the city.

Who are these people? Why are they up and about at a time when most others are still sleeping? I’ll never know their stories, but I have captured their images on this frigid Brussels morning.

Early morning pedestrian in Brussels

Early morning pedestrian in Brussels

Brussels pedestrians

Brussels pedestrians

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Sparrows in the center of Brussels

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, Travel, Urban, Winter, tagged , , , , on January 14, 2013| 6 Comments »

I have been photographing so many birds recently that one of my first thoughts upon arrival in Brussels yesterday was to look for birds. I did manage to get a few shots of some sparrows in a small park near the Central Train Station, the neighborhood in which my hotel is located. However, I quickly realized that the 4X zoom of my little Canon A620 is a limiting factor in getting close enough for a decent shot. I also know that at 7.1 megapixxels, I can’t afford to dramatically crop the photos.

I’m happy with these two images. I captured the first sparrow on a snowy evergreen bush. Snow may not be special to many, but my part of the USA has seen only a very small amount of snow this year. The second sparrow is perched on the railing surrounding the plants and is looking into them. I think he was singing so much that the bottom part of his beak is blurred.

I haven’t yet been able to identify these sparrows, but I wonder if they are different from the ones that I typically see in suburban Virginia.

Sparrow in Brussels

Sparrow in Brussels

Sparrow on a fence

Sparrow on a fence

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Cold Sunday in Brussels

Posted in Architecture, Photography, Travel, Winter, tagged , , , , , on January 13, 2013| 12 Comments »

It was almost 60 degrees (15 degrees C) when I left home, but it was well below freezing when I arrived in Brussels this morning. Although I usually try to stay awake when I first arrive, it was so dark and gray that I decided to take a nap first. Eventually the sun came out and I went for a little walk in the city center, though the cold and wind drained the power quickly from the batteries of my point-and-shoot camera and made it a little uncomfortable.

Last fall when I was here, I posted some photos of the main square of the city, the Grand-Place. The light was so beautiful today that I decided to post another shot of one of the buildings on that square, the city hall building. The perspective lines are distorted, but I think you can see how beautiful the building is. I am also including a photo of the bell tower of one of the churches here. It is considerably less ornate than the buildings on the Grand-Place, but I find it equally captivating.

City Hall in Brussels

City Hall in Brussels

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© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Color or not?

Posted in Christmas, Photography, Travel, tagged , , , , , , on December 14, 2012| 12 Comments »

Sitting in the airport in Newark, I decided to take advantage of the time before my flight back to Washington, D.C. and play with some of my images. I have always loved black-and-white photography and have tried a couple of times to convert some of my images. I never know for sure what will work, but one of my photos of Christmas decorations in Vienna, Austria seemed to be appropriate for experimentation. I know that there is some good software available if I decide to pursue that direction, but this time I opted to desaturate the image almost entirely. I like the effect, in part because of the graphic lines of the original.

Which version do you like more, black-and-white or color?

Almost black and white

Almost black and white

Color

Color

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Vienna at night

Posted in Architecture, Christmas, Photography, Travel, tagged , , , , on December 13, 2012| 10 Comments »

On my last night in Vienna, Austria, I decided to go for a walk through the city center to see how it was decorated for Christmas. There were lots of lights everywhere. Using available light, I took some photos of those lights and of some of Vienna’s famous landmarks. With a tripod, I would have done better, but I took advantage of various objects to brace myself and my camera for some fairly lengthy exposures. Here is an eclectic set of shots from my walk on a very cold Vienna evening.

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city4_blog

city5_blog

city6_blog

city_blog1

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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A few more Christmas market photos

Posted in Architecture, Christmas, Photography, Travel, tagged , , , , , , , on December 13, 2012| 5 Comments »

My time in Vienna is drawing to a close and I thought I’d post a few more of my favorite photos from the Christmas market.

Stands selling hot spiced wine are often areas where people congregate. One of them was set up on a path flanked with statues and I like how the first photo shows a statue peering down over the stand. What would he think of the scene in front of him?

statue_blog

The second image shows one element of the Christmas decorations. I like the colors, shapes, and the lines in that photo.

geometry_blog

The third shot was taken looking up at some of the towers of the Rathaus (City Hall). I braced myself against the wall of one of the booths to steady myself for the shot and you can see part of the booth in the foreground. I like the effect of this extreme angle (and I always love shots of buildings lit up in the evening).

up_blog

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Unique incinerator/heating plant in Vienna

Posted in Architecture, Photography, Travel, tagged , , , , , , on December 12, 2012| 2 Comments »

A couple of days I posted a photo of a building and asked readers to guess what its function was. There were a number of creative ideas including an observatory and a television tower, but Sue was correct in surmising that it is part of a heating plant?

plant1_blog

Yes, it actually is a district heating plant in Vienna, Austria. It was designed by Austrian artist Friedensrich Hundertwasser (1928-2000) in 1988-1992. I don’t know too much about the artist, but he was a bit eccentric, judging from the biographical information in Wikipedia, and the name he adopted as a artist means Peace-kingdom Hundred-water.

plant2_blog

According to information on a Hundertwasser webpage, originally he opposed the idea of this project, as he had fundamental objections to a garbage-incinerating plant as long as all possibilities for avoiding garbage were not exhausted. But when it was promised that the plant would be equipped with the most modern emission-purification technology, that 60,000 apartments would be heated, and in view of the fact that Vienna needed a garbage-incinerating plant, Hundertwasser finally agreed to do the design.

plant3_blog

I’ve included a number of different photos to give you a sense of what the heating plant looks like from different angles and distances. No matter what your views are on modern art, you have to acknowledge that this is a unique and unusual way to decorate the exterior of an urban heating plant.

plant4_blog

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Vendors at a Christmas market in Vienna

Posted in Christmas, Photography, Portraits, Travel, tagged , , , , on December 11, 2012| Leave a Comment »

One of the most interesting aspects of any outdoor market is watching people, including the salespeople. In my experience, the vendors tend to be outgoing people who try to attract passersby to stop at their stalls and purchase what ever they are selling. Here are some photos I took of three of the vendors at the Christmas market in Vienna. The lighting is a bit harsh, but I decided to take the photos without flash to be less obtrusive.

sweets

chestnuts

Vendor

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Signs at a Christmas market in Vienna

Posted in Architecture, Christmas, Photography, Travel, tagged , , , , , , , , on December 10, 2012| 1 Comment »

This evening I had the chance to visit again the Christmas market in front of the Rathaus (City Hall) in Vienna, Austria and got better photos. Why? It was less crowed, the weather was better, and I was alone (rather than with three friends who were more interested in shopping than in taking photos).

The first sign was from a stall that was selling lebkuchen, a German baked product that is a lot like gingerbread. I really like the hand-carved look of the sign.

Lebkuchen

The second sign is a sign for a stall called “Potato Jim” that sold stuffed baked potatoes. I am not sure who “Jim” is, but I thought the sign, with a potato wearing a Santa hat, was cute.

Potato Jim

The third sign is one that was at the entrance to the Christmas market. The big letters spell out “Merry Christmas” in German and the small lit sign to the right spells out “Vienna Christmas Market.” The building in the background is the Rathaus (City Hall).

market entrance

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Mystery building in Vienna

Posted in Architecture, Photography, Travel, tagged , , , on December 10, 2012| 6 Comments »

Yesterday I had a chance to photograph one of the coolest buildings in Vienna, Austria. I plan to write a little  about it and post a few more photos later this week, but I thought I’d post a photo now as a sneak preview.

What do you think is the main function of the building, a part of which is shown in this photograph? Could it be an art museum or an apartment building? Stay tuned for the correct answer.

tower2_blog

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Christmas market in Vienna

Posted in Photography, Travel, tagged , , , , on December 9, 2012| 6 Comments »

You probably noticed that the subject matter of my blog is different in this posting. I am away from home on a short business trip to Vienna, Austria. I arrived this afternoon and had the chance to visit several of the Christmas markets here. They were all very crowded and it was also well below freezing and windy, so shopping was not a lot of fun. It was actually more fun to watch people.

The biggest Christmas market was at the plaza in front of the Rathaus, the city hall. I have only a point-and-shoot camera with me, but I managed to take a couple of shots to give you a sense of the venue. According to Wikipedia, the beautiful Gothic-style building was constructed between 1872 and 1883.

I’ll try to post a few more photos of Vienna, a beautiful city with lots of charm, while I’m here.

Rathaus at dusk

Rathaus at dusk

Christmas lighting in Vienna

Christmas lighting in Vienna

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Mannekin Pis with a Mustache

Posted in Humor, Photography, Travel, tagged , , , , , on September 7, 2012| 2 Comments »

I know that periodically the statue of mannekin pis in Brussels is dressed in a variety of different outfits throughout the year. However, yesterday he seemed to be wearing an unauthorized additional item—a mustache. 

Mannekin Pis with Mustache
When I took the photos, I didn’t even notice the mustache, but it was very obvious when I reviewed my shots. The is some writing on the mustache that suggests it is a prank done by a design studio. It is a little hard to figure how they pulled it off, though, given that there is a very obvious video camera pointed right at the statue. Over the years the statue has been stolen a number of times, according to Wikipedia, and the one that is on display is a replica. The original is in the Maison du Roi on the Grand-Place.

Close-up of Mannekin Pis with Mustache

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Scenes from Brussels Part III

Posted in Photography, Travel, tagged , , , , , on September 7, 2012| 3 Comments »

I had a chance to walk around Brussels a little more yesterday and wanted to post a few more photos before I head back to Virginia today. Most of the photos are from the Grand-Place, the central square of the city and I have tried to capture some of the wonderful details of the buildings there. The last two shots are of the Saint Michael and Saint Gudula Cathedral, a really beautiful church that I was able to visit.


© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Scenes from Brussels Part I

Posted in Photography, Travel, tagged , , , , on September 5, 2012| 7 Comments »

I’m in Brussels, Belgium for a few days for work and have been “encouraged” by Sandra of Another Perspective Photography to post some photos of the city. So I stood up my co-workers for dinner tonight and went off on my own to shoot a few photos of the sights of the city in walking distance of my hotel. This first batch is an assortment of photos of various subjects. I plan to do a second batch with photos of the Grand-Place.

No trip to Brussels is complete without seeing the statue of Mannekin Pis, the little boy peeing into a fountain (or what some might call the “wee lad”). There seems to be a great deal of uncertainty about what exactly the statue commemorates. Wikipedia lists five different legends and there are almost certainly more. I’ve enclosed two photos, one of which is a close-up. The latter photo is specifically for Sandra, who specializes in taking photos of babies, often in an unclothed state.

The other photos show a few views of the city. The tall steeple in several of them is the city hall building.

I realize these are touristy type shots, but thought some others might enjoy some scenes from Brussels.

Mannekin Pis

Mannekin Pis Close-up

View of Brussels

View of Brussels through a fountain

Interesting clock in Brussels

Unidentified church steeple in Brussels

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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