This is the city and the people I shared the start of 2013 with.
Special Thanks to The Umbra Institute, Zachary Nowak, Mauro Renna, Nicola Palumbo, Manuel Barbato, & Daniela Buglione for helping to make this film happen.
Feel free to comment and share. You can also view it on Vimeo here.
Filmed & Edited by Stephen Doyle
Music: Daybreak, by OVERWERK
I created a new page here on the blog dedicated solely to my photos in Italy. You can access it in a million different ways. Main menu at the top, side bar, side bar photo, or the link below, or click on the photo below. I won’t be putting any captions aside from labeling the event or place where the photos were taken. Please feel free to share the link or comment at the bottom. If you want to share them in other ways feel free to message me for specific questions or refer to the copyright page. Thanks, Stephen.
This past January (2012) I was lucky enough to participate in a course here at Chapman that was equally enjoyable, educational and intense. The course was Trans-Cultural Documentary where we planned, produced, shot, edited, and delivered five short documentaries during the span of our three week class. In the end our films shined as crowning achievements to our success but it was the smaller moments which ended up defining this experience. I obviously can’t recount all twenty-one days of the course, as that would be quite extensive. This post is more about the highlights and the experience overall. To get started I’ll provide some background info to set the stage for those who don’t already know about interterm and the Singaporeans.
Chapman is a relatively small school yet remains active beyond its main campus in Orange. This includes a satellite campus in Singapore, which offers a Creative Producing program. Every year during interterm (the short 4 week semester between fall and spring semesters) there is a documentary exchange program between the Orange campus and the Singapore campus where students from Singapore come to California and make documentaries with the Orange campus students and vice versa. I was in the class that stayed here in America and worked with the Singaporeans to make a documentary over the period of the class. In all there were 23 students, 11 Americans and 12 Singaporeans. The exciting part about this is not only do we host the Singaporeans but also that this particular class we made our documentaries 400 miles north of Chapman in San Francisco.
One of the first memorable experiences with the class was during pre-production while we were still in Orange. The class took a trip to downtown Los Angeles and for lunch we ended up going to a Dim Sum restaurant. This pleased many of the Singaporeans as they had apparently been craving some food from home and for most of us Americans it was a new experience or at lease one where we were not entirely familiar. Food and the traditions surrounding it are a large part of any culture. Since we had to ask about most every item on the table we really got to know the Singaporeans on a more cultural level. Often asking how something was made, what ingredients were used, and in my case what the best way to pick it up with chopsticks was. By the end of that meal I think the group gained an almost subconscious or cultural trust that effectively bonded us together. It’s safe to say that the Americans were heavily reliant on the Singapore portion of the class for our meal that day and we trusted our new friends whom we met only 24 hours prior.
San Francisco was short, as was the class in general. The basic schedule was as follows; 4 days of pre-production in Orange, 4 days of production in San Francisco, and then 8 days of post-production back in Orange. All in which our class produced five great short documentaries. San Francisco is known for its mosaic of neighborhoods that culture the city with so much diversity. My group spent a lot of time in the Sunset District of San Francisco where the subject of our film lived. This gave us an opportunity to really embed ourselves in the area to get a feel for the neighborhood so we could more accurately portray that in our film. One of the cultural differences between Singapore and San Francisco is the homeless population, which is apparently non-existent in the small city-state of Singapore. Growing up in the Bay Area it was just a part of the city that never seemed to stand out to me. But, for the Singaporeans the presence of such large numbers of homeless people was a stark culture shock compared to the almost invisible homeless population of Singapore.
Once we wrapped production in San Francisco our caravan of 15 passenger vans headed back to Chapman to edit our films. This involved many hours in front of the computer, equally offsetting all the walking in San Francisco. We screened rough cuts, fine cuts and eventually during our last class the final cuts. Our last class was at our professor’s house preceded by a BBQ. What more could one ask for? Food, dessert and some good films – it was all there. The documentaries turned out well and we were more than satisfied with our accomplishments. After the screenings a portion of the class, myself included, hiked to the Hollywood Sign. As we reached the top we were greatly rewarded when the sun dipped between the clouds and horizon painting a beautiful sunset over the sky bringing an almost poetic ending to our experience.
I would like to thank our wonderful professor Sally Rubin who helped prepare not only the class but helped us as we tried our best to make great films in such a short amount of time. She was assisted by the omnipresent Ezra Lunel who signed on as a teacher’s assistant to the course but went far and beyond that title and was a great help during production as well. Both of their efforts really helped and we could not have accomplished all that we did without them!
Since there are always more pictures than words for me please check out some more photos below.
View from the Opera Building
Paris marks the close of our family trip to Europe. With both our long vacation coming to an end and our patience with each other running short Paris in many ways was bitter sweet. It was by far the shortest stay of any city we visited about 36 hours total. Regardless we still managed to have a good experience and see some cool things. Unfortunately, due to time constraints, this post is going to be much like our stay in Paris – short and sweet. However I hope the photos – the main reason I do this – are equally as entertaining as previous posts.
Eiffel Tower at night.
As with every first time visit to Paris the Eiffel Tower rose to the top of the list. We arrived at night with our German friends who happened to be vacationing in France and met up with us. The above picture is “the safety picture” – one that I took so I could make sure to get one of the many standard photos of the tower. The two photos below are a little different perspective on the iconic structure.
The underbelly of the Eiffel Tower.
Looking down the 45 degree angle elevator shaft on the Eiffel Tower.
As in every country we visited trying food was a must. In France it was escargot much to my sisters disgust. It wasn’t that bad at all, and pretty much tastes like whatever you prepare it with, in this case garlic and pesto. Chewy to be sure but just don’t think too much about what it is and its fine. A good experience but not something I would be begging to order next time.
Escargot in garlic, pesto and butter.
Our second day in Paris we wondered a lot. The idea was to visit the Louvre but quickly changed as we noticed the 2 hour long line to get into the museum let alone see the Mona Lisa. We ended up visiting the Opera house and strolling outside Notre Dame as seen in the photos below. Uneventful but possibly necessary at the end of a crazy trip.
Looking up the stairs in the Paris Opera House.
Bird feeding outside Notre Dame.
Chimney Tops.
Eiffel Tower Colors
As always thank you for reading and sorry for the brevity of this post. There will be one last post wrapping up the entire experience and some reflections about the trip. Also I will include some info about how I dealt with the over 6,500 images while on the road as well as a unique display of every picture I took over the 5 week journey.
Thanks again, Stephen Doyle
This post is part of a series detailing my photos and travels from my trip to Europe this summer. The previous posts were about my experiences in Sweden, Germany, Amsterdam, Ireland (Part1), Ireland (Part2), and London.
The London Bridge opens for a ship as the boat I was on viewed it mid river.
The word “London” evokes 2 images: The first one probably Big Ben followed by the London Bridge. I was fortunate enough to capture beautiful moments at both landmarks. London is a city long on my bucket list and it is filled with so much culture, history and diversity. It is safe to say that I went to London with a bit of a checklist — maybe a good idea, maybe not — but, as with any endeavor, there are always unplanned opportunities that present themselves such as the photo below. Far from anything on my checklist was a photo of a graveyard, much less a graveyard for skateboards. It turns out that for a while now, skateboarders have been chucking their broken and destroyed decks onto a platform off the Hungerford Bridge. The platform is there for structural support, and now seems to provide emotional support as well. I thought it was an interesting cultural phenomenon and captured the moment.
Skateboard graveyard on the Hungerford Bridge.
One of our more unique experiences in London was witnessing the Ceremony of the Keys, which in itself is amazing — but the thing with Royalty is that they don’t let spectators take any pictures! Fortunately enough, our journey down the river to the ceremony provided a fantastic opportunity, which you can see captured below. We were in the middle of the Thames River when a rare orange sunset cast its light on the beautiful parliament building and Big Ben. At the time I didn’t notice this detail, but I must have had some residual luck from Ireland: a double-decker bus was passing in prominent view over Westminster Bridge. Talk about great timing! A few more minutes down the river, I came across the buildings silhouetted against the setting sun — see the bottom photo. It’s a very London’esque scene and one that reminds me of the classic Disney film “Peter Pan,” cropped in a 16×9 format like movies are to get the point across.
The Parliament Building, Westminster Bridge, Big Ben, and a double decker bus - perfect!
Peter Pan, anyone?
One thing that people love to think is that the Queen’s Royal Guards are an untouchable — and ever mockable — part of British royal culture. In my experience this is not true. Yes, they are very focused and poised in their duties, but they are not statues and viewers cannot approach them. In fact, at Buckingham Palace, there is a giant fence separating the public from the guards and palace by about 100 yards. How then did I get this picture? Well, I cheated. This photo was not taken at Buckingham Palace, but at a place down the street where there happened to be royal guards at some random driveway. Does it still have the same effect? Mostly. But I don’t think that’s the point. As often seems to have been the case on this trip, a good many of my photo opportunities were not of the most popular or favored sights, but of things often passed by or dismissed as trivial — or mere happenings of chance. I was about three feet away from this gentleman when I took his portrait.
Queen's Royal Gaurd
The London Eye is a pretty cool experience. For a city as flat as London, it’s a good perspective to see, especially since your view is ever-changing, due to its rotating nature. The photo below was take just after our pod reached the apex of the circle, and I decided to capture the other pod behind us at the top of the arc. You can see just how big the pod is compared to something at the county fair. We were fortunate enough to ride the Eye on a sunny day free from overcast and ugly clouds — a rarity for British weather!
Pod at its apex on the London Eye.
Our final adventure in London was something very cool. We found an ad for an “ice bar” in the back of our hotel magazine (the first time those things have ever been helpful to me) and thought, why not? The Ice Bar is basically a giant freezer filled with blocks of ice, as you can see in the background of the photo below. It was not exactly a big place, but not what I would call small, for an entire, room filled with ice. I also decided to include this video I found from the Ice Bar, showing a time-lapse of its construction. The photo below that is fun in that you can see the actual bar, the coats they give us, the cups in the foreground, the blocks of ice in the background, and a wonderful flash.
Video from Ice Bar London by Ice Hotel.
Ice Bar near Piccadily Circus
This adventure concluded our time in London. It was a wonderful week spent in such a vibrant city. There are more pictures below, as seems to be the theme lately. Our final stop in Europe was Paris — it was a a very brief stop, and then finally back to the USA. Thanks again for reading.
- Stephen Doyle
Photo taken from The London Eye
In the Ice Bar looking through a wall of ice!
Walking through Paddington Station.
This post is part of a series detailing my photos and travels from my trip to Europe this summer. The previous posts were about my experiences in Sweden, Germany, Amsterdam, Ireland (Part1), and Ireland (Part2).
The Irish countryside.
The Irish countryside is both a beautiful and sometimes a deteriorating place. We drove down from Dublin to the city of Blarney, stopping on our way at a small place called “Cashel Rock,” which was an old castle on a hill. Ironically, I didn’t take any good pictures of that particular castle, but I did take some that I liked of the surrounding countryside. The photo above was taken while I sat atop the wall surrounding the castle. It stood about seven or eight feet high and required a boost from my dad. Since we were on a hilltop, the view was pretty good for a split moment when the sun came out and I snapped this photo. The photo below is basically the same as the one above, but with a narrower perspective — the castle over yonder still being the subject, with the added benifit of sheep and we are looking through an arrow slit in the wall. It’s kind of a classic Irish countryside scene; all I would like is for a red car to be driving on the road, and the photo would be perfect.
Castle as seen through an arrow slit.
One of the traditional things to do in Ireland is to go and kiss the Blarney Stone. Legend has it that this stone will give anyone who kisses it “the gift of gab.” It is set high up in the castle, on the top level where kissers have to bend over backwards to make contact with it. I chose to share the picture below because I like how we can see the size of the castle. If you look closely, you can see people on top of the castle where the stone is. One of the more interesting things about the Blarney Castle — aside from the stone — is the poison garden. The groundskeepers maintain a garden of plants that if eaten, prepared, touched, or even smelled, can cause reactions ranging from irritation to actual death.
Blarney Castle and fortification wall.
Even though castles are awesome, we wanted to get a well-rounded experience of Ireland. As we headed back north, one of our stops included the city of Waterford, home to Waterford Crystal, which is famous for its fine crystal designs, products and specialty items used and displayed throughout the world. The products they make range from crystal glasses for dining to the crystal ball used in Times Square during the New Year’s Eve celebration. We toured the factory where they make specialty items — mostly trophies, plaques, and custom pieces. It was a rather short tour, yet incredibly personal. The man in the photo below has been working at the factory cutting crystal for 33 years and was kind enough to invite me around to his side of the cutting wheel, where I could get a different perspective. His concentration is unparalleled, yet the ease with which he carves the cutting wheel into the crystal is amazing. If he makes a mistake, the entire piece is ruined and melted down for recycling.
Craftsman at Waterford Crystal making cuts on a trophy piece.
One of the unique things about factory tours is how you can see the process behind finished products. The above photo is more of a rough cutting stage where the major, deeper cuts to the crystal are made; and below is a picture of the workstation where they make the shallower and more fine-tuned cuts. I really like all the tools, mechanisms, and objects crowding this tiny little desk. It’s incredibly intricate and busy with so much to see — almost as good as an Eye Spy book.
Inspection and engraving station at Waterford Crystal.
Our last stop in Ireland was to the town of Wexford, where the Doyle clan originated from. It’s a quaint little place with fishing boats along the bay. We spent most of our time wondering about the town, going to pubs, and getting a kick out of how many business establishments included the name “Doyle” (more on that in a later post). The experience there was quite different from that of Dublin, where the high energy of a city moves at a different pace than the rest of the world. Wexford turned out to be a splendid place to finish off our Irish experience, as we woke on our last morning to fresh fruit and porridge prepared by Iris, the wonderful Irish lady who ran the B&B where we stayed.
Fishing ships set against a sunset in Wexford.
As with my previous post, there are more photos to share than time to write or read about. Please enjoy the few I included below and check back for our trip across the Irish Sea to England and our experiences in London.
Thanks for reading, Stephen Doyle
Wexford
High in the Blarney Castle we see a guard tower through an arrow slit.
Tea time.
This post is part of a series detailing my photos and travels from my trip to Europe this summer. The previous posts were about my experiences in Sweden, Germany, Amsterdam, and Ireland (Part1).
If Ireland were a food, it would be quite a meal – green, of course, being the dominant color, with the music and culture adding some exciting flavors to the mix. The dish would include a splash of Guinness, garnished with a few clovers on top. This is a taste (honestly – no pun intended!) of my expectation going into the fabled island where my ancestors hailed from so many years ago.
Essex Street, Temple Bar area
Dublin is an exciting city, filled with history, Guinness, pubs and jolly people. My family and I took a bus tour that lets people off at different stops around the city. The tour hit all the major destinations, of which we stopped at only a few: Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, the Guinness Storehouse, Trinity College and a small cafe named “Cafe en-Seine,” which took me by surprise, as I wasn’t expecting any references to Paris while in Dublin.
Saint Patrick's Cathedral
The above photograph is from Saint Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin. We ended up only viewing it from the outside, as there was an admission charge to enter; nonetheless, I snapped this photo from the side of the building. In an effort to render our stop time well spent we walked around the church, being stopped from close proximity by a wrought-iron fence. We were unable to see much, but the decorative top of the fence provided a useful element in the photo above. It’s from the side of the church looking through the fence. I like how the pathway almost leads us out of the cavern created by the fence and into the beautifully aged door.
Cafe en-Seine
Mid-day we stopped at the beautiful and incredibly intricate Cafe en-Seine for lunch. Finding something French was unexpected in Dublin; however, often the often the most unexpected things can lead to new discoveries. This cafe was not like any other pub or coffee shop I had ever been in before. The entire place was lavishly decorated from floor to ceiling, and after finishing my wonderful meal, I looked up and one of the lamps caught my eye. I noticed how beautiful the light was, coming through the skylight and hitting the dusted glass and frame of the lamp. The decision to go black and white was done later when I got back home and wanted to focus attention on the lines and texture rather than on the colors.
View from the Guinness Storehouse
Our last stop for the day was to the Guinness Storehouse, a staple and a must-see destination for any trip to Dublin. The Guinness Storehouse is a very up-to-date and full-featured attraction. Upon entering you are given a short presentation about the 9,000-year lease (YES! 9 with 3 zeros after!) currently in effect at the storehouse at St. James Gate. From that point on the tour is self-guided; there’s a bit about the making of the beer, a bit more history concerning the beer, and some cool displays to help augment the experience. For my mom and sister one of the most fun parts was learning how to pour the perfect pint. They were instructed on the technique and style of “the perfect pint.” During the lesson I snapped the photo above looking down to the many buildings in and around the brewery. It reminds me of Cannery Row in Monterey – very industrial, and old. As you can see in the photo below, success was in the air — both my sister and mother passed their “final exam” with flying colors.
Learning to pour the perfect pint.
Guinness pretty much runs the world over there in Ireland, and at night the world goes to pubs and what would Ireland be without going to the pubs? Our pub of choice that night was Murray’s, just down yonder from our lodgings on O’Connell Street. This pub had great food and was more traditional, catering to us tourists with Irish dancing and music from a rather lively band, which you see in the picture below. We had a great spot among the seating and availed ourselves of this prime positioning quite well by soaking up the music, interacting with the band and enjoying our evening.
Traditional music in Murray's Pub
On our last night in Dublin we of course went to a pub for dinner. This pub was a mixed restaurant and bar, the food portion being primarily upstairs and the pub down. The photo below was taken on our way out of the pub. We had finished our dinner and were headed back to the hotel. As I got to the bottom of the stairs I noticed this man playing music — the standard pub entertainment aside from beer — however, I was drawn to his expression and the feeling I got from it. I love this photo because I feel it tells so much about Ireland, its culture, and possibly its current situation. For me it highlights the prominence of Guinness in Ireland, the pub culture almost fed by Guinness, and the uncertainty of a future for many people in today’s world.
My favorite photograph from Ireland
Below are a few more photos that don’t really have much of a story longer than a caption but are still worth sharing for enjoyment. Please check back in soon for the second part of our Ireland trip, where we visit the countryside.
All the best, Stephen Doyle
One candle one pint in one of the pubs
Pub band with people
View from the airplane flying into Dublin International Airport
The view from our hotel room
1 Pint - 20 oz. vs American 16 oz.
This post is part of a series detailing my photos and travels from my trip to Europe this summer. The previous posts were about my experiences in Sweden, Germany and Amsterdam.
Amsterdam
After leaving the German countryside, it was a nice change to be in a city — especially a city as vibrant and full of culture as Amsterdam. In previous cities our weather was beautiful and sunny. However, this soon changed as we entered into our third country and two of our three days were sprinkled off and on with rain — the sudden change perhaps prepping us for the fabled Irish weather to come. The inclusion of rain on our itinerary was not the most welcome of changes, but luckily enough it came while we were staying in a rather nice hotel. This is not to say by any means that we stayed inside! As it happened we explored both on foot and by bike.
Bicycles are an ingrained part of the culture in Amsterdam, so much so that the main train station has a multi-level bike parking lot for over 5,000 bikes, and a new one is in the works, according to the canal tour we took. I took well over 100 photographs, trying to capture the masses of bikes throughout the city. But ironically, the one photo I like best is not of the masses but of a single bike itself.
Chained above death.
The photo at right here is of a lone bike chained in the most unusual of places. Perhaps the owner thought it would be a good deterrent, because if you cut the lock, the bike would probably fall to the canal below. Or it might be a piece of art left there just for me to capture with my camera. Either way, I ended up sacrificing a few more moments in the cold to snap this photo of the most interesting bike rack I have ever seen.
While bikes may out-populate the people in Amsterdam, this fortunately is not a city of just bikes. It has many other unique aspects as well, the most beautiful of which is the architecture. As you can see in the photograph at top, there is not much space in Amsterdam. Canals cut their way through the city and restrict the amount of available land. Therefore things are built up, not out, and a lot of the tops of the houses are crafted with unique style found in few other places on earth. I tried to model the photo taken below after all the ones that were in the hotel we were staying at. I kept seeing these simple photographs on the walls of almost every part of the hotel, from the lobby, to the hallways, to our bathroom. I didn’t see much in them at first, but then I realized they had to have some value otherwise the hotel would not have purchased several hundred photos that all look relatively the same.
The "diving board" is used to hoist furniture.
The formula seemed simple enough: Take a picture of one of the cool-looking architectural building tops and turn it into a black and white. A few weeks later, reviewing the photos at home, I remembered this and ended up actually cropping the image to a square format so it would be different, and I think it looks better that way –a nice simple photo, just like in the hotel.
And now the people. On our last day in Amsterdam, we stopped to grab a bite to eat before we rushed away to catch our flight. Our table was outside, a block away from the flower market on one of the canals, with a small open area between us and the vendors. Just as our meal came, so did the band. To our luck and amazement, an interesting group of guys strolled in with various instruments and just started playing music. After the first song one of the less-intimidating-looking members of the band (the accordion player) took off his fedora and walked around to the tables peddling for money. Having been in a similar situation before with my local Dixie band, I was happy to spare a few euro coins for the gents who had just made my day. Their photo is below, as I wasn’t going to let this moment pass by un-captured.
A street band during our lunch in Amsterdam
Fortunately for us the street band was not the only “people” experience for our family in Amsterdam. As with Germany and Sweden, our visit to The Netherlands included not only the city but friends — and in this case, actual family. My father’s cousin Tracy coincidentally lives just outside the city, about a half-hour’s drive. We were fortunate enough to be picked up and brought to her home, where we were treated to a wonderful dinner of steak and potatoes (very American) and entertained by her family. We talked with her young boys — as they are learning English and Dutch at the same time given that their mother is American and their father Dutch. It is interesting to see how the two cultures mix and how they both influence the children in different ways.
Toby shows us his card collection after our meal.
The phenomenon of culture was something I really enjoyed observing throughout the many countries we visited on our trip, especially the influence of American culture, products, and icons in and all around the places we visited.
One thing that Amsterdam is famous for is tulips. Windmills and tulips are so integral a part of the Netherlands perception that a quick Google image search for “The Netherlands” resulted in maps, windmills and tulips. During our last few hours in the city we visited the Amsterdam Flower Market. This small market is built over a canal and only about a block long. However this small size did not stop my mother from shopping around and finding a few bulbs to bring home. The photo below captures one of the flower shops selling a very large number of bulbs, seeds, and other flower products. I find it interesting how there is only one green plant in this picture — kind of ironic, given that its a flower shop!
The flower market
After our tour through the market, we headed off to return our bikes and then to the airport for our flight to Ireland. Please check back for our adventures in Ireland, where we explored pubs, castles and the Doyle lineage.
- Stephen Doyle
This post is part of a series detailing my photos and travels from my trip to Europe this summer. The previous posts were about my experiences in Sweden and Germany.
Brandenburg Gate - Berlin, Germany
In many ways our trip really started here. While Sweden was indeed the first country we visited our experience there felt more akin to that of a summer trip at a relatives house rather than a month long journey across northern Europe. That feeling – of stepping off into the abyss – came as we emerged from the Berlin Tegal airport in Germany.
Wiener Schnitzel - My first meal in Germany
The first few hours in Berlin found us dominated with a mixture of culture shock and adventure. This was the first place where we expected a serious case of the language barrier but, during our stay exploring the city it proved not to be much of a barrier at all. As you can see in the photo at left there was no problem ordering food.
On our first day in Berlin we walked the majority of the city. One of the first things we visited was the Berliner Dom (Berlin Cathedral) of which I am sure every tourist and photographer alike has snapped a picture of. Its a popular building, and everybody has a camera these days. That’s why when a photographer stepped in my frame as I was about to take a picture of the cathedral I clicked the shutter instead of being mad. I think its a better picture with this man as the subject rather than simply the cathedral because it is basically a picture of what I am trying to avoid. Irony?
Berliner Dom being photographed by a photographer.
Another touristy thing we accomplished during our first day in Berlin was go up the Fernsehturm (television tower – also seen in the background in the cathedral picture). This tower is quite large and as we noted there seems to be a similar high vantage point attraction in every major city on earth. It makes the challenge of finding a unique photograph even harder. When I came across the shadow of the very tower we were in I thought it added a really unique perspective. Kind of like seeing the earths shadow on the moon. It was almost if the tower was a sun dial for the gods.
The second image taken from the television tower is of the main canal running through the city. I think it lends itself to showing a part of Berlin that doesn’t get much attention. On the list of cities known for their canals Berlin is not one of them, I always try to find some aspect of what I am photographing that is different from the norm.
A plaza and train are turned miniature in the shadow of Berlin's TV tower.
The Berlin Ship Canal
Directly after the TV tower we trekked down to Brandenburg Gate. This is where two of my favorite photographs from the entire trip were captured. As with any popular landmark the number of tourists was high as well as the number of street performers and acts. One of the more popular ones were the giant bubbles being made with string tied between two poles (you can see exactly what I mean in the photo at the top of this post). I decided to focus my efforts on this and the results are below. The first photo is that of solely a bubble and the reflection of Brandenburg Gate on its surface.
Reflection of Brandenburg Gate on a bubble
This was pure luck. I wanted to capture an image that conveyed some aspect of what was going on. This picture, and the one below, compliment each other well in that they offer two different perspectives. At left we see the life and times of a bubble and what it sees during its short existence and below we see the other side of things and how children interact with bubbles.
The second photo is my favorite photograph from the entire trip. I favor it so much that I entered it in this years National Geographic Photo Contest. Again centered around the bubbles at Brandenburg Gate but including the human experience as well. I noticed the kids being drawn to playing with the massive bubbles and pointed the camera at them. I think the photo speaks for itself in conveying a childlike moment we have all experienced.
Little Hands Big Bubble
In the interest of brevity I simply cannot include all the experiences and photos that followed the rest of our time in Berlin. The second part of our time on Germany was spent with the Weitz family at their home in the small village of Bad Lippspringe. We met them when they were touring the western United States and we wanted to visit while we were touring Germany. We received a warm welcome and tour of the surrounding countryside. The photo below
Boredom
was taken during our visit to a town close to Bad Lippspringe. It is the bored legs of my sister and the daughter of the family we were staying with. The two of them place similar amounts of interest in history, architecture, or anything qualifying as – “old.” Naturally these subjects are so exhausting that they needed a rest.
During our short stay with the Weitz family we made a day trip to the city of Cologne or Köln. The city, about an hour and a half drive away, holds the Cologne Cathedral and an amazingly impressive building. What’s even more impressive is it was built over a period of 600 years and still standing after two world wars. The image below is a small taste of the cathedral’s grand scale dominating the town. I used the tree as a way to both block the repair
The Calogne Cathedral rising above the city.
work being done high on one of the spires and to provide a frame of reference. I like this picture because the cathedral is semi framed by the tree and we can see the enormous size of the cathedral as it creates a wall in the remaining frame. It’s really hard to imagine the size of this building but I think the photo with a tree as reference helps convey the experience.
The next photograph was taken while we toured the city of Paderborn. It must have been a sad day for this bike when its owner cast it into this pond. I honestly took the photo because I felt bad for the bike, which although slowly rusting in the water is also surrounded by bridges, a walkway, and a cathedral giving the pond some nice surroundings. Better to rust away in good surroundings or is this insult to injury – something to ponder?
Bike in Paderborn, Germany
The last photograph below was taken on our way out of Germany in the city of Münster. We stopped here at the recommendation of the Weitz family as a destination famous for its arched shopping district. Mother was elated at this fact. We strolled around the shopping area and then through the old cobbled streets and eventually to another cathedral, this one not as impressive as the one in Cologne but still inspiring. I decided to focus on the finer details presented in this setting which as you can see turned out to be the prayer candles. I really like this picture because the camera was very close to the candles isolating them in their own light. As viewers we are right up next to the candles overlooking the candles at a variety of stages in life candle life.
Prayer Candles
After our brief stop in Münster we headed West and into the Netherlands to explore the city of Amsterdam. I hope the travels and images I shared with you are enjoyable and entertaining. If you have any questions or thoughts, please feel free to leave a comment, as I would greatly appreciate feedback. As I said our trip continued on into Amsterdam so please check back soon for more images and travels from this amazing journey.
- Stephen Doyle
This post is part of a series detailing me photos and travels from my trip to Europe this summer. The previous post was about my experience in Sweden which you can view here.
Hey everyone, I recently entered the National Geographic Photo Contest 2011 with one of my photos from Europe. Please check it out below and if you feel so inclined I would really appreciate if you share, tweet, post, like or otherwise support this photo in the contest. Click on the picture below to go to the photo on the National Geographic website where you can share the photo.
Thank you, Stephen Doyle
Little Hands Big Bubble
— From National Geographic —
THE 2011 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC PHOTO CONTEST
As a leader in capturing our world through brilliant imagery, National Geographic sets the standard for photographic excellence. Last year, we received more than 16,000 contest entries submitted by photographers from 130 countries. Well, it’s that time of year again—send us your winning shots in any of these three categories: people, places, and nature. Please submit images that accurately reflect the captured moment in time. In other words, keep it real.
Come back weekly to see our editors’ favorites. Want to be your own judge? View every photo entered, choose your own faves, then share them with family and friends.
The Grand Prize Winner will receive $10,000 and a trip to National Geographic headquarters in Washington, D.C., to participate in the annual National Geographic Photography Seminar in January 2012: A behind-the-scenes experience like none other.