A View Looking North Near Boulder, Colorado

In mid-August, 2010, I squeezed in a brief trip to Colorado to visit family and friends, and to do a little hiking. A friend from Denver and I made an afternoon trip to Boulder and hiked in Chautauqua Park into the foothills east of the Flatirons. On our way back to the car, I was enthralled by the incredible cloud forms in the sky ahead of us (to the north). I loved seeing the path before us and the beautiful mountains in front of us as we made our way back downhill towards Boulder. I decided I needed to capture this place at this moment with my camera. I wanted to include the cool-looking clouds, the distant mountains and the path trailing away. I like the wonderful shades of green and blue in this photo, as well as how the path and the clouds lead me visually into the middle ground where the mountains and the greenery of Boulder become the focal point. Unfortunately, the size of this and the other photos on this web page do not really do the images – or the actual atmosphere I tried to capture through these images – justice.

Sunrise at Hualien, Taiwan

Among the many things I enjoy seeing and capturing with my camera are sunrises and sunsets. At the beginning of November, 2008, I convinced one of my Taiwanese friends and our host in Hualien, Taiwan to get up at 5:00 am and venture down to the Pacific coast. As we walked along a stretch of beach and snapped numerous pictures of land and sea, the sun slowly crept up over the horizon and pierced through the clouds in the distance. I managed to capture a half-dozen images of this sunrise that I really like; this is one of my favorite three. The sun peaking over the clouds and the rays shooting out to illuminate the sky gain my attention from a distance and draw me into the picture. If you get the opportunity to visit Taiwan, Hualian is about two hours southeast of Taipei by train, next to Taroko Gorge National Park. Getting up early to capture the sunrise over the Pacific is well worth the effort.

Antiquarian Books

During an earlier period of my life, when I could budget a little money for my book-collecting hobby, I built up a small antiquarian library. I started out with some books from the 1800s that I had purchased for $.25 to about $5.oo apiece. As I got more into the hobby, I began to focus primarily on books published before 1800. I love the look and feel of older books still in their original leather bindings. I enjoy looking at the gilt spine decorations, the raised bands, the morocco leather labels, the old printed text, and even some of the old ink signatures as I handle and flip through these old volumes. As I was looking for images to capture in my apartment I couldn't help but turn to the old books sitting in an old refinished bookcase in my living room. I especially like the two extraordinarily gilt volumes that I placed in the middle of the top shelf. These two volumes date to 1754; I purchased them for the bargain price of $14.50. When I snapped this picture, I wanted to place these two volumes roughly in the center of the image. I love the variety of gilt decor on the various volumes as well as the faded reflections of those volumes in the slightly dusty shelf top. This image communicates to me both the age and the beauty of antiquarian books.