Burano, Italy

Burano has to be one of my favorite places to photograph. It's an island about a 45 minute slow boat ride from Venice, not visited as frequently as its more well-known sister, Murano. I can speculate that Murano is much closer, and is famous for its glass (rather than lace on Burano). In any event, Murano looks like Hoboken compared to Burano, where all the houses are painted in a riot of colors, the canals are narrower, and the city is laid out willy-nilly. Hard to get lost because its a tiny place, circumnavigable in about a half hour on foot. This was my fourth time there, and there is definitely a sense of place and time in the photograph. This was in 2006, and a bunch of friends and family were on a cruise through the Mediterranean with Venice the third stop after Rome and Dubrovnik. The night before we arrived here, hundreds of passengers stayed up late watching the World Cup championship game on the huge screen on the pool deck.   I'm a baseball guy so I went to bed early. Italy won, of course, and we were greeted with Italian flags everywhere we went the two days we spent in Venice and environs. I'm a total sucker for laundry shots and got a bonus with the flag mixed in with the wash. I was using the Nikon D50 in '06. I can't remember the lens, probably an 18-200 all-purpose. I should mention I'm a huge fan of Photoshop plug-ins, especially the great suite of filters from Nik and Topaz. I use them unashamedly, despite protests from my friends and family that they look too "baked." The cat's meow plug-in for me of late is Nik Viveza, especially the Structure filter, which in this photograph I turned down to get a smoother effect.

Pete Townsend

This is Pete Townsend of the Who taken at the Oakland Coliseum in 1980, when it was still okay to bring SLRs to concerts. I had an aisle seat about 20 rows back and was using my Nikon FM with, I think, a 300 mm fixed Vivitar. I remember seeing Annie Leibovitz up front in the pit firing away for Rolling Stone, and later saw some of her pictures of the concert in the magazine. Townsend had blood all over his right hand from the furious thrashing he was giving the guitar. I didn't get quite as close as she did, but still have a hundred or so other shots from that night. 

Left Bank Painter

This photograph was taken in Paris in 1997. I had been on the top of Notre Dame Cathedral taking pictures of the gargoyles and overviews of Paris when I saw this man in the distance across the Seine. After a few more shots, I hustled down the winding stairs, hoping he would still be there when I got down. He was.There's just something beautiful about Paris anytime, but especially in the winter. This photograph works for me because of the orange, green, and brown colors working together, as well as the wet cement and leaves strewn about. There's also the archetype of the painter in Paris that immediately caught my eye. I was using the Nikon FM 2 and using Fuji Velvia film. The FM 2 served me well for many years, unlike today when gear heads trade up every few years. I'm certainly guilty of that. Today I probably wouldn't put the subject dead center of the photo and taken more time to make a more careful composition, but that's hindsight.

Daniel Descalso

After yesterday's dramatic come-from-behind victory over the Nationals, I have to include a couple of shots of my favorite Cardinal, Daniel Descalso. I took these in August when I made a road trip to see him play against the Giants. I had a great time there...on the field for BP, dinner with his cronies and his girlfriend, Julia, and excellent seats. Saint Louis in August is smokin' hot! This was a tremendous baseball summer for me. Saw the Cuban National team against the USA National team in Havana, the Portland Sea Dogs in Portland, Maine, the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park the next night including a visit with Daniel Nava, the Cards-Giants series, and lastly, a road trip to Sacramento to watch another former player of mine, Matt Long, play for Salt Lake against the Rivercats. Now I get to agonize all over again with the Cardinals-Giants in the NLCS. 

Red Car, Havana

A great opportunity in Cuba, especially Havana, is to photograph the old cars that are everywhere. Since our last visit in 2009, I noticed fewer of these wonderful reminders of days gone by when they were ubiquitous, brought into the country from the US pre-embargo. The newest of these beauties is from 1959. I have no idea of the make or model of this one, just that it's got an allure despite its condition. Many of these are now used as taxis, primarily attracting tourists.

Trinidad, Cuba

On this trip to Cuba, I made the conscious effort to include people, and even pets, into my architectural photographs. To be honest, it wasn't the window or door or wall that stopped me here. Nuff said. Sony NEX 7.

Joe Jackson and the Bigger Band

Last Thursday night, October 4th, my wife and two friends took in the Joe Jackson Bigger Band at Villa Montalvo in Saratoga. I'd seen Joe many times over the years, but this particular band was special. He is currently touring behind his new album, "The Duke," and while I'm not in love with the album, the songs he did that night were spectacular live. Two of the standout musicians touring with Joe included the great jazz violinist Regina Carter, and a long-time collaborator, Sue Hadjopoulos, on a staggering variety of percussion instruments. The photograph was taken with my stealth camera, the Sony NEX 5n, using the Intelligent auto mode, at 3200 iso. Although the photograph wasn't very noisy at all, I still used Nik's Define to give it a bit of noise reduction.