Ghost Leaves

 I've been wanting to capture an image of the phantom images left by rain-soaked leaves on our sidewalks and paving-stones for a while now. Thankfully I remembered before tomorrow's impending rain washes them away.

Speaking of things I've been meaning to do: it's National Blog Posting Month again. Obviously, I'm not taking part this year. Though it was a good clearing-house last year for all shots that have been piling up. So even though it's too late to go with NaBloPoMo in earnest, I do hope to get into a regular posting habit again.

Another Mantis

Found IN MY DINING ROOM, this past Friday morning before work. After some tense moments, I was able to let her out the window safely!

Roman Numerals

For this week's Photo Hunt topic of "Old School communication," I decided to go with this shot from our Coliseum tour.
There are 80 arches around the exterior of the Coliseum (actually, the "Flavian Amphitheater" is its proper name), and each one is numbered. Ancient Romans were issued tickets directing them to a specific # arch for entry to the stadium.
The original numbers are still visible on the exterior, such as #53 above.

More shots from our Italia trip on my Flickr page.

Truth in Signage, Part II

There was a lot of expensive shopping in Italy. Especially in Roma, where we found this store that didn't mince words!

I'm using this as my entry into the JorjDotOrg Photo Hunt subject "Sign Language."

For "Truth in Signage (Part I)," click here.

24-Hour party people

Something we saw often in Italia were old 24-hour public clocks. With just one hand to indicate the hour, they were simple yet fascinating.
TOP - the clock in Piazza San Marco in Venezia (Venice). The round face is the 24-hour version, above that a more modern digital readout with hours (in Roman numerals, though!) and minutes. The winged-lion statue up top represents San Marco (St. Mark), who is the patron Saint of Venezia (he's buried in the cathedral there).
2nd - Detail of the 24-hour face, showing the Sun on the "hand" circling the central Earth - obviously a very old clock!
3rd - Clock on the exterior of a church near Ponte Rialto. At least they've got the sun in the correct position here...
BOTTOM - Inside the Duomo di Firenze (Florence Cathedral) was this clock - as plain as the rest of the interior (it's the exterior that's amazing - coming soon!). It's only ornamentation is the faces of Matthew, Mark, Luke & John at the corners.

Interesting how the Venetian clocks have the numbers positioned in the same place (with midnight at about the 3:00 position), while the Florentine clock is differnt.

Big Dish

Another interruption of the Italia pics for a Photo Hunt entry:

This large dish was part of the Fort Monmouth/Evans Area military base in New Bedford, Monmouth County, New Jersey. Appropriately located along Marconi Road, it's right next to a suburban neighborhood. It was quite a surprise in my travels for work.

This Old-Camera pic (which is a re-post from this old 'blog entry) was a no-brainer for the Photo Hunt subject "Communication Device."

All the young dudes

The boys confer prior to heading out to the nightclub in Sorrento.

I'm using this as my entry into the Tobi- er, JorjDotOrg Photo Hunt subject "Chatting." I've been away from the Hunt for a while, hoping to get back in the swing for this round!

More shots from our Italia trip on my Flickr page.

The Mazz-der

We interrupt the Italy travel photos momentarily for a little gloating:
I recently became the proud new owner of the 2004 Mazda 6i pictured above. I'm loving the performance, not to mention the feeling of satisfaction the comes with driving a car built within the last decade.

Zoom zoom, indeed!

Quiet moments in Italia

We didn't have many quiet moments during our Italy trip, but I did get to observe a few:
TOP - a young couple shares ice cream in a doorway in a small plaza in Venezia. My attempts to shoot this kept getting thwarted by passersby, hence the slight focus problem from rushing. Still like the shot, though.
MIDDLE - also in Venezia, a man finds a quiet spot to read his newspaper.
BOTTOM - Another couple has a tryst while watching the sunset over the Bay of Naples from the cliff-sides of Sorrento. Unfortunately, the spot they chose also happened to be discharge area for tour busses. Just a few minutes after I shot this, three busses arrived and disgorged about a hundred tourists. The tryst was over and the couple drove off...

More shots from our Italia trip on my Flickr page.

Motoring in Italia

Hey! Back from the "the Boot" with many hundreds of pics to share!

Just one of the obvious differences you notice between the US & Italy are the cars. With it's ancient Roman towns being tangled webs of narrow streets, smaller is definitely better.
TOP - In Firenze ("Florence" to us - don't get me started on "Anglecized" place names), I spotted this Pasquali, a three-wheeled single-seater perfect for Tuscan-town cruising.
2nd - Along with SmartCars and Minis, Fiats were among the more numerous nameplates we encountered. So popular are they in Italy, even this beastie was a big seller: behold the Fiat Multipla, voted by Top Gear to be the world's "Ugliest Car" in 1999 (and well-deserving of the title, IMHO). This one was spotted in Roma.
3rd - Of course, vehicles of the two-wheeled variety are even more popular in Italia, and their riders will find ways to park as many of them in an available space as possible (like this one in Milano).
BOTTOM - Again from Firenze, a oh-so perfectly aligned row of scooters that just begged to be photographed.

More shots from our Italia trip on my Flickr page.

Peter F**kin' Frampton!

A stencil seen on a traffic-control box at the entrance to the Village @ Center Square shopping center, off Rt. 202 in Center Square/Blue Bell, PA. The colors are reflections of nearby flowers.

According to a discussion I heard on "The Preston & Steve Show," the "PFF" apparently DOES indeed stand for "Peter F**kin' Frampton," which is allegedly a line from "High Fidelity" (which I haven't tried to verify yet).

Word is that these can still be found throughout the Philly burbs...

More shots on my Flickr page.

Zig Zag Iron

Detail of the Mill Rd. bridge over the Neshaminy Creek in Dark Hollow Park in Jamison, PA. Another shot from my work travels, taken today.

More shots on my Flickr page.

Old Sycamore

This grand old tree is in Bloomsbury, New Jersey. I came across it during my work travels. I love the "S" shape.
The trunk looks to be about 4' wide (comparing it to the width of the sidewalk) and it's limbs extend all the way across the street!

And yeah, I know - I've been neglecting the ol' blog here for a while (exactly 2 months, to be precise).

Life's been busy. I'm sure you understand.

Juxtaposition

Funny - I recently left a comment on one of Albert Yee's Flickr posts about "accidental" shots that turn out cool. And today in work, while sorting through some survey photos from Friday, I found this one.

I was trying to zoom in on the transformer; particularly on the switch that changes its operating voltage from 2.4 kilovolts to 7.2 kilovolts (you can make out the "2.4" label). I didn't realize the auto-focus had gone with the branches instead of the transformer (it looked good on the LCD), so I accepted it and moved on.

The white light from the overcast sky highlights the branches really well, I think.

Chrome

One of my stops this past Friday was a custom chopper shop. This work-progress is almost done.

This is my entry for the Jorj.Org Photo Hunt challenge: Smooth.

More shots on my Flickr page.

Nevermore

I can't be sure this is actually a raven - all the research I did seemed to indicate that it's easier to tell a raven from a crow while they're flying. But the ruffed neck works in my favor...

This cemetery is next to a Friends Meeting house in Dover, NJ.

I might try to process this a bit more and re-post...

Layers of Warning

How many times can you nail the same sign in the same spot on the same utility pole?

We don't know yet, but someone in Kingswood Township, New Jersey is working on the answer...

Getting the shot

Heights are obviously no obstacle to the intrepid photographer seen here. Sometimes you really need to go out on a limb - or rocky outcropping, as it were - to get the shot.

This was taken last year in Ricketts Glen State park, overlooking the massive, 94-foot Ganoga Falls.

Hmm - that guy looks familiar. Where have we seen him before...?

Anyway, this is my entry into the Photo Hunt subject "Unchallenged."

Lunar Eclipse 2008

Taken about an hour ago.

More shots on my Flickr page.

A Dog's Life

Our new* puppy Madison. This shot was taken about a half-hour ago.

This is my entry for this week's Photo Hunt Challenge: "Unexciting"

* New being a relative term - we got her in December. She's about 4 months old now.

More Princeton Fog

A couple of more shots of fog over Princeton Battlefield State Park:

Top - a wider view showing the fog layer over the entire southern field.
Bottom - from the Bob Ross "we don't make mistakes, we only have happy accidents" file, a cool out-of-focus shot. I was parked across the road from the southern field, and every time I tried to shoot this group of teenagers emerging from the fog, a car would drive by and throw off the auto-focus. Eventually, they made it to the road and I gave up, but I like the way this turned out.

Princeton Fog

As I was driving through Princeton, NJ on my way home a couple of Fridays ago, I snapped this shot of Princeton Battlefield State Park. After raining most of the day, the skies finally cleared and the temperatures fell - prompting fog to rise up in open fields.
I had already driven past a few of those fields, but this one was too good to pass up.

First Flakes

As it began to snow this morning, I was treated to a rare sight - dozens of perfect little six-point-star snowflakes on the ledge outside my window at work. I grabbed my camera, put it Macro Mode, opened the window, and started shooting.
I only got a couple of shots before the warm air from inside melted all the flakes, leaving a surface of water drops that immediately melted any subsequent flakes the moment they landed!
Thankfully, I did get the one good shot you see above.

Cliff Fence detail

This is a detail of the cable and fence seen in my previous post of the protective cliff fence behind the Watchung, NJ Municipal Building.

It's getting it's own post so I can enter it into this week's Photo Hunt challenge: "Unnatural."

Chained Cliff

While driving through Watchung, NJ for work last week, I spotted this interesting sight - the cliff-face behind the Municipal Building, entirely ensconced in fencing and cables. While I understand the need to shield the public from falling rocks (and the ice, which seemed to be causing much of the falling debris as it melted), the method seemed extreme. Good photo op, though...

Near Miss

This shot is from our California trip last year. I was up on the San Clemente Municipal Pier trying to get some good surfing shots, and not having much luck. The long-haired guy above seemed to be one of the few getting any runs in, so I kept my eye on him.
I had the camera in "burst" mode, and started shooting as he began this ride, capturing the amazing near miss above.
Don't worry, neither surfer was harmed in this incident.
I'm using this shot for this week's Photo Hunt challenge: "Unaware."

Push Pin Landscape

Trying for a different approach for this week's Photo Hunt challenge of "Un-Corked" than all the wine/champagne-themed posts; our little red friend here being non-conformist and "un-corking" himself.