Tim's Photo Blog

More Dallas Kite Surfers

2009-04-01T11:54:00.019-04:00

Continuing from an earlier post, here are the final images taken in early March of some Dallas kite surfers. This time it is more than just Jerry.

More Pigeon Playing Puppies

2009-03-31T10:38:00.017-04:00

It isn't only the puppies that catch the birds, but also little boys. The black and white image is a digital capture from September 2008 while the colour image is film from September 2007.
The German Shepard did enjoy being near children feeding the rock doves.
He would attentively watch and then occasionally burst into action. Ninety percent of the time he would miss ...
... and rarely catch one.
The dogs would be attracted to the largest flock, but they did not coordinate their attacks.
The cute looks and ...
... pleading faces ...
... didn't mask the fact they liked to chase birds.

Patience Puppy

2009-03-28T09:19:00.008-04:00

The street dogs in Santiago Chile are smart.As a carnivore a good place to hang out near is the butchers waiting for kind shoppers and/or the owner to give you hand outs.
But being a civil puppy you must obey the signs in the window, particularly when they are at your eye level.
One hopes that a sad look, good manners and patience will pay off.

Dogs at Play in Santiago Chile

2009-03-27T15:10:00.018-04:00

Plaza de Armas in Santiago Chile is more than the heart of the City; a place to buy art from stalls; view monuments - it is a play ground for street dogs.

Chile has a large population of street dogs. The term "stray" would be a misnomer as the animals are well feed, well socialised and tolerated by the locals. The locals feed the animals and leave bowls of water out for them. In fact they could better be seen as neighbourhood pets, that live outside, with many owners.

Plaza de Armas is a mecca for locals, tourists, dogs and in particular rock doves. For fun the dogs would stalk ...
... chase ...
... watch (note another puppy under the bench)...
... and occasional catch a rock dove.
After a lick, the bird would be released to fly away, apparently done the worse for ware.
A favourite trick of this German Shepard would be to stay near kids feeding the birds and then explode into action once a critical mass of pigeons was reached.

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Kite Surfing in Dallas

2009-03-24T15:59:00.024-04:00

After a few months hiatus of completing renovations on a home in Brooklyn NY; trying to sell said home in the worst market of my lifetime; move half way across the country; buy another home and two cars, I am off to Dallas Texas.

So far I have been down a few times in the last three months for house hunting, visit the wife (there reason for the move as she has been working there since the start of the year) and a general look around. During one of my drives on a windy day, this is what I found.

In the next month or so I'll be able to visit here more often.

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Slow in Posting Images

2008-09-13T09:48:00.002-04:00

I'm slow in posting new images due to a very large backlog. Since May this year I have been to:

Mexico City;
Pacific Northwest (Portland OR, Richland WA, Boise ID, Twin Falls ID, and Idaho Falls ID - 1,000 miles with six in a van over three and a half days);
Europe (Berlin, Zurich, Aarch, Den Haag, Utrecht);
Australia (Perth, Sydney, Melbourne);
South America (Buenos Aires, Santiago).

With a least a week spent in each location. Before May I was also in California (San Fransisco, Palm Springs, LA) and Alaska.

With all these travels were for pleasure (ie not work) for me, while, except Alaska, they were business trips for my wife Deb.

A large number images taken with nearly 30,000 on one of my cameras alone - hence the backlog. I will put some images up soon.

All Ages

2008-08-26T11:37:00.022-04:00

It is not not only the young that die in war.

19 or Less

2008-08-22T10:34:00.039-04:00

Touring the Arnhem Oosterbeek Cemetery the young age of the servicemen stood out. The reality of war is that you want/need young soldiers to fight. Naivety and a belief that you will live forever are useful on the battlefield.

Unfortunately young soldiers fighting means young soldiers dying.

Aged 18
Aged 19

It is profound to view the graves of 19 year old men, as this was the age I joined the Australian Army and I was twice their age when I took these photos.

Redgum's I Was Only 19 played in my head as I viewed these head stones.

Far from Home

2008-08-19T15:10:00.029-04:00

I caught the movie A Bridge Too Far on TCM the other day. The movie portrays the World War Two battles caused by Operation Market Garden. The bridge in the title of the movie is at Arnhem in the Netherlands.

Near the location of the Landing Zones for the British 1st Airborne Division and the site of the last stand near the Hartenstein Hotel, lies the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's (CWGC) Arnhem Oosterbeek War Cemetery. During a recent visit to Holland I visited the cemetery for a second time.
The cemetery has 1,747 graves. All the head stones of the CWGC are uniform and there is no distinction made for rank, service, race or creed. All of the cemeteries I have visited in France, Belgium and The Netherlands have a simple layout and this plinth with Their Name Liveth For Evermore carved in it.
This cemetery is predominantly for the servicemen who died as part of Operation Market Garden but also contains those that died in and around the area up to the end of the war.

The effects of war mean that the dead cannot always be identified. This is one of the 245 unidentified graves in the cemetery.One of the 79 Polish graves in the cemetery.
One of the four Kiwi headstones. Note the religion of FTLT Singer.
Two more Kiwis.
One of the 33 Canadians.
Men of all religions served and died.
One of the two Dutchies buried here.
One of the four Aussies.
Four more of the 245 unknown soldiers.
Each CWGC cemetery has a register listing the names of those buried in it. A simple system of numbered rows and letter blocks allows one to find a grave site.
Visitors.
All in a row.

Sailing

2008-08-09T14:29:00.035-04:00

The last of the sailing photos from last weekend.

Lisa watching Jeff drive.
Jeff watching Lisa drive.Jeff enjoying Lisa driving.
Entering New Harbor.
Driving by instruments.Driving by the sails.The stowaway.
It was not all smooth sailing. The current was against us at times.
The dingy slowed us down a little.
The sea was very calm with no wind.
Fog rolled in.
Then cleared.A storm front pasted through with heavy rain.
Due to the storm at least we got a mooring...
... which allowed us to talk late into the night.
Departing Block Island.
Sunday had good wind which allowed us to sail at over 6kts speed overground.The boat did heel a bit.
All the telltails did fly.
White knuckle events can occur...
...and faces make funny shape...
...when you don't obay these...
...or read this.

Getting to and from Sailing

2008-08-08T10:27:00.014-04:00

Last weekend was more than sailing. It involved driving at night.Finding parking places so we could eat.
Getting to the docks in the dark and finding the boat.Using a dingy to get out to Blue Jay.
Fighting along I-95 to return to New York.Jumping the train to get into Manhattan.
Having a little rest after along weekend.

Block Island Sailing

2008-08-07T11:48:00.009-04:00

Over the last weekend friends Lisa and Jeff invited Deb and I sailing on Blue Jay in Block Island Sound.

A great weekend was had by all, even though Saturday had no wind and a storm.

Jeff at the helm.
Lisa's turn to drive.The happy couple.
The boat ...
... a J34.
Good crew can be hard to find.More images to follow.

NYIT Volunteers

2008-07-28T16:54:00.031-04:00

Some more images of the volunteers helping out at the NYIT Nominations night on 21 July.

JesusWalks - Sarah Robinson

2008-07-25T00:01:00.000-04:00

Continuing from yesterday, the first JesusWalks artist I met was Sarah Robinson and her work is Reflection or Disco Ball Jesus. Sarah was working as one of the volunteer guides/security in Hyde Park for the four JesusWalks statues there. She saw me taking photos of her work and we started talking. We ended up talking for a few hours about her work and art in general.

This was Sarah’s first mosaic and to say it was a large undertaking is an understatement. The statue was completed in her kitchen as the garage was too cold to work in for the many, many hours it took to glue the numerous mirror pieces on the statute.

Reflection reflected in Sarah's glasses.Reflection was placed in a prime location as part of WYD, in front of St. Mary's Cathedral and near one of the many Official Merchandise Tents. As a side note, the consumerism aspect of the WYD scared me.

The only coloured glass in the statue is the stigmata, the heart and the flames above the heart.

Sarah was very keen in explaining how she made the work and was willing to have her photograph taken with the statue and pilgrims.

Pilgrims, with the ubiquitous red/orange/yellow backpack, would stop and have their photo taken with the JesusWalks statutes. Many planned to have their photo taken with each of the 33 JesusWalks statutes.

Jesus Walks - Sam Evans

2008-07-24T00:01:00.000-04:00

The dates of my recent visit to Sydney Australia happened to coincide with the World Youth Day 2008. As an atheist, I had never heard of WYD SYD 08 but leaving the hotel it was hard to miss with road closures, police, barricades and 125,000-250,000 pilgrims in the city.

Numerous events were held in conjunction with WYD, one which was JesusWalks. In a nutshell, 33 artists were given a statute of The Sacred Heart of Jesus and asked show a contemporary view on “faith”. Each statute was on public display for the dates of the WYD and then will be put up for auction later in the year. The proceeds of the auction will benefit Youth Off The Streets, an Australian youth charity.

During my wanderings I was lucky enough to have detailed discussions with two of the artists involved in JesusWalks.

Peace in Surrender is by Sam Evans an Adelaide based self taught aerosol artist.

Sam being interviewed by ABC radio.

For obvious reasons the work is informally known as Camo Jesus.

The original work had Band-Aids over the stigmata but pilgrims would peel them off. A few of the statues were defaced during the week.

Either through good planning or luck, the work was placed in an area that was in shade for most of the day and had tree canopy backgrounds on two sides.

NYIT Nominations 2008

2008-07-23T00:01:00.003-04:00

The New York Innovative Threatre (NYIT) Award Nominations was held on Monday 21 July at Our Lady of Pompii. A great night was had by all under the disco ball ...

... listening to the sounds by DJ Rob ...

... dancing the night away.

Aussies are hard to spot at a party with hair bleached by the sun and their reserved nature.

(Click for larger image)

Laurie Lever in the Australian Olympic Team

2008-07-22T09:48:00.007-04:00

Laurie Lever, one of the Australian show jumpers I photographed in Aach on 15 June 2008, has made the Olympic Show Jumping Team. At 61 years of age he is Australia's oldest Olympic member.

I wish Laurie and the rest of the team all the best in Hong Kong next month. Below are a few images of Laurie and Ashleigh Drossal Danat competing in Aach in June.

Kukka and Wilhelm's Wedding

2008-07-02T00:01:00.001-04:00

Always having a camera with me I caught a few snaps at Kukka and Wilhelm's wedding at the Cricket Club in Utrecht.

The happy couple.

Kukka watching Wilhelm and the band.

What does a party need, kids ...

... dogs ...

... music ...

... dancing ...

(click to see larger)

... and romance.

A great night was had by all.Once I have finished traveling I'll put a few more online.

Kite Surfing In Holland

2008-07-01T00:01:00.002-04:00

While staying in Scheveningen in The Netherlands two weeks ago I came across a bunch of kitesurfers/kiteboarders enjoying the strong breeze.

Most of the surfers were locals but I did find one lone American from Seattle who had transported his equipment over to Europe while he was working there for a month or so.

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A poor landing from the Seattleite.

The images below are from a local (Martijn Van Dijk) who performed for the camera, for well over an hour.

Photoshopper to the Stars

2008-06-30T00:01:00.002-04:00

During my recent travels I managed to work my way through a large backlog of magazines.

The May 12th edition of The New Yorker had an interesting article on Pascal Dangin, the Photoshopper-to-the-stars.

The article implies that Pascal Dangin retouched images for Unilever's Dove Real Beauty campaign. Statements have been issued by all deigning retouching occurred. To find out for sure, the Digital Forensic Investigators (DFI) could be sent in, from either the USA or England.

Aach CSI 3*

2008-06-29T14:26:00.014-04:00

For two weeks in June my wife, Deb, and I traveled through Germany, Switzerland and The Netherlands. During this adventure we caught up with some Australian friends who took us to the little village of Aach in Germany to watch the The Aach CSI 3* Show jumping event. This event was the final opportunity for Australian Jumping riders to earn their place in the Olympic Team.

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The Australian National Selectors busy at work.

Ashleigh Drossal Danat and trainer in the warm-up arena.

Laurie Lever and Ashleigh Drossal Danat in the warm-up arena.

Laurie Lever and Ashleigh Drossal Danat jumping.

Chris Chugg and Vivant clearing the last jump of a triple combination in the first round.

Paul Athanasoff on unhappy Wirragulla Nicklaus.

Chris Chugg and Vivant in the second round.

Markup 4 faults for an unlucky rider.

An oxer is cleared.

A Swedish jumper waits his turn.

Spectators sit in the light rain watching the action.

Chris Chugg and Vivant place 4th in the Class 7 Grand Prix event.

Manfred MÜLLER (Switzerland) on Cheenook's Boy completes the victory lap after winning the Class 7 Grand Prix at Aach CSI 3* 2008, 15 June 2008.

Once I finish traveling at the end of July I'll put some more images online.