segovia: simple, detailed, layered

kate & i took a bus to segovia. en route we had some gorgeous views of the mountains across the plains, but i always waited to long to try capturing picture. the bus station is rarely by the best parts of a city, so my first glimpse of segovia, was nothing special. we walked to a "little" church, however, and sat on a bench behind it to eat our bocadillos (turkey & cheese sandwiches)--

oh! allow me to digress back to madrid for a moment; i just remembered a great moment. kate & i had been walking for ages and finally stopped to eat our sandwiches on the steps across from the palace. we were really thirsty, but i think had already drunk our juice or had forgotten to bring them. but, kate, always thinking, decided to try drinking her orange. she removed a tiny portion of the peel and started trying to suck the juice out; of course, getting it all over herself. but she was quite proud of her quick solution. i opted for eating my orange (which was freaking delicious!). we were also entertained by a small boy who was taking great delight in chasing a pigeon around the stairs, laughing with pure glee every time it hopped away from him and a man sitting near by whose camera made a sci-fi laser sound any time he took a photo.--



ok, so we were eating lunch in segovia, looking at this gorgeous church, san millán, seeing the spires of the cathedral in the distance. then, we moved on to the ancient roman aqueduct, which, like the cathedral, you can see peeking above the city.



all in all - segovia was lovely. and in an almost humble manner - at least generally speaking; the cathedral, aquaduct and castle are all larger than life and gorgeous, but even so, there's a simplicity to them that made me like them more.

cast your green vote

i need your help. these two photos are very similar and i can't decide which is the better of the two. can you please comment and let me know which one you like best? muchas gracias!

uno...


dos...


(both were taken in camarma, españa - where my friend, kate lived)

a spanish swartley sunday::el parque del buen retiro

on of my favourite days in spain was the sunday that we spent in madrid. i'd heard about the typical "swartley sunday" and how kate and andré would take the train to madrid to spend most of the day wandering through the huge parque del buen retiro (350 acres) and step out for a coffee before heading home. the weather was gorgeous and there was so much to see in the park: a rose garden, great paths through trees, the "forest" monument for the victims of the march 11th (2004) bombing, and brain trees! they tried to prepare me for these delightful trees, but i think upon my first sight i actually gasped or clapped or both. andré thinks they're just a regular evergreen type tree, but cut to look this way. true imagination! i also love the completely natural "dr seuss trees" (as kate & andré have dubbed them) with their tall spindly slanted trunks and leafy tops.

they also had some great fountains and statues, one of which, el angel caído, depicts the fallen lucifer. it was stunning. i wanted to take a photo, but felt kind of bad, like i shouldn't want to. but photographers capture what they see - so i did. and was quite pleased when i saw the print: that bit of hopeful blue that he's cowering before - brilliant.

alcalá de henares

it's often quite comical being a photographer. people are always confused as to what exactly you're photographing - and why. for instance, these doors. i'm walking along the street with kate - and suddenly i see these doors. brilliant! perfect subject. so i stop. and there were probably four or five passersby confused by my choice.


one of my favourite things about alcalá were the huge stork nests on the tops of buildings around town. apparently storks are good luck, so the city wants them to roost wherever they please. may be hard to tell from the photo how big the nests are - but just note that you can easily see them and they're on top of a really tall building.


kate's school was in alcalá - luckily for me, she had quite a bit of free time while i was in town so she toured me around. but when i stopped to take more than one photo, she'd find the nearest seat and start in on her homework.

camarma, and that something more

i walked down this street every day to the bus stop in my friend's town - b/c to do anything we had to go one town over (alcala). i remember seeing this shot and setting myself up to capture it, when the sun went behind a cloud. i waited and waited. started feeling foolish and tried to convince myself it wasn't that cool anyway and i should just carry on. something made me stay, and wait. looking at the photo now, i see it's b/c here is a perfect example that my angle, isn't always the full story. the tree itself looks somewhat skimpy and awkwardly shaped, yet the shadow on the wall shows a full, lovely round tree.

the sun reveals something more than i can see.


i've started uploading my film photographs to flickr.
you can check out the digital snaps in the may travels set
and the 35mm photos in the a may journey set.

waiting

God keeps no one waiting unless He sees
that it is good for him to wait...
you will find that the long wait
has done you some kind of good
which you would not have had otherwise.
but you must regard it as waiting,
not as camping. you must keep on
praying for light...

-cs lewis (mere christianity)-

oh oxford

this was my window view when i woke up. you can see oxford's city centre in the distance. i got in last night and just walking through the streets was wonderful. jackie & i passed by magdalen college and saw this:



and for a moment it was like i was actually seeing a life size version of my photograph from my last visit. it obviously is a life size version, so i'm sure that doesn't make a lot of sense. can't explain, but it was bizarre and brilliant at the same time.

well, i'm off to start the day!