village Archives - Just Enough Focus

March 18, 2019March 14, 2019

Nice, France

This is a section of Nice where cruise ships dock and people come ashore on a tender. That’s what I was doing when I took this picture.

Daily Image

Nice, France — Nice as seen from the harbour

While waiting for transport to other parts of Nice, I walked up and around the narrow streets. It was in the middle of summer and hot. I remember trying to decide whether to have a beer or ice cream to cool down. My only hesitation was that it was nine in the morning so I opted for ice cream.

more travel photography in the gallery

The famous beach is west of here, but since I live close to beaches in Florida, I visited other parts of the city including an art colony in Saint-Paul-de-Vence. As that was up on a small mountain, it was a little cooler, but still quite warm. I ended up getting a beer there, but it was midday at that point. Such are my memories of ice cream and beer.

December 19, 2018December 13, 2018

Village Across the Water

This is the back side of Bradenton Beach, the front side is, uh, a beach.

Daily Image

The village of Bradenton Beach as seen from across the inter-coastal waterway.

The little beach town is surrounded by water because it sits on Anna Maria Island. The back side faces the intercoastal waterway and is the place where all the boats dock. It’s also where you’ll find a lot of fun things to explore, like restaurants, galleries, and fishing piers; not to mention other little villages like Cortez.

more from Anna Maria Island in the gallery

I shot this picture at water level using a Platypod on a remarkably calm night; usually, there’s a little chop. This is also a prolonged, thirteen-second exposure, so it makes the water appear even smoother. Then I stretched the lights a little downwards to accentuate them. But at the end of the day, if you squint your eyes a little, this is exactly what you would see on most evenings along the inter-coastal waterway. But if that doesn’t float your boat, there is always the beach on the other side.

October 24, 2018October 21, 2018

Gigondas Village

Gigondas is a town in southern France known for its wine. But then, we could say that for just about every village in France.

Daily Image

Gigondas Village — Up upon the hillside village in Southern France

They are sticklers for doing things the old way, and the wine from here is famous around the world. A funny little story: about a week after I returned home I was in a small store in my hometown, and they had Gigondas wine. I wasted no time bragging that I had just been there.

Nuns on Vacation

I was walking through the old section of Kotor and came upon a group of nuns on vacation. At least I think they were on vacation, I didn’t actually speak with them. But they seemed to be having fun nuntheless.

Daily Image

I’m not really in the habit of following people around, but I kept running into the same group. On no prior occasion have I seen nuns with cameras and iPhones, just like the rest of us. I don’t know why I found that odd, perhaps they are allowed to order these items on Amazon. But again, with nuns I am a novice and I could have it all wrong.

my favorite images

Anyway, I saw the group of them a couple of times and I took a few pictures of the spectacle. There is a certain ascetic to this scene that I find pleasing. I don’t see a lot of vacationing nuns in Florida. There is nothing much for them to see here except people that lay on the beach. And trust me, we have the mother of all beaches. But, they could raise money by selling French Fries. Anyone could order and they would just put the ingredients in the friar.

November 20, 2017

Night Scene in Lepetane

This was the night scene in Lepetane Montenegro as we passed by on a ship. We were leaving the port at Kotor and passing through a narrow channel lined with houses on each side. We could see people sitting on their balconies watching as our ship passed by on a warm summer evening.

Daily Image

To me the scene was like a painting; so I decided to process the photo with that idea in mind. I used Topaz Studio to create an impressionistic rendering and then blend it with the original photo. While the image now looks like a painting, in some places it’s more realistic. It plays a little trick so we are not sure which it is, however it’s a little of each.

It’s amazing that software can “paint” a scene from a photo. But course its called digital rendering and not painting. Yet the software can be configured to use all manner of brush strokes, paint volume and even mimic styles of the masters. This is a case where computers are approximating art; which for me is amazing.

more night photos

The image represents an impression of a small coastal village at night, which for me is how I remember it. In my mind this type of rendering creates a feeling of the place that is easier to recall than with the unaltered realism of a plain photo. Stay tuned, I’ll be experimenting more with this amazing technique in the coming days and weeks.

November 17, 2017

Village of Dobrota

This is a photo of the village of Dobrota in Montenegro that I took from a ship in the Bay of Kotor. We spent an amazing day in Kotor and were leaving when I took this. The geography of the area reminded me of fjords. There are narrow inlets surrounded by towering peaks and the view is amazing.

Daily Image

In Kotor we rode in a bus up an impossible single lane road to the top of these mountains. Even though the bus drivers are some of the best in the world half the passengers were praying fervently. It’s said the bus drivers in Montenegro bring more people to religion than the priests. After twenty-nine hairpin turns, I believe that to be true.

more from europe

I also have some images looking down at the water from these peaks. Either way you look at it this is one of the most scenic areas of Europe.

October 26, 2017

Corniglia

I took this photo of Corniglia from a small boat travelling along the Cinque Terre coast. It was a very hot day so sitting in a boat was a good option. We passed several little villages just like this and I was thinking it would be hard to imagine a more picturesque setting. The villages look remote and isolated but in fact are connected by trains, roads and a hiking path.

Daily Image

In one sense it was a shame I only had a day here, but now I know where to come back for a proper visit.

more landscape images

When you look closely at these towns on the rugged slopes you realize they’ve taken centuries to build; the locations are most improbable. I believe they were originally properties of barons and such and the inaccessibility was a deterrent to pirates. Now they are communities with traditions, culture and hundreds of years of history. And based on the way they are built, I think they’ll be around for many more centuries.

September 3, 2017

Monterosso al Mare

I recently arrived here in Monterosso al Mare by boat and spent the afternoon walking around, taking photos and tasting the local cuisine. It’s a tough job but somebody has to do it. Actually I was on a tour and so my time was not as leisurely as I make it seem. However I did have a couple of hours to enjoy a meal of antipasti and explore the village. I took this on a walkway that is carved into the rock overlooking the Mediterranean.

Daily Image

This image is comprised of 12 high-resolution photos in a six by two grid. Panoramas like this are extremely high in resolution and, as it turns out, can be difficult to work with. The reason for that is two-fold; first is the size of the individual images and second is that I shoot in RAW format which adds even more size and processing requirements. It pushes the limits of what we can do with normal computers and software. But as with all things technological, this is only a short-term problem.

more panoramas

Speaking of problems, the biggest one this day was the hour hand on my watch. I love tours but they only give you a taste. There’s a lot of information coming at you in a short period. Its like wine tasting, you sip of different vintages but never fully enjoy one. The taste I had of Monterosso al Mare was just enough to whet my palette and make we want to come back; for a full glass of course.