Puerto Rico – Old San Juan

In honor of NYC’s Puerto Rican Day Parade, here are some photographs taken during a trip to Puerto Rico last year:

These sentry boxes (called garitas) look out to the ocean from every corner of fort San Felipe del Morro.  Their distinctive rounded dome tops have become a cultural symbol for Puerto Rico.

The beautiful interior walls of Fort San Felipe del Morro.

The Bronx Zoo: Coy Pond

I snapped this photograph of the Bronx Zoo’s coy pond using one of the few lens filters that I keep on hand – the polarizer.  In this instance, I used it to filter out reflections from the water in order to capture some real underwater detail of the scales and fins.  The polarizer is also useful for eliminating window reflections and has the added benefit of making blue skies more blue.

Governor’s Island: Concrete Children II

Here is a second picture of the same art exhibit at Governor’s Island.  This time I converted the picture to duo-tone giving it a red hue which I thought looked strange for the subject matter.

Governer’s Island: Concrete Children

I snapped this picture of an art exhibit during a visit to Governor’s Island in New York City.  A little bit of light peaking through the leaves of a nearby tree created a natural spot light effect.   

Dancing Shiva

This picture of a Shiva statuette was taken at an Asian Heritage Month event in NYC using available light (i.e. a small desk lamp).

Blackbird

This blackbird landed on a post several feet in front of me just as I was about to go on a morning walk. Bad omen or not, I thought the light hit his black feathers in a nice way.  It was certainly worthy of a photograph.

Scottsdale Arizona: Pinnacle Peak

 

 

This duotone photograph was taken from a hiking trail at Pinnacle Peak in Scottsdale Arizona. 

Big Sur: Macro of Plant Life

This photograph of moss and vine growth was taken with a 100 mm macro lens while I was surounded montrous red wood trees.  Sometimes the most interesting pictures in the forest can be captured by focusing in on the small and unnoticed aspects of forest life.

Big Sur: Big Owl

This photo of an owl was taken with a 300 mm lens from one of the many hiking trials at Big Sur National Park in California. 

San Francisco: Sea Lions

These are the famous sea lions of Fisherman’s Warf in San Francisco. I focused on one sea lion that kind of looked like a character from a Dr. Seuss book.