-
Recent Posts
Search KJKETTNER.com
Photoblog Archives
- May 2013
- April 2013
- March 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- December 2012
- November 2012
- October 2012
- September 2012
- August 2012
- July 2012
- June 2012
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
TAGS
Agra Bali Black and White Brazil Cairo California Cambodia Canada Chicago China Delhi Ecuador Egypt England Evanston Fond du Lac Galapagos Islands Illinois India Indiana Indonesia Ireland Italy Junk Drawer Kruger Nat'l Park Las Vegas London Maine Mekong Delta Namibia Nevada Panama Rio de Janiero Rockport San Francisco Siem Reap South Africa Spain U.S. Cellular Field Vancouver Vietnam Viola Wisconsin Wrigley Field Xi'an
Monthly Archives: March 2012
Island of Bartolome
I’ve seen this picture pop up around the internet lately.
I highly doubt there is some actual event going on which makes it the current thing to write about. More likely, I think it’s just a popular image and just a coincidence I’ve seen it around as much as I have.
While plundering the Galapagos Islands, we woke up early to start our accent to the Island of Bartolome. As we approached the dock in our eight person raft (six guests, one guide, one raft pilot), a giant National Geographic Adventure boat roared up. The few of us on our catamaran commented how we really liked our experience on the smaller boat better than the large, ominous boat. I remember only thinking how much I wanted to get to the top of the Island of Bartolome before the massive boat unloaded its swarm of passengers.
Luckily, that’s exactly what happened.
The National Geographic boat took a long time to offload all of it’s passengers that we were already on our way back to our boat when the hoards of tourists were just leaving their boat for the dock.
March 2007. (2127)
Clean Sensors and Bright Sky
This is a very exciting photograph for me.
For quite some time now, I’ve been operating my camera with debris on my camera’s sensor. Basically, every time I take a picture, there is a tiny black blob on the image. (In this picture, the blob would be in the sky, slightly above the red water tower.) It’s relatively faint and easy to hide, but it’s also a pain in the ass. Most of the time I can easily remove it, but I knew the day would eventually come that I couldn’t make it disappear.
However, last week I dropped my camera off for a deep cleaning.
Among other things, my camera has been through a sandstorm in Namibia and India’s Holi Fest. It has earned a deep cleaning.
So this picture was really a test picture. The camera and lens were cleaned, and I just wanted to make sure everything is running at one hundred percent, which is good because Spring and Summer are fast approaching, and I have great plans about getting out and capturing some images.
March 2012. (2922)
Rockland Harbor Sunset
This image was taken towards the end of a very long day.
While attending the Maine Media Workshop in 2009, my brother and I awoke early to go capture the sun rising over the Rockport harbor. It was a beautiful sunrise, and inspired us to keep going through the day.
As we zipped around the area taking more and more pictures throughout the day, we finished our classwork as the sun started to get low in the sky. Since we watched the sun rise, why not watch it set?
This time, however, we raced to the Rockland harbor and watched the sun set from there. After the sun dipped below the horizon, the bright orange colors still shined brightly in the sky.
October 2009. (0471)
Terracotta Army in Black and White
I didn’t get to a whole lot of postings last week because I was trying to get a jump on the 3,000 images from India, Bhutan, Nepal and the United Arab Emirates.
By Friday I had made it through Nepal and most of the Bhutan pictures, but this Friday I hope to make it through the pictures from the UAE and India. The latter’s images will be a beast, because India was nearly overwhelming with things to take pictures of … not to mentioned the least of which was Holi Fest.
So, in an attempt to give myself a quick break from the recent trip, here is something slightly different for myself from China.
While in Xi’an, Alisha and I gave ourselves plenty of time to explore the Terracotta Army. It’s amazing how much detail is in each of the different figures. It is said no two soldiers are the same, most likely because one man carved the appearance of another man, and the other man returned the favor. Basically, “I’ll carve you if you carve me.” So the various workers each made a point to include themselves in the army.
October 2011. (4132)
Buddhist Prayer Flags
I have always loved Buddhist prayer flags, so while we were in Bhutan I was excited to see them.
Everywhere.
In the small Himalayan country I took 861 pictures. I think all but a few have prayer flags in the image somewhere.
February 2012. (0311)
Nepal Power Struggles
Kathmandu may be the world’s only capital city with a power issue. I am not speaking of politics, I mean actual electrical power. They call it “load shedding” and several hours a day the electricity is cut in different neighborhoods to give everyone in the city an equal share of the misery. It’s so frequent, the schedule is posted.
Our first night in Nepal, for example, we went to a pub and ordered food and beers before six o’clock, because that would be it until 10:30pm for electricity. Sure enough, nearly six on the nose the music died, the lights went dark, and all we heard was the gentle sound of rain falling on the canvas roof. The soft glow of candles on each table gave it a cozy, warm, comforting feeling.
Since it’s a regularily scheduled occurance (the following day was 5am to 10am, and again 6pm to 8:30pm) most places are well-prepared. Slowly the generators were started up, the music came back on and life went on as usual. For the few minutes the power was out, it was a nice reminder of how we (in the United States) can take the simple things in life for granted. At home, we have hot running water 24-hours a day, and enough electricity to power anything we could imagine. Here, they’re fine with electricity only half of the day, and adjust accordingly the rest of the time.
And God love ‘em for keeping the beer cold.
March 2012. (2333)
Blazing Sun and London’s Eye
I like this simple picture showing the sun and the London Eye Ferris Wheel. Both are big and impressive, to me.
The weather was freezing cold on this trip, so I don’t have many outdoor pictures from London. I am, however, going back to London this summer, so I’m looking forward to getting more images and roaming around with my camera a bit more.
February 2006. (0018)
Blue House, Red Vines and Pink Flowers
While wandering around Kinsale, Ireland, it was enjoyable to look at all of the houses and their bright, bright paint-jobs. There were a variety of blues, reds, yellows and such.
This particular house had rich blue walls, with windows’ trim painted bright yellow. What really caught my eye was the colors bursting out of the rain gutter. I’m not sure what type of weed or flower it is, but I like the pink and red against the blue and green background.
June 2011. (1019)
Old and New Panama City
Wandering around Panama City, Panama for the day, we made our way into the Old City. It was pretty and full of history, but also full of seedy-looking abandoned buildings. At one point, we were stopped by the police and told to leave the area before the sun sets.
Helpful, but not exactly reassuring.
August 2007. (0038)
Pastel-Colored Chicago Sunrise
This was a pleasant and calm morning, before the weekend turned chaotic (more on that in another post).
For this image I had just started experimenting with time-lapse, and this was a test shot before I set the camera up and let it fire away.
I have a bunch of Chicago skyline pictures with a bright, blue sky, and I these pictures because they’re something different. A soft, pink sky is a nice change once-in-awhile.
October 2011. (0884)
Father and Son Boat Watching
It’s been so long since I took this image, I’m pretty sure it’s a man and his son just hanging out, watching boats pass through one of Amsterdam’s many canals.
Alisha and I were in Holland during the winter months, celebrating a friend’s birthday. I’d love to get back during the warm, summer months and enjoy the cities and countryside and everything they have to offer.
March 2006. (0322)
Nighttime on Michigan Avenue
Traffic hurries along Chicago’s Michigan Avenue, also known as the “Miracle Mile.”
July 2009. (1443)
Maine’s Pemaquid Point Lighthouse
I have a couple of crazy/fun/artsy images from Maine’s Pemaquid Point Lighthouse on this website (one of my favorite images is in my Portfolio Gallery), but no simple picture that just show the lighthouse.
So, here it is.
October 2009. (0137)
Pyramid with Sphinx Profile
The Great Sphinx of Giza has become one of the national emblems of Egypt, frequently appearing on its stamps, coins, and official documents (sans its nose, of course).
February 2006. (0189)
Bermuda Passport Stamp
Bermuda has a special place in my heart, because it was the first time I was able to travel internationally for work (meaning someone else picked up the tab), it was the first stamp I received in my passport, and some time later, it was where I proposed to my wife.
For this image, I busted out our passports and shot some pictures of them for a National Geographic project about passport stamps.
1111. (1491)
Millennium Park Peristyle
In the northwest corner of Chicago’s Millennium Park is the Peristyle, a sculpture dedicated to the men and women who donated money to help fund the city’s park.
June 2009. (4585)
Evening in Sossusvlei, Namibia
This was taken the first night we were in Namibia. We had a helluva drive to reach this point (six hours on a gravel road), so to run around and play in the various sand dunes of the Sossusvlei region was quite the treat.
July 2011. (0316)
Busy Bee
I’m not sure spring can get here any faster.
This image was taken at my dad’s farm near Viola, Wisconsin. On this photography blog, I’ve posted a number of pictures taken on his property. While I normally do big, expansive wide shots, it’s always nice to watch nature do it’s thing on a much smaller scale.
August 2011. (8402)
Follow Along
