Back from the Swiss Alps

A few days ago I was concerned about the weather conditions on the top of the Schilthorn, in Switzerland’s Berner Oberland. I wanted to go there with my camera to capture mountain vistas, but was worried I might have an overcast day—or what can I say, a beautiful blue sky, but without clouds to keep things interesting.

Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau

A family affair for the car pARTs art show in Faribault, MN

Smart Car

car pARTs: A juried Art Show about Cars just opened in Faribault, Minnesota, about an hour’s drive south of Minneapolis. The group exhibition on the theme of Cars will run through September 25th at Faribault’s Paradise Center for the Arts.

Off to the mountains to photograph

Over the past months I have been photographing the Swiss Alps in Black and White. Below is one of the photo.

Tomorrow morning I have a 05:24 train to the Schilthorn.  I just looked at the webcam for my destination, I could only see 10 meters. Hopefully things will clear up a little in the morning.

If you would like to see more photos from my Black and White mountain work take a look at  the Fine Art section of my web site.  

Train Museum in Tashkent, Uzbekistan

Tashkent's museum of railway engineering is open air with 13 old steam, 18 diesel and 3 electric engines. We spent an hour wandering through the museum photographing old trains.

For a photographer this museum shows much more than just trains; it shows that you need something in the photo to show scale. The old Soviet era engines are huge, without a person in the photo, there is no way to appreciate how large the engine and wheels are.

With a person in the photo, you can see the scale.

Saint Louis market in the COLD

It is normally fun to wander around the Saturday market in St. Louis, shopping for fresh produce, fish and cheese.

Morning walk along the Rhine

This morning as I walked along the Rhine the sun was low and provided beautiful color. The Rathaus (city hall) has rich red sandstone but the early morning light made it stand out even more.

Happy New Year 2012

I welcomed the New Year in Basel, Switzerland. The Swiss are sticklers for time, the city’s fireworks launched at exactly midnight.

 

A million candles

Tonight more than 100 places in Switzerland displayed candles in support of “Eine Million Sterne,” a Caritas initiative to express solidarity with the poor in Switzerland and around the world. Here are some photos of the candle displays and Christmas lights in the center of Basel’s Old Town.

 

Tom Fakler Photography website

I have just revamped my photography website.

There are new photos from recent trips, take a look.

In doing this, I had to change the location of photos for this blog, so you may have received an e-mail announcing the again.

Please let me know what you think of the site!

View camera on the High Line

While strolling the High Line in New York City a few weeks ago, we came across a young lady photographing with a 4 x 5 view camera. I assume she was trying to capture the light and shadow on the building on the right.

Light and shadow

The windows of the old restored New England sheep barn where we stayed recently has old glass panes which distort the light. Your eyes do not see it but the shadows show the distortion.

Desolation

The dictionary defines desolation as "empty, bare, uninhabited, deserted, alone and solitary"; these are all words that you could use to describe Wadi Rum. You could also describe it as peaceful, tranquil, serene and a great place for contemplation.

Natural bridges, Wadi Rum

There are some rock climbing areas in Wadi Rum, the closest we got to these were two natural bridges.

Camel ride at sunrise

We hired four camels and a driver to have subjects for our desert photos. The camels showed up at 06:30 and we were ready to go by 07:00.

Camels don’t walk very fast but if you take a photo of them and then want to get back in front of them and set up for the next shot, they seem to be moving very fast.

Setting out in the morning

Godan the camel

While in Wadi Rum Anita and I had the opportunity to ride camels. Anita was very lucky: she rode Godan, the youngest camel. Godan is about two years old and looked and felt like a very large soft toy.

The only problem with Godan was that he wanted to stop at every bush for breakfast. Anita was unable to get him going again after he stopped. The camel driver finally tied Godan to the camel ahead of him.

Godan with Anita aboard.

Jerash, Jordan: Roman column city

I have always admired Roman architecture, but when Anita and I visited Jerash in northern Jordan, I developed a deeper understanding of how important columns were to Roman architecture.


The city has two main streets  lined with columns; the longer of the two leads into the Oval Plaza, which is defined by columns.

The Oval Plaza

Typical capstone

The two main streets

Columns in front of the temple of Artemis

Petra Sandstone

Petra was carved by the Nabataeans because it was easier to carve sandstone than to build with it. In my view it also gave a very nice interior finish to the caves.

Take a look at some of the sandstone in Petra.

Smoking in Jordan

In the USA smoking is banned in most restaurants; in Jordan it’s on the menu, yes, many menus have a page listing the flavors of shesha you can order. Shesha is the tobacco that is smoked in a Hooka pipe (water pipe). I was quite surprised to see it so prevalent in Jordan.

I had dinner and watched people having a great time at Haret Jdoudna restaurant in Madaba, there were several people smoking.

Pipes ready to go

Glowing embers are placed on top of the foil which is on top of the tobacco. 

Smokers enjoying their pipes

Crossing the road

In Jordan as in Morocco, old ways meet new; I saw an example of this while driving near Madaba. As I drove along a wide busy highway I saw a goat herder bring his charges up to the edge of the road and order them to stop. They obeyed like a line of school children waiting to cross the road. As the flock waited for an opening in traffic, one of the goats stepped onto the shoulder, just like boys in a school clas. The shepherd threw a rock at it and the animal hopped back up on the curb.

It was a very busy road and I did not have the patience to wait for a break in traffic to observe and photograph the goats actually crossing the road.

What a difference a day makes

What a difference a day made in Madaba, Jordan.
The photos on the left were taken one day and the ones on the right hand, the next. A sandstorm had blown in from the Saudi Arabian desert.