I went rambling through the bushes and brought home a visitor that I quickly dispatched. But first, he turned into my photo subject. As a photo subject, a bug of this size is incredibly hard to shoot — the distance between in and out of focus is a matter of millimetres. Some of my other bug pictures haven’t turned out because I can’t hold still enough! It doesn’t help either that it is near impossible to tell on the camera screen whether something this small is in focus either. But I have a winner here! 0 comments more ...

The plane touched down at Charles de Gaulle and we quickly found ourselves in Paris! Dreams come true! How could I pass up getting a picture of the Eiffel Tower, THE symbol of Paris. 0 comments more ...

For pictures alluding to open spaces and freedom, it’s hard to beat those taken from the air. The wingtip is a subtle way to add perspective and a reference point. For the curious, the river is the Seine, just north of Paris. 0 comments more ...

Sometimes wandering around Iceland, the landscape reminded of nothing familiar and was closer to how I imagined Mars. The orange rainsuits they gave us when we went horseback riding didn’t help any in that regard, but it does make us jump out in this photo.

Again, I love the feeling of openness and adventure the image inspires.

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Iceland is the land of many things, including some amazing waterfalls. There were so many things to see in Iceland, I decided to bend my rule of only one photo per day. I think this is one of three from the one day of our Icelandic adventures :) 0 comments more ...

We rented a car and drove out of Reykjavik and pulled off the road just before the next town.

I love in this picture of the sense of openness, adventure; and freedom it alludes to.

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Welcome to Iceland! In the foreground is Iceland’s most famous residents, Eric the Red Leif Eríkson (the statue is a gift given by the US to Iceland in 1930), and in the background is the tallest building in Iceland and one of Reykjavik best known landmarks, Hallgrimskirkja. 1 comment more ...

In our modern era of jet travel, it’s a little surprising to find a prop plane (a propeller, not jet driven plane) at the airport, but here it is! 0 comments more ...

Still with the Family History theme, I also came across this postcard sent to my 2nd Great-Grandfather by his sister. It speaks to a different era, when people had more connections to the home country and so would go for months to visit the country and family. The note on the back (“This is a real photograph”) speaks to the state of the art of photography — still complicated and expensive. The other thing that amazes me is how simple the address is. All in all, it’s an interesting peak into the past. 0 comments more ...

During my travels through Normandy, I began to wonder how it was that Normandy and Britain ended up both with Lions for symbols. In Eu, on the Normandy coast where William the Conquerer was married, I found the link. I was told that the animals are no lions, but leopards, and England uses three, Normandy was given the right to use two by the English crown, and that Eu (a town on the Normandy coast that was the site of William’s marriage) was offered the right to use one by Normandy. 1 comment more ...