Grave Digger

 These were taken the day before we moved, at the Advance Auto Parts in Cedar Park, Texas. It was a promotional event for the Monster Jam that following Saturday night. I really don't care about monster trucks, never been to a rally. But I thought it was a good photo opportunity, and I never pass up one of those...

For the wheel installation pic I left the auto ghost removal tool off, I like the effect. Or I could have said that ghosts are in charge of changing Grave Digger's wheels.

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The columns of the Doge's Palace

 These are some I took while waiting for everybody in the tour to catch up. I love columns, especially ones that have some effort put into them. columns now-a-days are just so boring. They just don't build 'em like they used to...

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Texas Highway 99 Expansion - Highway in the sky

     Here's s couple more of the Texas Highway 99 Expansion in Katy, Texas. I love the look of the over-pass supports by themselves, they remind me of the Japanese Torii.        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torii 

     I tore my shorts while trying to get across the street to the construction. but I didn't care, it was a beautiful day and I was finally going to get some decent pics of the expansion.

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Old Abandoned Farmhouse - When children's voices called, Where grasses now stand still

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This is an old dilapidated farm house along the north side of Texas State Highway 71 just south of Smithville. I had passed it several times going back and forth from Austin to Houston. I always wanted to stop and take a closer look. On my last trip from Austin to Houston, while moving the last of our things to Houston, I decided to take that closer look. It was just after sunset and the sky was on fire, perfect timing...

Texas Highway 99 Expansion - Twilight turns to darker blue, With lights of amethyst...

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This shot here is an original photo, unprocessed. I wasn't happy with the HDR results. I went down to the construction in hopes of catching the sunset but I failed to check the time of sunset. This time of year it gets later and later. So I missed it. On any other day it might still have been bright enough for some decent photos but there was a large storm system in the area and it was unusually dark. It may not look it but I had to turn the ISO up to 400, and this particular photo is the +2 EV pic from it's bracketed set. I still think it's a pretty awesome scene. It had been sprinkling the whole time I was out there and I was soo muddy when I was done. But I had a good time as I always do when taking pictures.

Train Bridge - ramble through the country-side

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After my photo walk through old downtown Richmond, before I headed back to the car, I got my turn at the bridge. I can't resist a train bridge when I see one. Also I love this perspective, I try for these kind of shots when ever I can.

Feed Store - Cobwebs that hang reminding me of its past

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I was on a photography kick the other day that extended from the Texas State Highway 99 expansion beyond I 10 in Katy down to Richmond Texas. I love these stops that are completely unexpected. It was an exceptionally beautiful day that day. And as I was on my way home from the road construction I thought to my self; I think I'll go check out Richmond. It had been some time since I drove down to that old small town south west of Houston. And as I entered town and turned down a side Road I saw one of those amazing rusty red train bridges, so I parked near by to snap  few. But as I was walking up to the bridge, three people came out of no where to snap a few of the bridge. This is not the first time this has happened to me, frustrates me every time. So I strolled into old downtown Richmond and immediately found this old closed down feed store...

Mount Pilatus - Far over the Misty Mountains cold...

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Here's the photo from my title banner. This is a view from the summit of Mount Pilatus near Lucerne in Switzerland. The lake in the distance is Lake Lucerne. Pilatus's elevation is approximately 6,982 ft. 

    Mount Pilatus was named after a local legend which alleges that Pontius Pilate was buried there. A similar legend is told of Monte Vettore in Italy. 

    The top can be reached with the Pilatus Railway, the world’s steepest cogwheel railway from Alpnachstad, operating from May to November (depending on snow conditions), and the whole year with the aerial panorama gondolas and aerial cableways from Kriens. Both summits of Tomlishorn and Esel can be reached with a trail. Mount Pilatus has the longest summer toboggan track in Switzerland (0.88 miles or 1,350 m) and the biggest suspension rope park in Central Switzerland.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Pilatus

Abandoned Winery - All overgrown by cunning moss, All interspersed with weed...

 Here's another shot of the pergola at that abandoned winery. It seemed to have the right level of detail and contrast for black and white.  

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Oyster Creek Park - "But Iron -- Cold Iron -- is master of them all"

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Some more iron works. Apparently these are the work of french artist and sculture Bernar Venet. It is Bernar Venet’s belief that the function of artist is to explore and discover “lands that are unknown.” In this regard Venet has been interested in the function of line because it is the basis of drawing.

http://www.sugarlandtx.gov/parks_recreation/special_events/Bernar_Venet_Sculpture_Garden.asp

Oyster Creek Park Iron Art Work - A portal to another place and time

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I was passing by this park on my way back to our new home the other day and my curiosity got the best of me. There were several of these iron constructs scattered all over this park. The sky was looking especially dramatic due to a storm front that was moving in so I decided I must take some pictures. I love science fiction and fantasy and this makes me think of some kind of portal or wormhole to another place, maybe very similar or completely different than here...

Virgin of the Annunciation - The Louvre, Paris, France

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This was taken inside The Louvre Museum in Paris, France. Or as they call it; Musée du Louvre.
Everyone should visit the Louvre when in Paris, regardless of their level of interest in art. The building itself is incredible, and huge. They say it would take about six days to fully explore the Louvre and all it's exhibits. I purposely focused on the room because I felt it was just as interesting as the sculpture. Most of my pictures while at the Louvre are of the building itself. Sadly my camera battery died shortly after entering so most of said pictures were taken by my old iPhone 3G, not the best quality. I tried the camera once more and was able to snap a few more pics while in this room before it shut down again.       
      This statue is the "Virgin of the Annunciation". It is a wood carving (originally polychromed), by Nino Pisano .

      The "Annunciation" refers to the Christian celebration of the announcement by the angel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary that she would conceive and become the mother of Jesus, the Son of God, marking his Incarnation.       

       Nino Pisano (fl. 1349 – 1368) was an Italian sculptor, the son of Andrea Pisano. 

      He collaborated with his father in sculptures for the churches of San Zanipolo at Venice and in Santa Caterina at Pisa, and provided some panels for the bell tower of Santa Maria del Fiore. 

      Nino succeeded his father in the works of the Orvieto Cathedral in 1349.

      Works he made alone include a Madonna with Child in Santa Maria Novella, Florence, a Saint Bishop in the Cathedral of Oristanoand a Monument to Bishop Scherlatti now in the Museum of Pisa Cathedral. His other attributed works include a Madonna of the Rose in Santa Maria della Spina and a Madonna del Latte in the Museum of St. Matthew, both in Pisa. An Annunciation, once in Santa Caterina, is now in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nino_Pisano

http://cartelen.louvre.fr/cartelen/visite?srv=car_not_frame&idNotice=2270&langue=en

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mus%C3%A9e_du_Louvre

Horse and Graffiti at sunset

 This storage building is next to a major thoroughfare in north Austin, just down the road from our old apartment. It would catch my eye every time I drove pass and now and then there be a few horses grazing near by. Finally I got an opportunity to shoot it with the horse near by in decent lighting.


















And this just looked like a nice scene here with the last light of the day hitting this tree. And these bushes are all over the place around Austin and they just look neat.


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The columns of Saint Peter's Basilica

    While in Rome we toured the Basilica Papale di San Pietro in Vaticano, the church is located within Vatican City. 

    

Did you know that... 

    Vatican city or Stato della Città del Vaticano is a landlocked sovereign city-state whose territory consists of a walled enclave within the city of Rome, Italy. Also Vatican City the smallest independent state in the world by both area and population. 

Well, now you know...

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Peter's_Basilica

Abandoned Railway Warehouse - Gnaws iron, bites steel, Grinds hard stones to meal

 Here's the side facing 5th street in downtown Austin, the opposite side of the building. This may be my favorite from the set, such color and the sun rays... And below we have a shot of the interior, at least a part of it. This shot didn't turn out as good as I would have liked, soo much haloing, I did my best to manage it.




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Abandoned Railway Warehouse - This thing all things devours...

 Still more of the warehouse, here's a couple of loading doors covered in some type of vine. Had to shoot these when I saw them, really gives an impression of time.

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Abandoned Railway Warehouse - scarred by exhaust fumes flame and vandals

 Here's some more abandoned warehouse for your viewing pleasure...                                                                            





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Dante Alighieri Statue - his spirit, which had left us, returns...

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        In front of the Basilica of Santa Croce stands the statue dedicated to Dante Alighieri. It is a marble statue made by Enrico Pazzi.
         
         For Dante, exile was nearly a form of death, stripping him of much of his identity and his heritage.
         
         Prince Guido Novello da Polenta invited him to Ravenna in 1318, and he accepted. He finished the Paradiso, and died in 1321 (at the age of 56) while returning to Ravenna from a diplomatic mission to Venice, he died possibly of malaria contracted there. Dante was buried in Ravenna at the Church of San Pier Maggiore (later called San Francesco). Bernardo Bembo, praetor of Venice in 1483, took care of his remains by building a better tomb.
         
         Eventually, Florence came to regret Dante's exile, and made repeated requests for the return of his remains. The custodians of the body at Ravenna refused to comply, at one point going so far as to conceal the bones in a false wall of the monastery. Nevertheless, in 1829, a tomb was built for him in Florence in the basilica of Santa Croce. That tomb has been empty ever since, with Dante's body remaining in Ravenna, far from the land he loved so dearly. The front of his tomb in Florence reads Onorate l'altissimo poeta—which roughly translates as "Honour the most exalted poet". The phrase is a quote from the fourth canto of the Inferno, depicting Virgil's welcome as he returns among the great ancient poets spending eternity in Limbo. The continuation of the line, L'ombra sua torna, ch'era dipartita ("his spirit, which had left us, returns"), is poignantly absent from the empty tomb.
http://www.casasantapia.com/engels/firenze/santacroce.htm

Abandoned Railway Warehouse - of steam engine and iron wheel rotation...

 Here's a couple of the front I believe. The sky looked great that day, lots of clouds as apposed to the last month or so when there hasn't been a cloud in the sky. I have a fascination with graffiti, I think of it as another art form, it has it's place with out a doubt but it adds so much character to old forgotten buildings.

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Abandoned railway warehouse in downtown Austin, TX

Here we have a warehouse of some sort that sits across the tracks from the current Amtrak station in downtown Austin, Texas. Don't know much about it despite quite a bit of research online. Read about it in an article on abandoned buildings in Austin and had to come check it out. It's in a decent area despite the look of the place, it's a huge complex...

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Duomos, towers and gelato in Pisa...

Here's a couple more from the European trip. To the left is the leaning tower of Pisa (obviously) with the The Fountain with Angels (La Fontana dei putti) in the foreground. I tried and tried to find some kind of info on this statue but all I turned up was pic after pic of them, nothing on Wikipedia. If you haven't figured out I have a fondness for history.

The second one here of the red brick building was once the Ospedale Nuovo di Santo Spirito ("New Hospital of Holy Spirit") built in 1257 by Giovanni di Simone maybe over a preexisting hospital. The function of this hospital was to help pilgrims, poor, sick people and abandoned children with a shelter. It later changed its name in Ospedale della Misericordia ("Hospital of the Mercy") or di Santa Chiara ("Sant Claire") that was the name of the little church included in the complex. Nowadays the building is no more an hospital. In the middle part of it, since 1979 is host the Museum of Sinopias where are kept the original drawings of the Camposanto frescoes. It's also where you purchase tickets to go up in the tower.

Abandoned Winery - Still rooted in disarray

 These where taken inside the loading bay of packaging and office building of the winery . The loading door looked to be forced open. Looked like it had been trashed over the years by who ever. Once again I took them just cause I was there and they turned out way better then I expected. So much detail and color.

 I saw all these bottle caps that I believe where used for one of their products, a wine spritzer I think.

Here was one of their advertisement posters, there were several on the floor.

Abandoned Winery - But time flows through the room, light flows through the room

 Here's a view of inside the broken window from yesterday's post. A mixing room perhaps? It was very eerie and I wasn't very excited about this photo when I took it but I try to take all the photos I can when I am where ever regardless of what I think of the scene right then. These photos turned out to be my favorite from all the ones taken that day, couldn't have turned out better.



















I took the photo and in Picasa I ran it through the Holga-ish filter. I think it gives it a sense of loneliness and neglect.

Abandoned Winery - Residing somewhere In structures Time forgotten

A window into the past, through cracked and broken glass.

That just happened, don't know where that came from.
Here is a set of this window in the large building behind the house/tasting room that has seen better days. I presume that it was in this building where the magic happened, where they bottled their fare. I think the detail in the plywood and the mold on the siding just look great.












                                                                                                                                                                                                       I ran it in black and white and loved that also, very ominous...