Kinda Square: Markets

October 26, 2020 / amoralegria / 2 Comments

I’m back after a bit of a hiatus from blogging and participating in this challenge, so this time I’m including multiple photos for Becky’s October KindaSquare challenge, because there are many different KINDs of markets around the world!

Berries, some imported from New Zealand and Portugal, Helsinki — Helsinki, Finland

Friendly Friday: Street Art

September 6, 2020 / amoralegria / 4 Comments

The Sandy Chronicles’ weekly Friendly Friday challenge this week is Street Art.

Street art has become more popular in recent years, and one can find good street art almost anywhere.

Sandy says there are several kinds of street art:
Spray Painted Murals – large scale pictures drawn on walls and colored with spray paint.
Graffiti – one of the most popular and oldest form of street art, going back to ancient Egypt and Greece.
3D Wall Graffiti – with creative shadowing and paint effects, murals appear to be popping out of walls.
Poster Art – is art which is printed or drawn on papers and then attached or hung on walls.
Sticker Street Art – made with eye-catching stickers of different sizes and posted on trees, lampposts, walls and benches.
Sculptures – are structures displayed on streets, typically with cultural, political, religious or historical significance.

We took a 4-day trip to Iowa two years ago and saw some wonderful street art:
Downtown Des Moines (click on images to see larger)

In Dubuque, near the riverfront Maritime Museum, were these beautiful murals.

This 3D mural in Quebec City was stunning – this is actually a section of a much larger, full-wall 3D mural.

In Chicago, you never know when you’ll run across something like this.

On Route 66, between Gallup and Santa Fe, NM – this is just a small sample of street art that can be found in towns all over the Southwest.

CFFC: International Business

September 4, 2020 / amoralegria / 1 Comment

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge has the theme “all about buildings.” This week’s topic is commercial buildings or store fronts.

One of the fun things about traveling is all the different types of architecture you see. So I am posting photos of a variety of architectural styles and colors from some of my recent trips.

Souvenir shop in Cologne with lovely wood carving.

Detail on the wall of a bakery in Miltenberg, Germany

A variety of things are for sale in this typically German shop, in Miltenberg

Colorful souvenir shop in Nuremberg, Germany

Tattoo parlor and smoke shop in Regensburg, Germany

Colorful commercial street in Budapest, Hungary

Downtown street with empty storefronts in Woodstock, Illinois (this was during the early lockdown days at the beginning of April, 2020).

Woodstock, Illinois – you can see how empty this downtown commercial street is.

Entrance to a shopping center in Tel Aviv, Israel

Arabic signs over stores in Bethlehem, Israel

Israeli version of Starbucks (Bethlehem)

Children’s books (and it seems like a lot of other things) are for sale in this hip neighborhood of Denver, Colorado.

Southwestern adobe style is common in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

More Pueblo style architecture in Santa Fe

You can get married and then go next door and have old time photos made! (Tucumcari)

Northwestern USA style in Poulsbo, Washington

Poulsbo, Washington – love that onion-dome style “tower” on top of this bookstore!

Wind socks flutter in front of this kitschy gift shop, Poulsbo, WA

Thursday Doors With Flowers

May 28, 2020 / amoralegria / 3 Comments

Since I haven’t gone anywhere lately where I could photograph doors, I’m recycling some previous ones I’ve posted, thematically. This week for Norm’s Thursday Doors, I present doors with flowers.

Lens-Artists #82: Capitals & Capitols

February 8, 2020February 8, 2020 / amoralegria / 2 Comments

The Lens–Artists photo challenge this week has a guest host, Viveka, whose topic is capitals.

On our road trips around the United States, we try to visit as many capitals as possible – not just the capital cities, but also their capitol buildings. I have a series of posts featuring some of the capitols we’ve visited lately. (Check them out in my archives – that’s why I’ve put the dates in below.) These are the ones that we have seen in the last 3 years.

ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA (May 2017)
Capitol exterior and its dome from inside

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Some of the memorials and statues on the capitol grounds

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BISMARCK, NORTH DAKOTA (May 2017)
Capitol building exterior (no, it doesn’t have a dome) and view of grounds from the top floor viewing area

Some famous North Dakotans

LINCOLN, NEBRASKA (May 2018)
Capitol exterior (the dome is at the top of this multistoried building), floor of the rotunda, visiting school group

Artwork viewed from the rotunda, including a colorful door

DENVER, COLORADO (June 2018)
Exterior and view from the dome

Stained glass portraits

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SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH (June 2018)
Exterior and staircase

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Slideshow of some of the sights inside

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SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO (June 2018)
The capitol building in Santa Fe is shaped like the Zuni sun symbol, which is also depicted in the rotunda and on the state flag. The first two photos are a partial view of the exterior and one of the curved hallways.

The New Mexico capitol building has a lot of artwork by New Mexican artists. The slideshow shows some of them.

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OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA (June 2018)
The Oklahoma state capitol has the distinction of being the only capitol in the U.S. that has an oil rig visible at every cardinal direction. Two of these can be seen below. The middle photo is the dome from the rotunda, and the photo at right is a commemoration of Oklahoma’s native tribes, each of which has its own flag.

Sculpture, artwork, and artifacts in the capitol

DES MOINES, IOWA (Sept. 2018)
Capitol exterior and chamber of the legislature

Iowa’s capitol has colorful designs and patterns on its floors.

On the capitol grounds, there is a Holocaust memorial.

Interestingly, this post does not contain photos from my home state capital (Springfield, IL – I was last there in 2012) nor the capital of the state north of here, the state where I was born and I grew up (Madison, WI – I can’t remember the last time I visited the capitol).

I have also visited several foreign capitals in recent years (2017-2019), but not their government buildings – can you figure out which cities these are? One is a provincial capital, the others are national capitals.

FOTD: White Petunias in a Blue Pot

January 30, 2020 / amoralegria / 1 Comment

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“Vintage” style – to blur the background!
Cee’s FOTD 1/29/20

FOTD: Spotted Petunias

January 27, 2020 / amoralegria / 4 Comments

Taken in Santa Fe, New Mexico
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Posted for Cee’s FOTD 1/28/20

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: Leading Lines

January 22, 2020 / amoralegria / 5 Comments

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #80 is about leading lines. Leading lines are one of the “rules” of composition: There are indeed “rules” of photographic composition, which like many other rules, are made to be broken. Whatever their skill level or experience though, understanding and knowing when to use the “rules” of composition can be helpful for any photographer. This week, our challenge will explore a key compositional element, Leading Lines. …Leading lines carry our eye through a photograph. They help to tell a story, to place emphasis, and to draw a connection between objects. They create a visual journey from one part of an image to another and can be helpful for creating depth as well.

This is how I spent the last two Junes, 2018 and 2019.

Our road trip (mostly) on Route 66: Sedona and Winslow, AZ

We visited the Painted Desert, too: first, horizontal lines.
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Undulating formations which slope downward.

In Santa Fe, colorful pillars…
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and a souvenir shop with paintings lined up along a counter.
When on Route 66, here’s a sight not to miss: Cadillac Ranch. It had rained the night before.

A year later, we were on a river cruise in Europe. One of the first ports of call was Cologne, Germany with its famed cathedral, with stained glass windows reaching toward heaven…
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…and soaring arches decorated with sculptures of saints.

Later we crossed the bridge to return to our ship. The inner side of the bridge is covered with “love locks” – padlocks people leave in honor of their sweethearts. They stretch on as far as the eye can see!
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Next stop was Marksburg Castle, which afforded beautiful views of the Rhein River and town below (I wish I could photoshop that pole out, but I don’t have the software).

And here’s a different view: a steeple rises up as seen through a turret.

Marksburg is definitely a “must” on any Rhine River cruise. It’s like a fairy tale castle!

Farther on down the river, a swan swam over near our ship.

We were passing through a lowland area.
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I loved the small town of Miltenberg, which was so picturesque!

Inside a church, hymnals were stacked neatly in the narthex. One is drawn to the word Gotteslob, which perhaps means hymnal.

Our final stop on the cruise was Budapest, Hungary. A memorable part of the day we were there was a walking tour through the old Jewish Quarter.

October Squares: Lines in New Mexico’s Capitol Building

October 3, 2019 / amoralegria / 1 Comment

At the capitol in Santa Fe, New Mexico, there is some amazing and beautiful artwork by New Mexico artists. The lines of the capitol building itself are also interesting, because the building is shaped in the form of the Zuni sun sign which is also found on the New Mexico flag. I have posted a few of these before, but the emphasis here is on lines and squares for Becky’s October Month of Squares.

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A Photo a Week: Contrasting Colors in Nature and by Design

January 25, 2019January 25, 2019 / amoralegria / Leave a comment

Nancy Merrill’s A Photo a Week challenge this week is about contrasting colors, using a color wheel which shows which colors contrast with each other.

color wheel

In art, we often see paintings with colors that seem to pop out of the image. An artist may use what are called “complementary colors” (contrasting colors) to emphasize something in an image, such as an orange flower against a blue sky, or to create interest using contrasts. Here is an example by Georgia O’Keeffe, called “Trees in Autumn” (1920/21 oil on canvas, at Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico).
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Here’s a photo I took of a tree in autumn.
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As one can see from the color wheel above, the primary colors (blue, red and yellow) are matched with secondary colors (green, orange and purple) which provide the greatest contrast. Blue is matched with the secondary color that is created by combining the other two primary colors (red and yellow). Thus:

Blue’s complementary color is orange.
Red’s complementary color is green.
Yellow’s complementary color is purple.

Weavers are very adept in using contrasting/complementary colors to create colorful patterns. This is a close-up of a Peruvian woven sling I use to carry my water bottle. Note the green stripe against pink on one side and maroon on the other (both versions of red), or the blue stripe in the middle surrounded by orange stripes.
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Nature is also excellent at creating contrasts:
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We see this same contrasting beauty in architecture, such as Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, Israel, with its famous golden dome contrasting with the blue sky and with the blues in the tiles on the walls. The artist(s) who created these lovely patterns with tiles had an innate sense of contrast, making the designs of the whole building stand out, impressing viewers.
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The Christmas season is represented by red and green, which naturally complement (or contrast with) each other, making holiday decorations pleasing to look at.
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