Photo Friday: Texture

Texture is the theme of the week from Photo Friday.

Once again, I am reaching back into the photos from our family’s summer vacation back in the States.

Once again once again, I offer up a snap from my visit to one of the buildings that grace the National Mall. That building would be the National Gallery of Art…the East Building to be exact.

One of the installations that exist on the outside of the building is Roof by Andy Goldsworthy.

Roof

I have always enjoyed viewing this piece of art because I am amazed at the amount of work that must have gone into placing all the individual stones into the eight (nine? ten?) domes that comprise the installation.

In this picture, I only captured fragments of three, but the texture of each piece is unique.

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Photo Friday: Interiors

It’s the only day of the week that begins with an “F”, which means it time to break out the theme from Photo Friday…which on this fourteenth day of September is “interiors“.

I’ve dug into the shoebox for this 2009 photo taken during a Mannski Family trip to Luray Caverns.

Cave interior

From the interior of the cavern, this is not a picture of stalactites reaching down towards stalagmites. Instead, what you are looking at are stalagmites (the rocky croppings on the ceiling) being reflected in a pool of water.

I thought it was a neat effect.

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Photo Friday: On The Horizon

I’m late, but here I am anyway. On The Horizon is the theme from Photo Friday.

Once again, I am delving into the photographs from our summer stay in the United States. Part of that trek took us into Virginia where, after a sudden summer squall (and that’s a lot of anxious alliteration from a brilliant blogger), I took this picture.

Sadly, not a double rainbow

It’s the Potomac River and the Jefferson Memorial is that little white blob in the lower left.

But wait…what’s that amber smudge to the top and right of the Jefferson Memorial?

What is that thing on the horizon?

Call Mulder and Scully (or Project Bluebook depending on your age)

Did I actually manage to capture a digital image of a UFO? a sprite? a super-secret military plane?

No.

Turns out it was only the ceiling light from the kitchen behind me being reflected image in the window in front of me.

Drat!

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Travel Theme: Red

It’s the first color when describing the hues of a rainbow and it’s the topic from the website Where’s My Backpack?. I speak, of course, of the color red (or the true chromatic geek, #FF0000)

My photographic selection comes from the Alaska portion of our summer vacation in the United States. One day of our cruise around the Inside Passage took us to Skagway. After a day of viewing sled dogs and panning for gold, we were walking back to the cruise ship when my wife spotted this curious item.

Room for six

To answer the question posed by the name of the blog hosting this weekly challenge, “There it is.”

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Near and Far

Near and Far is the theme this week from WordPress.

During our family’s summer vacation back in the States, as I have mentioned before (here and here are some examples), I spent a good deal of time at the collection of museums run by the Smithsonian Institution. These places of knowledge and discovery surround that grassy area of our Washington, D.C., known as the National Mall.

While there in this July, I took a rest on of the many park benches that dot the area and brought out my camera.

This is what I am offering for this week’s theme…

It’s all in the perspective

Enjoy.

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Free Spirit

Free Spirit is the most creative theme this week from WordPress and their weekly photo challenge.

Rather than try and position myself, my beautiful wife, or any of my three children as my example of a free spirit, I will turn my digital gaze towards a person I consider to the embodiment of this week’s theme.

During my summer stay in the Washington, D.C., area, I was able to spend copious amounts of time at the various museums of the Smithsonian Institution. While at the National Museum of American History, I saw this exhibit…

Amazing what cloth and imagination can achieve

What you are looking at are a few of the original puppets created by Jim Henson, my nomination for a free spirit.

This puppets are from Henson’s television show, Sam and Friends. The dude in green should be recognizable to most folk as Kermit the Frog, who is still going strong on the silver screen (see The Muppets as an example).

The guy with the glasses is a bit less-known, but he could be called the original hipster. This puppet, a lover of jazz and speaker of slang, is Harry the Hipster.

The gentleman in the red suit in the background of this picture is Sam.

Mr. Henson, thank you for being the free spirit that you were and allowing us to revel in your creativity.

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Photo Friday: Modern Life

From Photo Friday, the theme for their weekly photography contest is modern life.

As much as I would like to offer up a picture of Rocko, I will instead offer this story.

Over this summer, the Mannski Unit was able to enjoy a cruise around Alaska’s Inside Passage. To give the trip an international flavor, the boat made a stop in Victoria, British Columbia (which would be in Canada). Sadly, we were only in this beautiful port city for four hours. I wish we could have stayed longer in this locale because there seemed to be a multitude of fascinating tourist places. Perhaps later, I will show pictures of the city’s iconic flower baskets, but for now, I give you this photo of the interesting, modern times we live in when there can be an advertisement for something like this…

Yeah, Canada!

May the participants walk their canines with pride.

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Urban

Over the summer, the family and I had the opportunity to come back to the States and visit relatives.

One of the places we stopped by was Washington, D.C.

In our nation’s capital, one of our favorite places to visit is the National Mall. In nearly a year away from the District, I was surprised by one item that appears to have exploded all over the streetscape. Before 2011, I can’t recall ever seeing more than two of these objects together, but now…

Well, let’s let this picture, my offering for the Weekly Photo Challenge from WordPress which has the theme of urban, speak for itself.

Hungry? Take your pick.

Just goes to show that even in the urban jungle one need not go hungry.

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Photo Friday: Quiet

Quiet, save the sound of falling snow.

Still life with snow

Enough said.

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Merge

“Merge” is the theme from WordPress for their Weekly Photo Challenge.

Part of the instructions handed out by the creator of this theme suggests that a person “…juxtapose two different objects.”

I will take that advice and modify it slightly as I juxtapose two different views.

Looking forward and to the left

This picture above was taken while the family and I were on a cruise through Alaska’s Inside Passage last July. While on a day at sea between Skagway and Ketchikan, I was enjoying an ice cream and trying to steam my way through Ulysses when I noticed the view out the window.

What you are seeing is the view of the landscape of the 49th State merged with the reflected view of some of my fellow passengers.

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