Slickrock and Shadow

  Mexican Fishermen hard at Work We hailed these industrious fishermen as we approached.  We wanted to avoid getting entangled in their nets but wanted to see if they had a fish to sell.  Alas, they were working too hard to stop and sell to us.  Some of these nets can be gigantic.  We watched for 15 minutes as they kept pulling it in non stop.  The man in the red hat would secure any fish that came over in the net.  We wished them an hearty "adios" and sailed on.  

 Gondolas and Venice Lagoon  A great way to have a wonderful photographic city all to yourself is to wander around at night.  The crowds vanished for me as I went from the Accademia bridge to La Salute church and then ended up back at St. Mark's Square.  There are lots of things to keep your camera snapping.   One essential tool is a tripod.  Although it is challenging to carry a tripod while traveling light, I managed to bring my Gitzo Traveler tripod (GT1542) with Markins Q10 ballhead.  This was large enough to support my camera with some medium-weight lenses and yet small enough to fit into my backpack which I carried on to the plane along with all my other photographic equipment.  This allowed me the freedom to take very long exposures and get creative. Italian Couple  Night Water Taxi 

Water-level view:  taken from a gondola Here's a collection of several canals and boats that I saw while in Venice. Green Boat Reflecting back on Venice Gondolier at work Grand Canal photo taken from Accademia Bridge at sunset

A Couple of Dinghy Boats Colorful boats are a perfect companion to the colorful houses in the Cinque Terre, Italy.  Here are a few photographs of them.  They each have their own name.  I discovered Elisa, Vittoria and Lia floating around together.  Every boat has a name and probably has a personality.  I did not spend enough time to learn about that.  I simply enjoyed their beautiful curves and buoyancy. Dry Dock Boat License Detail from Riomaggiore Red Boat in Vernazza Elisa, Vittoria and Lia

Fishing Lesson in Vernazza Harbor I happened to be in the right place at the right time as I was hiking from town to town in the Cinque Terre, Italy.  An aging fisherman had a young child out in the boat.  They were going over different materials in the boat.  Then he got a net and wanted to show the child some things in the water.  Some smaller fish were swimming around underneath the boat.  I thought this was a very touching, personal scene amidst the touristic background.