What is missed

A simple bowl of fruit salad but I loved the shot when reviewing recent pictures of Boston because it throbs with freshness. The colors are wonderful, especially set against the gleaming white of the kitchen and the burnished brown of the wicker basket in the background. Sylvie and I were agog at the sight of this breakfast treat prepared by Irene, Sylvie's aunt, as we simply can't get the same plump and fresh blueberries and melons in this part of the world. Still, the photo will at least continue to inspire us to keep looking for produce to rival the Boston fare.

Taken with a Canon 5D Mk II, with a 5omm at 1/40 sec and f/2.5.

Treading the boards

With the threat of swine 'flu rearing its ugly head once more as officials eye the official season for influenza in a short while, the deja vu made me wistful for the peaceful sanctuary of Punta de Mita, a little less than an hour from Puerta Vallarta. Sylvie and I slipped away from the chaos of a shuttered city during the height of the hype in the first week of May and were reveled in the calm and beauty of the little town.

They have some good surfing beaches there and so we headed out with a couple of local board riders for some lessons. It was a reintroduction for me, a totally new adventure for Sylvie. In a short time, she was riding the nose while I sat on my long board and watched, thrilled for Sylvie but lamenting that a worn rotator cuff and screwy elbow kept me from riding.

When we returned by boat from our surfing expedition I noticed the rental boards stacked and just loved the colors and verticals so had to grab the shot. It's a favorite, not least because of the feeling of escape it imparts whenever I see it on my wall.

Canon 40D, 40mm on a 24-105mm at 1/13 sec, f/4 and ISO400.

In the continuing quest to define a clear answer to the question "what kind of photographer are you" I seem to get the greatest pleasure when people ask another question: "What IS it?"

This whole challenge of categorizing yourself is a little nuts really, and I can see why musicians are wary of being pigeon-holed. I'm satisfied just being a photographer - not a landscape pro, not a portrait specialist, just a shooter.

That said, I love taking photos of elements of a scene or object that capture the whole. One of my favorite images in this regard is one of the ceiling lights in one of our elevators here. A grid of clear plastic cylinders poke down and diffuse the hidden florescent lights and to me suggest the rods inside a nuclear reactor. Similarly, I love this shot of a light fixture taken earlier this year in a Paris jewelry store where Sylvie bought a gorgeous necklace. The little globes around the light create tiny and unique worlds of their own. I love looking closely at each one to see how it differs from its neighbors. It's not fine art photography by any stretch, but I love it nonetheless. I guess, if pressed, I can just say I'm a photographer that sweats the small stuff.

Canon 40D with a 24-105 f/4 at 92mm, f/8 at 1/320 sec and 400 ISO.

Desert Anchorage

Driving through the back-country trails in San Carlos can make you feel like the last person on the planet. The Sonoran desert marches to the waters of the Sea of Cortez and beyond. The little islands just offshore sport the same scrubby look and classic cartoon cacti of the mainland.

The expansive blue sky, blistering sun, and utter silence can make the stretch of land between the mountains and the sea seem utterly hostile. The flock of vultures I passed while driving with Jose Lopez of the local university helped to embellish the theme of desolation.

San Carlos is a fishing village that also evolved (or devolved, depending on your opinion) into a tourism and retirement destination for well-heeled northerners looking for a dry, warm climate, benign beaches, and tremendous fishing and diving. The fishermen and their families now live on the northern edge of town, up a dusty/muddy track that dejectedly trails off from the paved road that used to take tourists to the Club Med. You can stop by the village and buy a fresh seafood lunch from one of the little shanty restaurants alongside the fishing skiffs drawn up on the sand.

Heading a kilometer inland toward the hills that drop down near the village, we encountered this skiff high and dry in the desert but still lashed to a bush, almost as if the owner harbored suspicions that the sea hadn't receded for good.

I washed out the picture a good deal to impart the feeling that day of the mirage-inducing heat, the broad sky, and the incongruity of the battered skiff still tied down despite its desert berth.

Bizarre and Bazaar

Back in Mexico after our little Miami sojourn and sifting through pictures for framing and display here in the house. One of my favorites from a recent outing was this shot of a police truck and its occupant reflected in a mirror on sale at Bazaar Sabado at San Angel.

There are a few qualities about the shot that I think aptly reflect this city. There's the mirror itself, which speaks to the flourishing arts and crafts scene here, one of the most compelling aspects of life in Mexico. There's the cobblestone street, which is a reminder of the history to be found across the city. San Angel has some truly beautiful homes - most hidden behind towering walls that speak to another Mexico City characteristic that I won't dwell on - and the streets around the market remind of Italian mountain villages with their chunkiness and haphazard patterns.

There's the presence of the police truck and officer, and the solitary red traffic cone - witches hats as they're known in Australia - that to me is the most poignant. Why is there? What purpose is it serving? Why just one? Such are the vagaries, and mysteries, of Mexico law enforcement.

Closer. Closer. Just a little closer.

Spotted on the Anhinga Trail in the Everglades National Park. I'd love to say this was an eight foot monster but it really was a touch under five feet long and hence was still living very much under Mum's protective gaze. Would have loved to have seen her.

Samantha, my guide on the trail, had lamented that we likely wouldn't see any gators, or much else in the way of wildlife, given the wet season had begun in earnest and the Everglades' population was happily dispersing across the more than million acres of the park. Leave it to kids to prove the experts wrong though. A group of chattering and bellowing YMCA youngsters spotted this specimen hanging out near the trail, and we managed to catch up to them, and it, before the gator beat retreat into the sawgrass.

Canon 40D with 70-200mm f/2.8, at 200mm, f/4 and 1/320 sec.

America's Got Talons

Okay, so you have to forgive me for punning "America's Got Talent" for this posting, it was just too good to pass up. Besides, LOOK at those talons after all. I'm thinking, based on what the rangers in the Everglades told me, that this splendid individual is an immature Osprey. This critter was enormous, and I would never call it immature to its face - it was pretty intimidating and I was only a few feet from its perch.

It was taking a bath in an enormous puddle that had formed in a rundown former gas station at the Flamingo section of the Everglades National Park, and it headed for a tree limb when I leapt into action with the Canon and the huge zoom. I'm not, however, totally convinced that it is indeed an Osprey given the color of the wings, so anyone who knows better, please let me know. And the answer to the previous posting, for 10 points and a bonus round, was Monk Parakeet.

Canon 40D with a 70-200mm f2/8 at 200mm, f/7.1 and 1/200 sec.