Drinking Fountain Obsession

My fascination with water fountains continues. This is a drinking fountain in Valley Forge National Historic Park, which ironically I came across by accident. If you have not been to the park before and are ever in Pennsylvania, it is a very nice place to enjoy and relax after a stressful day. There are miles of walking/biking trails, historic monuments, tours and rolling hill after hill. Of all these amazing sights - somehow I selected this water fountain.

I was drawn by just how well polished the metal appeared to be and in the background was a tree line that was much darker than the surrounding area so the glimmer seemed to pop out to me. This is definitely one of my more abstract images, and you know that is what i lobe most. Enjoy!

Molten Light

This was taken at the 2005 Philadelphia International Flower Show. One of the exhibits was floral arrangements around a giant volcano that occasionally erupted. Mixed in with the foliage were these glass ball lights. The colors look like flowing lava.

I love the contrast of the lights and the red/green leaves of the foliage.

Bridge Over Calm Waters

My second favorite photo-vacation was to St. Augustine, Florida. St. Augustine is called the nation's oldest city, and is quite charming. Known as the "Ancient City," Saint Augustine is located between North East and Central East Florida and is close to Jacksonville. Some of my best window shots came from this trip.

For this photo, there was this one museum with a courtyard and this lovely water feature with an overpass. There were only a very few people that were leisurely wandering around. The unknown man in the shot was standing looking at the water for quite some time and I wanted to capture what was a very quiet, and for me symbolic of this portion of my trip, brief moment in time.

Open the Door

For many, the allure of a door is the unknown on the other side. What would the future bring if I open the door and walk through. What would I miss out on if I pass the door by. For me, the excitement is about the door itself. Is the door painted, or is it wood. Does it reflect years of weather, rain, snow, hot, cold.

This door was in the V Satuey winery in California's nappa valley. I really like the way the handle has rubbed away and the wooden grain stands out. The lock seems to have chipped away by many many many people missing the lock and wearing away the coating as their keys scrape away. In this case the door led to a cellar that kept large wooden barrels of fermenting wine. It was cool and dark and musty - quite a contrast to the hot sunny August day outside.

Phoenixville's Iron Works Building

Phoenixville, Pennsylvania is a growing town. It's history is based from iron workers. This building was recently renovated and will soon house the tourist and visitor's center. The town has some great events on the first Friday of each month and is home to the theatre that the original "The Blob" was filmed in. If you remember the scene where people are watching a movie then the Blob comes in - everyone runs out screaming and yelling - well this town is where it was shot.

I took a few photos over different days of this building. The rivits in the smokestacks is what attracted me to the building.. plus the angles of the roofline. The few i took with clouds in the sky felt like they were a competition to the crisp lines in the building so this turned out to be my favorite sofar.

Something About Water Fountains

I do not know what it is about water fountains that I like so much. This one is a great shot of a fountain in a museum in golden gate park.

We were on an all-day excursion through the park making as many stops as we can to squeeze in everything exciting in the park into a single day. I had to stop off for a bio break and after I was done, I paused at this fountain. Something about the way the water drops reflected the light. The super-reflective stainless steel - and how it was otherwise clean. While other people were admiring priceless paintings and sculpture, I was taking shots of this waterfountain outside the restrooms. Just another example of how I see the world.

Launch

This is an exciting surprise photo for me. I was walking along the streets of San Fransisco last year and this red bottlecap caught my eye. A few feet from where the bottlecap was on the sidewalk were these pillars that stood four feet from the ground. Although the sides were cement, the tops had the white mosaic tiles. I liked the way the light was hitting the tiles so I quickly grabbed the cap and placed it on the center of the pillar, stood back and snapped a few photos.

I scrambled to meet up with my friends that were touring the city with me, leaving the cap behind. I was not expecting the image to be as exciting as I think it turned out to be. Out of my 633 images of San Fran, this one is one of the top 3 commented on.

It is a year later and I wonder if that cap is still there...