Category Archives: Places

Thoughts and photos from various places in the world.

It was still spring (26th of May) and a soothing spring rain had just fallen over our town. Raindrops were hanging on flower petals, leaves and blades of grass. The air had been freshened up and any breeze flowing through the garden made you shudder, now that the air and the earth had cooled off. You just wanted to curl up with a nice cup of coffee — which is just what I did after I took these photos. Enjoy the gallery!

Droplets on a sycamore leaf, seen from underneath. A focus stack.
Pinna is the name for the little fern leaflets
Also a three-frame focus stack
A four-frame focus stack
A three-frame focus stack
A three-frame focus stack
A four-frame focus stack
A two-frame focus stack
A two-frame focus stack
A four-frame focus stack
Places

A rainy day in the garden

Gallery
Places

Late spring in our garden

Summer doesn’t officially start until the solstice on June 21, so even though it feels very much like summer outside, we can still call it spring. Here is a gallery of photographs taken recently in our garden (on the 9th) with my PEN E-P2 and the 12-50mm lens, which does double duty as a macro when you need it. I’m so glad I bought this camera. It came out in 2010 and even now, in 2018, I can’t call it outdated when I can take photographs like these with it. Look at the colors, at the details, at the clarity and the bokeh. It’s so good 😍. I know I shouldn’t praise my own photos and I’m not, I just really like this camera. I love all my PEN cameras, they’re awesome little beasts.

An adorable little creature
A two-frame focus stack
A two-frame focus stack
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Places

A foggy autumn morning

One foggy autumn morning, I took some photographs… and here they are 😁. I love fog almost as much as I love thick snowfall, and for the same reasons: the air of mystery, the white shroud enveloping everything, the quiet, the timeless quality and mood… oh, I could go on and on… This particular morning, we were driving to Sibiu and we were atop the hills between Slimnic and Șeica Mare. I have to confess that I don’t typically plan these things out, but when I encounter them, I have a camera with me and I take advantage of the opportunity to capture those beautiful moments. We parked the car and I walked around those hills, taking in the atmosphere. I hope you’ll enjoy the photographs!

In the countryside between Slimnic and Agârbiciu, Transilvania, Romania
Somewhere between Slimnic and Agârbiciu, Transilvania, Romania
Near Slimnic, Transilvania, Romania
Shapes recovered from a thick fog using Lightroom’s Dehaze function. The photograph was mostly white beforehand. I love how the background looks, with those barely-visibile sihouettes. I know there’s a lot of noise but I love this image.
Near Șeica Mare, Transilvania, Romania
Ruși, Transilvania, Romania

I have a surprise for you. It’s going to be a surprise for me, too, because I’m going to try something new. I’m going to use this nifty payment button that WordPress has recently introduced, and I’m going to let you purchase all these images as a pack. There are 24 images here, which I’m going to deliver to you as a download at their original resolution once you purchase them. The terms outlined here will apply to how you use them. Here are a few ideas: make prints at a local lab, use the whole pack as a screensaver, use them as desktop backgrounds, use them in your artwork, use them on your website, etc. The price is $25. That’s a little more than $1 per image. If there’s demand, I may extend this same sort of deal to other photo galleries of mine published in the past or photos I publish in the future. A generous image pack, an affordable price for the whole thing, simple, easy, done.

Image Pack 20180608

You are purchasing the photographs from this post: a set of 24 images of a foggy autumn morning

$25.00

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Places

The fortified church in Bazna

The village of Bazna (“Baaßen” in German and “Bázna” in Hungarian) is technically a commune comprised of three villages: Bazna, Boian and Velt. Settled by Saxons in the 13th century, the land was great not only for agriculture but also gave forth natural gas and springs of water containing salt and iodine.

The fortified church you’re about to see in my photographs was built in the 15th century. A hundred years or so later, it gained the surrounding fortified walls and defense tower. You’ll find an oddity in that tower: it’s also a bell tower and it has three bells made sometime between the 14-15th century. That’s not something often seen in Transilvania, where most of the bells were melted to make weapons during WWI.

The church has a caretaker and is well-maintained, which is more (much more) than can be said for most of the other fortified churches in Transilvania.

Enjoy the photographs! I took them in April of 2010.

An old Saxon fortified church dating back to 1504, in the village of Bazna, Transilvania, Romania
An old Saxon fortified church dating back to 1504, in the village of Bazna, Transilvania, Romania
An old Saxon fortified church dating back to 1504, in the village of Bazna, Transilvania, Romania
An old Saxon fortified church dating back to 1504, in the village of Bazna, Transilvania, Romania
An old Saxon fortified church dating back to 1504, in the village of Bazna, Transilvania, Romania
An old Saxon fortified church dating back to 1504, in the village of Bazna, Transilvania, Romania
An old Saxon fortified church dating back to 1504, in the village of Bazna, Transilvania, Romania
An old Saxon fortified church dating back to 1504, in the village of Bazna, Transilvania, Romania
An old Saxon fortified church dating back to 1504, in the village of Bazna, Transilvania, Romania
An old Saxon fortified church dating back to 1504, in the village of Bazna, Transilvania, Romania
An old Saxon fortified church dating back to 1504, in the village of Bazna, Transilvania, Romania
An old Saxon fortified church dating back to 1504, in the village of Bazna, Transilvania, Romania
An old Saxon fortified church dating back to 1504, in the village of Bazna, Transilvania, Romania
An old Saxon fortified church dating back to 1504, in the village of Bazna, Transilvania, Romania
An old Saxon fortified church dating back to 1504, in the village of Bazna, Transilvania, Romania
An old Saxon fortified church dating back to 1504, in the village of Bazna, Transilvania, Romania
An old Saxon fortified church dating back to 1504, in the village of Bazna, Transilvania, Romania
An old Saxon fortified church dating back to 1504, in the village of Bazna, Transilvania, Romania
An old Saxon fortified church dating back to 1504, in the village of Bazna, Transilvania, Romania
An old Saxon fortified church dating back to 1504, in the village of Bazna, Transilvania, Romania
An old Saxon fortified church dating back to 1504, in the village of Bazna, Transilvania, Romania
An old Saxon fortified church dating back to 1504, in the village of Bazna, Transilvania, Romania
An old Saxon fortified church dating back to 1504, in the village of Bazna, Transilvania, Romania
An old Saxon fortified church dating back to 1504, in the village of Bazna, Transilvania, Romania
An old Saxon fortified church dating back to 1504, in the village of Bazna, Transilvania, Romania
An old Saxon fortified church dating back to 1504, in the village of Bazna, Transilvania, Romania
An old Saxon fortified church dating back to 1504, in the village of Bazna, Transilvania, Romania
An old Saxon fortified church dating back to 1504, in the village of Bazna, Transilvania, Romania
An old Saxon fortified church dating back to 1504, in the village of Bazna, Transilvania, Romania
An old Saxon fortified church dating back to 1504, in the village of Bazna, Transilvania, Romania
An old Saxon fortified church dating back to 1504, in the village of Bazna, Transilvania, Romania
An old Saxon fortified church dating back to 1504, in the village of Bazna, Transilvania, Romania
An old Saxon fortified church dating back to 1504, in the village of Bazna, Transilvania, Romania
An old Saxon fortified church dating back to 1504, in the village of Bazna, Transilvania, Romania
An old Saxon fortified church dating back to 1504, in the village of Bazna, Transilvania, Romania
An old Saxon fortified church dating back to 1504, in the village of Bazna, Transilvania, Romania
An old Saxon fortified church dating back to 1504, in the village of Bazna, Transilvania, Romania
An old Saxon fortified church dating back to 1504, in the village of Bazna, Transilvania, Romania
An old Saxon fortified church dating back to 1504, in the village of Bazna, Transilvania, Romania
An old Saxon fortified church dating back to 1504, in the village of Bazna, Transilvania, Romania

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Places

A visit to Villa Vizcaya

The Vizcaya Museum and Gardens, previously known as Villa Vizcaya, is the former villa and estate of businessman James Deering, of the Deering McCormick-International Harvester fortune. It’s located on Biscayne Bay, in the present day Coconut Grove neighborhood of Miami, Florida. Deering used Vizcaya as his winter residence from 1916 until his death in 1925.

The estate property originally consisted of 180 acres of shoreline mangrove swamps and dense inland native tropical forests. The villa was built primarily between 1914 and 1922, at a cost of $15,000,000, while the construction of the extensive elaborate Italian Renaissance gardens and the village continued into 1923.

The estate’s name refers to the northern Spanish province Vizcaya (In English Biscay), in the Basque region along the east Atlantic’s Bay of Biscay, as ‘Vizcaya’ is on the west Atlantic’s Biscayne Bay. Records indicate Deering wished the name also to commemorate an early Spaniard named Vizcaya who he thought explored the area, although later he was corrected that the explorer’s name was Sebastián Vizcaíno. Deering used the Caravel, a type of ship style used during the ‘Age of Exploration’, as the symbol and emblem of Vizcaya. A representation of the mythical explorer “Bel Vizcaya” welcomes visitors at the entrance to the property.

Vizcaya is noteworthy for adapting historical European aesthetic traditions to South Florida’s subtropical ecoregion. For example; it combined imported French and Italian garden layouts and elements implemented in Cuban limestone stonework with Floridian coral architectural trim and planted with sub-tropic compatible and native plants that thrived in the habitat and climate. Palms and Philodendrons had not been represented in the emulated gardens of Tuscany or Île-de-France.

James Deering died in September 1925 on board the steamship “SS City of Paris” en route back to the United States. After his death Vizcaya was inherited by his two nieces, Marion Chauncey Deering McCormick and Ely Deering McCormick Danielson, and that’s where the tale turns even sadder, at least for me. I do wish heirs could hold on to these grand estates after they inherit them. Surely they also got some money as inheritance. Couldn’t they have become proper stewards of the place? History answers that question with a no. Over the decades, after hurricanes and increasing maintenance costs, they began selling the estate’s surrounding land parcels and outer gardens. In 1945 they sold significant portions of the Vizcaya property to the Catholic Diocese of St. Augustine, Florida, to build Miami’s Mercy Hospital. 50 acres (200,000 m2) comprising the main house, the formal gardens, and the village were retained.

In 1952 Miami-Dade County acquired the villa and formal Italian gardens, needing significant restoration, for $1 million. Deering’s heirs donated the villa’s furnishings and antiquities to the County-Museum. Vizcaya began operation in 1953 as the Dade County Art Museum. The village and remaining property were acquired by the County during the mid-1950s. In 1994 the Vizcaya estate was designated as a National Historic Landmark. In 1998, in conjunction with Vizcaya’s reaccreditation process by the American Alliance of Museums, the Vizcaya Museum and Gardens Trust was formed to be the museum’s governing body.

Visitors can now see the villa, estate and surrounding gardens at 3251 S Miami Ave, Miami, FL 33129, USA. You can get tickets and consult visiting hours at the official website.

I have prepared a gallery of 103 photographs we took there, and I hope you enjoy seeing them!

Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA
Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA
Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA
Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA
Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA
Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA
Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA. 

© Raoul Pop. All rights reserved. 
Available for licensing and purchase. 

Website – Raoul Pop
Photo Catalog – Raoul Pop Photography
Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA
Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA
Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA
Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA
Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA
Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA
Vizcaya Village, Miami, Florida, USA
Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA
Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA
Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA. 

© Raoul Pop. All rights reserved. 
Available for licensing and purchase. 

Website – Raoul Pop
Photo Catalog – Raoul Pop Photography
An elegant bedroom, lamp glowing softly on the nighstand. Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA
Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA
Ligia at Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA.
Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA. 

© Raoul Pop. All rights reserved. 
Available for licensing and purchase. 

Website – Raoul Pop
Photo Catalog – Raoul Pop Photography
Ligia at Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA.
Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA
Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA
Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA
Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA
Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA
Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA
Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA
Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA
Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA. 

© Raoul Pop. All rights reserved. 
Available for licensing and purchase. 

Website – Raoul Pop
Photo Catalog – Raoul Pop Photography
Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA. 

© Raoul Pop. All rights reserved. 
Available for licensing and purchase. 

Website – Raoul Pop
Photo Catalog – Raoul Pop Photography
Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA
Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA
Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA
Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA
Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA
Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA
Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA
Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA
Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA
Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA
Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA
Gulf water underneath mangrove trees, Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA.
Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA
Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA
Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA
Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA. 

© Raoul Pop. All rights reserved. 
Available for licensing and purchase. 

Website – Raoul Pop
Photo Catalog – Raoul Pop Photography
Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA. 

© Raoul Pop. All rights reserved. 
Available for licensing and purchase. 

Website – Raoul Pop
Photo Catalog – Raoul Pop Photography
Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA
Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA. 

© Raoul Pop. All rights reserved. 
Available for licensing and purchase. 

Website – Raoul Pop
Photo Catalog – Raoul Pop Photography
Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA
Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA
Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA
Vizcaya Village, Miami, Florida, USA
Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA
Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA
Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA. 

© Raoul Pop. All rights reserved. 
Available for licensing and purchase. 

Website – Raoul Pop
Photo Catalog – Raoul Pop Photography
Stone island with statues, Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA.
Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA
Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA
Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA
Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA
Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA
Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA
Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA
Vizcaya Village, Miami, Florida, USA
Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA
Detail from a leaf. Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA
Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA
Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA. 

© Raoul Pop. All rights reserved. 
Available for licensing and purchase. 

Website – Raoul Pop
Photo Catalog – Raoul Pop Photography
Vizcaya Village, Miami, Florida, USA
Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA
Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA
Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA
Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA
Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA
Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA
Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA
Vizcaya Village, Miami, Florida, USA
Vizcaya Village, Miami, Florida, USA. 

© Raoul Pop. All rights reserved. 
Available for licensing and purchase. 

Website – Raoul Pop
Photo Catalog – Raoul Pop Photography
Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA
Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA
Vizcaya Village, Miami, Florida, USA
A ship carved into a stone emblem. Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA
Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA
Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA
Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA
Ligia at Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA.
Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA.
Vizcaya Village, Miami, Florida, USA
Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA
Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA
Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA
Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA.
Vizcaya Village, Miami, Florida, USA
Tiny little orange-red flowers, Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA.
Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA
Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA
Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA
Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA. Nothing says historic glamour like plexiglass screwed on top of the other windows and a rusty ballustrade. I know the place belongs to the NPS now but come on, spruce it up, keep it original!
Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA
Vizcaya, Miami, Florida, USA
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