Favorite Photos

batalay (32830) [2013-05-18 15:47]
Hello Stephen,

Your note is wonderfully informative, augmenting this excellent package for TE. Are you back in England or still in South East Asia?

Have a good Sunday,

Bulent

batalay (32830) [2013-05-18 15:38]
Merhaba Halil Nadir Bey,

Hayatimin büyük bir kismini ABD'de (atom fizik profesörü) olarak yasadim. Sizin fotograflarinizi gördükçe Türkiye'de ve bilhassa Istanbul'da hayati özledim. Simdi bu kestane saticisinin arabasini görünce, he kizartilmis kestane hem de taze simit için agzim sulandi. Fotograflariniz enfes.

Selam ve saygilarimla,

Bülent

batalay (32830) [2013-05-18 14:04]
Hello Ike,

Now there is an invitation to stroll down Memory Lane, although a bit nostalgically. I never flew in the Concord, although I saw them on tarmacs in London, Washington and New York. In the 1990s I was on a plane when the pilot announced, "In less than a minute, a Concord will fly on our left side, in the opposite direction." Suddenly, it wizzed by (the 880 km/h of our plane and the 2180 km/h of the Concord, creating a relative velocity of almost 3000 km/h. Then in 2003, I believe, I was in Venice in 2002, I believe, when the news came of the explosion of the Concord just taking off.

Warm regards,

Bulent

batalay (32830) [2013-05-18 13:53]
Hello Dear Bev,

I had no idea these canals could be so narrow. They must post the maximum size canal boats that can navigate through them. It reminds me of Magpie Lane in Oxford that lures unsuspecting drivers to get wedged in hopelessly. I looked at your close-up version. It's uncanny.

Have a good weekend,

Bulent

batalay (32830) [2013-05-18 13:43]
Merhaba Burak,

Hakikaten güzel yakalamissiniz seker kizi. Acaba ne düsünüyordu?

Selam ve saygilarimla,

Bülent

batalay (32830) [2013-05-18 13:41]
Hello again Brenda,

I like this imaginative photo, I think, one of the best I've seen on Trekearth. There is a clear M. C. Escher quality.

Regards,

Bulent

holmertz (26854) [2013-05-18 11:47]
Hello Miguel,
Three lovely smiles from three very different looking girls. Good sharpness and good colours and a nice spontaneity that gives the photo a good atmosphere. I agree with Ourania that if you had cropped the left part, by the shoulder of the girl in red, just close to her head, you would have got a better balance of the composition, since what we see to the left is now just a lot of hair and no face.
Kind regards,
Gert

batalay (32830) [2013-05-18 11:43]
Hello Gerrit,

This is an engaging and endearing shot. I think the sign is good, but, if I had a chance, I may have reduced it in size a little. The children have such a tough life, but then, so do the adults.

Warm regards,

Bulent

holmertz (26854) [2013-05-18 11:35]
Hello Rosemary,
From a strictly photographic point of view you have done a good job with the conversion to B&W with very good tones and contrasts. From this distance I couldn't tell whether this is a tasteful monument that honors the Namibian nation, but the barbed wire is decidedly strange. I my be totally wrong, but it sends signals of a government alienated from its people, going from one dependance to another. I remember from Zimbabwe in the early 80's when I was looking for postcards and the only ones I could find showed the interiors of metro stations in Pyongyang!.
Kind regards,
Gert

holmertz (26854) [2013-05-18 11:15]
Hello Andrew,
Less is more, no doubt. This very simple place gave you a fine composition because you had the eyes to see it. A few details break the regularity beautifully. Good work.
Best regards,
Gert

holmertz (26854) [2013-05-18 11:12]
Hello Kristin,
This is a fine and kinda funny observation. The graffiti and the girl go very well together. It would have been great to have her looking into the composition instead of out of it, but you couldn't really tell an ultraviolent girl which way to look, could you?
Kind regards,
Gert

holmertz (26854) [2013-05-18 11:06]
Hello Aleksander,
A spectacular photo. You obtained a very interesting effect from this long exposure. You had time for dinner while you were taking this photo ;-).
Kind regards,
Gert

holmertz (26854) [2013-05-18 11:01]
Hello Eleu,
He seems to be breaking some laws of nature, and soon he may break a leg as well. Perfectly captured in a tricky and spectacular situation. Well done.
Kind regards,
Gert

holmertz (26854) [2013-05-18 10:59]
Hello Mikio,
This is a fine composition consisting mainly of a great number of diagonals. Certainly the rowers are the most interesting focus of the photo, but the bridge attracts my attention almost as much. It is a very wll balanced photo, perfectly cropped and with fine colours. The workshops are also well composed, but of course this photo has the most beautiful features.
Kind regards,
Gert

holmertz (26854) [2013-05-18 10:52]
Hello Serghei,
With a security guard absorbed by his mobile phone, I wouldn't feel quite secure if I was the owner of that jewellery shop. It's strange how that little thing could totally change people's lives. I am too old to understand it. A great snap-shot anyway. It's very well spotted and also has great colours and contrasts.
Kind regards,
Gert

holmertz (26854) [2013-05-18 10:34]
Hello Slvio,
This is a wonderful panorama of Spoleto and its immediate surroundings. The fine villa in the lower right corner provides a good foreground and the city is nicely spread out along a diagonal in the centre of the photo. Beautiful hillsides are seen in the background.
Kind regards,
Gert

holmertz (26854) [2013-05-18 10:30]
Hello Dwaipayan,
What surprises me is that anyone would have to look for passengers in Calcutta. I thought any kind of local transport would be filled up immediately. Maybe the metro has stolen passengers from the old and slow trams. But the emptiness gives us a good look of the unglamorous interior of this tram, and the conductor makes a delightful sight as he is standing in the light by the door. I really like this kind of plain but interesting shots of daily life,
Kind regards,
Gert

holmertz (26854) [2013-05-18 10:23] [+]
Hello Ourania,
Apart from being a fine composition this is interesting because it shows how by moving some 50-60 metres you can take a fundamentally different picture. What remains from the last one is the enormous size of the ferry in relation to the quay and the surroundings. The local boats look like toys in comparison, but they have given you a superb foreground. You must have run to catch the man waiting to unhook the rope only two minutes later,
A few years ago I posted two photos from Donousa, where the arrival of the local ferry in the early evening, maybe three times a week, always was the event of the day for locals and tourists alike. Well, when the big ferry arrives at Ayia Marina in daytime, it must be the local event of the week :-).
Kind regards,
Gert

batalay (32830) [2013-05-18 10:18]
Hello Noel,

This is an excellent shot of the US Capitol Building, perhaps the best I've seen in a very long time. The distressed sky adds drama, especially in the structure's reflection in the pond. I like the symmetric perspective you've chosen in composing the shot. Wearing my artist cap, years ago I did an ink sketch of the Capitol from another angle.

On Monday Sept 8, 2014, 15 months from now, I am scheduled to be in Dublin for the day. It would be a pleasure to meet you, and perhaps have a mini TE meeting.

Warm regards,

Bulent

holmertz (26854) [2013-05-18 10:11]
Hello Aleks,
You are becoming a "painter" almost as much as a photographer, transforming your photos to make them look very much like paintings, enhancing the colours, blurring the right places etc. The result, as in this case, is stunning. The well lit orange grass and tree, as seen against the background of the strangely shaped blue mountain, is really stunning. This has a good artistic value and has moved far away from the average snap shot.
Kind regards,
Gert