As I've begun to try to put together some photo stories of my own, it's inspiring to see the great stuff being put out by people whose work I admire. Marius Masalar is one of those people. His recent Kenya travelogue has both incredible photos and engaging narrative. 👏🏻
Situated in the northern coast of Spain, San Sebastián (or Donostia, if you’re Basque) sits just 20 km from the French border. It is the capital city of Spanish province of Gipuzkoa in the Basque region, has a wonderful blend of food, culture, and people, and sits on a gorgeous beach on the Bay of Biscay.
The view of San Sebastián from Monte Urgull.
Tarragona & Zaragoza
Our visit to this beautiful city commenced on Sunday, October 8 following an overnight flight into Barcelona and journey via car across Spain (with pit stops in Tarragona for breakfast and Zaragoza for lunch) that took most of the morning & afternoon to complete.
Tarragona
Zaragoza
Once we arrived, checked into our hotel (Astoria7, which I highly recommend), and shook off our travel weariness, we set out upon the town and enjoyed our first pintxo bar experiences, but not without first making our way to beach.
After a later than expected evening (a glass of wine or two might have been consumed along with all of the delicious food), we called it a night, returned to the hotel, and rested up for a couple of very busy days.
Zurriola Beach, Old Town, Bodegón Alejandro, Monte Urgull & La Concha Beach
Zurriola Beach
Monday morning began with a needed coffee and delicious poached egg over avocado toast at Sakona Coffee Roasters. From there, we headed down to the beach, on what was a gorgeous morning, and took in the sights at the surfing beach, Zurriola.
Old Town & Bodegon Alejandro
San Sebastián is a city known for its wonderful culinary tradition. It boasts, per capita, the 2nd most Michelin Stars of any city in the world (trailing only Kyoto, Japan), so we felt like we needed to experience at least one of these recognized eateries. So, after a stroll back through town, we decided on one of San Sebastián’s many Michelin recognized restaurants, Bodegón Alejandro, where we stuffed ourselves silly with a six-course tasting menu. I won’t soon forget the Anchovy Lasagna, the standout dish in a meal full of excellent flavors.
Anchovy Lasagna
Monte Urgull
With bellies full, Lauren and I crossed town once again, and began our ascent up Monte Urgull, where we stopped often to both catch our breath and to take in the magnificent views.
After sitting for a beverage at the bar near Monte Urgull’s summit, we descended the mountain, and ambitiously set out for the funicular at Monte Igueldo on the other side of the bay. Rather than take a taxi or bus, we decided to hoof it along San Sebastián’s picturesque La Concha beach.
La Concha Beach
As the sun began to set, we had high hopes for the views atop Monte Igueldo, but alas, it was not meant to be, as we arrived at the funicular entrance only a few minutes before its scheduled 19:00 closing time to find the ticket counter closed up, and the day’s funicular rides all completed. While we were disappointed, we were also exhausted from the ~10 miles we covered on foot, and decided, after a stop at a local bar for some pintxos, to call it an evening.
Biarritz, Saint-Jean-de-Luz & Amelia
Our third day in San Sebastián began with an audible. We knew we were very close to the France-Spain border, had access to our rental car, and were interested in exploring what the French side of Basque Country had to offer. With that in mind, we grabbed our morning coffee and hopped in the car.
Biarritz
The 'surfing' beach in Biarritz.
First stop on our French day trip was the city of Biarritz. After a wrong turn or two, we found ourselves a parking spot by its famed surfing beach, and began exploring.
Mussels & Frites at Le Tandem
While in town, we found a bistro to our liking, Le Tandem, where we had shared some mussels & frites for lunch. Following lunch, we explored the city's beach areas a bit more, noting the interesting juxtaposition between surfing culture on Plage de la Côte des Basques, and the luxury feel found along Grande Plage.
Saint-Jean-de-Luz
The second stop on our brief tour of France's Basque coast, led us to Saint-Jean-de-Luz. A much needed afternoon soda helped us recharge our batteries, and we wandered off of the boardwalk into town's shops.
After an enjoyable hour and a half of exploring we returned to the car, thinking we'd hop in and make our way back to Spain without incident. All was going according to plan until I realized that I had lost our garage ticket. In a panic, I searched, re-search, and triple-searched the car, my pockets, and the floor of the garage. Lauren then waited behind with the car while I headed off to attempt to procure a new ticket somehow. When that failed, I meekly pressed the 'Help' button on the garage's payment kiosk. A broken conversation between myself and the non-English speaking attendant, eventually ended in me mustering enough Spanish words (I say words, because they were in no way grammatically or structurally correct) to coax the gentleman to come to the garage to help. Thankfully, he arrived promptly, and was able to help us escape the parking garage. 45 minutes later, we were safely back in San Sebastián, kicking our feet back for a few, and resting up before our final in meal in town at Amelia.
Amelia
Our menu at Amelia.
We decided for our final meal in San Sebastián, we wanted one more great culinary experience. Unfortunately, we had not been able to secure a table at Arzak, or one of other famous restaurants of its ilk. However, after a bit of research, we realized that Amelia, was new on the scene and its chef, Paulo Airaudo, had in fact, spent time in the kitchens of restaurants like Arzak and The Fat Duck, and already had Michelin star under his belt at La Bottega. We opted for the six course tasting menu with the sommelier's wine pairings. The meal was a great experience, culminating with a chance to visit the kitchen and say 'hi' to Chef Airaudo.
We thoroughly enjoyed each course, but the star of the show for me, was our dessert course: a frozen lemon custard paired with a dill-infused oil.
Yum.
With our grand finale of the part one of our Spanish trip in the books, we retreated to the our hotel to get some rest in preparation for our journey back to Barcelona.
For more photos from the San Sebastián leg of our trip, take a peak at the full album on Flickr: https://flic.kr/s/aHsm4z91hh
Night over the bay in San Sebastián.
When I sat down, and began the process of thinking through a website refresh, to be honest, I wasn't quite sure exactly what I wanted. As a general rule, I knew the following were important things to solve for:
The ability to show off images to give site visitors a good sense of what I can do, and the type of photographic work I excel at. This was easily accomplished with my images section.
Something that is definitively mine to write things when the mood strikes, to give the site some dynamism, and a reason for return visits. I've made this the homepage to this site. It seemed like the obvious, and ideal choice.
Beyond that, I just wanted to see where things went organically.
As I began creating content, I very quickly realized that a simple post on the homepage, that, depending on my posting frequency, might disappear into the archives rather quickly, was not the sufficient for all types of content that I'd like to share. My photography is at its best when I have a story to tell. Sometimes that's a longer trip that includes hundreds of shutter presses, hours in front Lightroom culling, and a definitive set of images that attempts to drag the viewer into my life for that period of time. Other times, a simple photo walk produces a few nice moments where the light is just right.
Stories & Vignettes
As of today, I'd like to officially announce the solve for these two problems, Stories and Vignettes.
Stories act a landing spot for longer form, more narrative-driven content. I unofficially launched this with Acadia National Park, recently, and have gotten some very good feedback. I look forward to adding stories for some of my previous travels, as well as journeys that I have yet to make.
Vignettes are as the word implies: short posts that use a combination of my words and my images to paint a picture and set a scene. My walk around the Tidal Basin was the first of such posts, and Chicago Commute is another. I look forward to experimenting with different types vignettes, and expect to have new ones often.
As my life evolves, so will this site. I look forward to the next swerve, and will look forward to meeting that challenge.
Last night was one of this year's opportunities to shoot the Harvest Moon in DC. Unfortunately, our view of moonrise was obscured by clouds. Despite missing out the intended shot, I was instead able to take advantage of some really nice light post-sunset.
A long-ish exposure of the Lincoln Memorial, base of the Washington Monument, and U.S. Capitol Building.
For anyone of a certain age group — myself included — AIM was, quite simply, how we communicated. For many of us, its buddy lists, away messages, and screennames were firsts for us. Its time has long passed, but it had a great run.
Bye, AIM. You might not be missed, but neither will you be forgotten.
Punch the clock. Open the door. Take advantage of your time. See the sights. Lose yourself for a moment. Doze off. Breathe.
When I'm in a new city (whether on vacation or otherwise), I do my best to walk everwhere I go. Even just a brief escape during lunch hour can reveal the unique personality and rhythm of that place.
A beehive filling up with commuters. A floating lift awaits its crew. A taxi passes on the river. An archway breaks up the verticle class panels. A worker leans over the rail, lifing his feed from the ground. A bridge raises, awaiting a passing vessel. Morning coffee on the street. A dark passage beneath the train.
Nasim Mansurov, for Photography Life, writes:
I decided to write on a topic that nobody wants to talk about – how camera companies and everyone else involved in the camera industry are banking on people, AKA the consumers. I wrote this article primarily because of the sense of guilt I have had for years now and also because I do not want our readers to fall into the traps of consumerism.
Just remember, in 2017, technology — cameras, phones, or otherwise — is awesome, and has awesome potential to do the jobs we employ it for really well.
When shopping for the next piece of technology to add to your life, try to remember that. It might be a tool, it might be a toy, it might even be mission critical, but no matter what the jobs technology needs to do for you, there are probably multiple awesome solutions for you.
Companies will do their very best to overwhelm you with hype, in ways both transparent and opaque, but try not to fall for it. Instead of concentrating on the thing that is the "best" or "reviews" well, experience it yourself, make a choice based on what fits your life best, and don't worry about what the Internet says.
It's easier than ever to fall in love with the "new thing". Fall in love with the right thing.
Jim Wilson has been shooting photos for the New York Times since 1980:
When I started, everything was dependent on processed film, which meant having to bring film, a darkroom kit including enlarging and print making equipment, and a transmitter (very much like a souped up fax machine). We’d have to find or at least arrange for a telephone line and telephone access when we needed to send our images. I remember having a small portable typewriter that I’d use to write the captions that were pasted onto the photos before they were put on the drum transmitter and sent back to The Times. The phone lines were all analog, and each picture took around 10 minutes to send — if the line was interrupted for any reason, we’d have to start over. If we got out 10 images in a day, that was huge.
Today, many we carry connected cameras with us everywhere. Even large professional cameras tend to have direct networking capabilities.
Times sure have changed.
This past Sunday evening, Lauren and I spent some time walking around the Tidal Basin capturing photos for an upcoming project (shhhh). After living the DC area for so many years, it can be easy to take The Mall & surrounding monuments for granted. While it's not always fun fighting the tourists, getting down there once in awhile brings with it a certain apprecation for the city.
