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I’ve been busy, but I’ve still been taking pictures and reading. See the descriptions of my new photo galleries below and check out my reading list and book reviews. I have an iPad now for travel and I downloaded my first library book. It was pretty convenient as I have a selection of Nook Books, Amazon Kindle books and Overdrive epub books all from the same device. I really enjoyed “The Orphan Master’s Son” and “11/22/63”.

Joshua Tree National Park – I had another chance to visit Joshua Tree National Park and I made the best of it. I woke up early so I could be there for sunrise. It was really exceptional to be there hearing the coyotes howling as the sun came up. A storm had passed through the previous night leaving beautiful clouds in the sky that cleared up to a clear blue sky. I found a few new places to see such as Hidden Valley and the Wall Street Mill. Hidden Valley is a concentrated area of boulders and peaks that was a protected area for cattle. It’s like the entire park condensed into one area. Another great hike was to the Wall Street mill that has three abandoned pickup trucks well preserved in the dry heat. The mill was used to process gold ore.

Here two new sets of photos from Joshua Tree National Park in black and white and here is a larger set in color. Black and white fit well with the patterns and textures that are everywhere you look. For a photographer, the lighting is exceptional at dusk and dawn.

Ottawa – We had a great summer trip to Ottawa to check out the capital of Canada. It is a nice compact city with lots of great things to do. An historical and sad event was the death of the leader of the opposition, Jack Layton. I was near the front of the crowd honoring his being laid in state at the Parliament Buildings and have some firsthand photos of the event.

DSC_0185 1024x768 The Parliament buildings have a fantastic evening light show. I set up my camera on a tripod and kept it at the same position for the show. Here are the photos from that great show. We also visited the Royal Canadian Mint, the National Gallery (which was fantastic) and Rideau House, the home of the Governor General of Canada. Here are some other photos from around Ottawa.

I also took some time to visit the Hamilton Air Museum with some friends. It was Canadian Air Cadet graduation day so there were a lot of people around. Here are some photos.

Denmark – I made another quick trip to Denmark and took a few photos. I visited Møns Klint (white chalky cliffs), Frederiksborg Palace, Aarhus and some other small villages on the way. Here are some photos.

Salamanca, Spain – I was fortunate enough to go on a business trip to Spain where I took some photos in and around Salamanca, a beautiful city west of Madrid. It is one of the oldest university town in Europe, built of yellow sandstone that looks magnificent in the evening light. A highlight of the city is Plaza Mayor, voted one of the best plazas in Europe. Here are some photos of Salamanca and the surrounding area. One of the highlights is a 360° panorama photo I took of Plaza Mayor. Can you spot the astronaut in the carving? He was carved in during a repair of the stonework.

Fall Colors – I went on a photo shooting expedition with a friend of mine and we visited Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. Check out these great colors on our hike. I also took a neat photo at night at our lodge on Au Train Lake on the left. You can see the color in the sky and some stars! I’ve also thrown in a few nice fall colors from around Appleton, Wisconsin.

Google™ Earth and Panoramio – Check out my pictures on panoramio.com here. My name on panoramio.com is maxpixel. I’ve been adding some recent pictures. At the moment, I’ve added over 500 pictures with most of them on Google Earth. I’ve been looking at which photos get more hits than others. Definitely, photos of unusual places get a lot of hits – like Lord Howe Island. Places where there are a lot of photos don’t get a lot of hits – like Venice. My most viewed photo is of Blinkie Beach on Lord Howe Island with over 4000 views.