07-11-09 A Hand From the Grave

This is my third cemetery post in less than a month. I hadn't planned on posting this particular photo because it really has no meaning outside of the context it was taken in. But people looking at my Croatia pictures have commented on it so I've decided to post it.

To help provide you with the context for this photo, you need to click here and then click here.

Now imagine strolling down the long arcade lined with family crypts (as seen in the first link) and coming to a crypt decorated with a skeleton with strange hands reaching out from the wall. Creepy. The cemetery is Mirogoj Cemetery in Zagreb, Croatia.

What are the hands for? Votive candles? Flowers? Who knows.

1/50s f/4.0 ISO400 105mm

06-16-09 Smile!

I couldn't help photographing the Asian tourists being photographed in front of a painting on a giant egg in front of a famous landmark in Zagreb, Croatia. (Confused?)

To see the setting for this photo, click here.

Canon 5DII 1/400s f/13.0 ISO400 24mm

06-07-09 Cemetery Arcade - Zagreb, Croatia

Our flight landed on time in Zagreb yesterday afternoon and after picking up our rental car and checking in to our hotel, Deb and I headed to a . . . . cemetery?

But this is Mirogoj - one of the more famous European cemeteries. And if you are looking for a unique tourist experience that is serene and unlike most anything else you've ever seen, this is the place.

03-14-09 Votive Candles - Zagreb Cathedral

This photo was taken the same day the other Votive Candle post was taken. This time I was experimenting with the amazing Canon 1.2 50mm lens I travel with. This lens is excellent for poorly lit interiors, such as a cathedral. It is also very good at creating a very narrow depth of field, as in this photo. I'm not sure that this is a good photo, given that there isn't a real good focal point. But some people have told me they like it.

Also, I use this photo to illustrate what photographers call bokeh, which is the term used to describe the brighter, out-of-focus points in a photo. Some lenses have good bokeh and many don't. Needless to say, the Canon 50mm 1.2 gives great bokeh.

Canon 5D f/2.8 Canon 50mm 1.2L 50mm 1/250 ISO 400

03-08-09 Votive Candles - Zagreb, Croatia

My wife and I arrived in Zagreb via train from Budapest and had most of the day to explore before a flight took us to Dubrovnik. Except for a wonderful lunch we ate at an outdoor restuarant, we kept moving almost the whole time. We saw the Church of St. Mark, with its beautiful tiled roof, the Croatia Museum of Native Art, among many other things.

At one point in our walking tour we passed through the Stone Gate (Kamanita Vrata) which the tour book said was "the oldest city gate." Just inside the gate there is a chapel with votive candles. I still remember feeling the warmth and smelling the strong odor of authentic tallow candles before i saw them. A breeze was blowing through the arcade, stirring the flames of the candles. I would have stayed longer but my wife thinks that my photography in a place like this is an intrusion into people's spiritual lives. Maybe it is. But I am always drawn to photograph votive candles.

Canon 5D f/10 1/500 ISO 400 Canon 24-105 4.0L (105mm) Photographed: June 1, 2007