04-19-13 Underground Vienna

02-19-13 Centraal Station - Amsterdam (Reprise)

TS Eliot was wrong. Februrary, not April, is "the cruelest month." At least for me. Yes, the days are getting longer. Yes, the temperature ocassionally soars into the high 20s. But it is often in the heart of February that what I think is SAAD (seasonal affective disorder) hits me. And I lose my will to post new photos to this blog.So I'm posting old stuff. . . But, in the event that you haven't meticulously looked at all four years of my posts, you've probably never seen some of these. So maybe they're not old.

01-20-12 Arrival

This location is a world apart from the abandoned farm photos I posted a week ago. I'll admit that I am more comfortable in the quiet expanses of the South Dakota prairie than I am in a underground train station. But both places intrigue me.

From Another Era

We happened to be driving from the Hill City, SD, back to our cabin and we encountered the second to last run of the Hill City to Keystone 1880 train. It wasn't a great day for photos as it was raining pretty hard but It was a good chance to try to get a photo of what might be the only passenger train in South Dakota.We intercepted the train four times as the tracks meandered through the Hills. My idea of a good shot involved curving tracks and billowing steam and this photo was the best I could do.

The Journalist

When Deb and I travel to Europe, I generally create the itinerary and take care of all the details before we leave: plane and train tickets, hotels and auto rentals. Once there, when we aren't on a train or plane, I drive.So "What does Deb do?" you ask. Aside from giving me constant advice and helping me keep track of lenses, chargers and ipods, she participates in our "travel democracy." Nobody leads and nobody follows. Instead we jointly decide what we will see and do on any given day. It works well.Beyond, that, I would say that Deb is the left brain and I'm the right. She writes about our travels and I picture them. This photo, of course, is evidence of our symbiosis.For those who might wonder, in this shot, we are on a train going from Berlin to Dresden, Germany. I am taking a picture of Deb writing in her journal while a blurry women in the background reads a book.Why did I convert the photo to black and white? It looks more "journalistic."