Café du Grütli

Down the Escaliers du Marché from Notre Dame Cathedral in Lausanne, Switzerland, you will find Café du Grütli. It is a pleasant restaurant serving Swiss cuisine which one travel guide describes as a "venerable old tile-and darkwood brasserie in the heart of Old Town."

We found this restaurant in the twilight of our last evening in Lausanne. We wanted to eat like tourists tasting the fondue Switzerland is famous for. We were not disappointed. With the help of the waiter and the conversational crowd around us we had a wonderful meal in a charming atmosphere.

The atmosphere carried with us into the gathering darkness on the streets of the Old Town. As we left I captured this image. Just enough light falls from the indoor fixtures to illuminate the tables on the pavement outside and to offer a companionable glow to the setting.

This scene does not have enough light to make a good photograph. Details are lost and the setting remains dark in the image captured on my small camera. Yet by drawing out the shadows, turning up the color and flattening the details this image comes to life. Splashes of color convey the setting and the tone of the light emanating from the interior space sheds just enough illumination on the scene to suggest the casual elegance and conversational atmosphere of a warm evening under the hospitable awning of a European café.

Apple Harvest

Apples. Beautiful news at this time of year, gracing produce stands and seasonal displays. Not only are they gorgeous to look at, in a wide variety of colors from lemony yellow to bright green to orange gold and dappled red, but they are so good to eat. At this time of year they are so crisp and fresh they snap as you bite into their lusciously tart sweetness.

There are so many ways to enjoy apples: fresh from the tree, baked into pies and crisps, cooked down into applesauce or apple butter, pressed into fresh cider. Hurled like the apples from the trees in "The Wizard of Oz" they make fair weapons, drenched in caramel they make sticky seasonal treats, polished and set on a teacher's desk they make a handsome offering, and piled in the window at the produce market they make an inviting subject to photograph.

These lovely, locally grown apples are a beautiful tribute to fall. Just a simple apple drenched in autumn sunlight can conjure up a thousand memories and associations. Filtered to smooth blemishes, add texture and introduce a dream-like quality, this image evokes the taste and smell of autumn along with the faces and personalities of times gone by. What a rich blessing in such a compact package!

Incantation

The sun was bright and falling warmly all around the house. Everywhere I looked the brightness illuminated something magnificent. Here there was an empty nutshell filled with pine needles. There I saw a leaf withered and crumbling with its delicate veins exposed like threads of lace. Along the walk were honeybees burying their heads in the scent of lavender. Lilacs bloomed neatly at the side of the house and in the front, by the stone patio, irises were unfolding their tightly rolled mantillas.

This single flower led the way. Unfurled and stretching out toward the stone circle it was at the height of its beauty. I took several shots to try and capture its perfectly formed blossom.

With some careful cropping I was able to isolate this iris against the backdrop of the stonework. I adjusted the contrast and filtered the image to bring out the lines of its petals and the echo in the stonework. Like wands directing the tracery in the stonework the leaves arc toward the circle in the background as this lovely iris leans into the magic of a beautiful afternoon.

Little Goldfinch

This little goldfinch landed in my backyard one morning this past spring. He sat on a rock near the birdbath outside my kitchen window. He was so brightly feathered he looked like an Easter egg nestled there. I wanted to capture the image but with only a very limited telephoto lens I felt sure it was impossible. He would fly away before I could get anywhere near him. So I just looked out at his bright form and smiled.

I kept thinking he would fly on. He didn't. Instead the little bird just sat there. Finally I had to go closer to see what was going on. But, sure enough, as I approached he did fly away. The thing is, he didn't get very far. Something was wrong. He flew a few yards toward the backyard fountain and then just lay in the foliage there, with one wing oddly extended.

I am no great expert on wildlife and I didn't know how to help. I moved closer to see if anything was obviously the matter. When I didn't see any noticeable injury I decided to go ahead and take pictures. At least my proximity would keep any neighborhood cats from taking advantage of the situation. I was very close to the bird now and didn't even need a telephoto lens.

Soon the little bird seemed better. He arranged himself there on a rock and tucked his wings neatly around himself as we both listened to the sound of the water in the fountain. After I finished with my camera I began to do some yard work nearby. Before long I turned to find he had flown away.

This was a rare opportunity to capture the image of a wild bird up close with my little camera. I was very pleased with the images that resulted. I made some simple adjustments and filtered them to simplify the details of the background and to highlight the splash of wonder that the little goldfinch brought to my day as he rested near the fountain in my backyard.

Pollen

This image was captured on a beautiful afternoon in Murten, Switzerland, just outside the town walls. We walked through this wonderfully haphazard garden growing roses and sunflowers as it trailed seedpods and morning glories along the stone walls. In the background the bastion of the wall can be seen.

In the foreground a bumble bee is oblivious to the historic setting. Intent on its work it is drenched in pollen from top to tail as it hangs heavily in the air approaching a bright sunflower again and again.

This bee amazed me. I was able to capture his image as he hung in midair serenading the sunflower but it was a challenge to capture the weight of his pollen laden body and to convey the slow determined persistence of his flight as he courted that huge blossom.

Try as I might, my own persistence in courting this image has yielded only a mediocre result. I like the image, the brightness of the flower, the interesting but receding background, the texture of the bees cargo and the profusion of the surrounding garden but I never felt that I was able to capture the story I witnessed as that heavily burdened little bee pursued his passion in a cottage garden by the old town wall.