Taken in 2002 with a Canon Powershot S10 compact 2.1 megapixel camera at Chambord Castle during a very pleasant vacation in the Loire Valley. Chambord is particularly famous for a “double helix” spiral staircase, but I believe that this isn’t it (the famous one is inside the castle while this one is outside). It’s still pretty impressive though – as is the rest of the castle, particularly the exterior. The interior is rather bare and cheerless.

I was supposed to have studied at the University of Tours in the Loire Valley, and even registered. Somehow, I got distracted and ended up staying for a couple of months with friends near Lille. I should have gone with my original plan. The Loire Valley is gorgeous, while Lille is industrial and far from scenic. If you want to get a good feel for this part of France read “Germinal” by Emil Zola (who was also a photography enthusiast and a pretty decent photographer – see Emil Zola was a photographer?!

I’m fond of shadows, see:

I took this picture of shadows falling on a red wall (a converted garage I believe) of a house only a few doors down from ours. It was taken around 5:00 pm with the sun was going down and casting shadows on the side of this building.

After I’d taken it I had two related decisions: 1) should I keep it in its original color version or convert it to black and white? 2) should I keep or remove the meter to the left of the picture. I say that they are related because in the color version the meter was a bright blue color that made it the first thing that you noticed. So although I liked the red building I decided to try a black and white conversion. In this version the meter is much less distracting and even adds a bit of visual interest. I decided to go with B&W and to keep the meter.

This house is at 19 Broad Street in Fishkill, NY. A sign on it indicates that it’s on the National Register of Historic Places, but I haven’t been able to discover any additional information on it. I took the picture in July, 2014. In trying to find out more about the house’s history I came across a more recent picture. The “rustic” fence, gate and end posts have now gone and the garden is much tidier. To me though it’s lost some of its character. I liked the fence – even if it was starting to fall apart.