Cinque Terra

Cinque Terra, originally uploaded by SiLver sKY.

The hills are alive with the money of rich Italians! This place is amazing. Some call it the Italian Rivera and some call it Cinque Terra. Whatever you call it, the city is amazing. There are 5 cities in all; each connected to the other by the train. No roads! There is very little car traffic and if you are in shape you can walk from the first to the end of the 5 cities in about a day.

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The Great Flying Nessie

The Great Flying Nessie in Canyonlands National Park, originally uploaded by SiLver sKY.

My wife's got skills; look at those hops. What can I say being with her is just the tops. This frame was captured down in Southern Utah inside Canyonlands National Park. As the sunset my wife popped up doing the splits. It sure looks like she was flying but really just jumping. You would not want to goof around too much on these cliffs considering the edge on one side is a shear cliff.

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Caffe Fonte

Cafe Black and White copy, originally uploaded by SiLver sKY.

In Sienna there is a wonderful Cafe at the top of the town "shell" where yo can sit and watch people for hours. The town shell is the same place the bareback horse races were held that were highlighted in the latest James Bond movie. My friend Russ hung around here for two days. At one point we were walking through the alleys and ran into an old friend named Sophie from High School.

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Shananagins

Shananagins, originally uploaded by SiLver sKY.

Have you ever seen a Crazy Person? Well my friend Aaron is one of those. He jumped from a 30 foot cliff into a deep spot in a water hole no bigger than 5x5. One mis step and he would have been toast. My friend Chris caught the frame; I just cleaned it up in Photoshop and tried to make his ugly face look better.

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Into the Sun

Into the Sun, originally uploaded by SiLver sKY.

The weather in Salt Lake was amazing this weekend. I was in heaven on Friday. I didn't have to work and my body felt like climbing into to thin air. I rented some snowshoes from the U and headed up Big Cottonwood Canyon to the Mill Fork South B trail head. Oddly enough the train was blazed for the first 2 miles. It turns out there is some amazing free skiing on the south face of the canyon and lots of skiers hike up in search of fresh powder. I didn't end up taking any water which was a mistake because the last mile was hardly traveled and I was busting my chops trying to get to the top. I made it however and was the only person I saw up there. It feels good to be one of the few.

This frame reminds me of only of my favorite techno songs. The title is Highway to the Sun.

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Glen Canyon Dam

Glen Canyon Dam copy, originally uploaded by SiLver sKY.

Dammit! Oops wrong one.

When I was a kid my Dad gathered us all up into a car and drove us all over the Southwest. Because he is such a nice guy we ended up taking a tour of the Glen Canyon Dam before rafting down the cool Colorado. The tour was really comprehensive, we walked over the top and all the way into the bowels of the marvel. During the tour one of the turbines was started, which produced the most furious sound I have ever heard in my life. I honestly thought I was going to die. The whole group panicked and started to scream. Oh boy was that an adventure. Turns out they are just really loud and that is normal. Who knew?


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Tucson

Tucson - AZ , originally uploaded by SiLver sKY.

Bordering the small town of Tucson is a National Park that is full of Cactus. Although I was not able to make it there in time to see the sun reflecting off the cactus, I was able to catch it far off on a hill. As I was driving around I saw an old dead cactus and decided I would take it home. Bad choice, it ended up being full of bugs and when I was driving late at night my headrest became the nesting place for a desert spider! I learned my lesson; DON'T BRING CACTUS INTO THE CAR! The rest of the trip I kept freaking out thinking there were spiders everywhere. I hate those things.

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Dublin Spire

Dublin Spire, originally uploaded by SiLver sKY.

Dublin is a great town. I call it a town because even though there are millions of people that live there, everything is so slow it feels like a town. It is a different pace of life. I wonder what it would be like to love there? People would like I was on PCP all the time. Really they are just moving in slow motion.

Besides this spire, Dublin had a lot of great baked goods. I spent as much money as I could there.

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Dike Bikes

Amsterdam Bikes, originally uploaded by SiLver sKY.

Amsterdam is a lot like Venice, there is water everywhere. You navigate the city based on the dam names (dam is the dutch word for body of water). When I showed up I was alone. My buddy had left his passport in Dublin and I for the second time I was in a new place finding my way. What better way to get comfortable with a place then shooting some photos. This frame was taken outside the entrance to Bob's Hostel. Bikes are big in the city. It is a lot like Seattle without the software. Although Amsterdam has the reputation of being full of sex and weed, I found the city to be very beautiful and the Dutch were as kind and as talkative as the Irish; and that is saying a lot.

Horseshoe Bend

Horseshoe Bend, originally uploaded by SiLver sKY.

If I had to put a pronoun on a river to describe it as male or female, I would definitely use the word she. Take this frame for example, look at how the river takes a wide left just to turn right again and head in the same direction. That is totally something Vanessa would do.

When Vanessa and I hiked up to the bend, we were followed by a bus full of Chinese tourists. The entire hike I kept yelling at Nessie, Kuai Kuai! The Chinese were stunned that I could speak their language and how hard I was on my wife. We had fun though and once we got the the end, what a view! They kept saying how daring we were to get so close to the edge. I felt like they played it pretty safe in China. I mean I was a good 10 inches away from the ledge and they kept trying to pull me back.

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Stephens Passage, Alaska

Alaska is an amazing place. Even the blind community is impressed with its stunning landscapes. In August my family took a week long cruise up the inside passage; from Vancouver to Skagway and back.

The waters were so calm that we took the Stephens Passage into Juneau. At some points the shore is so close, that if you were to jump from the side you would hit the shore. Sadly I didn't see any bears, however I did have an amazing trip and plan on getting back to Alaska real soon.

Trevi

Trevi, originally uploaded by SiLver sKY.

Ahhh the Eternal City, Roma!
Legend has it that if you drink from this fountain your visit will be extended in Rome for 10 more days. Whether you are in the hospital or not it the Legend doesn't say, but hey at least you are in Rome.

This frame was taken on my last journey through Europe. I met up with Russ in Venice and took a train to Rome for a couple days. Although we never made it to the famous Chapel, the visit was truly magical. Instead of staying in an expensive hotel in the middle of town, Russ and I decided to ruff it and booked a room in a hostel camp 5 train stops from Rome. We never had any problems, except that time we were caught riding without a ticket. Luckily I smoothed talked my out of a fine. Russ said afterward the police said the fine was $500 dollars!

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Red Rock Winter

Red Rock Winter, originally uploaded by SiLver sKY.

This Frame was taken on the backside on Zion National Park, outside the canyon. I have only been there twice in my life, and each time I see things that impress me more and more. There was a lot more snow on this side of the park and less Red Rock. However I was able to find just enough to compose a good frame.

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Gondola!

Venice , originally uploaded by SiLver sKY.

Who wants to ride the Gondola? The boat ride is boring, but the sights are amazing. No where in the world will you see buildings floating on water all over a city, except maybe New Orleans during Hurricane season. Won't someone listen about Global Warming?

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Choices

Bologna Fruit Stand copy, originally uploaded by SiLver sKY.

Choices, Choices, Choices, and well you get the idea. When I was traveling around Europe in the summer of 2007, I stopped with my good friend Aaron in a town called Bologna. It is smack dab in the center of Italy. The town itself is a pretty neat place, from the description of some of the locals this is where spaghetti Bolognese was born!

Although I didn't end up eating any of the pasta, I did eat some great fruit. You see during our exploring Aaron and I found this back alley where there was fruit stand after fruit stand. Locals are yelling and buying food left and right.

In this frame I snapped a pic of some Italian buying his breakfast. He sat there for about 10 minutes talking to the lady. From the looks of it however, I think she just wanted him to buy something.

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Old Loma Point Lighthouse

Cabrillo NP Lighthouse, originally uploaded by SiLver sKY.

Have you heard of the WOF? Yes the WOF. The Wall of Fog! During my recent trip to San Diego Nessie and I were trapped by an enormous WOF that over took Cabrillio National Monument. Near La Jolla the weather was nice and sunny but during our drive south we could see it blowing in. However it made for some nice pictures though. Here is the Old Point Loma Light House. Although you can't see it in this frame the beautiful white building surrounded by a white picket fence; how sweet. The building was constructed back in 1855, but after only 36 years of service was replaced due to limited visibility in heavy fog. Sounds like some engineer didn't sue there homework.

In this frame you can see the setting sun reflecting off the south wall. To the right is the only door to the house where the Israels once lived. I guess they had to row a boat to get to school in the morning. That brings a whole new dimension to uphill both ways.

Pudong

Shanghai Bund, originally uploaded by SiLver sKY.

Like every tourist when I visited Shanghai there were a couple "must see" things on my list. Besides the everyday opium den and back alley shop (I really like my Folex), I had to go see the view of Pudong from the Bund.

The Bund should, for all intensive purposes, just be consider Shanghai. The place is a madhouse. People are selling food, goods, Folexes, and scorpions on a stick; did I mention they are candied? Anyway the place is amazing, I snapped this picture of the Pudong off right before having a bunch of candied fruit that my wife bought. You will notice in the lower right corner of the exposure, there is a pirate ship with lights adorning the bow. Our guide told us that was where the real party is and you had to have some serious coin to ride.

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Christmas Comes but Once a Year

Salt Lake City Christmas Tree, originally uploaded by SiLver sKY.

Christmas is over. Don't be sad though, with this image you can have Christmas all year long. I stumbled into this shot trying to find shelter from the cold. Right in the lobby of the Joesph Smith Memorial Building this tree was just waiting to be shot.

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High on the Mountian Top

High on the Mountian Top, originally uploaded by SiLver sKY.

High in the Sierra Nevada Mt. Whitney climbs to just shy of 15,000 ft. In the summer of 2006 I left Malibu and set off to reach the peak of this monster. After 12 hours of continuous climbing I reached the top to watch a storm roll in. It stayed on top of top of me until I made it to my car at the trail head.

Climbing to the top was one of hardest things I have ever done. Coming from sea level and making a summit attempt was a lot of altitude to absorb. By the time I reached the top I could hardly see and my head was pounding. I am still here however alive and well.

Shadow Puppets at Arches NP

Shadows Cast at Arches NP , originally uploaded by SiLver sKY.

Arches National Park is an area that changes quickly. As the sun set on a Fall Day; Vanessa, I, and whole bunch of chinese Westminster College students cast our shadows on the Red Rock. I am the one in the center with my right hand in the air.

Nola's Bridals

Nola the Bride, originally uploaded by SiLver sKY.

Due to unforeseen circumstances my friend Nola asked my wife and I to photograph her wedding a couple weeks before the big day. I am not a big portrait guy, I think I am better at landscapes. My wife however really knew what she was doing and although we can't remember who fired the shutter, this turned out to be a nice shot of Nola in her dress

This garden is really special to me since the Altar in the backyard was where my wife and I were married.

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Zion National Park

Sunrise over Zion, originally uploaded by SiLver sKY.

Zion National Park is one of Utah's most visited landmarks. During the winter season however, visitors can find themselves alone between the Canyon's walls. Although snow is not common, this shot was taken near The Grotto a day after one of Southern Utah's worst snow storms in decades. The snow covered upheaval on the right is the Sentinel and rises over 7157 ft in Altitude.

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