Threatened with the closure of this thread for the summer, I've finally started posting photos from the trip to Kyrgyzstan (May 5th~10th) in the earnest...
First off, some pictures of the capital city, Bishkek. I kind of liked it (at least the downtown, as the outskirts are downright shabby, shady and generally unremarkable in the photographic sense. http://cs636928.vk.me/v636928358/e5d9/1nAp7tkERgw.jpg
The monument to Manas, the local folklore hero, in front of the city's Philharmonia. http://cs636928.vk.me/v636928358/e5eb/D8YvbaCitVc.jpg
Roses! Bishkek is awash in them. At least, it was in the beginning of May. http://cs636928.vk.me/v636928358/e5f4/7H3POabND6s.jpg
A friend of a friend discovered the plastic bucket he put up in his tree bore fruit this spring, if fruit comes in the shape of Great Horned Owls. The story goes that he covered the bucket in burlap, sprinkled in a few leaves, pine needles, etc. and the adults claimed it as their nest this year.
A third offspring had perished earlier this spring but the remaining two are fledged and appear to be doing quite well. I'm posting these shots more as a curiosity than photographic achievement. The owls were quite high up, lingered in deep shadow with a very bright sky as the backdrop (excuses, excuses).
Three weeks ago I promised some Prague photos. But I've been somewhat low on batteries since then. It probably has to do something with the fact I will have to pay a rather large dental bill and undergo an autotransplant procedure in about a week... and I didn't cause this to myself. So a word of warning to everybody - if a dentis fixes a cavity and says "It's ok, you can go", it might not be ok at all...
Anyway... today I witnessed the craziest sunset in a long while. I don't know why, but it has really been a long time since we had colors like this. I kinda wish I had better foreground to work with, but I like the simplicity and three "horizontal layers".
1D IV, 16-35 L II, f11, three exposures 2 stops apart, blended in LR6 (absolutely flawless blend this time), Adobe standard profile - which I thought delivered nicer colors than Camera standard which I normally use.
