Szentendrei Door

While we (MJ, Kris, Scott and I) were in Hungary, we stopped by this little artist village for an afternoon.  It had a bunch of very small streets, alleys, and foot paths between buildings that are not in a logical pattern.  Most of the buildings are homes with unique entrances like this one.  I stopped to take so many photos, I lost the rest of our group.  They kept going (I was supposed to catch up) and after 5 minutes I was lost in these little streets.  I thought I knew what direction they went, but I was wrong.  So I wandered around for another 30 minutes before they found me…..  They grabbed an outdoor spot at a café and saw me walking by.  Honestly, I knew I wasn’t in trouble because we had a time and place to meet later for our trip back to Budapest, but I wasn’t sure I’d find them before that.  It all worked out and we had an amazing lunch at this cafe (see some iPhone food photos of the lunch below).

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Andy Warhol Bridge

I hope you have a fun and stress-free weekend.  I was editing photos last night and completed this one.  I took this a few months ago in downtown Pittsburgh on a photo walk.  If you’re not familiar with Pittsburgh, this is the Andy Warhol bridge looking towards downtown.   

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Logan Square

MJ and I were in Philly earlier this week for a very short visit.  We didn’t get to do much (work trip), but I got a little free time to do some night photography around Logan Square.  I took this photo from a roof top bar overlooking this area.  You can’t see it in this photo…. but if you drove straight down the road in this picture….you’d run into the Rocky Statue.

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Purple-Yellow-Green

I didn’t know how to describe this photo.  I took it in Mexico at our resort pool just prior to sunrise.  When I look at this photo, the colors Purple, Yellow, and Green jump out to me.  Even more so, than the objects in the image…..  Probably just me.

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Russian Woodpecker

During our time inside the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, we got to explore this DUGA site.  DUGA was a Soviet over-the-horizon radar system used as an Soviet Union missile defense warning radar network.  They used this to watch for and track potential NATO missiles.  They had two of these in Ukraine (Chernobyl & Chernihiv) and one in eastern Siberia.

It earned the nickname of Russian Woodpecker because it would make sharp, repetitive tapping noises across shortwaves.  So amateur radio operators would have to deal with the tapping noise.

This thing is huge.  I couldn’t find a size via the Internet but trust me with I say it is very big….  It has two sections.  I think the taller section was maybe 200 ft tall and the entire thing was maybe half a mile long…..  give or take a little.  If anyone knows the actual size, please let me know. 

Anyway, as you can tell, we finished our day here and I captured it at sunset. 

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Seattle Sunset

This photo is fairly old…maybe four or five years old.  I don’t remember what year I traveled to Seattle.  I could look it up, but I’m lazy as well.  This photo has been processed and sitting on my hard drive waiting for it’s turn to see the world.   I just forgot about it until this morning.  I sat at this spot for about 4 hours taking pictures from early evening, through sunset and afterward into the blue hour.  As you can see, it was a beautiful evening. 

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Room With A View

I hope your weekend gets off to a great start.  If you’re looking for a room with a view, how about this one?  The price is right.  I found this beauty in a local popular abandoned building when Theaterwiz and Bob came for a visit.  This started as a dormitory and later served as a nursing facility. 

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UFO Observation Deck

Happy 4th of July.  I don’t have any fireworks photos in my “photos to post” queue.  Sorry about that, I just haven’t taken any in a while and I don’t plan to go out this holiday either. 

So instead, I have this photo from Bratislava Slovakia.  This bridge connects the city across the Danube River.  It has this weird observation deck and restaurant on southern end (looking back across the river towards downtown) that was built back when Slovakia was part of the Soviet Union.  The locals call it the UFO Bridge.  I captured this photo with my drone right around sunset. 

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412 Spring

I hope you have a great holiday tomorrow (4th of July).  For those of you outside the United States, this is the day the U.S. celebrates its Independence Day. 

For your viewing pleasure tonight, here is a photo of downtown Pittsburgh, which I captured this spring.   

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Somewhere Chernobyl

I honestly can’t remember where within the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone I took this photo.  I think it was inside a factory building, but I’m not sure.  Regardless, after I finished processing this a couple of days ago, I knew I had to post it.  I loved how simple and powerful this scene is within the photo.  I liked the shadows, the single push cart in the room, etc…. 

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Bratislava Castle

During our time in Bratislava Slovakia, we got to explore this capital city.  Its small compared to most capitals, but it’s beautiful.  I think I had gelato twice during our walking tour of the downtown embassy row/area.  I flew my drone earlier in the day and at the end as well.  That’s when I captured this photo of the Bratislava Castle which sits on a tall hill looking down on the city and the Danube River.  Earlier, after the city walking tour, Scott and I climbed the hill to explore this castle up close.  This little-known capital city should be on your bucket list. 

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African Elephant

I don’t’ know what to say on the blog tonight.  I selected this photo I took on our trip to South Africa.  I love the photo and the memories that go with it….watching this truly wild animal in his environment…. So I’ll just leave it at that.

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Chernobyl Cultural Center Pool

Short post tonight…..  I took this photo of the pool inside the Pripyat Cultural Center.  Pripyat was a large city next to the Chernobyl Power Plant built to support the employees and their families.  All of this is now within the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.  As I was exploring the Cultural Center, I happened upon it at the back of the building.  I loved the reflections.

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Caribbean Donkey

This post tonight is for MJ.  She just loved this donkey sanctuary in Bonaire so much….  She wanted to go prior to our trip and thoroughly enjoyed it.  She had the largest smile on her face the entire time.  So this is for her as a reminder of that fun time and that wonderful place. 

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Chernobyl Ferris Wheel

One of the most popular spots to visit inside the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone is the abandoned carnival.  Unfortunately, the city of Pripyat was set to have a carnival/celebration for a few days, when the radioactive disaster struck.  So the carnival rides (bumper cars, ferris wheel, and rides) got left behind like everything else since they became radioactive from the nuclear fallout. 

This is one of the highlights for most visitors to Chernobyl.  You can see we were at this spot early in the morning, thus the long shadows and we got to experience some great fall colors. 

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Liberty Bridge

This is the Szabadsag Hid bridge in Budapest Hungary.  Translated that means Liberty or Freedom Bridge.  It took 2 years to completed with the opening in 1896 with Emperor Franz Joseph putting the last silver rivet in the iron structure on the Pest abutment.  The bridge connects Buda and Pest across the Danube River.  It features art nouveau design, mythological sculptures and the country’s coat of arms on the sides.  Interestingly, this was the first bridge in Budapest to be rebuilt after being badly damaged in World War II.

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Bonaire Diving

Its hard to believe it’s only been 9 months since we were in Bonaire.  It feels more like 10 years to me.  Weird how time feels different depending on what’s going on in our lives. 

Anyway, I took this photo at the scuba diving shop at our resort during our time in Bonaire.  They have all these painted rocks from people all over the world.  These are just a small sample of the total.

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Under Clemente

Busy this week…..so here is a photo I took a few months ago in downtown Pittsburgh.  I took this underneath the Roberto Clemente Bridge, which crosses the Allegheny River.  I have to go……have a great week.

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Aushach

This little village in Austria was very cute.  Unfortunately, nothing was open during our stop, but we had a good time walking around anyway.  Since we had some time left over before our boat left, I took some photos with the drone.  I loved how colorful the village is and the rain in the distance.  By the way, our river cruise ship via Gate 1 Travel was great.

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Fisher Body Plant

Today’s post is from the Fisher Body Plant in Detroit Michigan.  I took this photo in early 2018 when I was exploring the city with Theaterwiz, Robert, Blair, Jacques, and Luis.  I was happy and sad to see the improvements within the city.  They’re taking down and/or repairing abandoned buildings very quickly, which is great for the city….sad for urbex photographers like me.

I liked how the blue glass in the windows made this area look…..

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