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I was visiting a friend of mine in Vienna for the Easter holidays. Here are two things I did which I liked a lot – visiting the Karlskirche (St. Charles’s Church) and the Kunsthistorisches Museum (Museum of Art History). If you ever go to Vienna I recommend that you explore them, too (the Arcimboldo exhibition in the museum lasts until 1 June 2008).
Karlskirche:
The Karlskirche is supposed to be the most beautiful baroque church in Vienna, but that is not the reason why I liked it so much and feel the need to tell you about it. No, the reason why it excites me is the panorama lift that takes you to vertiginous heights to give you a really great view of the fresco paintings on the ceiling (also over the city, but with all the security wire netting occluding and limiting the view it was not really worth it). Usually, a normal visitor will never have the opportunity to see these paintings at such a close distance, but here the scaffolds that had been used for previous restoration works had been preserved to take visitors upstairs (not sure how long they will stay though, seems like they have been around for a while though).
The lift takes you to a platform, from there you have to take stairs (they look the same as the stairs in the first picture ) to reach the top. Let me just tell you, if you’re not a fan …
Because I have a tiny new camera (a Canon SD1100IS), I have lots of excuses for taking photos of familiar things. It’s amazing how taking photos forces me to see. It makes me appreciate many of those sights that I otherwise take for granted. With this new little camera, then, I had an excuse to go see.
BTW-my new camera, a Canon SD1100IS is a small moderately-priced consumer-level camera that is incredibly packed with features. It has so many features that I would bet that I’ll never use half of them. It’s an 8-megapixel, 3x optical zoom camera that measures only 3 1/2″ x 2″, small enough to take everywhere. Some of its features (including image stabilization) allow it to handle existing light photos fairly well (for those of you who haven’t yet sworn off cheap flash units, you might want to consider turning off your flash and noticing the difference). The problem with turning off the flash indoors is that many digital cameras do not offer a fast enough ISO to allow for a sharp image.
I admit that I processed these photos a bit, but only a bit. The only processing I used were a few of the features offered by Picasa, a well-designed (and free) photo organizing program from Google.
Here’s a good way to start a weekend day in St. Louis. It’s called “City Diner” (It was formerly “South City Diner”). Located within walking distance of my home, this is where you must …
Japan's Kaguya lunar orbiter is sending back some incredible photos, including this photo of an earthrise. Here are many other photos (click the HDTV tab). Here's a post (by NASA) discussing the lunar missions of Japan and China.
This is a view on my way home from work tonight. The 180-foot tall Compton Hill Water Tower is decorated, at its base, by traffic lights and the lighted traffic flowing by during this long exposure shot. Located near my home, in St. Louis, Missouri, the Compton Hill Water Tower:…