Robert Swanson's photos

We visited the New Orleans area in 2016. Had lunch at this branch of the well-known oyster restaurant, Acme Oyster House. I used the phone to grab a picture of the neon lights and table in the restaurant. About an hour later, a tornado ran through the same area, causing much damage and some deaths. Makes you think. Image much processed with GIMP. (The Mandeville, Louisiana, location we visited was later closed, but there are still plenty of branches of this restaurant open in the New Orleans area, as of 2022)

When we took this amazing elevator up to the gardens and fortress in Valletta, Malta, I wanted to get a good photo of the lift system. However, my main camera didn't make panoramas. So, I made a "vertical panorama" with the phone. Image processed with GIMP. [View on black]

ALTERNATE image processing: We saw several such oil service ships in Stavanger. The original, posted to Happy Fence Friday, seemed a bit too "blue" to me. So, off to GIMP again, to see about some color manipulation. I hope that this image is a bit "warmer". It should be noted that I was trying new camera setups when these photos were taken, and this might be one where the "default" color temperature was set in my Nikon D700 camera. I have noted that many photos from that time period were, by default, cast with more blue than I like to see. HOWEVER, the ship still looks "pink", much as in the original photo. You can see the "pinkness" when contrasting the hull color with the red of the safety gear, and international "orange" of the life ring near the pilot house. The original posting: www.ipernity.com/doc/2543754/51259846

Just one of the oil servicing ships that we saw in Stavanger. Image processed with GIMP. (Besides the fence, there is a man on the pier, fishing.) (Oh yes, the color. I looked up the ship online and it seems to be painted quite red these days. Apparently in 2014, it was more pink (??!)) I didn't like the blue cast, so fiddled a bit more in GIMP, and have an alternate image to offer: www.ipernity.com/doc/2543754/51259880

This naturally-rusted sign was for a carpark where we stopped on our tour of Christchurch, New Zealand. This very scenic area is south of Christchurch on Summit Road. Image processed with GIMP

Our cruise ship passed this lighthouse on the way into Kotor. While the modern ATON is definitely a light, the original structure may have been a customs building or such, perhaps guarding the approach to Kotor. The walls are quite impressive for this small enclave nestled between towering mountainsides and the water. Image processed with GIMP.

During our cruise along the Bosporus, we saw some really big homes. Some of these had been palaces, we were told. Not sure on this one, but quite a pile. Image processed with GIMP.

More ruins on the hills above Ephesus (which are great ruins in themselves.) Image processed with GIMP.

Another fence we saw in Tonga. In this case, there was a chair sitting in a very remote spot in someone's back yard. Image processed with GIMP.

Fortress in Malaga, Spain. This is a square crop of one of the shots made during our visit. Image processed with GIMP.

Castillo de Gibralfaro in Malaga, Spain. Looking up from the park below, you can get a feeling for how difficult it would be to attack this fortress. Image processed with GIMP.

Taken during that quick visit to the Bosporus on our cruise in 2016. This is one of the few areas I photographed that had benches for people to sit and enjoy all of the activity on the water. There were a lot of tankers in this narrow area. For the Sunday Challenge, this depicts contrast: a huge tanker ship, and the small human figures in the foreground. Image processed with GIMP.

Saw this nice iron fence in Tonga, as we walked around town. Yes there are some missing spear finials. (It took AGES of web searching to find out the name of those pointy things at the top...) Image processed with GIMP.

View from the Upper Barrakka Gardens above the harbor of Valletta, Malta. Looking out over the Mediterranean. (Framed for the Sunday Challenge) Image processed with GIMP.

Santuario di Santa Rosalia, outside of Palermo. We visited this area as part of a local tour. The views in this area are wonderful, high above the noise and crowds of Palermo itself. I found Sicily to be a fascinating section of our cruise, and enjoyed all of our shore visits. Image processed with GIMP.

Taken as we cruised the Bosporus. These fortifications are quite impressive. (We were not allowed to leave the ship in Istanbul, so this cruise up to the Black Sea was a "consolation prize". The views are very interesting, and apparently cruise ships rarely travel this far above Istanbul.) Image processed with GIMP.

Taken in Skagway, Alaska during our cruise/visit in 2000. We did not take the train that day, but were able to walk right up to the steam equipment as it was prepared to ascend White Pass. Print film, professionally scanned, enhanced with GIMP.

This is a snapshot from a collection that was generously shared with me. The photos were taken in Agate Beach, Oregon in 1918, when this fellow was in the Army. He was a "Spruce Soldier", the workers who logged the spruce lumber in the Pacific Northwest for the War effort. To get to the spruce stands, these soldiers created roads and railroads, usually by hand. See: swansongrp.com/spruce Image processed with GIMP.