Robert Swanson's photos

Our wall construction continued. To catch up: we contracted with the local Tongan men to have them construct a retaining wall for our home in Maui (December 2006). This construction was last seen as a big pile of volcanic rock. (see PiP) Now we have the shape of the wall taking form. Our neighbor's house (right, yellow color) already has a retaining wall, but it's not Hawaiian style. (Oh yes, our, and our neighbor's fences are in the picture, too. Our "lanai" is above the garage. We spent many hours there watching the beautiful scenery, and the shipping in the harbor.) Image processed with GIMP.

This Tuesday's table is on a dining car at the Forney Transportation Museum in Denver, Colorado. Looks very elegant. Had to take this picture through the car window, so there are some reflections. Image processed with GIMP.

Taken from inside one of the trolley cars they have at the Orange Empire Railway Museum in southern California. They have everything from interurban "red cars" to the various trolleys that worked Los Angeles (and other towns). You can see the front, side and doors of another trolley through the windows of this one. The left side of the window view is the front of a Los Angeles trolley, in the green and gold color scheme. To the right are the "automatic" doors of another trolley. The seating inside was pretty simple: a bench. Image processed with GIMP

At this moment, not much whale. This was taken at a pull-out on Maui (Papawai Scenic Lookout), where you can usually see whales during the season. These folks are ready, but at least in this photo, no whales yet. (Must be tourists, no hats) The do have binoculars and video cameras at the ready. HFF everyone! May your disappointments be few! Image processed with GIMP.

Taken during one of our morning walks near our Maui house. Some amazing skies to be experienced. Image processed with GIMP.

Our house on Maui (left) got a retaining wall. This is the start of the project, where all you have are rocks (December 2006). The walls on Maui (and I think many other islands) were built by people from Tonga. They seemed to be the only ones in the business. Our neighbor's house (right) already has a retaining wall. (Oh yes, our, and our neighbor's fences are in the picture, too. Our "lanai" is above the garage. We spent many hours there watching the beautiful scenery, and the shipping in the harbor.) Image processed with GIMP.

Maui, 2007, Chinese New Year. We joined a happy group at a local restaurant, had a great dinner, and then were entertained by some youth lion dancers. This woman is "feeding the lion", passing in money for good luck for the new year. The proceeds went to the youth organization.

The Sunday Challenge was to manipulate an existing photo, and post it. I thought that the original of this photo had already been uploaded to Ipernity. Apparently, not. So, I just uploaded the "original". Here are a pair of Hong Kong night photos, one straight, the other "en-noised" by GIMP. Looks interesting on a black background.

The laser show was running after dark. (This was taken during our world cruise in 2009. Hong Kong has changed a lot since then.) (This would be the base for Sunday Challenge manipulation, but I could not find it on Ipernity.) Looks interesting on a black background. Image processed with GIMP.

For the Sunday Challenge, took the photo of a Chihuly glass sculpture and made it "cubist" using GIMP.

A view of one of the natural bridges in Natural Bridges National Monument in Utah. You can see the "bridge" just to the right of the center of the image. Oh yes, there is a fence, too. Image processed with GIMP.

Beautiful building, very historic. I would normally say "processed in GIMP", but this was taken from the camera chip, and only resized.

Taken during our visit to Connecticut. The sunlight seemed to be at just the right angle. Image processed with GIMP.

Taken the day before we took this train to New Jersey. We were visiting the station to get an idea of the layout, and planning our upcoming train trip. Image taken with phone (sorry, poor quality) and processed with GIMP.

Oh no! For the Sunday Challenge, this is something I dislike! Image processed with GIMP.

We took hundreds (and more) of photos of the amazing sunrises we saw from our Maui house. The road up to Haleakala makes an illuminated "snake" during this lovely sunrise. Taken in 2005. Image processed with GIMP.

The switchman has finished setting the switch position. He is climbing aboard the locomotive that is being re-positioned. The Bailey Yard, located in North Platte, Nebraska, is the largest railroad yard in the world. Image processed with GIMP. Oh yes, 600mm equivalent zoom telephoto, taken from the observation deck of the Golden Spike Tower (viewing area). www.visitnorthplatte.com/listing/union-pacific-bailey-yard/147

Switchman throwing the switch at the Union Pacific Bailey Yard. He is helping to move locomotives around between the repair and storage areas. The Bailey Yard, located in North Platte, Nebraska, is the largest railroad yard in the world. Image processed with GIMP. Oh yes, 600mm equivalent zoom telephoto, taken from the observation deck of the Golden Spike Tower (viewing area). www.visitnorthplatte.com/listing/union-pacific-bailey-yard/147