St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery

April 29, 2019

I loved this cathedral in downtown Kiev, but I had a hard time capturing it. It’s large so you need to get back to get it all in, but you can’t due to the outside wall surrounding the building. You also can’t get a clean shot without dozens of people standing in the way. There are some clean perspectives around the back that are not as pretty. So, I went with this zoomed in perspective of the rooftop, which was also hard to capture due to trees (as you can see).

The position of this cathedral is great within the city. Its at the end of a major road overlooking the Dnieper River. The facility itself is amazing. I just failed as a photographer to capture it. Sorry about that.

To view a larger version, click HERE

St. Peter's Square

November 26, 2018

This isn’t my typical photo. First, I don’t normally include people especially tourist. Secondarily, it isn’t technically a good photo. But I liked how you get to see the entire scene with St. Peter’s Square in the foreground and St. Peter’s Basilica in the background. I loved the amazing architecture in Rome, especially in Vatican City.

To view a larger version, click HERE

Great Bay

August 24, 2018

It has been a few years since my last visit to St. Martin. I took this photo on the beach looking out at the Great Bay. Amazing location!! I’ve had this photo processed and sitting on my hard drive for a long time…. It was just waiting for it’s time… Guess what? It is time.

To view a larger version, click HERE

Don’t forget to check out my photo galleries. I update and add to them often.

Lombard Street

June 21, 2018

Like all tourist who visit San Francisco, I went to see Lombard Street. I have to admit, it was fairly cool. I visited it twice during my last SF visit. I was there the first time during the daylight (bright light). So I went back the next night to photograph it during and after sunset…. That’s when I captured this beauty looking up hill.

To view a larger version, click HERE

Don’t forget to check out my photo galleries. I update and add to them often.

Palace of the Grandmaster

February 25, 2017

Officially known as The Palace, the Grandmaster’s Palace is in the walled city of Valletta Malta. It was built starting in the 16th century and they finished it in the 18th century. It was originally built as a palace of the Grand Master of the Order of St. John, who ruled Malta and at that time, they called it the Magisterial Palace. Today it serves as the Office of the President of Malta and as a museum.

I took this photo inside the Palace. I just loved the mural painted around this entrance and how it worked (matched) with the marble flooring.

To view a larger version, click here: https://500px.com/photo/200207087/palace-of-the-grand-master-by-brook-ward?ctx_page=1&from=user&user_id=3695440

Turkish Grand Bazaar

February 12, 2017

So….I’m sorry that I’ve been absent lately. MJ and I were on another badly needed adventure with our good friends (Kris and Scott). I’ll be the first to admit that I needed that time away and I had a great time. As far as trips go (for us) it was a very relaxed trip. Lots of naps, down time, sun, a few beers and just fun (no stress) activities.

We’ve traveled with Kris and Scott many times and they make it easy. We all get along, enjoy each other’s company and just go with the flow. I want to thank them and MJ for the wonderful trip.

Anyway, while we were in St. Thomas, Kris found this awesome store called the Turkish Grand Bazaar. I loved this place. The store employees were great. I think they are all family members, but I don’t know that for sure. We shared, talked and laughed. They had so many amazing items in this store, MJ and I could have spent a lot of money in that spot. I loved all the colors, lights, and cool items. Tonight’s photo is some of the colorful lamps. I loved them all.

To view a larger version, click here: https://500px.com/photo/198110491/turkish-grand-bazaar-by-brook-ward?ctx_page=1&from=user&user_id=3695440

St. Peter's Basilica

January 30, 2017

During our trip to Vatican City, we visited St. Peter’s Basilica. What an amazing visit!! I don’t know if our guide bribed the Vatican official or not (hard to believe), but we got to skip the entire line. There were thousands of people in line (at least it seemed like it) and they said the wait was about 2 hours long. Regardless, the guide got us inside in less then 10 minutes. It was an outstanding experience and I tried to capture as many photos as possible. This is of the ceiling just inside the front doors. I couldn’t use a tripod, so I did the best I could hand holding the camera.

To view a larger version, click here: https://500px.com/photo/195966209/st-peter-s-basilica-by-brook-ward?ctx_page=1&from=user&user_id=3695440

Simpson Bay Sunset

January 29, 2017

Today’s blog post if of a sunset from Simpson’s Bay in St. Martin. We had a wonderful time traveling to this island with a few family members. Mother nature treated us to a week full of wonderful sunsets like this one. I took this photo from the beach at our resort. I like the moody feel of this photo and it takes me right back to our time sitting on the beach watching this unfold. Good times, great location.

To view a larger version, click here: https://500px.com/photo/195692711/simpson-s-bay-sunset-by-brook-ward?ctx_page=1&from=user&user_id=3695440

Simpson Bay

June 19, 2016

Tonight’s post is a sunset from Simpson Bay in St. Maarten. I attended a sunset cocktail party on the rooftop of our hotel. That gave me an opportunity to capture this great scene as it happened. I’m ready to go back to the Caribbean. At this point, I don’t have any future trips booked. That will have to change soon.

To purchase a print or view the entire gallery, click the photo above.

Abandoned St. Peter & St. Paul School in East Liberty

April 20, 2013

Today, Brad, Dave and I went on a photo walk around the Lawrenceville and East Liberty area of Pittsburgh. We were basically on a mission to photograph anything interesting. We all took the same basic photo of this classroom in the abandoned St. Peter and St. Paul School (same location, angle, POV, etc…) and I am looking forward to seeing how we all process the image. Here is my version. Hopefully, they’ll post their version soon.

You can see Brad’s work here: http://www.somethinghdr.com/

You can see Dave’s work here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/36007640@N07/

To purchase a print or view the entire gallery, please click the photo above.

Scorpionfish

March 13, 2013

I have two unusual pictures for you today from my recent vacation. I love to scuba dive and try to do it every chance I get, but I don’t post many underwater photos. During the trip, I got a chance to dive in St. Kitts and St. Lucia. Both locations were great, but I preferred the diving in St. Lucia. That being said, I captured two unique photos from my St. Kitts dives. I got photos of two different types of Scorpionfish.

I don’t know the specific name of this type of Scorpionfish. They are extremely hard to find because they sit on the bottom or in coral for hours without moving. They hide very well waiting for fish to swim by for them to eat. I actually didn’t see this one, the dive guide pointed it out to me. They are extremely dangerous if you touch them due to the poison they have on them. They are not aggressive so you can get close to look at them, but you don’t want to touch them.

To purchase a print or see the entire photo gallery, please click the picture above.

The second one is a Lionfish, which is also from the Scorpionfish family. Unfortunately, this type of fish isn’t supposed to be in the Caribbean, but it’s becoming a very common thing. These fish have been released into the Caribbean from individuals who had them in their fish tanks. The Lionfish has no natural enemy in this area and they kill a massive amount of other fish. They are spreading like crazy and hurt the normal caribbean fish to the point they are going to threaten the natural order of things.

Lionfish - part of the Scorpionfish family

Here are two link to a few past diving photos in my blog:

Dolphin

Cave Diving

I also posted a few Great White Shark pictures in the past in my Picture Gallery

Bermuda's Unfinished Church

February 4, 2013

MJ reminded me that I haven’t used any pictures from our Bermuda trip last year for my blog. I’ve posted a few in the past, but never on the blog. One of the coolest places we visited while we were there was the Unfinished Church located in the town of St. George. This is an elegant edifice, worth the small walk (about 5 city blocks from the marina).

Construction started in the 1870s, when the St. Peters Church was badly damaged by a storm, which they thought was beyond repair. So they started to build a new church. For a number of reasons, they never finished the construction. The church has been sitting in this status for over 140 years. Today the picturesque ruins are a protected historic monument and part of the St. George’s World Heritage Site.

Picture Technique:

I took this picture with a 3-exposure auto-bracket in Aperture mode set at f22 and ISO 100.

To see some other pictures from my Bermuda trip click the links below:

Spanish Monastery in Miami

January 11, 2013

I’ve posted a couple of pictures already from my Miami trip. One of the pictures was of the beach and the other was the art deco Park Central Hotel on Ocean Drive. Both are exactly the type of pictures you’d expect from Miami. Tonight I have something very different that no one would expect to find in Miami.

On our first full day in Miami, MJ and I went on a self-guided tour of a 868-year old Cloisters of the Ancient Spanish Monastery and St. Bernard de Clairvaux Episcopal Church. We are probably the only tourist in the last 12 months to leave the beach and find an ancient Spanish Monastery. The Monastery of St. Bernard de Clairvaux was built in Spain during the years of 1133 to 1144. Cistercian monks occupied the monastery for almost 700 years.

In 1925 William Hearst purchased the Cloisters and the Monastery’s out buildings. The buildings were dismantled stone by stone and placed in 11,000 wooden crates. Then they were shipped to the United States. Due to Mr. Hearst's financial problems, the stones remained in a Brooklyn New York warehouse for 26 years. After Mr. Hearst's death, the stones were purchased and the Monastery Cloister was rebuilt in Miami. The re-construction took 19 months and about $1.5 million dollars to put the Monastery back together. Today the Monastery is owned and operated by the parish of St. Bernard de Clairvaux.

The parish holds church services and host events (weddings, receptions, etc..) at the Monastery on a routine basis. This was one of the most interesting places we’ve visited in the last year for a bunch of reasons.

How I captured this picture:

This was a 7-bracket set (+4, +2, +1, 0, -1, +2, +4) taken in Aperture mode set at f13. I had the camera on a tripod and backed up into the corner as far as possible to get as much of both hallways into the shot as I could. I used my Nikon D800 with the 14-24mm lens. This is a great wide-angle lens, which works excellent in this type of setting. I created the HDR image in Photomatix Pro and did some minor editing in Photoshop CS6.

I hope you enjoy this image as much as I do. The picture is interesting, the Monastery has lots of history and the structure was unique for Miami (or the United States).

To purchase this print, please click the picture above.