The White Cliffs of Dover

 Dover, Kent, UK

Taken on 17 September 2012

While in London, my friends and I decided to take a side trip to see Leeds Castle, Dover, and Canterbury. We had a Groupon coupon for the tour through Premium Tours Ltd. and it was a fantastic choice.

The weather was beautiful and our guide was very good. We went straight to Leeds Castle, which I will post about in another blog, but I thought in the meantime I'd throw a few up of our visit to see the White Cliffs of Dover.

The view from the pebbled beach out over the channel is often obscured by fog, but we luckily had a great view the day we were there. The pebbles on the beach were so pretty I had to take a few photos of just them. We put our feet in the water and took a peek around the town before heading off to Canterbury.
 Behind the beach there is Dover Castle. We didn't visit that day, but I did get a photo.

 On the way to Dover, our guide stopped at The National Memorial to the Few at Capel-le-Ferne. Behind the park are these views of the cliffs. I'll post more photos of the park in another blog.

 

Stonehenge and HDR

Taken on Sept 18, 2012

I decided to play with some photos in Light Room. Hopefully,  you'll like them.  HDR is totally fun.  I tried to touch them up making some realistic and some not.

If you've never been to Stonehenge...it is a beautiful place.

Is it cheating to use photoshop?

Photoshop is an amazing program.  Now I know where all the 'incredibly unbelievable' shots come from that I see frequently posted of places I've seen in person that I don't remember looking quite so vibrant.  I have spent the last week playing with it and although it's time consuming, the results can be fantastic. Having said that...I still feel like it's cheating to use it.

What do you think?

Here is a photo I took back in 2010 as it was shot.

This is with a little bit of playing on my part. It was mostly to see how much I could do without it looking fake.  I am sure it's an art to use PS...and this was my first try.


Does it make a difference to you when you look at a photo if it's been photo shopped or not?

How much is too much?

Monterey and Carmel, California

Monterey and Carmel, California

On March 26, 2002, while we were visiting northern California, we visited Monterey and Carmel. It was gorgeous as usual.

Park Güell - Gaudi Park in Barcelona, Spain

Park Güell - Gaudi Park in Barcelona, Spain

March, 6, 2010

Park Güell was designed by the Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí and built in the years 1900 to 1914. It is one of the largest architectural works in south Europe and is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site "Works of Antoni Gaudí". It is located on the hill of El Carmel in the Gràcia district of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.

They are affectionately called Gaudi's gingerbread houses.

There are built in benches

As you can tell, it was very crowded

One of the most infamous sites in the park is a fountain at the entrance.