This collection of pictures is from the Kamchatka Peninsula, Commander Islands, Kuril Islands, and Sakhalin. Kamchatka lies between the Pacific Ocean to the east and the Sea of Okhotsk to the west. This 1,250 km long peninsula has 160 volcanoes, 29 still active so it has perhaps the highest density of volcanoes in the world. Kamchatka also boasts diverse wildlife. The Commander Islands were named after Vitus Bering who died of scurvy there in 1741. The only small town on the islands is Nikolskoye which is still inhabited by both Russians and Aleuts. The Kuril Island chain is known for its foggy weather and it held true to form. In about ten days we had only one clear day. A few other days the weather cleared for parts of the day.

This is a departure from my normal style which has been a very realistic rendering of scenes. With film I have always used enhancing filters such as warming and polarizing filters where I felt they would improve the picture. I followed this procedure as I moved into digital capture. This gallery, however, is composed of digital capture images that have been highly saturated and then a variety of filters have been applied. The end results somewhat resemble an oil painting on canvas.

In 2005 I made two trips to the Northern Mediterranean countries of Spain, France, Italy, Greece, and Croatia. History abounds and I made the standard pictures of icons such as the leaning tower of Pisa, Vatican, Coliseum, Parthenon, statues, and temples. Those pictures will not be found here. Instead this gallery is a study of winding streets, windows, doors and many details that most people simply just walk past without seeing.

Patagonia is a region located in Argentina and Chile, integrating the southernmost section of the Andes Mountains in South America. The name Patagonia comes from the word patagón used by Magellan from Spain in 1520 to describe the native people that his expedition thought to be giants. It is no believed the Patagons were actually Tehuelche people with an average height of 5'11" compared to the 5'1" average for Spaniards at that time.

Patagonia contains the world's third largest glacier fields with Antarctica being the first followed by Greenland. The National Parks in both Argentina and Chile contain natural landscapes as impressive as anywhere else in the world. I was in Patagonia April of 2011. This was in their fall when the beech leaves were changing colors and the nights were cold. I have seen a lot of glacier ice but never have I seen ice as blue as it was in the Grey Glacier in Chile.

Burano is an island in the northern part of the Venetian lagoon. The fishing village of Burano covers the entire island and is comprised of many small canals that are similar but smaller in scale to the water thoroughfares of Venice. The entire town is comprised of brightly painted houses. Each house seems to have a colorful window with at least one flower pot. I was even taken with the laundry hanging on lines to dry in the sun. Even the brightly colored clothes pins added to the attractive lanes and alleys and back yards. Fishing and pleasure boats lined the canals. Burano is reached by the local vaporetto. This boat ride takes just over one hour from Venice, Italy.