Italian Cops

While walking down Via del Corso in Rome late in the afternoon, I came upon a street off to the right where these to Carabinieri were just workin’ it.  This shot was too good not to take. I’m sure the SPQR aren’t too thrilled.

Colette Paris

On a trip to Paris last year I took some free time to head over to Rue Saint-Honoré to pay a visit to Colette, one of the better retail shops of Europe where you can find unique clothes, gifts etc….   This is a great street full of great stores, cafes, and people.  It’s not too far from the Place Vendôme.  If you’re looking for a cool spot to hit next time you’re in Paris, check out Colette.

Old Colombia, New Colombia

Many people who have never been to Colombia have basically only one image of Colombia, but today Colombia may very well be the most rapidly advancing country in South America in some respects.  About an hour and a half drive outside of Medellin is a small (very small) town called Marsella just a few kilometers from Fredonia way up in the hills over the Cauca river.  There just off the square is a small little bar called Tienda Mixta Marsella that in addition to beer and aguardiente sells the basics that you might need if you lived in the hills of the Colombia – a sort of five and dime.  Above is a shot of one corner of this little place.  We met the owner, an older lady who told us she has owned this place for 60 years….. 60 YEARS!

To show you what you generally don’t see of Colombia from outside Colombia, here is a shot of the new mall called Santa Fe in Medellin with all the top retail.  The weather in Medellin is generally always Springlike so the entire roof of Santa Fe retracts like the baseball stadium in Toronto – this is new Colombia.

 

 

Backroads of Fiesole

I used to go to Firenze about six times a year on business and was all but living there.  We’d spend a lot of time in Fiesole and the road up to the town was Via Benedetto da Maiano.  Right on the corner is this little church you have to drive by everyday that holds probably about 15 people, maybe 20 on a road that is so tight in some places cars take turns coming around the corners.  This shot is from October 2001 a month after the 911 attacks and was a very strange time to be flying around the world.

Shanghai Xiao Long Bao

One of my favorite foods in Chinese is Xiao Long Bao – a steamed soup dumpling.  There is (was – it’s gone now) a killer street restaurant just off Nanjing Shi Lu where the line out the door to eat these little gems was 30 deep at 10pm.  You order a six pack of these that come in a styrofoam box, you go upstairs and find a seat under the K-mart lights wherever you can picnic table style, and they bring you big bottles of Tsing Tao to wash them down.

Here’s the pre-game line:

And post-game cleanup outside the place…..

Brasil Pão de Açúcar by Cable

Made a visit to Rio de Janiero and Buzios in 2002 and got to experience first hand Rio lifestyle, food, and people.  Sao Paolo is where the business is but if I lived in Brasil I’d favor Rio.

Freshly Pressed

Weird seeing “prosciutto” in a Chinese road market but me and the weekend warrior came across just that while checking out the local eats in Shanghai.

Jardin des Tuileries in Black & White

Spent a Sunday walking areas of Paris and made it into the Tuileries Garden.  Took this shot from the top of one of the curved ramps and loved how it froze everyone in the picture in their place with the long shadows off the late afternoon sun.

Chinese Woman

Walking around Moganshan Road we came up to an old house where this elderly woman was sitting outside her home.  I couldn’t help but thinking what this woman’s life must have been like and the changes she has seen over the past 50-60 years in Shanghai.

Old Dubai

Went to see Mission Impossible last night where a good bit of it was filmed in Dubai.  It made me think of my experiences there, one of which was in old Dubai near the Dubai Creek (more like a river) where it’s lined with merchants ships and dock workers.  I spent some time moving fast in the streets there shooting as many images as I could only to go back discover what I had shot later on.  This was one of those shots – the old man who probably sits on this stool everyday cooking food.  The dichotomy between old Dubai and modern Dubai is beyond night and day.