Paris Parfait

More travel

International terminal at Indira Ghandi International Airport, Delhi, India.

Since my return from Nepal a week ago, have been busy with a houseguest. Alas, I've had barely a moment to sort photos and create blog posts. On Sunday, David and I are off to Amsterdam. Check back mid-week for more Nepal stories and photos.

Snow-dusted palms in Paris

Snow-dusted palms and motorcycles during the season's first brief snow flurry in Paris today. Images were shot through the glass of a shopping complex.

No Black Friday holiday sales here, but there were quite a few shoppers at Les Passages, beating the Christmas rush.

Thankful

Lighting candles, Bungamati, Nepal.

 

Gratitude for an abundance of blessings: Happy Thanksgiving!

The sadu at Pashupatinah

A sadu, or holy man sits on temple steps in Pashupatinah, Nepal. The sadu are devout followers of Shiva, the Hindu god viewed as both destroyer and creator. Some sadu are constantly covered in sackcloth and ashes.

This man had a wonderful smile and gentle nature and seemed genuine. Locals say some sadu are society drop-outs, rather than religious men. The imitators pose for tourist photos, in exchange for money.

These two holy men have dreadlocks down to their feet and beyond. Click photos to view detail.

The 17th-century Pashupatinah Temple - the oldest Hindu temple in Kathmandu -  has UNESCO World Heritage protection. The sacred site sits on the banks of the Bagmati River.

Sackcloth and ashes.

This man's long dreadlocks are wound into a giant bun on the side of his head.

This man covered in ash appeared to be a loner, isolated from the other sadu.

Check back soon for more of my images and stories from Nepal.

Images by Tara Bradford.

Adventure-bound

Stacks of vintage leather luggage at a recent brocante at Chatou, France.

Am off to Delhi and Kathmandu (with considerably less luggage than pictured). It's my first trip to Asia, so I'm expecting quite the adventure! All being well, back soon with stories and photos.

Minus the sun

Sign on shop door, Delft, Holland, loosely translated to "But where is the sun?" That's certainly the question in Paris today, which is dark, rainy and cold.

17th-century buildings and trees reflected in a canal, Delft.

Swans seeking sustenance.

The same canal, a bridge and bikes.

Bikes lined up along another canal in Delft.

No matter the weather in your part of the world, hope your Sunday is lovely!

P.S. If you're a fan of photography and film, you might like The new golden age of documentary. And if you're American - or just interested in the nation's trajectory - this is a sobering read.

Salon de la Photo 2010

A French photographer demonstrates photo techniques Friday at Sony's space at Salon de la Photo, Paris. Among photographers participating at Sony events were Reza, Tom Stoddart, Kevin Abosch, sports photographer Eric Baledent, nature and wildlife photographer Cedric Chassagne and Remi Chapeaublanc.

I heard Kevin Abosch talk about his portrait work. He said he hopes that when people look at his images, they recognise something within themselves...not in a melancholic way, but in our shared sense of fragility.

Using a reflector at Sony.

Nikon.

Canon.

Canon. As evidenced by the pictures, the majority of French photographers are men.

Leica.

Art piece by Gilles Ouaki for Leica:  "Cherchez le petite etoile rouge, elle est verte," Paris 2010. ("Searching for the little red star; she is green)."

A vintage Leica.

An exhibition of Willy Rizzo's photographs.

Rizzo's photograph of French actress Catherine Deneuve.

Clocks, balloons and greenery over the crowds at Salon de la Photo, Pavilion 4 at Porte de Versailles. The event continues from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. through Monday, Nov. 8th. Tickets are available at the door.

All images shot with the little mirrorless Sony Nex-5 with an 18-55 mm F 3.5-5.6 zoom lens.

Out of focus

While going through photos, I came across this one taken at a bird-watching area in Pagham Harbour, England. The image is out of focus, which causes the idyllic scene to look more like a painting than a photograph.

Fall thistle at Pagham Harbour.

Scroll down the page for another post today.

The party's over

The party's over, houseboat, Prisenngracht, Amsterdam. Now the real work begins!

Fall brocante at Bastille

Antique chairs at a brocante at Chatou, France in September. If you're a fan of French brocantes, check out the Antiquites Brocante at Bastille, Paris. The event begins at 11 a.m. Thursday and continues until 7 p.m. daily through Sunday, Nov. 16th. Tickets are available at the entrance at Place de la Bastille.

The brocante extends along both sides of the Canal St. Martin. Look for Sophie Pretelat's Anges et Demons at #403, Bd. Bastille; Gunnar Petterssen's stand #514 and Michel Leruez at Stand 13 Chapiteau. And don't forget to visit Cedric Grare's Art Atypique!

Take the Paris Metro Line 1, 5, or 8 to Bastille or Quai de la Rapee or bus lines 76, 86 or 91. Parking is available at Opera Bastille.

Antique linens and modern lampshades.

A French flag and zinc weather vanes from French chateaus.

An 18th-century wooden angel.

A French children's book series.

A wooden table painted with a depiction of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.

Provencal pottery on a vintage baker's rack.

A vintage Coca-Cola sign and enamel clock.

Voting in mid-term elections: a right and responsibility

The Amsterdam canal house residence of John Adams, former US president, ambassador and co-author of the Declaration of Independence.

 

Have you voted yet? If not, why?  

It's true the American mid-term election has been the nastiest in recent memory, fueled largely by hateful, hysterical rhetoric from a couple of windbag talk show hosts and a "news" channel that gives journalism a bad name.  Citizens United also has a lot to answer for, as the court ruling enabled vast amounts of nefarious - and often corporate - money to be funneled into campaigns, under the cloak of secrecy.

In the lead-up to this election, the supposedly independent US Chamber of Commerce was revealed actively to be funding right-wing GOP candidates. Rupert Murdoch, owner of Fox "News," the Wall Street Journal and the New York Post donated at least $2 million to the Republican party, a clear bias and conflict of interest.

Meanwhile, the Republicans continued their curious lurch to the radical right, propping up unqualified "Tea Party" candidates with checkered histories and challenged intellects. (I'm looking at you, Christine "I am not a Witch" O'Donnell, Sharron Angle, Rand Paul, Joe Miller and Tom Tancredo, among others).

Many of their campaigns have been run in a furtive manner, trying to stem information about their pasts and soften their most extreme views. Angle and Miller both have attempted to block the media from investigating their past actions. Alaska reporters had to go to court to get Joe Miller's previous employment records released. The delusional Angle - who is so extreme, even Republican leaders in Nevada have said they support Democrat veteran Senator Harry Reid for re-election -  arrogantly said she won't talk to the press "until she's elected." Early in her campaign (before her GOP handlers tried to silence her) Angle said she's in favour of abolishing the Department of Education and Social Security, among other alarming ideas involving armed insurgency against the government.

In California, Meg Whitman has spent more than $160 million of her corporate wealth trying to buy the governor's race. She also wants the woman who worked as her maid for nine years deported.  And Carly Fiorina, who was fired after running Hewlett-Packard into the ground and later dropped as a corporate spokeswoman for John McCain - after making too many racist gaffes - has run a heavily-negative campaign for Senate. (You won't be surprised to know as a California voter living abroad, I voted absentee for Jerry Brown and Barbara Boxer).

The divisive tone in the elections turned to violence in Kentucky, when a Rand Paul supporter went beyond name-calling and stomped on a woman's head (he has been arrested for assault) and later demanded she apologise to him!

Jon Stewart's and Stephen Colbert's Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear Saturday in Washington, D.C. encouraged cooler heads to prevail amidst the media onslaught and election mania. Reassuringly, about 250,000 peaceful people turned out to show that the majority of American citizens remain civil and (mostly) sane.

Four questions for Republicans

If you're a Republican, I'd like to know what's happened to your party? Why has it morphed beyond civil discourse and conservative ideas to the belligerent Party of No??!! Don't tell me you haven't noticed.

And here are excellent questions for you, from Jed Lewison at Daily Kos:

1. What was the average monthly private sector job growth in 2008, the final year of the Bush presidency, and what has it been so far in 2010?
2. What was the Federal deficit for the last fiscal year of the Bush presidency, and what was it for the first full fiscal year of the Obama presidency?
3. What was the stock market at on the last day of the Bush presidency? What is it at today?
4. Which party's candidate for speaker campaigned this past weekend with a Nazi reenactor who dressed up in a SS uniform?

Answers (in case you didn't know):

1. In 2008, we lost an average of 317,250 private sector jobs per month. In 2010, we have gained an average of 95,888 private sector jobs per month. (Source) That's a difference of nearly five million jobs between Bush's last year in office and President Obama's second year.
2. In FY2009, which began on September 1, 2008 and represents the Bush Administration's final budget, the budget deficit was $1.416 trillion. In FY2010, the first budget of the Obama Administration, the budget deficit was $1.291 trillion, a decline of $125 billion. (Source) Yes, that means President Obama has cut the deficit -- there's a long way to go, but we're in better shape now than we were under Bush and the GOP.
3. On Bush's final day in office, the Dow, NASDAQ, and S&P 500 closed at 7,949, 1,440, and 805, respectively. Today, as of 10:15AM Pacific, they are at 11,108, 2,512, and 1,183. That means since President Obama took office, the Dow, NASDAQ, and S&P 500 have increased 40%, 74%, and 47%, respectively.
4. The Republican Party, whose candidate for speaker, John Boehner, campaigned with Nazi re-enactor Rich Iott. If you need an explanation why this is offensive, you are a lost cause.

"The moral of the story is this: if you vote Republican, I hope you enjoy Election Day -- because you're not going to like what comes next."

On your bike: please vote! It's important. And those who don't participate in democracy have no right to complain about it.