Travels
Iran
U.S.A.
Other Places
Iran
U.S.A.
Other Places
Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.
Mark Twain
Here I've just compiled a few of the more interesting photos I shot during my travels. Some of the spots I've visited are unknown to most people.
This is a construction site.
Just pics.
Annotations will slowly be added.
Iran
All images have been shot in April 2005.
Tehran
Tehran seen from a plane approaching Mehr Abad International Airport. The view is directed northward to the snow-covered Alborz mountain range. In the foreground you see western central Tehran, where low- to medium-income people live. The large street is Navab Shavavi Highway. When the street got broadened, town planers jumped at the chance to increase the housing space and better the infrastructure for the ever growing population, so the street is bordered by multistory buildings with flats.
The city center lies a few kilometers east (at the right side) of the highway, the airport is a few kilometers to the west, still well inside the city.
A northward view from our hotel room, shot in the morning. The overall impression of the city building style is very European or Mediterranean, much more than American cities, for example.
Tehran proper counts about 9 million people, larger Tehran with its ring of cities about 14 million. At daytime, about 2-3 million commuters enter the city, mostly by car. So one of the greatest problems of the city is air pollution. Immediately after we left the plane, I noticed the strong smell of exhaust gases. Before I came here I didn't know what smog is like.
N050427.3026
The city is creeping uphill, escaping the smog. The image has been taken from an altitude of 2430 m. The snow-covered mountains in the distance are more than 4000 m high.
N050415.2090
N050416.2114
N050416.2116
N050416.2117
N050417.2159
N050417.2156
N050415.2100
N050415.2099.tif
N050415.2102.tif
N050415.2105.a.tif
N050415.2107.tif
N050415.2098.tif
N050415.2094
N050415.2095
N050416.2122
N050430.3042
N050417.2182
Esfahan
N050420.2386
Naqsh-i Jahan Square (Wikipedia), now named Meidan Emam, is one of the world's largest city squares. The square and its buildings have all been planned and built in the early 17th century under Shah Abbas I in just about 30 years. It has a rectangular shape and measures about 500 by 150 meters. It is surrounded by two-storied arcades that are now used by artisan bazaar shops.
In the evening families join for a picnic on the grass.
N050420.2392.a.tif
Atashgah of Esfahan, on a limestone hill west of the city.
N050418.2224.tif
Tea-house inside Si-O-Seh Pol Bridge.
N050420.2404
Khaju Bridge at night.
N050418.2278
The dome of the Sheikh Lotfollah Mosque, completed 1619 A.D.
N050418.2288
The ceiling of the dome of the Sheikh Lotfollah Mosque.
N050418.2233
N050420.2464
N050420.2456
N050418.2246
Hasht Behesht ("Eight Paradises") Palace.
N050418.2264.as.tif
N050418.2265.as.tif
N050420.2540.as.tif
N050420.2503
The Countryside
N050425.2961
N050425.2963
N050423.2753.b
N050422.2619
N050422.2667
N050422.2676
N050422.2693
N050417.2204
U.S.A.
Rockaway Beach, Pacifica, California.
March 2005
N050331.1527
Granite boulders at Lake Tahoe, Sierra Nevada.
March 2005
N050411.2002
Downtown San Francisco, seen from Treasure Island.
April 2005
Other Places
Rhone, Rhone glacier and Furka street at Gletsch, Wallis, Switzerland. The large building at the top right is the hotel Belvedere.
August 2007
A Mediterranean village at the "blue hour". Villages are agrarian economies and need to optimize land use, in particular in adverse natural environments, so they tend to be densely packed and do not sprawl out into the surrounding landscape, as cities do. This is the village of Gairo in the Ogliastra, eastern Sardegna, Italy.
March 2007
Punta La Marmora, 1834 m, Gennargentu, central Sardegna, Italy. The snow will be gone in June.
March 2007
View of holiday homes in a high valley above Skjeggedal. The Folgefonna ice cap in the distance lies at the other side of the Sørfjorden that is hidden by the green mountain to the right.
Odda, Hordaland, Southern Norway.
August 2005
The eastern end of the Ringedalsvatnet, an artificial lake in a U-shaped valley carved out by glaciers. Odda, Hordaland, Southern Norway.
August 2005
N050802.3306
Odda, Hordaland, Southern Norway.
August 2005
Halletgrøna lake, 1263 m, Odda, Hordaland, Southern Norway. The absence of familiar objects makes it very difficult to estimate distances. The opposite shore is 1 kilometer away.
August 2006
N050727.3209.avg
The northern end of the lake Eikesdalsvatnet, Møre og Romsdal, Norway.
August 2005
N050802.3271
Upper Leirdalen, Jotunheimen, Sogn og Fjordane, Norway.
August 2005
The city of Salerno, Campania, Italy, seen from the village of Raito, with Marina di Vietri in the foreground.
April 2008
D70 & 18-70mm, ISO 200, FL 31mm, F8, Exp. 2s
Pompeji and Vesuvio.
April 2008
D70 & 18-70mm, ISO 200, FL 52mm, F9, Exp. 1/125s
