europe 2010: trip #1

Reality #1 of life as a graduate student: procrastination happens.

Reality #2 of life as a graduate student: procrastination doesn't happen as often as you'd like.

But a peek at my life lately will show you this lovely shot taken at the Vienna Opera House.  This spring I had the opportunity to go to Vienna and Berlin as part of a graduate seminar I took in the Art History department.  Even though I've been to Europe many times and even lived there for a little while, this was my first time in Europe with my Nikon D-80!  Trip #2, incidentally, will be starting next week!

Life as a photographer-turned-graduate-student is good.  Busy, but good.  Not as many picture-taking opportunities (really, who wants to see pictures of all the papers I write?), but I am enjoying the new direction life has gone.  Photography still happens, it is just much more under-the-radar these days.

Before I sign off, I will share a few more photos.  Here is a VERY truncated survey of some of the pictures I took on my trip.  Reality #2 keeps me from uploading more pictures and writing more blog posts about it, but I have put all the images on Flickr in case any of my former readers wish to see more.  Enjoy!

 

The Postsparkasse, Vienna -- everything inside is in black-and-white, so this picture almost looks like real life.

 

The streets of Vienna -- quite lovely!

 

Though there are some interesting signs -- any fun commentary on what this one might mean?  I think my favorite interpretation is "no heterosexual couples."  (Incidentally, these are all over the old city of Vienna.)

 

And graffiti -- I always take graffiti pictures.  Odd taste of mine I suppose.

 

Inside the Rathaus -- gorgeous, right?

 

One of my favorite shots of the Vienna streets.  I like the lighting and the colors in it, plus how overtly European it feels.

 

Another shot, taken during a brief lunch break.

 

Walking through the Belvedere gardens.  Snazzy in black-and-white, yes?

 

En-route to Berlin!

 

The sign on our very hipster hotel in Berlin.  Cracks me up!

 

Museums.  This is representative of where we spent most of our time.

 

Inside the Berlin opera house.  Have to get as many opera-related pictures in as I can :)

 

View up to a monument.

 

Berlin streets.  This is one of the very nice neighborhoods.

 

A model of the famous gate in Berlin.  There was an exhibit with a model of what the city used to look like, and it was a neat way to access an understanding of the historical city.

 

Another Berlin neighborhood.  A bit different from the other shot, yes?

 

Outside the city -- water and openness was nice after all the time in urban areas!

 

Picturesque, I thought.

 

Love the three doors here and the warm colors.

 

Quite enjoyed my macro lens on this excursion!

 

Potsdam!  Great fountain in the square.

 

Love it.

 

Our breakfast table from the aforementioned hipster hotel :)  Wish my breakfast table always looked this fabulous!

 

Love the gallery shot.

 

Reminds me of a picture I took close to my old apartment.  But this is clearly much more fabulous :)

 

Hope all is well for my readers!  Auf Wiedersehen!