A different sort of last supper

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The Denver Chalk Art Festival is always a colorful (if crowded) experience for photographers.  This year, it happened to coincide with the Denver Comic Con — so it was fitting that the Rocky Mountain College of Art & Design (RMCAD) contributed this work based on cartoon / sci-fi characters:

A different sort of last supper

One of the hallmarks of RMCAD art works is their use of reflectors to turn a curved artwork into something that is visually straight when seen from just the right angle.  If you look carefully, you can see the bottom edge of their reflector in the top third of the above image.

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Wall of color

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One of the particularly nice things about Austin’s River Walk is that if you catch a boat taxi, you can just sit as it carries you past all sorts of beautiful and photogenic scenery — take this view, for example:

Wall of color

Of course, you’d better have your wits about you.  Things come up fast, and you can miss a number of interesting sights in the time it takes to swap lenses.

The Think Tank Mirrorless Mover 10 — a pictorial review

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I own some fairly roomy camera bags — but some trips just don’t allow me space for much photography gear.  For situations like that, and for trips when I need a protected way to carry a second camera body (with a lens or two), I purchased a Think Tank Mirrorless Mover 10 camera bag.

The Mirrorless Mover 10 is advertised to hold one medium size mirrorless body (e.g., the Olympus OM-D EM-5) along with one to two lenses and additional accessories.  So since my photo gear is increasingly EM-5 based, I thought I might as well put one of these bags to the test, and let you come along for the ride.

Mirrorless Mover 10

To get the specs out of the way, the Mirrorless Mover 10 measures 5.3″ (13.5 cm) wide, 6.1″ (15.5 cm) high, and 4.5″ (11.5 cm) deep on the outside; 4.9″ (12.5 m) wide, 5.3″ (13.5 cm) high, and 3.7″ (9.5 cm) deep on the inside.  It comes in two color combinations — I bought the black / charcoal one, you can also get it in black / taupe.  As is usual for these folks, the bag is sturdily made and while being water resistant, also comes with its own rain cover.

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King’s Throne

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Brought to you from the Natural Bridge Caverns, near San Antonio, Texas — it’s the King’s Throne:

King's Throne

Honestly, I’m not sure where they got the “throne” part of this — looks more like a geological Cthulhu to me. Just the same, it’s an impressive formation.

The Natural Bridge Caverns are in the heart of Texas’ “hill country,” essentially an old limestone plateau since shaped into hilly scrublands by underground erosion and subsequent collapse (much like what happened in the northern Yucatán peninsula). These caverns were formed when the water table lowered, and an eroded underground space gradually was decorated by stalactites and stalagmites formed when water percolated through the surviving limestone overhead, carrying minerals (largely calcite) into their new home.

Temple of the Cormorants

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An angled shot of Building 2 (Temple of the Cormorants) at the ancient Maya ruins of Dzibanché in Quintana Roo, México:

Building 2 and steps

Dzibanché is an amazing little site to visit — it doesn’t get the press of the bigger sites (so there are never crowds), but it still has lots of interesting structures to see.

The Temple of the Cormorants is the site’s tallest structure, but sadly you can’t climb it.  Still, plenty to see from ground level.  This structure contains three burial chambers, one stacked atop the next in its core.  In the bottom one, archaeologists found the tomb of a member of the city’s elite, with a wealth of grave goods — including a polychrome vessel decorated with cormorants (giving the structure its modern name).

This shot’s taken from the northwest of the building — even from here you can see some of the structure’s many layers of construction, and you can just make out the stucco carvings under the sheltering roofs along the steps on its side.