Is someone or something out there? or is this just something in my head? Then this ancient clock-tower chimes every hour. No problem for Chantal… she’s wearing earplugs. But that noise again… someone walking up the stairs? We’re alone in this several hundred year old gasthaus. So I got up to go out to the hallway to check the stairs. Nope… no one there, but there seems to be an eerie haze or blur and I keep having this feeling of a presence, but maybe just in my head.

Scary, so I try to hide under the covers. We’re in a medieval German walled town, in a very old gasthaus right next-door to the town’s clock-tower, built in 1683. Could be ghosts here, and I believe in them. Who knows what’s happened in this place over the centuries. That’s what’s going through my head tonight.

This is our first European bike trip, from Heidelberg, Germany, along the Neckar River, the Jagst River, and finally, the Tauber River. And here we are at the end of our journey, at Rothenberg ob der Tauber, a walled medieval town. That’s a photo of our place with Chantal in the window at the top of the page.

Some places in North America, where they use guns a lot, people breathe a lot of gunsmoke. And it’s a fact that the nitrates in gunsmoke reduce sexual desire. Does the mind compensate for this lower libido by visualizing other things? Like UFO’s and extra terrestrials? Or just alt-facts? That’s not me… nope, no gunpowder, just beer. And, since this is Germany… LOTS of beer!

The photos below are the 1st 10 weeks of #dogwood52 #dogwood2018 photography challenge. Yes… it’s back, and more challenging than ever!

[click on any photo for slideshow, and please leave comments below the photos at bottom of the page]

 

Week 1 Vision: Look Ahead. New Year, new beginnings, new you. Look ahead. Brickworks in the Don Valley

 

Week 1 Vision: Look Ahead

New Year, new beginnings, new you. Look ahead. Brickworks in the Don Valley, where I am a volunteer photographer for their promotional material.

 

 

 

Week 2 Composition: Colour Harmony. Zoom-burst shot of the graffiti off Queen Street West alley.

 

Week 2 Composition: Colour Harmony

Zoom-burst shot of the graffiti off Queen Street West alley.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Week 3 Technical: Full Manual

 

Week 3 Technical: Full Manual Mode

I’m normally using manual mode anyway. This is 1/15 sec. exposure. This is the linear ice rink under the Gardiner Expressway.

 

 

Week 4 Creative: Quiet Moment. Real calming with paper, not plastic, at the Brickworks.

 

Week 4 Creative: Quiet Moment

Real calming with paper, not plastic, at the Brickworks.

 

 

 

 

Week 5 Wildcard: Photographer’s Choice. Just can’t get away from it, at the top of the world at Chamonix, France.

 

Week 5 Wildcard: Photographer’s Choice

Just can’t get away from it, at the top of the world at Chamonix, France.

 

 

 

 

Week 6 Vision: Alternating Rhythm

 

Week 6 Vision: Alternating Rhythm

 

 

 

 

 

Week 7 Composition: Fill the Frame

 

Week 7 Composition: Fill the Frame

This is a composite photo. Cartridge made with 10x closeup filter.

 

 

 

 

Week 8 Technical Zoom-burst

 

Week 8 Technical: Zoom burst

Roncesvalles village. I had a comment that this could be a haute couture image. Hmmmmm.

 

 

 

Week 9 Creative: Forsaken. In life, we often just walk away.

 

Week 9 Creative: Forsaken

In life, we often just walk away.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Week 10 Vision: Selective Colour. Subway station Lost & Found? or just forgotten?

 

Week 10 Vision: Selective Colour

Subway station Lost & Found? or just forgotten? I consider this cliche, but whatever.