This last weekend I did some portrait photos with a good friend from school, Elisa- it’s nice to break away from just landscapes every so often;

Location: Dingle Peninsula, Ireland // Google Maps
See the Fine Art Photo Gallery / See The Rest of the Dingle Peninsula Photo Gallery

via wikipedia.org;
Dingle (Irish: An Daingean or Daingean Uí Chúis) is a town in County Kerry in the Republic of Ireland, on the Atlantic coast some 50 km west-south-west of Tralee and 80 km west-north-west of Killarney. The town is situated on a natural harbour below Slievanea mountain on the large Dingle peninsula, which lies south of the River Shannon and north of the Ring of Kerry.

Death Valley National Park, California. by Ian Grant, 2005.

In my recent trip over to Petrified Forest National Park and the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, I was pretty suprised to find out that they had done away with the yearly park pass. Usually what I’d do is wait till my pass ran out and the next trip to a National Park I’d spend the measly $50 and get it renewed. It was such a great deal for the money as you visit a couple parks a year and it has paid for itself. So I was doing some searching tonight to find out what happened and came across this article on newwest.net:

America the Beautiful Pass Goes On Sale in January

Last week, I wrote about not believing in coincidences, but it is purely coincidental that five days after my column on high fees contributing heavily to the decline in national park visitation, the National Park Service (NPS) and other federal agencies officially announce the America the Beautiful Pass. The ATB Pass replaces the National Parks Pass, which sold for $50, as well as the Golden Eagle, Golden Access and Golden Age passes. The new annual pass goes up 60 percent to $80 per year.

The new pass gives you more for your money, but you’ll have to decide whether it’s worth the increase.

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Location: Manhattan Beach, CA // Google Maps
See the Fine Art Photo Gallery / See The Rest of the Manhattan Beach Photo Gallery

The next stop on the Los Angeles beach list is Manhattan Beach, a few towns down from me and home to good surfing and lots of volleyball.

via wikipedia.org;
Manhattan Beach is a city located in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, USA. The population was 33,852 at the 2000 census. Of a rotating City Council of five members, Nicholas W. Tell, Jr. is the current mayor. The city is on the Pacific Ocean coast, to the south of El Segundo, and to the north of Hermosa Beach. To the east are the cities of Lawndale and Redondo Beach. It is one of the three Beach Cities in the South Bay.

Residents divide the city into several distinct neighborhoods, including the Sand Section, Hill Section, Tree Section, Gaslamp Section, Manhattan Heights, East Manhattan Beach, Liberty Village, and El Porto. Liberty Village is located at the north-easternmost section of Manhattan Beach. It is characterized by World War II era housing that originally serviced the employees of the then dominant local defense contractors such as Lockheed, Northrop and Hughes. Since it is considered to be among the most desirable cities in Los Angeles, and the city zoning provides for relatively lenient dwelling-to-land coverage, much of Manhattan Beach’s housing stock has been remodeled from small single family houses into larger houses ranging to 4,000 square feet on lots approximating 5,000 square feet.

Manhattan Heights is located to the east of Sepulveda Boulevard. Sand Section is notable for its proximity to the beach, high density, and high rate of multifamily properties relative to the rest of the city. One of its primary streets, The Strand, features beachfront homes.

For those of you that have expressed to me that you want to be able to use my photos for your desktop wallpaper, I’ve made a new option on itravelstockphoto to be able to purchase any of my high-res photos on there for a measly $5. Instead of a latte for breakfast, go download one of your favorites and share with your friends.

I just posted up some new photos from Manhattan Beach , hopefully I’ll be able to get them up here for you to see shortly. This photo is starting to be one of my new favorites.

via yahoo news
By JOHN HEILPRIN, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - Entrance fees are due to rise at national parks over the next three summers, though a public outcry over specific increases could cause the government to reconsider.

Through 2009, the National Park Service plans to phase in higher rates for annual park passes and fees paid per vehicle or person at about 130 of the 390 parks, monuments and other areas the agency manages.

The government does not collect any fees at the other two-thirds of sites in the park system.

The Park Service, which has planned the increases for some time, did not publicize the higher fees through its headquarters in Washington, leaving that job to site managers, agency spokesman David Barna said Sunday.

The intention was to let affected communities absorb the news and see if they would go along with the increases. Park superintendents can recommend that the agency director, Mary Bomar, rescind the increases if enough people protest. One such place where there has been an outcry is at Yosemite in California, which is in line for an increase in 2008.

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Location: The Eiffel Tower - Paris, France // Google Maps
See the Fine Art Photo Gallery / See The Rest of the Eiffel Tower Photo Gallery

Since for some reason I haven’t finished posting all my France images, here is my Eiffel Tower photo collection. I love the tower, and have fond memories of walking around Paris and using the tower as a guide to what direction I was headed. I still haven’t been to the top of it though.

via wikipedia.org;
The Eiffel Tower is an iron tower built on the Champ de Mars beside the River Seine in Paris, France. It is one of the tallest structures in Paris and possibly one of the most recognized monuments in the world. Named after its designer, engineer Gustave Eiffel, it is the most visited monument in the world; 6,428,441 people visited the tower in 2005 and more than 200,000,000 since its construction. Including the 24 m (78.7 ft) antenna, the structure is 324 m (1,063 ft) high (since 2000), which is equivalent to about 81 levels in a conventional building. In 1902, it was struck by lightning, which meant that 100 metres of the top had to be reconstructed and the lights illuminating the tower had to be replaced, as they were damaged by the high energy of the lightning.