Thanks to several readers for responding to my plea for photos. But I can still use more, so, as they say in the Army, “smoke if you got ’em.”
Today’s photos are travel photos taken by Joe Routen, featuring spectacular architecture, old and new. Joe’s captions are indented, and you can enlarge his photos by clicking on them.
Always on the lookout for things that are pleasing to my eyes, I’m often gratified to see beauty in buildings. Here are a few of my favorites.In France, this is Le Guetteur (“The Watcher”), a building in a mega shopping mall at Dagnes sur Mer. The face is Caesar.
Here’s the Blue Mosque in Istanbul, Turkey.
The transformation of a train station into Musée d’Orsay, one of Paris’ top art museums.
The Orange Cube, a design showroom and office building, in Lyon, France.
The magnificent mosaic artwork in the Church on the Spilled Blood in St. Petersburg, Russia.
The breathtakingly beautiful windows of Sainte-Chapelle in Paris, France.
The Euronews Building in Lyon, France.
Musée des Confluences in Lyon, France.
Interior of La Sagrada Familia* in Barcelona, Spain.
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*The church where Professor Ceiling Cat was strip-searched by the Spanish cops
This set is BONKERS GOOD! OFF THE HOOK! #@%w$#6e7#!q!1!!!!1111! The color dynamics and composition is EXQUISITE! I feel pulled into the scene!
Ahem – I apologize for using a loud voice. Carry on.
Thank you! I really appreciate your kind words!
Wow! I lloved this pictures! Amazing architecture!
Thank you! I enjoy the challenge of capturing a room or a building. I appreciate your comments.
Thank you so very much for these gorgeous and interesting photos! The French seem to be designing a lot of unusual buildings, though I admit I prefer the stained glass windows and Blue Mosque–even if they are religious! Please, some more examples of wonderful architecture, regardless of which style….
Thank you, Ruthann! France is a great place for architecture and beauty in general. I appreciate your comments!
Thanks Joe, very nice photos and very cool architecture!
Thank you! Many of the buildings in Europe are jaw-droppingly beautiful. It’s fun to look for them and to try to capture them with my camera.
These are fantastic, and breathtaking, and very unusual. Beautifully photographed as well. Did you use HDR techniques to make the cathedral pictures?
Lou, thank you for your comments. Sometimes, depending on the light, I’ll use HDR. It’s especially useful when you’re in a dark cathedral and the light coming through the stained-glass is bright. I’ll set my Nikon Z5 to bracket mode (1 stop over, 1 stop under, and 1 normal). Since tripods are forbidden in most European cathedrals, I handhold the camera, set the shutter to continuous high, and quickly snap off three frames. When I’m home I merge them with Photoshop CC.
Joe, thanks for your answer. It was those cathedral shots that made me think “HDR”. They are really well done.
You’re probably still on some Interpol list of suspected international pickpockets. In my mind’s eye, that scenario plays out like a scene from Hitchcock’s To Catch a Thief. Good news, boss, is you’re being played by Cary Grant.
Orson Welles is the evil cop…
Wonderful photos – thanks!
It isn’t just the French who go for crazy architectural designs: https://wonderfulengineering.com/these-are-the-10-craziest-buildings-ever-built/
Those are nuts! I looked carefully at the ‘book building’ and I see one is To Kill a Mockingbird, and I’m all like “Oh, oh…”
Thank you, Jez! And thank you for the link to the crazy buildings. We were in Rotterdam a couple of years ago, and I shot a lot of photos of the cube houses.
Those are absolutely amazing!
Thank you, Mark! Coming from you I consider it a great compliment!
I missed the strip search story – the bastards! Bloody British tourists… I would not have taken that lying down.
WOW! Such beautiful pieces of art all around. 🙂
There’s so much beauty in the world. We rarely take the time to look for it. Thank you for your comment!
I agree. We just need to open our eyes and we would be amazed at what’s all around us. 🙂
What a fabulous collection of architectural photos! The memories you must have, Joe…. is there any country you haven’t visited?!
Thank you!! We’ve been to about 50 countries, so we’ve got several on our bucket list. I really appreciate your comment!
Great photography Joe! Especially love the wide-angle interiors.
Thank you, Robert! It’s always a challenge to photograph interiors, especially in the dark cathedrals in Europe. I don’t like to take much equipment on our trips, so I just use one lens, a 24-200mm, which works well for the interiors and exteriors.
Beautiful, interesting buildings and super photography. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you, Glenda! It’s fun and a real challenge to photograph interiors with existing light. Fortunately, I have a good camera.
That bears more than a passing resemblance to the structure of the Hintze Hall in the London NHM. Probably the same basic construction technology (wrought iron semicircular arches atop brick and steel piers) in the railway platforms and the museums.
Watch out! watch out! There’s a Borg Cube assimilatin’ aboot!
are we sure that Dada is dead? How come they missed this idea?
Wow, just…wow! Amazing shots Joe, thanks for sharing these!
Thank, Art! I enjoy the challenge of taking photos in dark churches in Europe. They don’t allow tripods, so it’s difficult at times.
TOP NOTCH pictures. They’re all so aggressively trippy – I mean that in the truest psychedelic sense.
And thank you for including traditional AND modern architecture.
D.A.
NYC
The Musée d’Orsay was a train station? How on earth would they have been able to keep it clean? Even as an art museum it looks like an impossible task.
Your photo of the Museum is so clean, so clear, so perfect, it looks like computerized architect’s rendering before he told the client how much it would cost to build it. (I mean no disrespect whatsoever in comparing it with what a computer might be able to do, quite the reverse! Software can modify every detail, but you had consider everything, using your mad human skills!)