Niagara River WaveWild White Water

I have long wanted to start this series. And for so many reasons. It can feel completely unintuitive as I cannot keep up with my recent pictures and most of them from the last several years are collecting dust bits on my hard drive yet to see the light of the day. As such, why go so much back then? I am hoping that combining my backward progress with a forward progress from a past point will yield a nice variety of photos. It will also allow me to compare old photographs with new ones and see how they technically compare, as well as how my vision and technique changed over time. I hope you will all have as much fun with this new Blast from the Past Series as I am already having, and it's only Episode I.

So today, we are time traveling back to 2006 when I took my then new D200 on its first outdoor expedition to one of my favorite local spots. Despite the Niagara Falls getting most of the attention with tourists, to me, it is the Niagara Gorge that I like to visit over and over. And as far as the tourists go, I do not mind them staying by the Falls. That is part of the attraction of the gorge.

Talking about the comparison to later photos, feel free to review my September 2012 post Where the River Rages - Niagara River Gorge. That on the other hand was one of the last outings with the D200 before it was relegated to a role of a backup camera.

Old / NewNiagara Falls On the way back from the gorge I passed through Niagara Falls, New York, and found a few interesting city scenes to complement my natural captures. In the one I am sharing with you here I really enjoyed the juxtaposition of the historic church and the then new building of the Seneca Niagara Casino. And I guess it juxtaposes more than the architectural looks.

I hope you enjoyed today's trip 8 years back (Wow, it really is 8 years! Doing the math blindly does not feel so bad but once I think about it, that's quite a while!). Once I take this series successfully on the road, I would like to teleport even further back to where my experience with digital photography started. But that is for another day.

Thanks for visiting, have fun!

The Blast from the Past Series: Episode I: Lower Niagara Rapids

Daniel Novak PhotoNew Logo

I started the current version of this web site back in December 2011. It is going to be three years old soon and while I titled this blog post New Logo, I might have as well titled it Finally a Logo! Right when I started, all of the business materials I read talked about branding, brand presence, and the importance of a logo. Their advice was not to over-think it. Still, I felt like a logo should be more expressive than just a random picture.

Then one day, as I captured the photo I have now chosen for my logo, it felt so natural. Why?

I think is touches on why I do what I do with photography, it represents wonders of nature, it hints at how much we still do not know or understand despite everything we have already learned, it has a dose of mystery to it, and it points out that things are not always what they seem to be at first. Despite all of that, it remains simple!

DanWhite on Black If you follow my photography and blog you immediately know what the photo actually is. However, can you tell without having that background?

Thanks for stopping by. have fun!

On a lighter note today, we're visiting the land where there are as many pubs as there are poppy seeds. But how many are there? A few? A lot? 

The Land of Poppy SeedsCzech Republic

Based on FAOSTAT, the Czech Republic is the world's largest producer of poppy seeds in the world with 12,814 tons in 2012! It's the largest producer not per capita, but in total. Not bad for a country of 10.5 million people. The second is Spain with half the production and population of 47 million.

That puts the opening simile into perspective, doesn't it? Oh, and by the way, talking about pubs, it's also the country with the largest beer consumption per capita. Now you may ask, why so much poppy seed production? The best way to get an answer is to travel there and order some signature dishes that come with ground poppy seeds in large doses. And they're delicious!

Now, whether you understand it or not, why don't you tune in to Už koníček pádí by Waldemar Matuška (or a later concert version) while you look at the photo above? You can also click on the photo to open it up in the gallery and then click Slideshow in top right  blowing it up full screen as you listen.

Have fun!

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