Dan Taylor

I woke up this morning a bit usual than normal (and after a few Jack and Cokes last night, that in itself should have been and accomplishment) and couldn’t help but notice the crystal blue sky. Not a cloud in sight. For our readers from California, this might not seem like such a bit deal, but living in Vienna, a cloudless morning is something to celebrate. My mind immediately thought of my camera, and so it was…today I was going to shoot…shoot something…anything.

I’d been meaning to go back to the Schloss Belvedere for quite a while now, and today seemed as good a day as any. Loaded up with my trusty Nikon D100, 17-55mm and 70-200mm, I subway’d/streetcar’d/hoof’d my way up to one of Vienna’s outstanding examples of Baroque architecture.

Getting there early was the key to most of these shots having relatively few people in them. I spent approximately an hour up at the castle taking about 65 shots.

This was also my first photo project done on my beloved mac. When I ordered a bunch of software from the states for the mac, I also came across the Wacom Bamboo Fun tablet. I’d worked with a designer in the past who absolutely swore by his tablet, and I figured, hey, for the price, why the heck not?

After using the tablet for only a few minutes, I quickly became accustomed to the features and even started using a few of the buttons at the top (a nifty circular scroll wheel zooms in and out for example). All I can say is…why have I been using photoshop for so long with a mouse? Let me put it this way…compared to the Wacom Bamboo Fun, using a mouse for graphics is like drawing with a rock.

All in all, I think there are a few good shots in there, and I even got a ‘dude…these are good’ from Brent over at abouttheimage.com. Although, he’s also got an eagle eye, and suggested that I needed a faster shutter speed on some of the fountain images. Jerk.  But if there’s a guy who knows his f-stops, and who’s opinion I vaue greaty when it comes to imagery, it’s Brent. You can find more of the photos over in the Photo section of TurntheScrew, or visit my flickr page for some larger resolutions.

My favorite photo of the day: