Excerpts from a Geographer's Photo Archive
Among the beautiful homes in the San Gabriel Mountains are debris shoots and basins to capture and direct mud and rocks that tumble from above. After reading John McPhee’s The Control of Nature I had to see these things for myself. This is the Shields Canyon debris field. (La Crescenta-Montrose, California, 2006)
I’m after pizza where I can find it. This time it was in some small joint in Naples. So good, so fresh, so hot. (Naples, Italy 2011)
I had been in Spain for about a month and Kathleen was coming for the last 2 weeks. She is, tired, jet lagged, her luggage is delayed, and she is trying to figure out where I am in the greeting line. I think she looks great! (Seville, Spain 2024)
Our next house was a plain white colonial with no plantings in front. Kathleen took on the challenge of making the front yard a spectacle of color and flowers all summer long. For the record, we were here for a long time as well. (Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin 2004)
It’s important to remember that people live in the places we visit. Seeing laundry brings this home to me and reminds me to think of this space as someone’s neighborhood space. (Dubrovnik, Croatia, 2011)
Spotting laundry on the line is a traveling hobby. This one was a particular good morning for it and this was my best shot from my vantage point on Las Setas. There is something special about the smell of clothes off the line. There is also something wonderful about the visual of the clothes blowing in the breeze. (Seville, Spain, 2024)
A friend called me a few weeks ago and asked if I wanted to have dinner at Real Chili. It had been a while since I’ve sat down to this Milwaukee classic dish. If you know it, you love it or you know someone who loves it. The simple counter, the bright lights, and the unique variation on chili. I recommend a visit to either location. (Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 2026)
A couple years ago I wrote about my affection for this mode of transportation. Now that I’ve moved back into the city I think I will start using them again. They are inexpensive and pragmatic. Yeah, that sounds like me. (Reykjavik, Iceland, 2026)
Juan Arctic (@juan_arctic) is one of my favorite muralists. I walked by his work nearly every day when I lived in Reykjavik. He is playful, aware of context, colorful, and just fun. When I was in town this spring, I was please to find a new work near my hotel. (Reykjavik, Iceland, 2026)
I love hokey things. When TV Land was putting up statues of 1970s television characters (Mary Tyler Moore, Jackie Gleason, Bob Newhart, etc) Milwaukee got the “Bronze Fonz.” I plan to do some photos of other statues around the city, but this is a nice place to start. If you do a search online, you will find that these are places people travel to see. (Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 2026)
Lighted Spaces and Landscapes 