Seen But Not Noticed

For a while I have been sharing my Viking River Cruise experience with you.  In 2014 my friends and I sailed down the Rhine through Holland, Germany and France and then spent a few days in Switzerland before returning home.  It has taken a long time to share this story with you because:

1. I took a ton of photographs and I want to share the best with you – over 5,000 – that’s a lot to go through
2. While I am deciding which pictures to share on the blog I am also editing pictures to put on my site where I sell my pictures
3. I try to make sure I do a little research to supplement my journal that I kept of our trip
4. I do this when I have some free time – I work a full time job outside of the blogosphere

So, that’s why this will not be finished any time soon.  I am still sharing our visit to Heidelberg, which was just the fifth day of our cruise.  It really was the trip of a lifetime and I would do it again in a heartbeat if the opportunity came up.

After we finished touring the castle, we had time to visit the gift shops around the castle while we were still on top of Knigsthul Hill.  I stayed outside and continued taking in the sights, seeing things that the others were not noticing.  Like the doorway and gate above.  There were all kinds of interesting things to photograph and happily some of them turned out well.

Here is another gate that features a lion medallion in the center.  And if you notice in this post, I will be sharing some images that are black and white.  Usually I only show color images, but after looking at the difference on some of these you will see why I chose to add the black and white images.

Although the blue color on the gate really pops against the red sandstone wall, I just really love how this same image looks in black and white and cropped just a little smaller.  I have always loved black and white images – think Ansel Adams or Dorothea Lang – and I like being able to use creative filters and adjustments to turn my digital color images into interesting black and white images.

Here is a close up of the lion medallion in color.

And in black and white.  Can you see the differences between the two formats?

Here is a little sentry post that was outside the castle.  It was a cloudy morning and very overcast.  The color image is a little strange looking but the moss and lichens really popped against the aged red sandstone.  And the bright pink and red images in the window of the shop in the background really make the image busy.

But when I changed the image to black and white, all the busyness of the background is gone and you can focus on the details of the sentry post.  You can actually see the numbers of the year 1752 above the arched door.

Here is another color version.  This one is a little better because there is less of the shop in the background.  I like it because it shows more of the bright green on the door.

And here it is in black and white.  I miss the green showing through but black and white does give it a totally different feeling, don’t you think?

Here is a little wrought iron window grate I found.  In color it is okay, but there really are not a lot of colors going on and it is not very “colorful” to begin with.

And here it is in black and white.  The texture on the stones of the building are more pronounced and you can see the dust and dirt that had accumulated on the grate.

Now this door I just left in color.  And only because of the blue on the street numbers.  It is very monotone with the creamy stones and brown doors.  But for some reason I just loved that tiny pop of blue.

Here is a shot of some fabulous wrought iron fence that I took to show to Keith.  He loves to collect old pieces of wrought iron fence and put them in our garden.  The fence is amazing, but it really gets lost in the foliage behind it.

But when I changed the angle and made the image black and white it looks very foreboding.  But, you really can see the detail of the fence.

This little water fountain really was another piece that did not have a lot of great color to start with.  On the bottom left was a bright green plant with a little white flower, that was it for color.  But I like how it turned out in black and white, even if I did have to sacrifice that one pop of color.  And if you look, the little white flower is still distinct, but it is one of those “seen but not noticed” elements within the picture itself.

As we were heading back to the bus to head down to the Old Town, I peeked through the trees and saw this structure.  The houses and buildings on the hillside surrounding the palace are pretty impressive.  I could probably have spend a day just walking around taking pictures of them.  I loved the turrets on this tower.

And this knight, standing guard with his pollaxe atop another section of that building.  There is even a light so he is illuminated at night.

So I hope you enjoyed seeing a few of the things Seen But Not Noticed by others that day.  I promise you, next will be more on our visit to Old Town…

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This is not a sponsored post.  
This is my experience from my trip with Viking River Cruises. 

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