While driving across Pennsylvania, we decided the best approach to our adventure would be to head southwest first, through New Mexico, Arizona and on to Los Angeles then up the coast to Alaska with a northern route home through Montana.

Of course,  I will get to hit all my favorite photo spots, Bill gets to go to as many professional baseball games as possible.

Stop One - Brazil Indiana, where the locals proudly boast having more covered bridges than any other state in the US.

Stop Two - St Lois and to see Cincinnati play the Cardinals at Busch Stadium.

Stop Three - Monument Rocks in the middle of what seemed like nowhere Kansas, a small outcrop of white clay rocks standing like sentinel’s in the middle of the countries bread basket. It took a lot of driving down dirt roads to find them outside of Sorey, Kansas.

Stop Four – The Great Sand Dunes National Park in south-central Colorado, the tallest Sand Dunes in the U.S. They are located on the east edge of the San Luis Valley in the Sangre de Cristo mountain range. The dunes stand around 750 feet tall and cover about 30 square miles.

 At around midday, we departed the Dunes. The parking lots were all jammed: cars filled every available space along the sides of the road and a line of cars extended for around 3 miles waiting to enter the Great Dunes, National Park.

Will Post the Next Stop Soon

Recently I traveled to Russia to photograph the 16th Dance Open Ballet Festival in St. Petersburg. 

What a privilege, to be granted unlimited access to the dancers in rehearsals, performances, and backstage for twelve days to photograph some of the best ballet dancers in the world. 

It was incredible to experience the enormous amount of work done by so many to produce a single performance. What looks at 2:00 pm like something far from cohesive, comes together at 7:00 pm as something magical.

This Dance Open Ballet Festival featured many styles of dance, and the Russian audiences just couldn't get enough of it. If seats were not available, the audience stood in frozen silence just to get a glimpse of the stars.

The Dance Open Ballet Festival consists of several companies performing for one or possible two evenings. The Grand Finale was the Gala where sixteen performances left me feeling privileged to have been able to photograph such a major event in the iconic world of Russian dance.

The Ekaterinburg Ballet Theatre

The Snow Queen 

Choreographed by Viacheslav Samodurov and based on the Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tale.

The Perm Ballet Company

Cinderella

Choreographed by Alexey Miroshnichenko.

The Polish National Ballet Company

The Tempest after William Shakespeare.

Choreographed by Krzysztof Pastor.

Gala Performances

Asphodel Meadows

Performed by Melissa Hamilton and Dawid Trzensimiech.

Choreographed by Liam Scarlett.

Bells

Performed by Yuan Yuan Tan and Davit Karapetyan.

Choreographed by Yuri Possokhov.

Malevo

Performed by Malevo Malambo.

Choreographed by Matias Jaime.

Grand Pas Classique

Performed by Victoria Tereshkina and Timur Askerov.

Choreographed by Victor Gsovsky.

Penumbra

Performed by Anna Ol and Remi Wortmeyer.

Choreographed by Remi Wortmeyer.

Based on a fairytale by Hans Christian Andersen, a tale of good and evil, in a fusion of modern and classical ballet by the Ekaterinburg State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre.

The journey of Gerda to save her beloved friend Kai from the wicked Snow Queen, in a production choreographed by Viacheslav Samodurov with music by Artem Vassilievby.

This is a production that will entertain both children and adults alike.