All Good Things.....

All good things must end.

12 years and 25 days.
4408 days.
105,792 hours
6,347,520 minutes
380,851,200 seconds.....give or take...

That is how long I have lived in Switzerland with my wife.  We moved here as a (really) new couple to pursue her job offer as a new MBA at the world headquarters of Nestlé in Vevey, Switzerland.   We arrived, exhausted, after we completed a brutal 11-day marathon closing my life in Calgary, Canada so that I could come over here to be with her.  I quit my job, cancelled the lease on my house, sold my stuff and threw out the rest then boarded the plane.   I remember sitting with my new girlfriend on the plane, saying "whatever has not been done, will not be done.".   The plane took off and we started our new life together.

Nestlé had made the preparations for their new star - they had allocated a lovely studio apartment of 35 m2 overlooking the lake.  Stunning view.  Single bed.  My girlfriend saw this on arrival and started crying.

How far we have come.  We have endured all the pains and joys of creating a life in a new country; a new culture.  We got a great dog. We have been married almost 11 years.  Bought a house and a ski apartment.  We have created two gorgeous boys.  And we have LIVED.

Switzerland is in the centre of Europe.  How lucky we have been.  We have lived minutes from the French border.  We shop and fill our vehicles often in France.  With a good friend, I was able to do a 1-day photo trip to Rome and back and  a two-day photo trip to Bergamo and Verona, Italy.  We take weekend trips into Bourgogne, Avignon, Lyon Torino, Freiburg, Alsace and a multitude of other places just for fun, great food and delicious wine.  Cheap flights abound, allowing us to fly to the Canary Islands, Croatia (gorgeous), Madrid, and a multitude of other places for very little cash.  TGV to Paris just to eat at "the duck place".

We have made great friends from all over Europe - Dutch, Swiss, Swedish, Norwegian, French, German ...some Canadians  and friends from the rest of the world.

We have been fortunate.

May 23 2013 we board the plane home to Calgary, Canada.   We are different people.  We have grown.

Most importantly, my wife and I have grown together, and we have created our future.

Together.

Keep watching this page.  Images from Abroad will grace these pages with the glory of Canada in the not too distant future.

Thanks for following.

Wade Walker
Aubonne, Switzerland

A recent walk in Lutry, Switzerland

One thing that can certainly be said about the Swiss coast of Lake Geneva.  It is gorgeous.

Lake Geneva (lac Leman in french) is a large crescent-shaped body of water, and is very moody.  Depending on the weather conditions and light, the water can vary from an emerald green reminiscent of glacial lakes to an angry dark blue-black.   Given the reach from Geneva to its halfway point of the crescent, Lausanne, the waves can get very large, impressive and dangerous.

Fortunately on this cool winter's day the waters were calm...almost idyllic -  and the light magical.

Project : One Photo a Day

I recently decided to pose myself a sticky problem : to produce one compelling, photograph meriting publication per day for one month. I selected the month of October for this challenge because it's long...and also a transitional month in Switzerland. The month starts green, and ends yellow, red and brown. And here, the color and patterns of the vineyards are worth giving the camera a good workout!

Below I am posting several of my photos published on my facebook site http://www.facebook.com/WadeWalkerPhoto. Please visit and "Like"!

Fun with Refraction

Light Painting

More Fun with Refraction

Smoke trails

This one's fun...friends of mine, at their wedding played the song "Fever" as one of their first dances. As their photographer, I decided to layer the lyrics of this song behind this beautiful picture of the newlyweds...

Fever

Splash

Jayden

Seven Sisters

And last but not least, I decided to add some Halloween fun to my project. I experimented with a technique to shape the bokeh - that is, the area that is out of focus behind the subject - in particular, the candles. In the spirit of Halloween, I shaped them, in-camera, as Skull and Crossbones...

Halloween

Hope you enjoyed!

The beauty of Liguria. And the food.

Recently I had the opportunity to again go to the Cinque Terre in Liguria, Italy. I had been here several years ago and, like probably most people who visit, fell in love with it the first time.

The Cinque Terre - also known as the Italian Riviera, consists of five ("Cinque" in Italian) brightly colored fishing villages on the rocky Ligurian coast. The villages in North-to-South order are Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore. Photographically gorgeous, it was a joy to visit this area again, despite the huge number of tourists that have already descended upon these sleepy villages. The villages are not accessible by cars in most cases, so are connected by a train service, typically running hourly. Due to time available to us, and overcrowding, we did not get to one of the most beautiful villages Vernazza.

This region suffered devastating flooding October 25, 2011, and Monterosso al Mare and Vernazza were especially hard-hit. Amazingly, only nine people are confirmed as losing their lives in this flood. We were told that Vernazza was still visibly damaged, and when we visited Monterosso al Mare, many shops were still closed. However, in typical Ligurian style, residents of Monterosso al Mare were selling their wares in front of boarded up shops, children were selling lemons, lemonade, and paper cups of potato chips and other small items - as a community trying to drive cash back into the village to restore it back to its former simply beauty.

One of the major draws of this region apart from the villages themselves are the fantastic coastal and inland hiking trails, providing hikers and outdoor enthusiasts the opportunity to enjoy the region fully. The coastal trails were another casualty of these torrential rains and floods, destroying the coastal routes between Monterosso al Mare and Venazza, and Vernazza and Corniglia and Corniglia to Manarola. Thus the trains were even more crowded than usual. Sardine-can-packed would be an appropriate description, and it's only May...

Riomaggiore was our first port of call, having taken the train down to the "last" town. Riomaggiore is built high above the ocean with a staircase access to the port. There is a castle at the top of the mountain on one side of the town.

The trail from Riomaggiore to Manarola is easy to walk - it is wide and even for the most part, and takes about 45 minutes. Manarola is a gorgeous little town, and a good stop for lunch, assuming you are able to find a table. Be prepared to wait.

The image below provides an idea of the ingenuity of the architects of this village, and typical of this region. Photos I have seen of this region show enormous waves crashing against that cliff face, sending spray across these little houses. Very dramatic.

Corniglia was to me a bit of a mystery. Built high above the ocean on a cliff face, and requiring a climb of 368 stairs from the train station, one has to question if it's economy was ever built on fishing. However, it is as beautiful as the other towns, although smaller, and worth a visit for its charming alleys and tiny squares with restaurants.

Monterosso al Mare is the village that has stuck in my mind since my last visit for two reasons. The impressive "Monterosso Giant", which is holding up a platform while eternally looking over the ocean :

The second reason I remembered Monterosso al Mare is the food. I ate there one day in 2003 at a small place called "Ciak" and had their ravioli stuffed with sea bass in a shrimp sauce. Having had the same meal again this last time, I can understand why I remembered it as one of the best meals I have ever eaten. Delicious.

Window to culinary heaven : Ciak's kitchen

Your comments are welcome - have you been to the Cinque Terre? What were your experiences?

Geneva at an ungodly hour...

Again got myself out before 5 am for another round of photos, this time in Geneva. We arrived well before any sign of light in the International City, and proceeded to make a tour of the waterfront. We did almost the entire shoreline of Geneva on this cloudy morning with the strong threat of rain. Was it worth it? Definitely. And the Starbuck's breakfast wasn't bad either...

Close enough to be eaten by a tiger...

Perhaps an overly dramatic title, but I couldn't resist...

Recently I picked up a new toy, a Nikon V1 camera. Not to get too technical here, but this camera is a wonder - I can use any of my Nikon lenses and it multiplies their magnification factor by 2.7x. So, for those of you interested, it makes my 300mm lens effectively an 810mm, which means I can get reeeeeaaallly close to my subject matter, while avoiding being a snack for carnivorous cats. Generally a good idea...

This for me was a test of this functionality. I am blown away. I have a new favorite toy, and I think it will be a favorite for a LONG time...!

Pre-dawn Montreux Switzerland and Post-dawn Ouchy (Lausanne), Switzerland

Recently I had to get up and out at 5 am to capture the morning light from one of my favorite places in Switzerland - Montreux. Many years ago, in 1994 I did a tour of Europe with a girlfriend - 1 month, 5 countries. Time was pressing, so we could only afford to spend one night in Switzerland, in Montreux. It always remained in my heart as my favorite place I had visited in my entire tour. In 2001 I found myself living in Switzerland, in Montreux. It was then and is today, still one of my favorite places on earth.