The days are a decent length again and there have been some beautiful sunsets, but these particular photos are actually from the other side of the winter solstice, in 2012.

BW from Kronstadt:



It was really cold in Kronstadt.










I've shot these docks before.

There's a small island in the Gulf of Finland called Kronstadt. It's a short drive from St. Petersburg. I guess maybe the fact that you can drive there makes it not really an island?





This lady was charming. She spoke British English and seemed to think she was related to Russian royalty, or such was my understanding from what she told me.

The rest of the photos from Peterhof. These I shot with my little Rollei, which I carry around so I don't miss color shots when my Minolta's loaded with BW. But guys, I'm having kind of a crisis regarding B&W vs. color. I dunno, I probably need to sleep on it. Here are the photos:









The big statue is of Samson, which made me go revisit the song by Regina Spektor ('Songs' album version), which made me remember a time in high school when my physics teacher said that stars were just old light, and my conviction that my PhD-holding, super nerdy physics teacher had just quoted Regina Spektor in class to see if anyone would notice. I noticed, Dr. P. I noticed.