Old Town Square, Prague, Czech Republic

I've been hearing for years how interesting the city of Prague is and how I need to visit.  Well, just a few weeks ago I had my first opportunity to visit Prague and I understand what everyone was talking about.  One of the big draws for me when traveling to Europe is to see and photograph all of the striking architecture.  It's architecture that has been standing for hundreds of years and has a sense of style, character, ornateness and history that you can only find in the older cities in Europe.  I went to the top of the Old Town Hall Tower to get this perspective on the square.  I rode the glass elevator to the top of the tower and once I was outside and looking down on the city I couldn't help but think that the inspiration for the scene from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory when Willy and Charlie go flying around the city in the Wonkavator came from experiencing this very thing.  The scene in the movie was actually filmed in Nördlingen, Germany but you would think you were in the movie when looking out from the top of the tower.

I make my living by doing advertising, commercial, magazine and fine art photography work while living in Indianapolis.

Indianapolis Star article on my live/work space

View this gallery at The Indianapolis Star: HomeFinder: - John Bragg's warehouse home

Monterosso, Italy (Cinque Terre)

This seemed an appropriate post today to serve as a brief daydream.  In Indianapolis, it's currently 16 degrees outside, but it feels like 5 degrees.  And we are expecting 5 inches of snow.  So I thought I would post a photo from a warmer, sunnier day.  This is the "beach" in Monterosso, Italy.  I think Americans have a different idea of what to expect when they see the word "beach".  This beach primarily consisted of rocks.  No soft sand like we come to expect in the states.  But, I found the form, color, and repetition of the beach chairs and umbrellas to be interesting.  The lines and stripes tie into the comments from my last post.

Stein am Rhein, Switzerland

Just going through some of my images today and came across these photos from my time in Stein am Rhein, Switzerland.  I'm always impressed with the attention to detail in Europe when it comes to design, style, color and form.  They make almost everything with equal attention to both function and form.  Check out these shutters and the garage door.  Not just a simple paint job for this house.  The stripes add a really interesting design pattern to the facade.  And if you look really close you see a heart shape cut out of the shutter.  And you can see the hardware on the wall by the shutter designed to hold them in place.  Yes, these are actually functioning shutters.  Most of what we have in the states are screwed to the side of the house and don't serve a function.  I think I'll go eat some Gruyere cheese now.

Mürren, Switzerland

People often ask me what is my favorite country in Europe? I would have to say Switzerland. It's the most beautiful, quaint, clean, and friendly country I've visited. I enjoy the food and love the architecture for it's sense of style and warmth. It's an easy country to relax and take in the surroundings. To me it is heaven on earth. This is the hotel I stayed in recently. And the other photo is taken from our balcony on the 3rd floor. It was a huge wrap around balcony that works very nicely when you want to sit back and drink a beer and be awed. You can find some of my European photography for sale on both Etsy and Discovered Artists