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Spending the past few months dealing with academics and airplanes hasn’t lent itself to keeping this space up to date. But life has gone on, and now the photo gallery has largely caught up with it.  Recent additions are the Hoover Dam, the holiday Panama Canal cruise, Missouri, Seattle, the final Space Shuttle launch, and Kenya (with side trips to Tanzania and Uganda, and a layover in Dubai… more on the work behind this trip and its follow-on soon).

Another season, another blogging hiatus. This time, much of it has been spent in different time zones; stay tuned for photos.  Meanwhile, for folks who are serious about their flying, a few sites may be of use. SeatGuru gives you the lowdown on your seat (such as legroom, power outlet availability, and annoyances like noisy MD-80 engines right outside your window).  FlyerGuide is a wiki with information on frequent flyer programs for several airlines.  ExpertFlyer may also help you get a business-class upgrade, though it is subscription-based.  And of course, travel site aggregators like Kayak are good for doing quick, detailed searches for the best airfares, hotel rates, and rental cars.

Bringing the photo gallery more or less up to date with reality: San Francisco Maritime National Historic Park, the most recent trip to England, random shots of (mostly) San Francisco at night, Middle Harbor Shoreline Park in Oakland, and the most recent trip to New York City.

Update: Today’s trip to Half Moon Bay.

Instead of ruminating here about the ability of photographs to educate, entertain, inspire, and remind (which other people have done a much better job of anyway), we’ll just let these photos speak for themselves:

• A series by Brazilian photojournalist Sebastião Salgado, covering the relationship between humans and the environment.
• A couple of collections from the L.A. Times: Road trips from SoCal: The West and Bizarre and unusual destinations around the world.

And in case you are now inspired, here are some pointers for taking your own great photos.

Sorry for being away for a while, it has been a rather busy summer. Some of it I took photos of: a visit to the site of the Freedman’s Cemetery in Dallas, taking the interns to Industrial Light & Magic, wandering around Boston with the fellas, and randomly going to the coast. I hope that all has been well with you.