17th Annual Palo Alto Weekly Photo Contest
Second Place, Views Beyond the Peninsula

 

"Jelene, Lithuanian Barmaid"
By Bill Blankenburg

About Bill Blankenburg


Click on photo for larger image.

Last fall Bill Blankenburg and his wife, Pat, took a riverboat cruise up the Danube from Bucharest. While half of his fellow passengers were felled by gastric turmoil, Blankenburg chatted up the crew, one of whom resembled women painted by Vermeer.

Later, in Vienna, Blankenburg compared his picture to Vermeer's "The Art of Painting" in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, and concluded that Jelena looked less like a Vermeer maiden than a cheerful girl from Vilnius. Nothing wrong with that, either.

Blankenburg, 76, a retired college professor, is a previous Weekly Photo Contest winner. He took up photography in high school in South Dakota, using an Ansco Folding Buster Brown, which he still has. Unfortunately no one makes film for it any more, so now he uses several digital cameras and a Rolleiflex whose days are numbered.

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2017 Moonlight Run & Walk

Save $5 when you register by Monday, July 24

Registration is now open for the 33rd annual Palo Alto Weekly Moonlight Run and Walk. This family-friendly event which benefits local nonprofits serving kids and families will take place on Friday, Oct. 6 at the Palo Alto Baylands.

Register Here