I loved this scene so much I had to create two versions. Here you have the other, tiny little flowers before a vast expanse of rock, ocean and mountainous Fjords in the Westfjords, Iceland.
Oct 252012
Oct 242012
Baobab trees really are fascinating. Grand in stature they loom over the Zambian landscape like giants frozen in time. Surprisingly, they are completely hollow on the inside. We got to experience this first hand when our guides took us to a lodge where they’ve actually put a door in the side of one of these mammoth trees that opens up to reveal a bathroom! This discovery was pretty shocking, but I found that people actually used this toilet more shocking. Just above head height, sleeping inside the tree were a handful of bats. I wonder how many people wound up running out with their pants around their ankles after startling the bats.
Another interesting thing about baobabs is that their greatest enemy is elephants. Using their tusks, they peel the trees and eat the bark, causing big holes to form. We can see the result of this practice in today’s picture.
Oct 232012
Every time I work on a photo of Iceland I look forward to going back. Today’s shot was taken well after midnight, as the sun dipped just below the horizon. I’d hopped out of the car to take the picture featured here Fjords and Flowers. When I packed up and started making my way back to the car, I noticed the golden light hitting portions of the mountain above me.
Oct 192012
I mentioned a while back that I managed to stretch my insurance money for the stolen equipment pretty far by purchasing second hand items as much as I could. This meant that I added a macro lens to my arsenal. I’ve always been interested in macro photography but never really given it a try. It’s definitely not easy and I’m already learning that shooting macro in natural light is incredibly difficult. I’ll be purchasing some sort of flash as soon as possible.
One bonus I’ve got is that one of my windows functions like an ever changing terrarium. It’s got a load of leaves and vines over it and all sorts of little creatures turn up, including today’s photo of a lizard. This guy was about 4 inches long.
Oct 172012
Today’s photo is another shot from Lake Como with a sailboat dwarfed by the surrounding mountains that rise, almost vertically, from the water’s surface. Can’t write much tonight as I need to get packing. I’m off to the Bahamas tomorrow for a meeting then taking a few days off in Florida. Don’t have a big enough bag to take all my camera gear at the moment so have some tricky decisions to make.
Oct 162012
Straight out of Keflavik, Camera Blazing
It seems like a lot of flights to Iceland arrive in the middle of the night. During the long days of summer this means arriving under the midnight sun. As I landed I was desperate to get out of the airport and break out my camera as the sunset lit the sky. Luckily, I was booked into a guesthouse in a picturesque little place called Gardur. There’s two lighthouses there so you can happily fill your first night in Iceland shooting.
Today’s Photo: Approaching the old Lighthouse, Gardur
As I approached this lighthouse I didn’t expect that we’d actually be able to go up to the top of it. Then, my travel buddy disappeared through the open door. Climbing to the top was pretty tricky with my camera, backpack and tripod. It’s a series of ladders with little openings in each floor to climb through. There’s some strange art installations inside as well. All in all, it was pretty creepy.
Oct 152012
Travel Planning: Namibia
I’ve started putting some thought into my next adventure and Namibia will definitely play a part. A desert full of dead trees that can’t decay due to the total lack of moisture, sand-dune boarding, a hot air balloon ride across the shifting sands, the morning mist rolling onto the shore where the desert meets the Atlantic and desert wildlife including elephants, lions, and ostriches.
Yup, I’ll have some of that, please.
How can we afford this, you may ask? I’m still working on that. One thing’s for sure, I can’t pay for one of the packaged multi-day tours that cost a fortune. Instead, we’ll be hopping on buses to find our way around the country. I think our two bases will be the capital Windhoek (a hub for buses into and out of Namibia as well as around the country) and Swakopmund (the Namibian holiday town and activity center on the coast).
Whatever happens, it’ll be an adventure.
Today’s Photo: The last of the boathouse
This is the last of my shots of the peaceful marina on Lake Ontario in Niagara-on-the-Lake. The sunset lingered for a long time and after rushing around trying to find a nice view that didn’t involve scaling a fence I decided on this one. Unfortunately, there was still a fence in the way. I tried every single gate to see if one was unlocked but didn’t have any luck. Eventually, I hoisted my camera, tripod and all, above my head and wedged it into the chain links of the fence. I let it stop shaking about and used my cable release to fire off 3 bracketed images.
Oct 142012
Cernobbio is one of the many beautiful towns lining the shores of Lake Como. We didn’t stop here, but I grabbed this shot as we passed by on the ferry.
Oct 132012
Here’s another shot of the iceberg washed ashore at Jökulsárlón and the strange shapes they take as they melt.
Oct 112012
About Traverse Earth
I’ve added an about page. You can click the link above (just below the header) if you want to know a little bit more about me, about this site and what I’d like it to become or for info on how to license or purchase prints of my photos. I’ll also be adding some photos of me in action over the weekend.
Today’s Photo: Barge Music Beneath the Brooklyn Bridge
This is one of my older shots from New York. I was going through some old files and found this tone-mapped image that I hadn’t tweaked in Photoshop yet. I’d been having some trouble with it over a year ago and it got cast aside. I decided to give it another go and now I’m happy with the final result.
