After climbing over and crawling under the large boulders here I began my walk back to the entrance. On the way I made sure to get a few shots of the surreal beachfront scenery and Boulder Bay. This shot is a combination of 7 exposures, first aligned in Photoshop and then merged into one image in Photomatix before returning to Photoshop for last touches.
On our drive from Musanze to Gisenyi, in Rwanda, we stopped briefly to take a look at one of the tea fields in Rwanda. There were loads of people working these fields, which you can see if you zoom in on this photo.
On the way from Ruhengeri to the basket weaver’s, we waked through a few villages. Each time the kids would run out to greet us. They all wanted their pictures taken. and after taking photos of a big group I turned around to find this lone boy standing here watching. I motioned to my camera to ask if he wanted to have a photo. He smiled and nodded and posed ready. I decided to kneel down to get down on his level. But, as I knelt, he crouched, trying to stay on the same layer as he’d been with the camera. I motioned for him to stand up and he wouldn’t. So I stood up and he followed. When I knelt back down again so did he. This happened a few times until I managed to get the shot.
I kind of wish I’d stopped down my aperture to blur the background. I’ve just spent about an hour trying to achieve this in photo shop (for the first time) and wasn’t happy with the results. So, I decided to stick with the original image: boy in front of sugar cane, all in focus.
In a previous post (Dip on a Rebel Elephant) I wrote about how Soniko and Chris’s elephant was a bit of a rebel. Here, early in the trip, you can see it stopping for an unplanned snack. I feel I should mention that Soniko and Chris didn’t plan on getting so cozy atop a munching herbivore. When the elephants were being assigned, there were three available for single riders. A man there with his two daughter’s jumped at the opportunity, quickly followed by Soniko and Chris. Unfortunately, one of the elephants decided that it didn’t feel like going for a walk so was left behind, putting Chris and Soniko on the worst behaved elephant they had. Sharing was probably a good thing, at least they could share some of the trauma they went through. This included charging through thorn bushes, swimming through crocodile infested water, and regular breaking into a trot as the handler tried to slow it down. All the while, they must have heard the sound of Shannon and I laughing off in the distance. All summed up though, they definitely had the most adventure.
Soniko had a knack for finding himself in the most exciting situations. It was interesting because, as he readily admits, he was the person in the group least interested in the more adrenaline filled aspects. Despite this, he got to sit closest to the open doors of a Huey Helicopter, in Cape Town, for a simulated combat ride. He was first to get thrown from our raft on the rapids of the Middle Zambezi. He was even the first to get involved in a staring match with an agitated silver-back gorilla in Rwanda (until he snuck behind Cameron as evidenced by this video… watch the navy blue legs move behind the khaki ones). That being said, he survived it all and definitely seemed to enjoy himself.
I’ve mentioned before that it’s not easy shooting while straddling a lumbering elephant. My three exposures for this shot weren’t even close to being lined up. As a result, this is an HDR image from a single RAW.
Another view of the shoreline of Lake Kivu occupied by the Padis Malahide Hotel. I was actually staying in the room you can see in the picture, just above the beach. If you look at this photo in full size you can see the church featured in this post. Just to the right of the frame is the dock where the fishermen set out every night and returned the next morning.
This gorilla is the same as the first of the gorilla shots I posted. After I’d shot the first photo he moved to this position and paused for a moment before he and the big guy behind him began walking towards me. I felt the guides hand on my shoulder and stepped back accordingly. The gorillas casually walked over the spot I’d just occupied and only a few feet from my current location. Amazing.
During the wet season water cascades over these cliffs. During the dry season you get to walk along them. It’s amazing how the water carves this chasm in the landscape. While down in the gorge rafting I felt like we were surrounded by mountains. As a result, when I went micro-lighting a couple of days later I was shocked to see just how flat the landscape is. It’s completely flat, all the way to the horizon, but for this fissure gouged out of the Earth’s surface. Also shocking is the zig-zag shape of the gorge as the waterfall has cut back on itself, forever retreating, the old face of the waterfall being left dry as a new face evolves.
I shot 7 exposures bracketed from -3 to +3 but decided that the two extremes were not adding any detail so I only used 5 exposures, bracketed from -2 to +2. After running the exposures through Photomatix I actually masked in a lot of the original photos to keep the shadows looking natural. I really like the details that have come out in the turbulent water below. You can get a closer look by clicking the image and selecting a larger size.
I’m in the process of planning my trip to Iceland in June. I’ll be going for the summer solstice so will get to enjoy photographing sunsets that run right into sunrises through the night. I’ve also got a few interesting bits I’d like to do. The top of my list is snorkeling in the rift between the North American and European tectonic plates. Apparently, the water’s so clear you can look down for miles into the Earth and feel like you’re floating in space. I also need to photograph some puffins and want to go whale watching, as well as exploring some ice caves. There’s so much to do I wish I was going for longer. It’s going to be difficult coming up with a plan that won’t leave me totally exhausted. Despite the walls of my room having had sufficient insulation, I’m not entirely sure when I’ll sleep. If anyone’s got any advice on Iceland let me know.
When setting out on a hike through a few of Rwanda’s thousand hills it’s reasonable to expect to find something interesting around every corner. You encounter sights ranging from a young boy juggling a football made of plastic sheeting and twine, to two men using a long saw to split a log (with one man standing 8 feet in the air atop the trunk being cut), as well as the subject of today’s photo.
It’s somewhat startling to find this large, man-made pool of water in amongst the sugar cane, maize and potatoes. Initially, what it is ain’t exactly clear. Then, you notice concentric ripples forming on the surface as if the water was being disturbed by a light rain. It’s not raining so the only solution is that there must be something below. The guide confirms that it’s a fish farm and begins explaining how it works. It’s quite fascinating, particularly the purpose of the fence pictured below. I’m intrigued to see what people think it is for, so have a guess in the comments section. I’ll see what everyone comes up with then add the answer in a comment of my own if no-one guesses.
This photo employs 5 exposures bracketed from -2 to +2. I had shot 7 exposures but decided that the other two weren’t adding anything so decided not to include them.
I posted an image of the coastline of False Bay last week. This shot is taken just a few steps further down. Walking along the coast was interesting. We’d hopped off the train with an hour to kill before the next one arrived and our group split. Cameron and I took off up the coast towards a vantage point I’d spotted from the tracks. The others went down to the beach. One of the most striking things about walking along here was the huge numbers of mussels hugging the rocks, as well as the piles of shells of the unlucky ones.
Most people visit Gisenyi for the gorillas and a lot of people will trek up the volcano to see them twice. At $500 for a day permit we decided we’d only go once. As I’ve mentioned before, we made the most of it by going to the largest, and hardest to reach, group.
The next day we went on a much easier hike. We departed Gisenyi and walked along a well used path that links villages to the town. On the route we passed numerous little hamlets, crops, and fish farms. Along the way we stopped and traded a child a football for his homemade version – crafted from plastic and twine. Further along, there were grids etched into the baked ground and upon asking about them, we discovered they were used for a hopscotch type game. The children demonstrated this to us and then got a good laugh as we attempted it ourselves.
Our first official stop was in a village to see how the baskets photographed below are made. We’d seen a lot of these baskets across Africa in curio markets. They were all made of thread. These seem more authentic as they are made entirely from dried dyed grass. They work with long grass and bind it together with more grass as they spiral out from the middle. They thread the grass though a needle and push it through the thick bundle. We all gave it a try and concluded it was pretty difficult to push the needle through. I think Shannon was the only person with any luck. After this attempt, and chomping on some delicious sugar cane, we decided to play with our newly purchased homemade football. We had another real football with us, earmarked for the orphanage we visited later and the children in the village looked on inquisitively as we shunned the real football to kick the homemade one around.
I grabbed this photo on the way out. I’ve had a lot of difficulty processing it for some reason. I was combining three exposures from -2 to +2 but the results kept coming out grungy. So, I decided to try processing this image from a single raw with Photomatix. This result came out much cleaner but some of the photo was still under and overexposed. To fix this I layered all of the photos I had in Photoshop and masked in selected areas from the other exposures.
