europe » Traverse Earth

Tower Bridge, London and Greetings from Cape Town

England, Europe, London, Travel 11 Responses »

Jan 022013

I’ve made it to Cape Town with sanity almost intact! I managed about 2 hours sleep on my first overnight flight from London to Bermuda. It was a dreary overcast day in London, just as expected. I summoned up the energy to spend a couple of hours taking photos, despite the rain. Following that I met up with a few friends from London I haven’t seen in a long time, and a couple of friends from Bermuda who I see all the time.

I set out for Heathrow Airport a bit later than I should have. It turns out that the Heathrow Express doesn’t run quite as often as the Gatwick Express. I wasn’t too late for the flight, but didn’t manage to pickup a few bits and pieces I wanted, like extra camera batteries, but I can get on fine without any of it.

The next flight was a long one, 11 hours. I really expected to crash out and sleep through most of it. Unfortunately I woke up about 5 hours before landing feeling refreshed! The last time I did this flight I’d had quite a lot to drink, so did manage to sleep through the whole thing, despite waking up briefly and discovering I was hungover. I spent about 4 hours on this one, watching movies, sat in the darkness, surrounded by sleeping people. I did reach a point where all I could think was please turn on the lights and people start moving around, I’m going insane.

Following that I had one last hop, from Johannesburg to Cape Town. A two hour flight with hardly anyone on the plane. I might as well have had someone book a private jet instead of this. I succeeded in sleeping through that one nicely!

Today’s photo is from my wander around London, I think I’ve got about 5 good pictures out of it, mostly of Tower Bridge. I was trying to find a way to create an image of the bridge that was more interesting than just a photo of the bridge. I fired off a lot of frames, and got lucky with this nicely blurred double-decker bus. In my mind I just wanted to catch the bus on the bridge, I was pleasantly surprised when my +2 exposure came out with the bus looking like this!

Old Rusty Farm Thingy, Iceland

Europe, Iceland, Travel 6 Responses »

Jan 012013

I don’t know what this is, but it looks pretty cool. We encountered this on our trip to see seals in the Northern region of Iceland. Just below the cliff there’s a beach. Just off the beach is a sand bar that a seal colony calls home. I took this shot on my way back, while waiting for my travel buddy to catch up.

Oh yeah, Happy New Year!!

Icelandic Horses, Up Close!

Animals, Europe, Iceland, Travel 8 Responses »

Dec 292012

Bag’s All Packed… well, camera gear at least

I dedicated a good part of today, one day before flying out, figuring out how to fit my camera gear into my brand new F-stop camera bag. At first glance, it’s a pretty awesome pack. They’ve designed a proper backpackers backpack you could hike with all day and fit space for camera gear inside. When I started packing however, I quickly became frustrated. It could barely take anything! I kept thinking, on their website they had loads of lenses, bodies and flashes all fit in. I kept trying. I even started considering which lenses to jettison. Eventually, after pulling out all of the dividers to try to come up with my own system, then forgetting how to put them back in, I logged onto the F-stop website. That’s when the words “those bastards” entered my mind. They’d cleverly removed all of the lens hoods from their lenses in their examples. Fortunately my fury was short-lived. I soon discovered that my lens hoods nest together quite neatly and fit in the handy upper compartment of the bag. Once I’d done this I had acres of space and numerous interesting configurations to play with.

Ready to go… just need clothes

For this trip, I wanted to keep my telephoto lens on my 7d-Mk II, ready for action, should a lion, penguin or whale shark cross my path, unannounced (it sounds like a joke, but I’m likely to see all three on this journey). I figured out I could lay it across the bottom of the pack. For a moment I tried to lay it across the top to keep it really handy, but the opening tapers at the top so this was not an option. With the 7d plus 70-200mm lens across the bottom of the pack I fit in the rest of my gear, lenses and bodies all separate. I sat back, pleased with myself. I even took a photo and sent it to my friend, who didn’t respond, funnily enough it was only exciting to me. Then, I changed my mind. One camera and lens ready to go wasn’t enough, I wanted my 5d-Mk II to fit with a lens attached as well. I don’t want to have to break it down every time I put it away. So, I settled on the configuration photographed to the right. There’s a startling amount of stuff in the bag, and I still have space in the top compartment.

I’ll write a fuller review of this bag after I get back from my first trip, but for the moment I’m pretty happy with it, despite my initial frustration. I’ll also keep you posted if I have an issues with it on a day to day basis as I travel around Southern Africa.

Today’s Photo: Icelandic Horses, Up Close!

I love these Icelandic horses, and if I go back this year. I’ll be spending a night in a field just trying to get photos of these guys under the midnight sun. I never really put any time into photographing these horses when I was there last time. We came across this pair on our way back to the hostel. I was with my friend, who’s a vet. This is an important point because as I hopped out the car she said, in all her vet-ly wisdom, “You better be quick ‘cos they’ll run away from you. You’ll never get close to them.”

Me taking a photo of 3 icelandic horses through a wire fence

Johnny Peacock: Better Horse-Whisperer than Charlotte

Little did she know that all animals love me, including cats, which I’m allergic to. As this photo shows, she soon ate her words. As soon as I walked up to the fence the horses trotted right over and began striking poses.

I’m visiting her in Africa soon and I’m hoping that, this time, any large animals we encounter there, particularly the cats, will be more attracted to her than me!

If you’re wondering why I’m not wearing socks, it’s because my feet hurt and I was riding back barefoot, to let them air out. When we stopped I just pulled on a pair of sneakers I had in the trunk.

Tonight’s photo wasn’t taken from the angle you see there, though I think that may be gracing your computer screen soon. I took this shot shortly after the horses came over. These two seemed inseparable. The dark one lead the way and the tan one followed along. They stopped for a little cuddle right in front of me and I fired away. I’m not really happy with this photo. I’d have liked it if their heads were a bit closer together and if I hadn’t cut off their hooves. But, I did a quick preparation of all the photos I have left to work on while traveling and discovered that, including those I’m not quite happy with, I only have 26 left!! I’m going to have to be pretty active on my stopover in London and my three weeks in Cape Town, Mozambique, Zambia, and possibly either Botswana or Namibia to make sure I get enough quality shots to keep me going until my next trip!

Traverse Earth is One Year Old & My Best Photos from 2012!

Europe, Iceland, Travel 240 Responses »

Dec 262012

I started this website on Christmas Day last year, purely because I finally had enough time to get a site up and running. It’s already been through a facelift since then, and I hope you all like the new design more. My goal was to post a new travel photo every day of the year. If you follow me regularly you’ll know that it went well for a while, but I started to miss an occasional post, and have been really lazy in the lead up to Christmas!

Since starting the site I’ve posted a total of 304 photos, so 61 short. I’m making it my New Years resolution to hit 365 next year, with a post every day. I can announce that in order to achieve this goal I’ll be spending the first three weeks of this year in Southern Africa again, starting off in Cape Town. I’m not doing a lot of planning for this trip, as I’ll be going with a couple of locals. I’ve been informed today that potential plans include swimming with whale sharks off Mozambique, visiting the Kruger, and a couple days in Malawi. I’m going to enjoy getting to travel and just be told what to do rather than have to figure it out for myself this time!

On top of that trip, I’ve been fortunate enough to negotiate a week off a month, starting in March. So, I’ll be able to visit ten different locations to add to the website. I’m not sure where I’ll be going yet, but Cuba is high on my list, as is a return to Iceland. I’d also like to photograph Angkor Wat in Cambodia. That would be a long trip for a week, but I think it may be worth it. Red rock country in the USA has a strong potential, as does a few days in the Everglades.

I’ve decided to follow today’s photo with what I consider my best shots from 2012, so scroll down and take a look.

Today’s Photo: On the Road, Iceland

This shot was taken in Iceland’s East-fjords. This day we were rushing. We had a long way to go and a tendency to take twice as long as we should to get anywhere. So, my clever travel partner figured out how much time the drive would be, where we’d want to stop for extended time periods, and what was left for impromptu stops for pictures. She had three different timers running and all sorts of alarms. As a result, I was shooting handheld to keep each stop to a minimum. It was bright enough that I didn’t need a tripod to ensure sharp images, and I could align my various exposures in Photoshop. Still though, this spray and pray approach has resulted in a LOT of rejected photos. We didn’t reach our destination when we’d planned, but I’m sure we’d probably still be trying to get there now if not for the strict timer system.

My Best Shots from 2012

Tampa, Florida

Iceland

Prague

Bermuda

Rwanda

Iceland

Zambia

Ontario, Canada

Prague

Rwanda

Ontario, Canada

Bermuda

New York City

Iceland

Prague

Rwanda

Iceland

Acqui Terme, Italy

Bermuda

Toronto

Cape Town, South Africa

New York City

Zambia

Iceland

Rwanda

Zambia

Approaching Svartifoss, Iceland

Europe, Iceland, Travel, Waterfall No Responses »

Dec 182012

This photo shows the view of Svartifoss, from a distance, as you approach this stunning waterfall. From this far it looks like a trickle of water falling upon dry rock, where the water just disappears. In actual fact, as can be seen in my other pictures, this water does crash down onto boulders, but forms a large crystal blue pool and a fast flowing stream through the gorge.

After slogging for over a half hour uphill in a light rain this was a great sight to see, letting us know we were getting close. It’s funny despite the bleak weather and days both mine and my travel buddy’s spirits were very high. It’s amazing how happy we were on a rain soaked path in the middle of the bright night with little idea of how far we had to walk to get here!

Iceland’s Rugged Southern Coast

Europe, Iceland, Travel 89 Responses »

Dec 172012

In Icelandic folk lore it’s believed that many of the strange towering rock formations in the country are actually trolls, petrified after failing to take cover before the sunrise. I’m not sure if this formation comes under that explanation, but I like to think two trolls went skinny dipping, got “distracted” and were turned into one single column of solid rock.

Can you name this waterfall?

Europe, Iceland, Travel, Waterfall 5 Responses »

Dec 152012

I’ve decided to have a bit of a contest to see who can be the first to post the name of this waterfall (I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t because I can’t remember what it’s called). It was an incredible site. The cliffs are arranged in a horseshoe shape and the water tumbles off in this semicircular surrounding way.

Godafoss from Below, Iceland

Europe, Iceland, Travel 3 Responses »

Dec 122012

I would normally try to avoid posting two photos from Iceland in a row, but I’ve tried processing this photo more times than I can remember. It was pretty difficult, mainly because it was shot at midday facing directly into the sun. This is Godafoss, the incredible waterfall in Northern Iceland. On the other side of the river the landscape was swarmed by tour buses, but on this side, there was hardly anyone about. When I clambered my way down the cliffs to this little beach I was alone. Until my travel buddy came careening down the steep path to join me. We spent a while sat here, watching the people on the other side come for a quick look then head back to their buses.

I could have cropped out the guy standing to the left of the falls, but I decided I liked having him there. It helps to put the scale of the falls in perspective.

On the Edge of Gullfoss, Iceland

Europe, Iceland, Travel 2 Responses »

Dec 102012

Here’s another shot of Gullfoss, right on the edge where the water tumbles down into a giant chasm. I saw a picture from a similar view to this one today, but in winter. It looked incredible. I think I’ll have to brave the cold to experience Iceland in winter, with the aurora borealis and the ice caves accessible!

Lupin Field, Iceland

Europe, Iceland, Travel No Responses »

Dec 062012

We had a jeep that could take us to explore this trail that we found near the Jokulsarlon glacier lagoon. What an adventure this trail could have been. Unfortunately, it was behind a locked gate so I had to be content with snapping a shot of the flowers and moving on. We found a dirt track later where we could drive right through the fields. Half way down the road we stopped and took photos. Then, climbed up on top of our jeep, cuddled up and watched the clouds roll by… until another jeep rolled past and looked at us funny.

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