photography » Traverse Earth

Bermuda Sunset on the Dock

Jan 032012

This shot is from my friends’ house in Spanish Point, Bermuda and looks out across the Great Sound. I spent a good deal of my summer here after they moved in. I also took a ton of photos here and neglected the rest of the island. It’s tough not gravitating to this point at sunset as it’s perfectly located and seems to have unlimited vantage points and new angles to use. On top of this there’s always a beer or two available and the potential for spontaneous barbequing.

This image was created using one picture, shot in RAW format, rather than multiple images. I adjusted the exposure of the raw images to provide three images ranging from -2 to +2. Then I ran these through Photomatix before Photoshop where I used the Topaz Adjust to bump up the contrast and sharpen the image. I wish I could give you a sound reason why I used this method and not multiple exposures. But, it’s just because I used my multiple images and wasn’t happy with the results. There was far too much noise in the foreground and sky. So I started playing around with different methods and found this worked far better in this instance.

Church in Progress

Jan 022012

An earlier post mentioned our attempt to go out with the fishermen. We didn’t manage it but on our walk back we heard singing coming from this building and realized it was a church. The entrance was via a steep muddy slope, and it was raining. The church was full of people singing and dancing. It turned out that they were practicing to film a DVD the next day in a garden just up lake Kivu’s shoreline from our hotel.

The next night we went down to the dock again so I could take some photos of the fishermen departing. Singing could be heard from the church once again and we found the choir practicing. We were greeted with the same friendliness as the night before, which we’d come to expect everywhere we went in Rwanda. This time I had my camera out and once it was spotted they asked if I’d like to take some photos. I’d noticed this vantage point the night before and went straight up the partially constructed stairs. The night before I’d have gotten very wet up here. I asked about the roof and it turns out that they’re in the process of expanding the church.

Between the fishermen singing their way in and out and the church’s bells in the morning followed by the songs of the choir there’s always some sound to be heard in this little area of Gisenyi.

January 2, 2012 Africa, Rwanda, Travel, Zambia 3 Responses »

Zambezi Reflections

Africa, Travel, Zambia, Zimbabwe 1 Response »

Jan 012012

On day four of our canoe safari on the Lower Zambezi most of our group was enjoying a lazy afternoon snoozing in the shade or fishing. For a few of us, boredom set in and we decided that it was time to go for a swim. It may seem like a simple activity, but when you’re surrounded by hippos and crocodiles you err on the side of caution. We had a chat with our guide who said that we’d be safe in the shallows of this sand bar on the opposite side of the river. So, we piled into the canoes and made our way upstream before cutting across to the island.

It all went smoothly until we got close to the island and realized that what we thought was a rock was a hippo. A hippo that seemed to enjoy disappearing underwater and popping up in a completely new location. Our three days of canoeing experience told us that as we moved into the shallows the hippo would head for deep water. Fortunately for us this is exactly what happened and we pulled our canoes ashore.

We knew that we could swim off the sandbar. What we didn’t ask was where off the sandbar. The area where we pulled our canoes ashore was deep and we knew we couldn’t swim there. Everybody began wandering around our private island looking for shallow water and I began looking for a photo. There was this small pool of water which lent itself nicely to catching a reflection of the mountains in the background. In order to maximize the amount of reflection I set my camera up as low as I could.

If you click on the image and open up a larger version you can see our campsite in the middle of the far bank. It was a great place to spend three nights. I’ll be posting the morning view from our tent soon.

Happy New Year!

New York, Travel 3 Responses »

Dec 312011

As it’s New Years Eve it make sense for today’s picture to be at the scene for one of the biggest New Years Eve parties in the world. I took this shot in summer, early in the morning. I’d been in Times Square the night before when it was full of people. It was weird being there when it was just me and the street sweepers. It was nice getting to take my time to set up for this shot without being jostled by the bustling crowd though.

Feel free to let me know what you think of any of my photos by using the comment button below each image. Also, if you’d like to receive an e-mail notification of new posts you can subscribe to the right. If you’re interested in buying any prints you can do so by clicking the picture.

Rwandan Fishermen

Africa, Rwanda, Travel 10 Responses »

Dec 302011

If you stay at the Paradis Malihide in Rwanda you’ll get to watch these fishermen leaving at about 6pm each day in these huge rowboats to fish lake Kivu for sambassa and tilapia. They stay out all night, returning at about 7am the next day. The canoes are made of three hulls, attached by beams. The paddling happens in the two outriggers and it takes the a long time to get up to speed.

On our first day there we heard them singing on their way out and ran, in the rain to the docks to watch. Looking out at this departure is incredible as at least a dozen of these giant canoes slowly make their way to deeper water. The spindly bits sticking out each end of the canoes are for stretching their nets out.

Departing the Winery

Africa, Cape Town, South Africa, Travel 10 Responses »

Dec 292011

This is the driveway to the Waterford Estate in Stellenbosch. After two days of adrenaline, cage diving with great whites and going on a combat flight in a Huey Helicopter, it seemed a good idea to have a more relaxing day. Wine was the perfect solution. That being said we still decided that we had to stop off at Cheetah Outreach to become acquainted with a few big cats on the way to our first vineyard. We didn’t want the day to feel too safe. After enjoying a wine and chocolate pairing (mandated by Shannon’s exuberant cheer while hearing the options), which involved 6 or 7 wines and three chocolates, everyone was suitably mellow.

Not mellow enough, however, to prevent them heckling from the car as I set up for this photo. The reason for this one and only display of tensions at my photo taking was quite understandable. I spent so long setting up, and adjusting the positioning of my camera that we were too late for the game sampling lunch we had planned. Fortunately this disappointment was replaced by one of the great experiences of our trip – bobotie. It’s a South African dish made with minced beef, raisins and spices topped with an egg film. It looks like a cottage pie but that’s as far as the similarities go. It’s also served with mango chutney and bananas. I have no idea how anyone decided this combination was a good idea. When I’m next in South Africa this will be one of the meals I seek out.

In the end, I’m happy with this picture and my time-wasting resulted in a great meal, so it all worked out nicely.

Guys… I think we’ve been spotted.

Dec 282011

It sounds cliché, but there is little in the world that is anything like visiting the mountain gorillas. The whole experience leaves you feeling like you’ve somehow spent an hour in an alternate dimension. Two and a half weeks earlier I was sitting in my cubicle in Bermuda. Now, five days before returning to work I’m surrounded by 24 wild and endangered mountain gorillas. They go about their daily business, seemingly unperturbed by your presence. But then, without warning, one of them decides to lock eyes with you. They look at you in a way that makes it really feel that they are engaging with you. Ultimately, they make a quick assessment of their new visitors. Then, as sharply as they’d turned their attention to you they continue their daily activities: munching on bamboo, cuddling with the children, or, as in my friend Cameron’s case, laying down and snoozing right beside you. Incidentally, the gorilla snoozing next to Cameron was the big boss of the group – the toughest of three silverbacks. He decided to take his nap shortly after he’d charged Cameron, who could do nothing but stand his ground. I’m not sure Cameron had the same experience when locking eyes with this guy as I did with the subject of today’s photo. I wanted to capture the moment when the gorillas calmly lock eyes with you and hope I’ve succeeded in the below photo. Feel free to post a comment and let me know what you think.

We were lucky in that we got to visit the Susa group, which are apparently the descendants of the group of gorillas that Dian Fossey lived with. It’s also the largest group and hardest to get to. On our three-week journey through Africa everyone we met that had heard anything about gorilla tracking in Rwanda told us that this was the group to see. As such, I made a point of asking our guide to try to make this happen. Upon arrival at the headquarters you are assigned a group and don’t typically get to pick and choose. He returned my question by asking if we were fit because it is hard work. We assured him we were capable with a couple nervous sideways glances. He agreed to try to arrange this but couldn’t make any guarantees.

He was correct, the walk up was tough but really made the experience all the better. Rwanda is a beautiful country, lush and green everywhere. It seems like every inch of ground outside of the national parks is farmed. Our walk took three hours and was straight up the side of a volcano. The first half of this was through farmland planted with potatoes and flowers that looked like daisies. Our guides informed us that they’re used to make insect repellent. The second half was through thick vegetation with the man in front using a machete to widen the path. The hike was an experience in itself and I intend to share a few pictures from our ascent in the future. Of course, I also have lots of gorilla photos I’ll be spreading out over the months ahead.

I’m working on adding some additional pages to the site including photography and travel tips.

December 28, 2011 Africa, Animals, Mountain Gorillas, Rwanda, Travel 15 Responses »

On The Edge – Victoria Falls

Dec 272011

The Victoria Falls are incredible. My friends and I were inspired to plan our recent trip to Africa, which included Cape Town, Zambia and Rwanda by a viral e-mail we received showing pictures of people swimming in the Devil’s Pool at the top of the falls. In order to do this we needed to visit during the low water season. The benefit of going in this season extends beyond swimming in the Devil’s pool. As a result of the low water we were able to walk across the top of the falls – providing multiple photo opportunities. That being said I do feel a need to return at high water to get the full experience of the Mosi-oa-Tunya (the native name for the falls meaning “the smoke that thunders”).

The below picture was taken on my second visit to the falls and left me with a huge adrenaline rush. I’m not a big fan of heights, and certainly not the 108 meter drop I was facing here. Still I decided that I needed to lower myself down onto this outcropping of rock to photograph this portion of the falls, which I believe is called the angel falls. Once reaching the ledge I stayed seated, gradually edging closer and closer to the edge, sliding my camera, and tripod ahead of me. The most nerve racking part was taking my lens cap off, I had already dropped a lens cap at the top of the falls on my first visit. It rolled within a foot of the edge – a very tense moment for me. I would not have been allowed this leeway with the spot I was in here. In hindsight, I really should have taken off all my loose bits and secured them before moving out to the edge.

In the middle of the picture you can see the area called the boiling pot. I’ll be posting another picture of this area in the near future. It’s from just below this point in the river where rafting trips start, on the category 5 rapids of the middle Zambezi.

December 27, 2011 Africa, Travel, Victoria Falls, Waterfall, Zambia, Zimbabwe 2 Responses »

Tuckers Town Bay

Dec 262011

This is the photo that I had planned on uploading for my first entry. I decided this would be a good start as I consider it my first successful HDR photo.

I had woken up late and had to rush out of the house as I’d seen a purple glow developing. Had planned on getting to one of the Tucker’s Town beaches when i came across this scene.

I used 7 exposures from -3 to +3. The boats had swung on their moorings while taking the photos so when combining in Photomatix I used the selective de-ghosting tool. This took a few attempts but I eventually settled on one big circle encompassing most of the water. Still some motion blur on some of the boats but not sure I could have avoided this. After HDR processing I worked with layers to bring up details in the foreground and particularly focused on getting some green into the trees in the background. Finally, run through Topaz Adjust to bump up the level of detail before using Noiseware to smooth it out.

December 26, 2011 Bermuda, Travel 2 Responses »

Christmas Angels of Rockefeller Center

Dec 252011

So, this is my first post. I didn’t plan on making my first post on Christmas day, but I’ve actually got time to go for it and I’ve decided to take it. As it’s Christmas I’ve decided that rather than uploading the photo I planned on posting (which you’ll see tomorrow) I should go with a Christmas theme. So, here you are, the angels and the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center in New York.

I took this picture at 5:30 in the morning. It was freezing and while trying to decide the ideal spot to frame this photo a very friendly security guard came over and asked what my camera cost. This seems to be a regular question when out photographing and I’m not sure why. The cost of my gear feels quite personal, like asking a lady her age. Following the question he suggested that I use the barriers behind me as a tripod. I thought this was an odd suggestion as I had my tripod visibly strapped to my backpack. I informed him that I had a real tripod and he informed me that I was not allowed to use it. The reason he gave me was that, once upon a time, a child tripped over a photographer’s tripod and the parents sued.

At this point I decided to highlight the fact that he and I were the only people there, and I’d warn him if he was on the verge of tripping, but it didn’t make a difference. So, I used the barriers as he’d suggested. I also used my tripod, but not in the normal methodology. The barriers were too low to get the Christmas tree in so I placed my bag on them for a higher base. The tripod strapped to the outside worked to support my lens. This still wasn’t quite right so the final stacking of equipment included my blackberry and a lens cap to raise the back of the camera. At this point I was thinking if anyone were to run past and grab anything this security guard had better be on his toes. In the end, I’m very happy with the results, tripod or no.

The website is pretty shoddy at the moment but it’s a work in progress. Hopefully it will be polished by 2012.

December 25, 2011 Christmas, New York, Travel 2 Responses »

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