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The last of the boathouse, Ontario

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.

Bridge to Somewhere, Myvatn, Iceland

Europe, Iceland, Travel 1 Response »

Oct 032012

I’ve written about this bridge before (Rickety Bridge, Iceland), but I wanted to show you this view because it raises a couple of questions:

Question 1: It looks pretty old and rickety, is it safe?

Answer 1: Yes, I crossed it a couple of times. I wasn’t thrilled about having to go across it the first time but an error that resulted in my bag staying in frame for the photo posted previously meant I had to nervously tip-toe back and forth an extra time.

Question 2: Why is there a bridge here?

Answer 2 (kind of): I have no idea. The volcano is a long way off, you certainly wouldn’t want to walk it. On top of that, there’s no path on the other side. It appeared to be an island in the middle of the river with nothing but overgrown brush covering it. I doubt the bridge was built for no reason, so it must be a bridge to somewhere, but where? It makes me wonder if the scene takes some completely different appearance in another season.

Is it farmed at some point?

Does it turn into a carpet of wild flowers?

Could it be a great place to watch birds?

Who knows?

I don’t.

Incredible Gullfoss

Europe, Iceland, Travel, Waterfall 1 Response »

Sep 122012

This was the very last place I visited in Iceland. We were tired, hungry and somehow it was 3 in the morning. We considered turning back. I’m glad we didn’t. While I want to go back there and capture this incredible waterfall under better conditions it was well worth pushing on to see it. It’s massive, and seems to fall forever into a tear in the earth’s surface. We were able to walk right the way around it and, once again, were the only people there.

Hafragilfoss

Europe, Iceland, Travel, Waterfall 1 Response »

Aug 302012

As you reach the crest of the cliffs overlooking Hafragilfoss it would be difficult to categorise the view in front of you as beautiful. Jaw dropping is far more appropriate. The view before you, atop that cliff, is of a rugged landscape. A gorge bore out by flowing water. The waterfall’s roar can be heard even from this distance and the mist of Dettifoss can be seen rising into the sky just around the bend up river. Below Hafragilfoss, the milky river swirls with crystal blue as the pure, clean waters of a nearby spring merge with silty run off. The best part is, the fact that you’ve made your way up the rugged dirt road at 2 in the morning means you have the whole place to yourself.

As a testament to just how incredible the waterfalls are in Iceland, this 27 meters tall, 91 meters wide, waterfall isn’t even considered one of the must-sees!

Rickety Bridge, Iceland

Europe, Iceland, Travel 1 Response »

Aug 112012

I’ve been pretty bad about posting regularly lately. I’m blaming the fact that we’ve just come through Cupmatch in Bermuda. I’ll be getting back on track again now. Although, I’m flying out to Italy today and haven’t prepared any photos in advance! I’m counting on my hotel having a good internet connection. I’m headed up North to the Piedmont region. It’s within range of the Cinque Terre, Portofino and the Alps. So you can expect some Italy photos shortly.

For today, we’re back to Iceland. I spotted this bridge from the road and decided I had to find somewhere to pull over and stop. I found it about a half mile down the road and had to walk back. It was further back than I’d realized. I got here and shot a load of photos from the other side but wasn’t happy with them and couldn’t quite figure out why. Then it dawned on me that there was probably a better view from the other side. So, I had to walk across this bridge. It was a nerve racking experience. I set up and took a photo. In checking the results I noticed a strange black spot on the opposite side. I zoomed in and realized it was my camera bag! So, I had to walk across the bridge two more times than I should have as I had to move my bag!

Atop Gullfoss, Iceland, Looking Upstream

Europe, Iceland, Travel, Waterfall 2 Responses »

Jul 262012

As I failed to post a photo last night, I decided I’d better post something particularly time-consuming to make up for it. Earlier, I checked Trey Ratcliff’s blog Stuck in Customs, where he’d posted a panorama and asked how often people use photomerge in Photoshop. I decided that a panorama would probably be a good option tonight.

So, here it is. This is To get the most of this photo, give it a click to see a larger version. It’s a composite of 7 HDR photos, so 21 in total. I batch process the bracketed images with Photomatix before combining them with photomerge.

Charles Bridge to St. Vitus

Czech Republic, Europe, Prague, Travel No Responses »

Jul 162012

Every time I went out to take photos in Prague I seemed to end up on the Charles Bridge. I’d take off down a random alleyway but always wind myself back to the river and pop out near the bridge. I kept trying to get across it to photograph the other side but always took ages to cross the bridge as I kept getting tempted into photos of the various statues in front of the surrounding landmarks. Maybe next time I’ll have to stay on the other side of the river. That way at least I’ll start out there before spending my whole time on the bridge.

Vltava at Dusk, Prague

Czech Republic, Europe, Prague, Travel No Responses »

Jul 142012

The light in Prague when I was there in February really was great. The sun spent most of the day low in the sky so the city was bathed in golden light for a few hours before sunset. This photo was taken from the Charles Bridge and the large building on the left is the Opera House.

Thirsty Elephants

Africa, Animals, Zambia 2 Responses »

Jul 072012

We’d turned the canoe sideways and were drifting down the Zambezi as I photographed a huge group of elephants taking a refreshing dip. I had my big lens on… 70-300mm. I started out fully zoomed in and was gradually zooming out as we got closer. Suddenly, I couldn’t zoom out any further. I dropped the camera from my eye. We were VERY close to these elephants. Then I heard Chris’s voice from the back of the canoe, “Keep taking photos J. I got this.”

I kept taking photos.

Charles Bridge, Prague

Czech Republic, Europe, Prague, Travel No Responses »

Jun 282012

This is the last of my photos from Prague, for now, anyway. It’s a great city and I’ll certainly be heading back at some point. This is one of the most recognizable landmarks in Prague, Charles Bridge. It’s pretty difficult to get a shot with no tourists crossing the bridge. I’ve talked about other methods I’ve used involving combining multiple images to mask out any people or just getting there really early. With this shot, it all came down to patience. I set up and waited until there was no one in the way.

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