Evening Commute

 Africa, Travel, Zambia, Zimbabwe  3 Responses »
Feb 282012
 

After a day on a bus, from Livingstone to the Lower Zambezi, we arrived at our home for the night, Zambezi Breezers. Upon arriving it was immediately clear where we would be spending our evening. This shot is taken on a deck built out over the banks of the Zambezi.

Sitting and relaxing, as the sun retired, we watched chartered fishing boats make their way back to their respective lodges and locals make their daily commute home by canoe. They all traveled the crocodile and hippo infested waters with the same manner of craft. They were very simple and appeared to be made from one tree trunk. The back-end seemed to always be submerged and while paddling they let their legs dangle over the sides into the water.

Sunset on the Lower Zambezi River, Zambia with local men in simple canoe riding with back end in the water.

 

Prague Cable Car

 Czech Republic, Europe, Prague, Travel  36 Responses »
Feb 272012
 

I wish I could tell you what this rather incredible building is called. Unfortunately, I have no idea and I’m in a bit of a rush as it’s my birthday and I’m on my way out for a beer – so don’t have time to google map it (Flanagan’s if anyone’s interested). 🙂

This photo was taken with my back to the East entrance of the Charles Bridge. I’ve got a bit of a fascination with figuring out how to include moving subjects in HDR photos at the moment. I know it’s possible to create HDR images from one RAW photo. However, the results are never as good as when you use multiple exposures. On top of that, I wanted everything to be sharp in this image. In order to do that a small aperture was required. So small that all the vehicles and people in the photo disappeared. So, how to get the moving cable car?

I shot the scene as I would normally, with a small aperture, and then switched it up, increase the aperture and bumping my ISO up considerably to freeze the tram as it barreled through the tunnel. I waited for one to come through and just used it to set the focus correctly. Then waited for the next one and fired away. Following this, I created an HDR image with the multiple exposures as usual, and then masked in the moving cable car. As a result, I’ve captured a moving object in true HDR while maintaining a nice wide depth of field.

Ornate building in Prague with cable car speeding out of a tunnel in front.

 

 

Music and Sand Painting in Washington Square Park

 New York, Travel  5 Responses »
Feb 242012
 

Washington Square Park does not list amongst the usual tourist attractions of New York City, but it’s well worth a visit – at least in summer. There’s just so much going on there. Entering from the shady Northwest corner I was met by a three-piece jazz band. Moving on it seemed like there was a new band jamming away every twenty feet. Upon arriving in the middle, the fountain became the center of attention. A portly gentleman was stood in the middle getting soaked while people sat around the edges watching.

Then, to the left I saw what I thought was an amazing chalk drawing. Upon closer inspection I realized that it was a sand painting, a really big sand painting. This was the work of Joe Mangrum. He’s created a huge number of sand paintings in New York. You can see more of his work here.

Behind him, under the arch, a street performer was doing something I’ve never seen a street performer do. He was sitting on a bucket and playing a baby grand piano. I have no idea how he got the piano there and wonder if it stays there overnight or if he has to take it home every day.

 

***Edit: Joe just e-mailed me and directed me to this video, I now know how the piano gets there***

 

Sand painter, Joe Mangrum, creates a fantastic work in Washington Square Park in New York City in front of the arch while a baby grand piano is being played by Colin Huggins under the arch with people watching.

Wenceslas Square 3

 Czech Republic, Europe, Prague, Travel  No Responses »
Feb 232012
 

This is actually the first photo I took in Wenceslas Square, but the third that I’ve published. Weird really, it wasn’t planned this way. As you’ve probably noticed I felt that this elongated square required symmetry. The cobble stones in the foreground of this image seemed perfect for this goal.

Wenceslas Square in Prague lit up at night with symetrical cobblestones in the foreground.

The Powder Gate, Prague, Czech Republic

 Czech Republic, Europe, Prague, Travel  242 Responses »
Feb 222012
 

This is the entrance to the Old Town of Prague. It’s called the Powder Gate because this is where gunpowder was once stored. This intersection may be one of the worst designed in the world. There’s three one-way roads filing into one single lane, and from what I could see no one has the right of way.

Wenceslas Square in Prague, entrance to the Old Town, lit up at night with traffic.

The Heart of the Ritz, London

 England, Europe, London, Travel  2 Responses »
Feb 212012
 

I was lucky enough to get to stay in the Ritz in London in January. I was recently asked what I’d been up to lately, beside feeding elephants and searching for vertigo. After checking in I was escorted to my room and shuddered slightly as I came out of the elevator and up to the edge. The height gave me a little rush to the head  – and I was only on the second floor. I arrived after my few days in Prague – a little hungover and really sleep deprived. I actually felt nervous arriving there. Hopping in a cab at Paddington and saying,”the Ritz, please,” felt pretty good. I’ve stayed in the area before and typically take the tube, but arriving on foot, with my backpack tripod and tiny rolling suitcase just seemed wrong. Even so, when the doorman opened the door and reached in for my bags my age, sneakers, corduroy’s and t-shirt probably sunk in. He stopped reaching for my bag and said, “are you checking in sir.”

After answering yes he was incredibly friendly. It was actually the most shocking thing about staying there. I expected them to be very up tight and snooty. It was the opposite, everyone that worked there was just incredibly friendly. It is a bit weird having so many people ready to help you – there are always two staff members per guest. After leaving, the standard ten minute wait to be acknowledged by the bartenders at the Red Lion in Gatwick seemed particularly shabby!

Most of the time I was there I chickened out of walking around with my camera and tripod photographing the place. On my last day, just before checking out I shot this photo. I was in a rush and didn’t want to set up my tripod as I didn’t know the policy on this, and it’d be a shame to survive 4 days at the Ritz and get kicked out on the last one. So, I shot handheld. As you can see the lighting was pretty low so I had to ramp my ISO up. This has led to a lot of noise in the image. Noiseware Pro made a noble effort in fixing this, but I won’t be displaying this one at full size any time soon. If you’re curious to see what I mean by noise you can click the image to go through to Smugmug and view the original size, just scroll around until you find the grainy bits

Next time, I’ll just break out the tripod.

 

Dizzy view down from the top of the spiral staircase in The Ritz, London with bright red, green and yellow decorative carpeting.

Safety First?

 Africa, Travel, Victoria Falls, Waterfall, Zambia, Zimbabwe  10 Responses »
Feb 202012
 

Victoria Falls at low water lets you really explore the falls. They have a real untouched feel about them. On one side there’s a simple path leading you past views across the Batoka Gorge. On the other side you can leave the path to walk across the top of the cliffs. There’s nothing to stop you walking right up to the edge, as you can see in this picture.

I’ll be visiting Niagara Falls in March and wonder how it will compare. I’m expecting a lot more attention to be paid to safety, distancing you from the falls. I’m also expecting there to be buildings visible all around the falls. Maybe I’ll be pleasantly surprised. It’ll certainly make for great photos either way.

Victoria Falls at low water showing Batoka Gorge in Zambia.

The Big Man

 Africa, Animals, Mountain Gorillas, Rwanda, Travel  3 Responses »
Feb 182012
 

When you’re told you have to stay 15 feet away from the gorillas unless they approach you, you think that sounds reasonable. In reality though, once we were there I don’t think there was a moment that I wasn’t within 15 feet of a gorilla. The silver backs are particularly intimidating. But in a moment like the one captured here you can see their soft side, playing with one of the little ones.

Silverback gorilla's soft side playing with a young gorilla surrounded by greenery.

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