travel » Traverse Earth

Yo!! Taxi!!!!

Feb 142012

Finding a taxi in New York when you really, really need one can be pretty difficult. I stumbled onto a street where you’ve got a pretty good chance of finding one. But, it won’t be much use to you. The whole street was lined by these really deep, but very narrow, garages, all of them working on yellow cabs.

I wound up here as a result of my hotel selection. My decision to go to New York for the weekend was pretty last-minute and happened to fall on Labor Day weekend. The city was full, and hotels were expensive. Then, I discovered that a Yotel was opening in New York, just off Times Square, and was offering special low rates.

If you’ve never heard of a Yotel it’s the brain child of the owner of the YO! sushi chain. The idea for the hotel is based on Virgin Airlines first class cabins. They provide small hotel rooms, with all the amenities of their more luxurious counterparts at a much lower price. It was actually pretty cool, once I got through check-in. The room is definitely small, but mine was on a corner with floor to ceiling windows and feels plenty spacious – at least for one person.

Check-in is automated, presumably inspired by airports and the desire to reduce the cost. Also, a pretty cool idea. I’m sure it’s very efficient if you check in when the rooms are ready. Unfortunately, I arrived at 10am. My first attempt to check in didn’t work. I can’t remember what it said but it was nothing along the lines of, “your room is not ready yet.”

It felt more like your reservation didn’t exist.

So, I waited in the line of people trying to speak to the one staff member available. Once I got my turn, we went back to the machine and did exactly what I’d just done to get up the exact message I had just reported to him. I was then informed that my room is probably not ready yet and he offered to help me hand my bag to the robot arm that stacks them away in storage for you. I asked when my room would be ready and was told about 2 hours. So, I went exploring.

I came across this street of mechanics, totally accidentally, and immediately decided I wanted a photo of his place. I then paced back and forth a few times trying to work up the nerve to ask permission to take the photo. Finally, I caught someone’s eye and asked. He looked at me like I was insane and then the manager came up. He also looked at me like a lunatic but said yeah go ahead. So I strolled in and started firing away. Unfortunately, I’d left my tripod in my bag. As a result I had to sacrifice a bit of depth of field for a faster shutter speed.

I didn’t notice at the time, but the sign to the left actually said that customers had to wait outside because their insurance did not allow anyone to enter! Apparently, if you’re not a customer, this rule is relaxed.

I continued wandering and returned 2 hours later. The exact same thing happened and I was informed that my room would probably be ready after 3:00.

Three o’clock!!!

I was tired of walking by this point so I went to a movie. It was a bloody weird movie too, wish I could remember what it was called. Or, what it was about for that matter.

On my third attempt to check-in all went as smoothly as it should and things improved from there. That being said, I can’t see myself staying in another Yotel in the near future. It’s probably worth it for an interesting experience, but it’s still actually quite expensive for what you get, even at the discounted rates.

Evening stroll on the Vltava, Prague

Czech Republic, Europe, Prague, Travel 29 Responses »

Feb 132012

While wandering around Prague I was trying to take photos that didn’t conform with every postcard hanging in the shops. It’s pretty difficult not focusing on exclusively photographing the landmarks here. There’s lots of them and they’re everywhere. So, I was pretty pleased when I looked over the edge of the Charles Bridge and spotted this scene. The bridge was crowded with street vendors and tourists bustling by. Then, over the edge it was just peaceful. As I set up I noticed that every now and again someone would stroll through. So, I waited until someone got right into the spot I was looking for. It was a surprisingly short wait.

This is a combination of seven exposures from -3 to +3. It was important to use this wide range of exposures because, as you can see, I was shooting directly into the sun. This photo is a good illustration of the capabilities of HDR photography. Typically, shooting into the sun is considered a no-no and with the limited light range of my camera’s sensor I’d really only be able to capture a silhouette of everything lined up in front of the sun. By combining multiple exposures the details in the trees’ bark have been captured along with the camouflage jacket the man is wearing. These are all details I was able to see while I was there.

Three Generations

Africa, People, Travel, Zambia No Responses »

Feb 122012

This is a village just outside the Lower Zambezi National Park in Zambia. We visited while on canoe safri. As we drove into the village we were greeted with glowing smiles from everyone. The kids were all excited to see us and came running up. We were introduced to the lady in the red headscarf who is the wife of the village Headman. When asked how old she is she didn’t know and when she informed us that she was in fact the Headman’s only wife she beamed a big smile. The lady with her back to the camera is one of her eight daughters and all of the children in the photo were her grandchildren. The place was full of kids and it turned out they were all her grandchildren! We asked how many grandchildren she had. She had to think for a while and said about thirty.

Here, they are demonstrating one of the steps involved in producing nshima – a maize dish that looks like mashed potatoes. They’re using a giant mortar and pestle to remove the husks from the grain. Maize and water go into the large wooden pestle on the ground. Then, they take a big wooden mortar each (you can see one lent against the hut in the background) and they take turns lifting their pole and dropping it back down. They did this at a great pace.

Lake Kivu Fishermen

Africa, Rwanda, Travel 20 Responses »

Feb 112012

As mentioned before, our 3 week journey through 3 countries in Africa ended with two days of relaxation at the Paradis Malihide in Gisenyi. It was the perfect way to unwind. This is another photo of the fishermen making their way out onto Lake Kivu, to work their nets through the night in search of talapia and little black sambassa. They have to fish with nets because, as Cameron discovered after an hour casting his fly into the lake, these are the only two types of fish in the lake and neither of them is carnivorous. Once Cameron discovered this, he turned to teaching one of the waiters how to fly cast. Across the lake, through the haze, you can see the hills of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Charles Bridge at Night

Czech Republic, Europe, Prague, Travel 3 Responses »

Feb 112012

The East end of Charles Bridge, taken at night. I used a long exposure, by attaching my ND-4 filter, in order to erase the people walking to and fro. The last time I was there a friend of mine took a photo on the bank just to the left of this tower, looking across towards the castle with the bridge and it’s statues in the left of the frame. I really wanted to get down there to do the same. Unfortunately, that area was closed for construction.

Guiding Light

Bermuda, Travel 7 Responses »

Feb 092012

Gibbs Hill lighthouse, as seen from the Yacht Club on Albuoy’s Point in Hamilton, Bermuda. Bermuda has two lighthouses. This one and St. David’s lighthouse in the East. Bermuda’s waters are treacherous. The 21 mile island is surrounded by reef. Its large collection of ship wrecks helped to earn it the moniker The Devil’s Isles back in the days of tall ships. It was the reefs that resulted in the eventual settlement of the island when the British ship, the Sea Venture, on it’s way to Jamestown, was shipwrecked here in 1609. All survived the wreck and lived on the plentiful wild hogs, fish, and birds until they were able to build two new ships from the island’s substantial cedar supply and move on to Jamestown. In 1611 the British returned, to colonize the island.

More Mosquito Repellant

Africa, Rwanda, Travel 3 Responses »

Feb 082012

I’ve said before that everywhere you look in Rwanda seems to present a photo opportunity. Here’s more evidence. This was taken on the way up to the national park to visit the mountain gorillas. It was our first water break. I extended it by taking my time setting up for this photo. It was a tough walk.

Youthful Wisdom

Africa, People, Rwanda, Travel 30 Responses »

Feb 072012

Stepping out of my comfort zone of landscapes and cityscapes, I was inspired to shoot this portrait. The kids we encountered in Zambia and Rwanda were great. They certainly make a memorable impression. They’re also fascinated by the camera. I’ve mentioned the boy who followed me around Gisenyi setting up and packing away my tripod for me. While we were canoeing the lower Zambezi we paid a visit to a local village. As the chief’s wife gave us a demonstration in how they make flour, I snapped a photo of her toiling away with a small portion of her mob of grandchildren in the background. Without realizing, I left the screen on as I let the camera hang to my side. Suddenly I noticed all the kids were jockeying for a view of my hip. So I knelt down to show them the picture. They responded by pointing while chanting “Aye Nappa” (I have no idea how to spell this and am a bit ashamed to say I don’t even know what language it is, maybe our African language buff, Soniko, can fill this detail in). Our guide, C.B., filled us in that they were saying, “that’s me!”

Kids wherever we went loved having their photos taken, normally in a pack with huge cheesy grins. Most of these were really just snap shots to show them. As we climbed this hill in Rwanda (in a truck this time) to get a better view of the twin lakes, Burera and Ruhondo, we came across loads of kids – we were in Rwanda during a school break. As usual, they ran after us along the road and posed for photos. Then, at this verge looking out over one of the lakes there were only a few kids around. I’d started concentrating on taking landscapes before acknowledging the kids as it tended to be impossible after that. I snapped a few photos of this view and noticed that the older boy in this photo was watching me very closely, with that exact expression on his face and the littler one always by his side. I took a few photos and then called him over and had the two of them press the shutter button to fire off my bracketed photos for me. Neither asked for a photograph, which was a bit different, so I asked to take a photo of them. I’m very happy I did. I feel like this kid has the eyes of a wise old man. Regretfully, I don’t remember his name. I’m hoping to track him down. Cameron exchanged e-mail addresses with a few kids further up the hill who I need to send a few photos. They all wanted to be photographed with Cameron, who seemed a bit of a giant in Rwanda. Maybe those kids can track these guys down.

My HDR technique is based on Trey Ratcliff’s website, Stuck in Customs, where he bemoans the fact that Nikons force him to take 5 exposures in order to bracket exposures from -2 to +2. He states that the light range in the majority of scenes can be captured in three exposures, -2,0,+2. For no real reason I started using 7 exposures and have wondered what I would ever tell anyone if they asked me why I take 7. Now I know. It may be possible to capture the light range of the majority of scenes in three exposures. However, I’m still new to this HDR stuff and as such I’m not tuned to recognize when I need to go wider. For this shot, as I was photographing people (which aren’t very still), I dropped my usual 7 exposures down to 3. As a result, the background of this photo was plagued with noise. I think this is the result of Photomatix having to adjust the exposure of the background as it was not captured in the three images taken. Also, the option to mask out the sky in the Photomatix result to replace it with a noise free version didn’t work because I was missing the correct exposure. It’s come out alright after using Noiseware Pro, which is a great Photoshop plugin for removing noise, but I’ve lost some detail as a result. So, as I’m still learning when to shoot which exposures, I’ll stick to my -3 to +3 just to make sure.

Upper Zambezi Sunset

Africa, Travel, Zambia, Zimbabwe 7 Responses »

Feb 062012

Jollyboys Hostel menu of activities includes a combo price for white water rafting and a booze cruise. It sounds like a fantastic idea and it really is. What’s not such a good idea is indulging in the booze cruise the night before the rafting. Although, taking category 5 rapids head on is probably the best hangover cure in the world, unless you’re Cameron.

There are a lot of booze cruises going on in Bermuda and they’re great. But this one was a completely different concept all together. First of all, we were on a river. Second of all the water was chock full of hippos and crocodiles. On shore, you can see elephants and warthogs. It really is an incredible experience. The open bar doesn’t hurt. We paused to watch the sun dip below the horizon before heading back to dock, and I snapped this photo. It’s a pretty basic sunset shot, which I wouldn’t normally take, but I thought the clouds were particularly interesting. I used my 14mm lens to compress the sky into the image.

Victoria Falls

Africa, Travel, Victoria Falls, Waterfall, Zambia, Zimbabwe 3 Responses »

Feb 052012

This is where the hike to the Devil’s Pool at the top of the Victoria Falls becomes a swim. The pool is located just on the other side of this waterfall. To get there, you have to swim up-stream against the current and then across. There’s a rope strung across in case anyone should succumb to the force of the water. Fortunately, it’s not actually a particularly difficult swim.

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