Lake Kivu Fishing Boat

 Africa, Rwanda, Travel  2 Responses »
Mar 052012
 

As the sun sets on Lake Kivu the sound of the fisherman making their way out onto the lake, rain or shine, can be heard at the Paradis Malahide Hotel. As you’ve seen in previous posts, here and here, this was a sign that it was time for me to grab my gear and run down the road to the docks.

For some reason this canoe was left behind by the fleet, which can be seen on the horizon. This was lucky for me as I’d gotten to the dock a touch later than planned. This photo allows you to see how these triple hulled canoes are held together.

This is a combination of 7 exposures bracketed from -3 to +3. I’ve started using Photoshop to align the images prior to processing in Photomatix and have been surprised to discover that, even when using my tripod, more often than not they are out of alignment.

Triple hulled canoes on the shore of the Zambezi River with the rest of the fishing fleet in the distance in Zambia.

Under the Brooklyn Bridge

 New York, Travel  25 Responses »
Mar 042012
 

After making the long walk from Times Square to the far side of the Brooklyn Bridge I arrived here. This shot is taken shortly after the sun had set, in the blue hour. If you look closely you can see the Empire State Building lit up on the horizon.

View of New York City with the Empire State Building from under the Brooklyn Bridge after sunset

The Empty Chair

 Africa, Travel, Zambia  30 Responses »
Mar 032012
 

After the sun sets, beginning your first evening on the banks of the lower Zambezi things get a little eerie.  You can see the bugs swirling in the light in front of you, and beyond you peer into the darkness that’s fallen over the still river. As you sit there, the silence is cut by the grunting of nearby hippos and your fellow guests tell you about the lions they saw just down the river.

We were staying in fancy en-suite tents for the night. Ours was right next to a haul-out area that was regularly used by hippos to get to land. The thought of encountering a hippo in the dark on our own was pretty terrifying. We walked everywhere with our flashlights and the one time I went to the tent and back on my own was pretty nerve-racking. It’s funny considering we were comfortable enough to steer our canoes directly at the giant beasts, confident that they’d move out of our way, just a few days later.

I’m not sure what inspired me to take this photo, but I think it’s pretty cool. It was pretty tricky to take as the deck wasn’t very stable too.  Every time people move the whole deck shook, ruining that frame.

Empty chair and table on the deck in the black of night lit by a lantern overlooking the Zambezi River in Zambia

Lower Zambezi Huts

 Africa, Travel, Zambia  102 Responses »
Feb 292012
 

On our way to visit this village we saw the mud bricks used to build this structure baking in the sun. We went inside one for a demonstration on how grain is ground into flour. They’re actually a very clever design. The wall around the perimeter does not meet the thatched roof allowing for the breeze to roll through. This cools the inside while allowing any smoke produced in cooking to be quickly ventilated. The doorway was tiny and involved a bit of a contortion to get through.

Two round huts in a Lower Zambezi, Zambia village with thatched roofs with one with baked mud brick sides and the other stick sides.

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.

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