water » Traverse Earth

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.

Watching the Sunset, Westfjords, Iceland

Europe, Iceland, Travel 7 Responses »

Jul 232012

Today’s photo is a rare self-portrait. I had everything all set up for this photo but felt like it needed a scaling factor to help the viewer gauge the immensity of the scene. I shouted for my travel buddy. Unfortunately, she was focused on photographing some little flowers on the other side of a hillock. I reached the conclusion that I’d have to figure out how to do it myself. So, I used my intervalometer to set the timer at 1 min. I sprinted along the edge of the cliff to the outcrop. I stood there for what felt like ages and decided it must’ve gone off. I started making my way back and heard the shutter burst. So, I dropped the timing down to 30 seconds. After running down there again, I heard the shutter while I stood there. Upon inspecting the result I discovered that only half of me had made it into the frame. Next time I walked further out onto the outcrop. You’ll notice in the photo that I’m wearing a t-shirt. Up until this point, I’d been wearing a fleece and rain jacket and was still cold. But, I was wearing all black and didn’t really come out in the photo. So I decided it was time to strip down to my bright red t-shirt. Chilly, I started the timer and ran down. This photo is the result.

Then, I pulled my fleece back on and made my way to the car, quickly.

Godafoss, Iceland

Europe, Iceland, Travel, Waterfall 4 Responses »

Jul 212012

Our first attempt to find this waterfall did not go well. We decided not to use the GPS because it looked really straightforward on the map. Unfortunately, we promptly forgot that we were looking for a turning. When we realized we’d probably gone past it, we got out the gps and discovered we passed the turn about an hour earlier. So, we decided to continue on to Myvatn and visit the waterfall the next day.

Visiting in daytime hours meant that we got to experience the tour bus crew for the first time. To the right of the falls it was very crowded with a number of buses parked up and people rushing around to see the falls and hop back on their buses. On the other side, however, was a small path with very few people on it. I went that way.

In taking this photo I decided not to crop out a tourist taking photos atop the cliff to the right because I thought that would provide a good scaling factor to show the size of these falls. Unfortunately, the tourist is so dwarfed by the falls it’s difficult to notice that he’s there!

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 1 Response »

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.

Boulders Bay Front Property

Africa, Cape Town, South Africa, Travel 2 Responses »

Jul 122012

Three out of five of our group, dissatisfied with seeing penguins hanging about in bushes, paid the cover charge to actually go down onto Boulders Bay in search of penguins on the rocks. That, at least in our minds, was where penguins should be. As soon as we came through the gate we spied a penguin lounging in the middle of a small path forking off the main one. We walked down for a closer look, the penguin didn’t seem at all bothered by our presence. We thought this penguin may be a sign of more at the end of the path. It wasn’t. There were no penguins at the end of the path, but there was this incredible view.

If you want to see more of Boulders Bay and the penguins we did find, click on this image to go through to my South Africa gallery.

Beneath the Basalt, Myvatn, Iceland

Europe, Iceland, Travel 7 Responses »

Jul 102012

“Warning, rocks have fallen from the ceiling before and they will fall again”, the sign read.

Could this small hole in the side of this immense lava flow, near Lake Myvatn, really be the entrance to the underground hot springs we’d been hearing about. If it wasn’t, and we were brained by falling rocks that really wouldn’t have felt worth it. Venturing further in we saw water. Then we recognized the familiar sulfur smell of a hot spring. Venturing inside we found a small cavern, beneath the basalt, housing a pool of hot water. Upon shining a light on it we discovered that it was crystal blue, much like the water in the caves here in Bermuda, but it was steaming.

At this point I wanted to tell you what it’s called but can’t find the name (I did find this video showing the entrance though, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qj8Fu-si19Q )! I really need to start carrying a notebook. What I do know is that there were two caves. one is used by men, the other by women. We didn’t know which one we were in. In summer, the men’s is too hot to swim in. As we didn’t know which one we were in, we decided not to risk it.

*** Edit: Check out the comments, Charlotte has found the name for me! ***

Thirsty Elephants

Africa, Animals, Zambia 4 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.

The (Slightly) Less Beaten Path

Europe, Iceland, Travel 3 Responses »

Jul 062012

Godafoss has to be in the running for the easiest waterfall to access in Iceland. There’s a gas station and souvenir store with a view to the falls and it was our first encounter with tour buses. They were all parked to the right of the falls. So we took this narrow path up the other side of the river and I found this cool little bridge. I recognized it from Trey Ratcliffe’s blog and was shocked to find it! I thought it was in the middle of nowhere. You can tell just how beaten the lesser path is. So much so that the bridge is broken! Even with the Tour buses and souvenir stores, the impressiveness of Godafoss is not diminished. Naturally pictures of this waterfall will follow, they’re just a bit trickier to process than this little old bridge.

The Other Side

Bermuda, Travel 1 Response »

Jul 062012

I spent a lot of time last summer taking photos of sunsets off of the dock at my friends’ new house in Spanish Point. One day I decided to do something a bit different, so I went to take photos off the rocks on the other side of Spanish Point. The result, of photographing a tide pool there, has a weird abstract feel.

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