Have Camera Will Travel (Episode 2)

When traveling, I feel to really experience a city you have to get out of the hotels and into the side streets, the neighborhoods. Meet the locals and get away from the tourists as much as possible. The real city lies just beyond the last street hawker selling batteries and maps.

You'll notice that even though I've arrived at a landmark (i.e. the Eiffel Tower), sometimes what's going on over to the side is just as interesting to me. An animal chained up. A young child eating an ice cream oblivious to the world. A bit of misspelled graffiti. Someone's abandoned bicycle. Even some trash blowing against a tree. To me those things are as much a part of the total experience as the landmark everyone has come to see. Of course I'll remember the Tower, but without some photographic record I might not remember the surroundings. The context.

Also my favorite photos are simple and clean. Usually a lone figure against a landscape. To me, a single person in an image creates intrigue and unanswered questions. Five people, not so much. This appeals to my design aesthetics and perhaps my emotional sensibilities. Also I'm generally not a fan of crowds. It's hard to get everyone striking an interesting pose. Can you imagine Wyeth's Christina's World with five girls lying in the field. Not nearly as interesting as just the one.

Anyway, here's some more travel shots. Have a nice day.

My feet on the ground, but my head in the clouds. ~ Grand Canyon (South Rim), Arizona Oh shoot. Now where did I park the car? ~ Monument Valley Utah I thought he was gonna jump. Nope, just extremely dangerous yoga. ~ Grand Canyon (South Rim), Arizona And now... one of the castles Walt Disney supposedly modeled his famous Cinderella castle after. That's not just a camera artifact, the sun was super intense that day.

Have Camera Will Travel (Episode 1)

One of my favorite hobbies is vacation travel. Travel for work is fine (as it's on someone else's dime), but of course having the free leisure time to explore a new place and meet the locals is what makes it exciting. I've been lucky enough to have visited some amazing places. 

Now I'm not a very good photographer. Certainly not anywhere close to professional. Strictly amateur in my skills and in my equipment. My camera doesn't even have manual focus and often times all I have is my crappy cell phone. (Don't you just hate trying to shoot through a window and you have to trick your camera to not focus on the glass?) And for me, simply enjoying a new place takes priority over photographing it, but if I have a camera and feel the inspiration, I might take some photos while I'm there. It can be fun too. 

Here's a few shots where I got lucky and the "Image Gods" were kind to me. (I really gotta get my photos organized. They are scattered everywhere and yet nowhere to be found.)

ஜஜஜஜஜஜஜஜஜஜஜஜஜஜஜஜஜஜஜஜஜஜஜஜஜஜஜஜஜ And after hiking up Mount Sinai in the middle of the night by the light of a full moon... I got to see the sun rise.  One of those rare "is this really happening" moments in life.