Posts Tagged ‘photos’
Balloons Over Waikato
I am never sure if a long weekend away, one including getting up an hour before dawn – three days in a row, hauling weighty photography gear around and having six photoshoots over 3 days is a holiday. I’m pretty sure it’s not. Though it is infinitely better than hanging around the house wishing I was on holiday…
So… three days in the Waikato. We stayed at a brilliant and remarkably inexpensive homestay, a nice little one bedroom unit, with all the fresh garden veg you could pick and eat, a small flock of sheep, some heifers, and well, it was fairly idyllic. I’ll post some photos of that later – but the first set of photos I developed were from the big Final – the last dawn on Innes Commons… Every last balloon on display… it was AWEsome! In the real, true, old-fashioned awesome way that awesome used to be…
It all begins before dawn… so many balloons, so much space, so many people (but not TOO many)…
Just a pretty picture
OK – it’s just a pretty picture tonight. Twin Lakes in Coatesville, about an hour out of Auckland, where my daughter will be getting married next year. Postcard perfect in every way.
Indonesian Monkey Business
Surprise, surprise! My Indonesian jungle photos are not as bad as I thought. Sure, it would be nice if this were crisp and clean, but I think this world-weary Thomas Leaf monkey comes across quite well, don’t you think? Considering I walked a couple of hours into the jungle to find him, this makes me happy. While he appears to be close up, he is, in fact 25-30 metres way up a tall, tall tree, and once again I was fumbling with my 300mm lens.
He was perched up there quite a while, watching us and then suddenly decided to be on his way, dropping a rather alarming bit of business a few feet from where I stood as he departed!
It was a 3-hour ride to the National Park, over narrow, barely 2 lane roads. We only travelled 80 kms (50 miles) from Medan, but the 24/7 traffic jam in the city and the potholes and adolesents on motorbikes outside made it slow going. Our driver was “safe” inasmuch as he seemed in remarkable control, but insane, he was tail-gating cars and motorbikes by inches, leaving me holding my breath.
I’ve put together a wee slide show of some of what I saw… Teenagers there all have cellphones and spend much of their time texting – even whilst on a motorbike! Can you spot the internet cafe? Hint – the Facebook and Twitter logos give it away… The grey wall is the view outside our window – directly across – less than two metres! The crazed man in the hotel is my husband – getting ready to head to much saner Malaysia… Still, it was a good day…
Up a tree
The unadorned version of the winning photo – well, except for the frame – photos always look their best with a frame, I think.
I do realise it’s tooting my own horn, but winning the prize for creativity in a photo competition was really exactly what I needed – one month into being in business as a pro photographer. Sort of like the universe giving me the nod to say I’d got it right…
http://www.theaucklander.co.nz/galleries/the-aucklanderywca-photo-competition-winners/98/#153803
Hot chick on a cold day
I’m off on holiday for a couple of weeks, so I am rerunning some of my favourite picture poems from last year.
Lonely angel hits me up for company
Please click on the photo for a sharp image. They don’t seem to shrink well.
Some things I noticed in New York
Back in March 09 my pal Bindi and I abandoned our husbands to ten days of looking after themselves so we could take a little jaunt of our own off to New York. You may recall in the piece Planning for New York on the Cheap, that we made a zillion plans and hoped to get around to as many as we could. In brief, we did a few – like Bindi was dying to go to the top of the Empire State Building and I couldn’t give a stuff about it, so whilst we were on our way into Macy’s I pointed it out to her.
If she’d had a paddy, I would have taken her – but she agreed there were so many more interesting things to do. Two of which DID involve a Paddy – one the St Patrick’s Day Parade, which, after a leisurely breakfast we dashed off to see – had enough after fifteen minutes and then went and bought shoes from her favourite designer who just happened to have a shop on the street we were watching the parade from.
We didn’t go to St Patrick’s Cathedral either. We stood there on Fifth Avenue with the cathedral to our left and Saks on our right and made the only sane choice under the circumstances. I took photos, Bindi bought perfume. And we had the most divine chocolate at the Charbonnel et Walker Chocolate Cafe.
All up I took over 1000 photos. Not surprisingly, it’s taken me this long to get through them – and there are still several hundred languishing as RAW files on my hard drive, but this TIME business is just so flawed – if I can’t buy some more, I wish I could borrow it. Although I suspect the only time I could afford would Monday mornings, or Friday at 3PM, which would be going cheap, but wouldn’t be of much use, either.
There are a million New York stories – and I can tell you about a third of them. And eventually I just might… What I like about THESE photos is they tell stories of their own, so I don’t have to waste time with words. Your interpretations of the stories are most welcome!
Marvelling about in Changi
Changi Airport
This is when I really marvel over technology. Here I am in Changi airport in
Singapore – a marvel in itself, for being the most civilised airport I’ve come across. they really cater for travellers here… including six hours of free wireless Internet (how did they know I have a 6 hour layover? It’s simply fun being here, no matter what time of day or where you are in your travels. Free movies, nap lounges, foot massage machines, a butterfly garden, orchid garden. Since I am on my way to travel, I must resist the shopping, though I did buy a few small electronic accessories for a small fraction of what I’d pay at home.
Found this display in a men’s shop… not the sort of men’s shop one finds in Auckland or most American cities… this is some kind of metro-sexual men’s shop – where men are proud to buy lotions and serums and potions, brushes and buffers, toners and soothers.
Bobby is a bit bemused, but I have the feeling it’s rather recent that these kind of shops have fallen out of favour in the west – our men have to be so very macho – maybe because the women are, too? Asia is much less macho, though it is undoubtedly more sexist. I like the idea that there’s no conflict in a dude who rides a Harley using lotion to keep his face smooth and moist.
A bit to eat – we had breakfast on the plane, but I’ve been on a low-carb diet for the last few months and everything they gave us seemed to be white flour, white sugar, previously forbidden fruit. My blood sugar spiked and like the stereo-type I inevitably turn out to be – I was starving when it dropped. I courageously had a grande bowl of Boston seafood chowder. Quite tasty. Bobby played it safe with a Mango Snapple and a bagel (funny how we revert to the comfort foods of old).
OK – he IS giving me the evils, but he ended up feeling a bit green around the gills.
I like this sign indicating departures. We are on the 12.50 via Dubai flight. We’re heading for Dubai – but it carries on to Riyadh. Not sure I’ll ever get to Riyadh, but I might – I get more curious about the world every day and find it’s less and less resistable. There’s a few destinations up there I wouldn’t mind going, but Phuket and Kuala Lumpur, both of which I have been to before are on the this trip as well. Looking foorward to snorkeling with monkeys in Phuket. (No, they don’t get in – they really don’t handle the equipment well – but they like to watch…) Not sure what I’ll do in KL this time… I like not knowing.
The orchid garden is really the highlight of terminal 3. Neither Bobby or I have ever seen orchids like these – and in such abundance!
Every colour and variety imaginable. It draws everyone – all ages and cultures. I love watching the other picture takers – those who will wait and wait for their fried to come and stand in front of these perfect flowers so they can get a photo – and those who wait and wait for the people to leave, so the flowers have no competition.
Me, I love the both – the people and the flowers and especially the beautiful goldfish. You don’t mind if I while away the next hour pondering them before the next flight… It’s just such a beautiful way to start a trip!
Next – Dubai! Opulence, extravagance, indulgence, excess… and all the things I don’t expect soon to be discovered!
