Archive for the ‘photography’ tag
The trip continues
Our trip researching for another installment in the HEMA guide and atlas series continues. We have done the Kingsford Smith Mail Run and we are now doing the Warlu Way.
Getting in close
When trekking through stunning country, it’s easy to get caught up with grandeur of it all and forget about the smaller things in life. By occasionally stopping, taking a good look and blocking out all that great scenery for a moment, another, just as compelling world comes into focus.It’s a world of small plants, flowers, insects, fungi and myriad’s of other fascinating things that are easily missed by photographers fixated on scenery. To really capture the essence of a place I feel you need both big and small and the way to do that is to get close up.
We are in Wellington
Unlike its reputation, our Wellington stay has been blessed with sunny, calm weather – hardly a zephyr! So much for Windy Wellington.
We are here relaxing after completing the Queen Charlotte track. What a great week we had. As we mentioned this is 71 kilometres of soft walking. Accommodation every night, a boat to carry our bags and bottles of wine of course. And we don’t mind a drop of this Kiwi white. We had awesome scenery, a range of weather and met lots of interesting Malborough locals.
We did take photos of the track which we will load on the website when we return. Treking or “tramping” in New Zealand is so organised and a big business for tourism. Our Western Australian trails are far quieter than the ones in NZ.
Cheers for now
Rees and Dart
In February 2007, we went “tramping” in New Zealand. We tackled the Rees and Dart tramp. Classed as hard, we walked, climbed and siddled our way up the Rees Valley, over the Rees Saddle and down the Dart Valley. This is Lord of the Rings country and we took lots of photos. We used some of these images in our publications.
As it happens, this months gallery finds us back in New Zealand. This time we are walking the Queen Charlotte Track with Helen and Chris. We will be taking photos and adding this tramp to our long list of walk trails we have completed. When we return we will write some magazine articles about our experience. Walking in other countries adds to knoweldge of trail management and our ability to access trails in Australia.
Gibb River Road
We first travelled the Gibb River Road in 1995. The Kimberley region of Western Australia gets under your skin and has the feeling of a true adventure. Our last trip in 2008 was our fourth time. Every time we go we say we must go back and spend a few months exploring all the spectacular region.
Photographing archeological sites
Perhaps in another life, I was an archeologist, because I can’t resist photographing and exploring the ruins of ancient civilisations.Now, as with most photography, paparazzi excluded, the trick is to somehow capture essence of the subject. Before leaving home, I often motivate myself and get ideas by browsing through archeology features in National Geographic magazines. Then comes the practicalities. Firstly, I travel light, only carrying camera gear essential for the task. Unlike the great pyramids on the doorstep of Cairo, many of the more interesting ruins are found in hard to get to places. The Mayan ruin of Bonampak in Mexico is a case in point. Getting there involved a bone jarring ride in kombi followed by a 12 km slog in knee-deep stinking mud and horse crap through clouds of mosquitoes and humid jungle.
South America without a clue – Part 3
1st June 1986
Episode 3
Leaving my heart in San Francisco
I became attached to Bryce and his family, but my short stay in Hawaii has come to an end. The next step of my adventure begins, when I’m dropped off at the airport. Once again, my transition through customs is smooth.
It’s a bit scary taxiing out on the runway for one used to slightly less busy Australian airports. It’s like being in a car waiting to cross a busy intersection without traffic lights. Like a flock of migratory birds, domestic planes land until a brief window opens. The 5 hour flight to San Francisco begins.
Market Daze
When travelling we are always drawn to the local market. This is where you learn about the real country, people going about there daily lives. This is a gallery of markets we have visited.
South America without a clue – Part 1
South America without a Clue
Episode 1
30th May 1986
There’s a minor hiccup with the potential of becoming a severe case of indigestion. But my passport finally arrives minutes before heading out to the airport. This is what happens when you tell your travel agent to organise visas before leaving. As it turns out, only the USA and Costa Rica visas arrived on time. I will just have to get the Ecuadorian, Peruvian, Brazilian, Argentinean, Chilean, Bolivian and Venezuelan visas along the way. I did say I was going without a clue.
A final farewell to well wishers and I board the QF24 flight bound for Sydney. The four hour flight gives me time to reflect. Emotions rise and dip like the stock market. Most backpackers from Australia pick well trodden paths such as Europe for their first big overseas venture. I pick South America, a land of flesh eating fish, anacondas, drug gangs, murderous crime, mosquito borne diseases, loose woman, muggers and a plethora of other life threatening hazards. That is if I believe everything I am told by family, relatives and well meaning friends. On the other hand more positive thoughts battle for space hatched from gazing at stories about the Amazon and the Andes on the pages of National Geographic. All these things swirl around in my head in a sea of positives and negatives. I focus on my journey’s main aim. That is to come back to Perth with a bunch of gob smacking images so fantastic that any newspaper proprietor worth their salt could not refuse employing me as a photographer.
Introducing my Photographic Blog
What about a Pelusey photographic blog? That was a question Jane and I pondered while setting up our new website. After all, over the years I have gained plenty of experience both useful and possibly useless that somebody in cyberspace may find interesting. Articles will cover photographic techniques and my sometimes comical and not so comical photographic assignment experiences. There will be also topical subjects covering the direction photography is heading and anything else that takes my fancy.
But first, a bit of background about my own photographic journey over the years. When I first picked up a camera, it was 1963 and I was 8 years old. The occasion was a one week holiday on Rottnest Island off Perth Western Australia. It was a box brownie and it belonged to mum. The subject was a tame little marsupial wallaby type creature called a quokka. On my tenth birthday, my photography took a big leap forward. I got a little Kodak Starlite or was it Skylite, I can’t quite remember. It took a paltry 12 photos per roll.