Nomadic Vision

Archive for the ‘Photo Stories’ Category

We celebrated Chinese New Year a few days late here today in London. This year is the year of the dragon which in Chinese culture is a big deal. Here are some photos from the parade.

I’ve just realised that we celebrated New Year’s Eve in Asia and Chinese New Year in Europe. Seems like a great way to do it.

In trying to craft up the usual “best of” photo list for the year that just past, I found myself reminiscing over great travel experiences, rather than actual images. As such, I thought it would be better to create a list of our favourite travel experiences from 2011.

The travel year for us started with a trip to Prague in February. It was the coldest weather Tina and I have ever experienced, but the cold weather helped kept the crowds away. The weather also complimented the atmospheric city perfectly. In a week full of highlights, our best experience was the day trip to Kutna Hora. The old town had many silver mines and once competed with Prague. The town has “former glory” written everywhere and is a fantastically atmospheric, haunted town.

Our next trip was a short drive to the university town of Cambridge. Almost anyone who has visited the town would recommend a punting tour along the river. We had a student from South Africa guiding our boat and he was full of humorous information about the town and its’ university.

April began with a 18 day trip through Italy. Despite facing stiff competition from Tuscanny, Lake Como and Venice, our favourite Italian experience had to be staying in Vernazza in the Cinque Terra. Arguably the most picturesque of the Cinque Terra villages, Vernazza oozes rural Italian charm with its colourful houses built impossibly into the side of the cliff.

After a two month break from travel, July started off with a trip to Iceland. This was another trip full of highlights, but topping it off was an hour of mind blowing light over Jökulsárlón, the famed Ice Lagoon. For most of the hour, our only company was a group of seals swimming up and down the lagoon. Surrounded by ice, black sand beaches, mountains, 5 glaciers and magical light made for one of the most memorable scenes of my life.

From Iceland we flew to Slovenia. The country is possibly Europe’s most under rated travel destinations and is a good blend of Italy, Austria and Switzerland. Lake Bohinj in the Julian Alps is the perfect location to make the most of the summer heat. The shoreline could easily be mistaken for Thailand, with the exception of the magnificent view of the Julian Alps in the background. As the rivers feeding the lake from snow runoff, the summer mornings are characterized my misty sunrises, creating a mystical light display.

We took a train from Slovenia to Venice where the 40+ degree heat was almost unbearable. At the very end of the Venice trip we experienced an often overlooked island – Burano. Known for its colourful homes and lacework, the island draws fewer crowds then Venice but is every bit as charming.

Back home in London, an Indian summer during the “should have been much colder” autumn reminded us that some of the best travel experiences can happen on your front door. An afternoon of street photography along the South Bank spent with Warren Scott showed why London is still one of the most interesting cities in the world and provided the inspiration for a photo project that would keep me busy for the reminder of the year.

To make the most of the autumn colour, we took a one week holiday around the fjords of Norway. It’s rare that a physical activity should be a highlight, but the hike up to Pulpit Rock and back surpassed all our expectations.

In December, we reached Koh Samui after 30 hours of travelling. After taking a day to recover from the flight and the jet lag, we were surprised to find the markets of Koh Samui to be so enjoyable, especially when expecting a relaxing week on a tropical beach. The Fisherman Village in Boput providing us with the most memorable food and drinks we’ve had whilst traveling.

I'm still processing pictures from Thailand and haven't prepared any from the Fisherman's Village. Instead, here is a picture of Tina enjoying Lamai Beach in Koh Samui.

From Koh Samui we flew to Thailand’s cultural capital, Chiang Mai. In a city that kept us permanently busy and entertained, it’s difficult to choose a highlight but if pressed, I would say the craziness of New Years eve with the many different fireworks randomly going off across crowds of people coupled with thousands of floating lanterns would be hard to beat.

So after a memorable year of travel in 2011, I look forward to what this year brings. We start with a trip to Provence, France in February then South Africa in April. Our entire summer looks like it will be spent in Canada. We have a loose plan to tour Vietnam over Christmas. Apart from those destinations, our travel plans are wide open.

Pix magazine, a South African, award winning photography magazine has just published their February/March edition with our image on the cover. The picture comes with a story which I thought would be worth telling in this space.

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I can’t get enough of street photography. I’ve mentioned street photography on this blog before, but 3 recent events makes me think that street photography is about to take off in a way the photography world has never seen before.

The first is the discovery of Vivian Maier. Vivian Maier worked for your entire life as a nanny in New York. During her lifetime, Vivian took hundreds of thousands of pictures, mostly in New York. Her work was discovered recently after someone purchased a shoe box of her negatives at a flee market. Many experts are putting her in the same league as some of the street photography greats, like Henri Cartier-Bresson and Robert Doisneau.

This YouTube clip tells the story…

The second event is the massive popularity of The Sartorialist. The Sartorialist is a blog run by photographer, Scott Schumann – who shares his street fashion photography with over 70,000 readers every day.

In this film, Scott shares some of the philosophy behind his work as well as a few of his images.

The rise of micro 4/3rds cameras is the final push towards an explosion in street photography. In past years, the Leica rangefinder was the tool of choice for photographers. Moving forward to 2011, it seems that the Panasonic GF2 is leading the race to become the modern day street photography camera of choice. Bert Stephani, a photographer who knows far more about the art then I do, did a review of the Panasonic GF1 and makes in interesting comment at the end.

If you’re anything like me and can’t get enough of street photography, here are three photographers worth checking out:

• Emilanos – Faces of London.
• Nick Turpin – Street photographer with a great sense of humour.
• Markus Schwarze – People photographer from Hamburg, Germany and possibly my favourite photographer.

There is one obstacle that seems to keep almost all photographers from breaking through to that seemingly unattainable next level. The photographers who are thriving today all seem to have overcome it. Fear is that obstacle. It is fear stopping you from approaching that publisher, displaying your work publicly or asking that quirky but cool wedding photographer for a date.

Amongst photography circles, it seems most people fear approaching and shooting strangers. Craig Tanner hosts a workshop for conquering fears and just about all the photographers say shooting strangers on the street is their biggest fear. Now I’m sure most readers will have shot the occasional long lens grab shot or the sneaky wide angle, no look quickie, but the type of photo I’m talking about is getting right in some-one’s face with their full knowledge and permission.

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A fleeting moment of wonder celebrating Patagonia's crowning glory by Ian Plant

Two weeks ago I posted a link to a fantastic article by Ian Plant on Patagonia. Anyone who enjoyed the article will be pleased to see that he has put part 2 of the article online.

If you enjoy the article, be sure to leave Ian a comment. Articles of that quality involve a lot of work and he will appreciate the feedback.

"Icebergs float on Laguna Torre as sunrise light graces Cerro Torre in the distance, Los Glaciares National Park, Patagonia, Argentina" - Ian Plant

When I started photography – I lapped up every bit of information I could find on the subject. Anything photo related interested me. These days, I rarely read something that stirs and inspires me as much as I used to get when I started. Occasionally however, one pops up that leaves me feeling just like I’m starting out again – motivated, inspired and awestruck.

Ian Plant has just returned from an epic trip to Patagonia. He is a massively talented photographer and writer and his most recent article definately motivates and inspires – even after a nightmare journey home from Spain.

Please note – the above photo by Ian Plant, taken from his article.

Closeup portrait of Alfred with the Sedgefield lagoon in the background

As we explore the world, we meet fascinating people. I met Alfred whilst shooting landscapes at the main beach at Sedgefield.

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