Archive for the ‘Travel Advice’ Category
Exploring the South African Landscape
The Nahoon Nature Reserve in East London offers travelers a touch of wilderness within the city.
With the World Cup Football around the corner, travelers from all over the world will be flocking to South Africa. Whilst the main show will undoubtedly be the football, I’m sure more than a handful will be interested in capturing the South African landscape.
This article was originally published in Pix magazine about two years ago, but it remains relevant and may help you, or someone you know, come back from South Africa with some awesome looking landscape work.
Please note, this was never intended to be a travel guide for photographers (although that would be a great idea). I’ve written this article to point out some of the many landscape themes in South Africa and to try to stop you from making the same mistakes I’ve made when shooting them.
Paris (Again)
Paris park autumn colours framed by the city
To say this is a bit of a cliche, but I really love Paris. I was fortunate enough to spend a week in Paris in Autumn last year and loved it so much that we’re planning a second trip for the summer. It is tough justifying visiting a place for a second time when there are so many places in the world to see, but I think Paris is worth it.
The whole point of this post isn’t to sell Paris – it is to show you this amazing site. Go into full screen mode and click on the Arc de Triomphe in the items of interest menu. How amazing is that!
Thoughts on Creativity
I’ve just returned from a short but intense trip around Morocco. I’ve been back for over a week, but with my massive backlog of work, I haven’t had the chance to post anything recently. I will have more on Morocco in the near future.
The above two images, from rural areas in Morocco, got me thinking about creativity.
Paris Street Photography
Life goes on as usual in the Paris Metro.
I’ve always loved street photography. Henri Cartier-Bresson is one of my all time favorite photographer and he is best known for his street photography of Paris. On a recent trip to Paris, inspired by old Henri, I made an effort to do some street photography myself.
The Friendliest
A diver sells his catch along the Wild Coast of South Africa
I read a forum post on a travel site recently on which country had the friendliest locals. I was quite surprised to see that six of the eight people who responded said Turkey. Turkish locals must be super friendly to get such an overwhelming vote (I’ll confirm this when I visit in August).
What was also quite surprising is that no one voted for South Africa. It was then that I realized that many people who travel to South Africa would count Johannesburg as part of South Africa. If you want to get technical, it is, but the Johannesburg locals are definitely not representative of the average South African.
London Town
Despite the weather, visa issues, expensive transport and even more expensive food and drinks, London is a must see destination. Even though I’ve lived in London for a year, I still often see it through tourist eyes, only now I’ve been here long enough to know what is worth seeing and what is better left to the uninformed crowds.
The Unexpected
What first struck me about London was the cultural diversity. At one stage, England dominated most of the known world and as a result, London now represents a large portion of it. I’ve met locals who time how long they can walk before they hear English spoken. Some have quite impressive records.
The Eastern Cape – Wild Coast
This is part 2 in an in depth travel photography series on the Eastern Cape, South Africa. If you missed part 1, check out The Wildlife here.
Wild Coast
Head down to the beach in the Eastern Cape and an un-spoilt, wild coastline is what you will discover along almost the entire Eastern Cape coastline. It is not difficult to find a beach where you’ll be the only person for kilometers.
The Land Debate
We recently did a “documentary” travel photography shoot of the Kew Bridge Eco village.
Basically, the Eco village is a group of 25 people that have illegally inhabited a vacant plot of land under the guise of creating an Eco village. This has prevented any development from taking place on the land.
Quite interestingly, the local residents have mixed feelings about the Eco village. Some say the inhabitants are illegal squatters and should be arrested whilst others are quite happy to have the Eco village there instead of another block of upmarket flats.