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the best of...
2007.10.11
Phnom Penh, Cambodia, March 2007.
How could I pass up the opportunity to wield an AK47 on my 28th birthday? Although it's blurry and not such a great shot, I'm amazed that the ex-soldier running the shooting range managed to capture the precise moment that the bullet exploded into a shower of sparks. While I admit it's morally questionable as a tourist to shoot war-surplus guns (as we were reminded by a politically correct English dude as soon as we came out of the range), damn - was it exhilarating! And at least they're making money off trigger-happy tourists in a controlled environment instead of selling these guns to poor villagers to use in conflicts.
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Phnom Penh, Cambodia, March 2007.
How could I pass up the opportunity to wield an AK47 on my 28th birthday? Although it's blurry and not such a great shot, I'm amazed that the ex-soldier running the shooting range managed to capture the precise moment that the bullet exploded into a shower of sparks. While I admit it's morally questionable as a tourist to shoot war-surplus guns (as we were reminded by a politically correct English dude as soon as we came out of the range), damn - was it exhilarating! And at least they're making money off trigger-happy tourists in a controlled environment instead of selling these guns to poor villagers to use in conflicts.
1
Annapurna Circuit, Nepal, April 2007. It was sometime after 7am and the sun had just broken over the top of the Himalayan mountain range; the clouds hung low and everything was coated in snow. Suddenly I realised how fucking high we were - at about 4800m in altitude. We'd woken up at 3am that morning and it had taken us several hours of trekking in darkness to get to that point. The pass at Thorong La was still another hour or two away (at 5416m in altitude), but this was the best shot I took that day. I was still feeling pretty good when I took this photo, but little did I know that the headache-inducing effects of altitude were about to kick in...
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Annapurna Circuit, Nepal, April 2007. It was sometime after 7am and the sun had just broken over the top of the Himalayan mountain range; the clouds hung low and everything was coated in snow. Suddenly I realised how fucking high we were - at about 4800m in altitude. We'd woken up at 3am that morning and it had taken us several hours of trekking in darkness to get to that point. The pass at Thorong La was still another hour or two away (at 5416m in altitude), but this was the best shot I took that day. I was still feeling pretty good when I took this photo, but little did I know that the headache-inducing effects of altitude were about to kick in...
2
Annapurna Circuit, Nepal, April 2007. Nice shot of two hawks or something similar flying above the Himalayas. 'nuff said.
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Annapurna Circuit, Nepal, April 2007. Nice shot of two hawks or something similar flying above the Himalayas. 'nuff said.
3
Kathmandu, Nepal, April 2007. I really like this shot - the afternoon light bursting through the dusty atmosphere of a crowded Kathmandu street. Many travellers don't really like Kathmandu (Kris didn't), but I've been there three times now and I still love it. The people, the energy, the every-man-for-himself griminess of it all. It's a shame Kris' arm got in this shot.
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Kathmandu, Nepal, April 2007. I really like this shot - the afternoon light bursting through the dusty atmosphere of a crowded Kathmandu street. Many travellers don't really like Kathmandu (Kris didn't), but I've been there three times now and I still love it. The people, the energy, the every-man-for-himself griminess of it all. It's a shame Kris' arm got in this shot.
4
Tingri, Tibet, May 2007. This is probably my favourite shot of our entire trip. We were in the Wild West of Tibet in this shitty little frontier town in the middle of nowhere. It was cold, dusty, and cows ate shit in the streets - no kidding. At dusk, a storm seemed to be rolling in and these amazing clouds gathered in the sky. A few of us started shooting around this pool of water to capture the reflections. I was feeling fine at this point, but the next day I would be hit by a 5-day bout of severe diarrhoea and vomiting - not a great way to be on an 8-day jeep trip across the more remote parts of Tibet.
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Tingri, Tibet, May 2007. This is probably my favourite shot of our entire trip. We were in the Wild West of Tibet in this shitty little frontier town in the middle of nowhere. It was cold, dusty, and cows ate shit in the streets - no kidding. At dusk, a storm seemed to be rolling in and these amazing clouds gathered in the sky. A few of us started shooting around this pool of water to capture the reflections. I was feeling fine at this point, but the next day I would be hit by a 5-day bout of severe diarrhoea and vomiting - not a great way to be on an 8-day jeep trip across the more remote parts of Tibet.
5
Nam-tso lake, Tibet, May 2007. We were just driving by this lake and this beautiful yak just happened to be drinking water... if only! Of course, the yak was there as a tourist attraction, but it still makes for a beautiful picture. I was snapping hundreds of photos of this beast, and then suddenly I noticed its owner coming towards me, offering a ride. For five yuan, I felt it was my duty to jump atop.
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Nam-tso lake, Tibet, May 2007. We were just driving by this lake and this beautiful yak just happened to be drinking water... if only! Of course, the yak was there as a tourist attraction, but it still makes for a beautiful picture. I was snapping hundreds of photos of this beast, and then suddenly I noticed its owner coming towards me, offering a ride. For five yuan, I felt it was my duty to jump atop.
6
Nam-tso lake, Tibet, May 2007. I still haven't worked out whether these piles of rocks are just decorative or have some sort of spiritual significance (I've seen them in high places all over the world), but they made a good feature for this photo. We were pretty high up - at about 4900m - but that was nothing to us by this stage.
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Nam-tso lake, Tibet, May 2007. I still haven't worked out whether these piles of rocks are just decorative or have some sort of spiritual significance (I've seen them in high places all over the world), but they made a good feature for this photo. We were pretty high up - at about 4900m - but that was nothing to us by this stage.
7
Lhasa, Tibet, May 2007. There is a long, funny story behind this photo.
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Lhasa, Tibet, May 2007. There is a long, funny story behind this photo.
8
Shanghai, China, May 2007. While not a technically brilliant shot, I included it as I like the mood it captures - the blurred shapes, the wind ruffling our hair and our dreamy gazes. I set up this photo using a tripod as we stood on the deck of a boat cruising along the Huangpu River in Shanghai. It's just a nice pic of the two of us.
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Shanghai, China, May 2007. While not a technically brilliant shot, I included it as I like the mood it captures - the blurred shapes, the wind ruffling our hair and our dreamy gazes. I set up this photo using a tripod as we stood on the deck of a boat cruising along the Huangpu River in Shanghai. It's just a nice pic of the two of us.
9
Barcelona, Spain, June 2007. I think I took this on our last night in Barcelona. We'd had a fantastic four-day stay in the Barri Gòtic and we were walking home after a late-night meal. There's something about the colourful posters and the way they've been haphazardly plastered to the wall that makes me think of Barcelona's strong artistic community and their overt influence on the city. Um... don't ask me why.
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Barcelona, Spain, June 2007. I think I took this on our last night in Barcelona. We'd had a fantastic four-day stay in the Barri Gòtic and we were walking home after a late-night meal. There's something about the colourful posters and the way they've been haphazardly plastered to the wall that makes me think of Barcelona's strong artistic community and their overt influence on the city. Um... don't ask me why.
10
San Pedro de Atacama, Chile, June 2007. A couple of days after Kris' birthday, we went sandboarding in the sand dunes (and got lots of sand in both our cameras) and then ended the day by watching the sun set over the Moon Valley. With a fair amount of cloud coverage, we were lucky to catch a really vivid sunset.
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San Pedro de Atacama, Chile, June 2007. A couple of days after Kris' birthday, we went sandboarding in the sand dunes (and got lots of sand in both our cameras) and then ended the day by watching the sun set over the Moon Valley. With a fair amount of cloud coverage, we were lucky to catch a really vivid sunset.
11
San Pedro de Atacama, Chile, June 2007. We happened to be in this town on the anniversary of its founding day. Hundreds of locals participated in a traditional parade that started around midday. Decked out in colourful fabrics, feathers, sequins and huge masks, the scene looked like a cross between gay mardi gras and the Rio carnivale. My favourites were these dancers who spun a rock attached to a length of string in time to one another. We watched the parade do one lap of the town and then we left to go horseriding. Several hours later we returned in the late afternoon and they were STILL parading around town. All these poor, exhausted kids had to follow their sweaty, over-zealous adult leaders as each group tried to out-parade each other - it was dance or die!
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San Pedro de Atacama, Chile, June 2007. We happened to be in this town on the anniversary of its founding day. Hundreds of locals participated in a traditional parade that started around midday. Decked out in colourful fabrics, feathers, sequins and huge masks, the scene looked like a cross between gay mardi gras and the Rio carnivale. My favourites were these dancers who spun a rock attached to a length of string in time to one another. We watched the parade do one lap of the town and then we left to go horseriding. Several hours later we returned in the late afternoon and they were STILL parading around town. All these poor, exhausted kids had to follow their sweaty, over-zealous adult leaders as each group tried to out-parade each other - it was dance or die!
12
San Pedro, Chile, June 2007. Nice shot, Kris. As an addition to the jumping shots we'd been taking, I thought it would make a nice photo if I did a handstand in front of Miscanti Lagoon. Unfortunately I didn't factor in the effects of altitude at 4700m, but now I'm certain that the series of handstands I did for this shot is what caused me to have a massive altitude headache just half an hour after this was taken.
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San Pedro, Chile, June 2007. Nice shot, Kris. As an addition to the jumping shots we'd been taking, I thought it would make a nice photo if I did a handstand in front of Miscanti Lagoon. Unfortunately I didn't factor in the effects of altitude at 4700m, but now I'm certain that the series of handstands I did for this shot is what caused me to have a massive altitude headache just half an hour after this was taken.
13
Uyuni salt flats, Bolivia, July 2007. A cool optical illusion pic taken on the salt flats. Unfortunately neither Kris nor I can take credit for the idea - a Brazilian dude on our tour, Gustavo, showed us how to do it. It's one of many op-illusion shots that you can take on the all-white salt flats; but unfortunately our surly driver only let us stay for a few minutes to take photos here.
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Uyuni salt flats, Bolivia, July 2007. A cool optical illusion pic taken on the salt flats. Unfortunately neither Kris nor I can take credit for the idea - a Brazilian dude on our tour, Gustavo, showed us how to do it. It's one of many op-illusion shots that you can take on the all-white salt flats; but unfortunately our surly driver only let us stay for a few minutes to take photos here.
14
La Paz, Bolivia, July 2007. Ah, La Paz. What a great city. And what great people! I fell in love with the portly Bolivian women in their traditional bowler-hatted attire, and I made it my mission to photograph as many of them as possible. We were in a minibus on our way to Copacabana when we stumbled upon this street festival (another great feature of this city - there are festivals almost every second day), and I loved how they brazenly stopped traffic with a full brass band and women dancing on the road.
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La Paz, Bolivia, July 2007. Ah, La Paz. What a great city. And what great people! I fell in love with the portly Bolivian women in their traditional bowler-hatted attire, and I made it my mission to photograph as many of them as possible. We were in a minibus on our way to Copacabana when we stumbled upon this street festival (another great feature of this city - there are festivals almost every second day), and I loved how they brazenly stopped traffic with a full brass band and women dancing on the road.
15
Machu Picchu, Peru, July 2007. We've taken many jumping shots on our trip, but this is the only one of me that makes the cut (good work with the framing, Kris). It's self-explanatory: it felt pretty good finally getting to Machu Picchu after a four-day hike, and this shot captures my elation.
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Machu Picchu, Peru, July 2007. We've taken many jumping shots on our trip, but this is the only one of me that makes the cut (good work with the framing, Kris). It's self-explanatory: it felt pretty good finally getting to Machu Picchu after a four-day hike, and this shot captures my elation.
16
Machu Picchu, Peru, July 2007. I really like this shot - not just the colours, but also the casual way the two women are sitting on the rock, surveying the scene. It was early in the morning, and they were probably taking a breather before the onslaught of tourists that arrive with the first train each day. Although I tried to be subtle when taking this photograph, I'm pretty sure the woman with her head turned knew what I was up to.
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Machu Picchu, Peru, July 2007. I really like this shot - not just the colours, but also the casual way the two women are sitting on the rock, surveying the scene. It was early in the morning, and they were probably taking a breather before the onslaught of tourists that arrive with the first train each day. Although I tried to be subtle when taking this photograph, I'm pretty sure the woman with her head turned knew what I was up to.
17
Town near Colca Canyon, Peru, July 2007. We came upon this hilarious scene: 7am, and busloads of tourists on their way to see the condors at Colca Canyon were being dropped off at this tiny town for a taste of "traditional Peruvian village life". This meant that when we got there, a ghetto blaster was cranking out some Peruvian folk music, and a team of dancing eight-year-olds had been going at it since dawn - traipsing round and round this fountain while somebody else collected tips from tourists. I just thought it was a surreal way to start the day, and symbolic of the sick sheen of commercialism that pervades almost all aspects of tourism in Peru.
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Town near Colca Canyon, Peru, July 2007. We came upon this hilarious scene: 7am, and busloads of tourists on their way to see the condors at Colca Canyon were being dropped off at this tiny town for a taste of "traditional Peruvian village life". This meant that when we got there, a ghetto blaster was cranking out some Peruvian folk music, and a team of dancing eight-year-olds had been going at it since dawn - traipsing round and round this fountain while somebody else collected tips from tourists. I just thought it was a surreal way to start the day, and symbolic of the sick sheen of commercialism that pervades almost all aspects of tourism in Peru.
18
Galapagos Islands, Ecuador, August 2007. Iguanas are cool creatures. Lazy but smart. And did you know male iguanas have two penises? I love how the oil-slick colours on the rock matches the colours on the marine iguanas' coats.
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Galapagos Islands, Ecuador, August 2007. Iguanas are cool creatures. Lazy but smart. And did you know male iguanas have two penises? I love how the oil-slick colours on the rock matches the colours on the marine iguanas' coats.
19
Galapagos Islands, Ecuador, August 2007. Frigate birds are even cooler than iguanas. They look like bats from a distance, but they're actually scavenger birds: they don't kill their prey, but instead steal fish from the beaks of other fish-hunting birds such as boobies (apparently they do this as their feathers lack an oily coating so they can't submerge themselves in water). They're known as the "black pirates" of the bird community.
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Galapagos Islands, Ecuador, August 2007. Frigate birds are even cooler than iguanas. They look like bats from a distance, but they're actually scavenger birds: they don't kill their prey, but instead steal fish from the beaks of other fish-hunting birds such as boobies (apparently they do this as their feathers lack an oily coating so they can't submerge themselves in water). They're known as the "black pirates" of the bird community.
It has to be a best of 'cause...WOW! All of them are extraordinay! Very talented photographer full of superb composition and fresh ideas. The most amazing are #2, 4, 6 &14 but all are very impressive.
great shoots, and great trips, all of them are in south america ? love #20 #17 (its hard to get diferent view or photo of macchu pichu) #14 its so creative...
