Category Archives: travel

Decade in review: 2001

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Continuing my review of the the past decade…

2001 slipped past me with no international travel. I’d had another Canadian trip in late 2000 and would go to the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico in early 2002, but the 12 month period that was 2001 was all US travel. The shots on this page came from a fall trip to New Mexico. The one at the top of the post is from Acoma Pueblo and has long been a favorite of mine. I went back to Acoma last year and it was very different. A large interpretation center has been built and many of the buildings on the mesa had been spruced up. Most of these ladders had been freshly painted white and the timeless feeling that I had loved from my first visit had eroded away a little. I’m glad I’d had the opportunity to see “Sky City” in 2001 while it was still a little more rustic.

I also remember another fall shoot in 2001, in the Great Lakes area just after 9/11. It was during the time that all of the flights were grounded and it struck me as I photographed Lake Michigan from the beach near Charlevoix that there were no contrails crossing the sky from planes coming out of O’Hare. A noticeable difference from previous trips to that spot.

On my return home from that Michigan trip, I stopped and shot a little in Pella, Iowa. One image in particular that I remember making may have been the last 4×5 transparency that I shot. It was a twilight scene in a new mixed-use development that had just been built downtown. The buildings were all designed to reflect the Dutch style (Pella has a big tulip festival every year) with a canal flowing through the courtyard. I was using my Tachihara field 4×5, correcting for perspective distortion with its bellows.

The fact that I can’t come up with a digital version of that shot to post here goes to show how much has changed in the last 8 years. I have the transparency, but I no longer have a way of scanning large format film here in the office. I used to use a backlit flatbed scanner — which didn’t give very good results — or I would send images out for commercial scans. This particular image was never scanned for my stock files so it languishes in the “dead film” cabinet. The following year would pretty much see the end of my use of film and everything would change.

Petroglyphs, Santa Fe County, New Mexico, USA

Here’s another New Mexico shot — some petroglyphs near Santa Fe. The New Mexico light was always a great fit for film. I shot a lot of Velvia at that time, along with some Provia when I didn’t want the saturation to be quite so strong. It’s funny, I loved that super-saturated look that I would get with Velvia, but when I try and mimic the look using digital techniques, it looks artificial to me. Obviously, it was artificial on film, too. But somehow it was easier to accept film altering a scene than doing it purposefully in digital. The film choice was purposeful, too, but it seemed somehow more honest than cranking the saturation slider in Photoshop. As time moves forward, I’m becoming more adventurous with pushing reality digitally, though. Something we’ll probably see over the next few posts.

Looking through these images from 9 and 10 years ago is making me realize that, at that time, I was really more of a landscape photographer. My mentors at the time were landscape shooters and it was a gradual transition for me to go from landscape to what I now consider “travel” which is a broader description that can include architecture, interiors, action, people and even food. I’m now shooting fewer pristine landscapes and am incorporating a lot more of the man-made world. It’s a reflection of both what interests me and what is needed in the marketplace.

Decade in review: 2000

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Happy New Year everyone! This time of year always makes one reflect on the past and I’ve been doing my share. I’ve also realized that this year is a landmark of sorts for me — it marks my first decade as a travel photographer.

Well… that’s not entirely true. I’ve actually been shooting and selling to travel publications for much longer than that but it was more of a side business that I had outside of my full time job. I also shot mostly close to home. All through the ’90s I had been building a very complete library of Kansas stock and in the latter half of that decade (mostly after I quit my job in ’97 and went full-time freelance), I had been steadily expanding my coverage into Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri and the Great Lakes region. But the year 2000 marked a shift — Sally joined Midwest Travel Writers Association and we attended their conference in Vancouver, British Columbia. That organization didn’t allow photographer members but I could attend as the spouse of a writer-member.

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This wasn’t my first international trip, but it was the first international trip I took specifically to shoot travel. It was also my first experience with a travel writers conference which, in some ways, is similar to a press tour. A great first experience. And I ended up with a lot of useful stock as well as a bunch of contacts and new friends. Until this point, I only knew a couple of other stock shooters and they had fairly different areas of interest than mine. It was a huge help to begin to develop a network of other travel shooters and to share ideas and experiences with them. A couple of years later I would join the Society of American Travel Writers (which does have a photographer member category) to continue to broaden that network.

To commemorate the past 10 years, I thought I might share a shot or two from each year here over the next few weeks. Not necessarily my “best shot” from that year, but something showing where that year took me. It’s also a great opportunity for me to re-visit some of my older files and see if they can be re-interpreted a bit with more modern post-processing. These two photos from that trip in 2000 were taken with (I believe) my old Olympus OM-4 and I’m guessing it was on Velvia. I probably used my old work-horse Tamron 28-80 zoom although the dock could have been my Zuiko 24mm lens. The first shot is of Qualicum Falls on Vancouver Island and the second is Saturna Island in British Columbia’s Gulf Islands. The meeting had been held in the city of Vancouver with a post-tour option on Saturna Island. We had driven so we tagged on some exploration of Vancouver Island on our own afterward. A really amazing trip. Standing on the edge of the small car ferry to Saturna and watching the Orcas swimming along just feet away is something I’ll always remember (I still carry that ferry pass in my car for sentimental reasons).

Trash

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The Blizzard of 2009 pretty much shut things down around here and we were basically house-bound for four days. The good side is that I made an incredible amount of progress on my image files – a DVD full of Mexico sent off to one stock agency, almost 900 shots of Egypt uploaded to Alamy (that alone took most of three days) and another 650 or so images of China prepped for submission.

While processing the China shots, I ran across this one that I’ve intended to blog about for awhile now. It’s a basket of trash that had just been swept up at the Master of Nets Garden in Suzhou. What strikes me about this is that I was compelled to photograph someone’s trash. Had I shot this in the US, you’d most likely be looking at a bulging plastic bag sitting on some cracked concrete. But there’s something beautiful about this trash. Sure, it’s just leaves and not discarded paper and junk, but it’s also being kept in an honest basket with a useful but colorful handle. The pavement is rough and stained but it’s real materials and carefully laid. I don’t know. It just says something to me. Makes me wish for less plastic and paper in the world and that all of our trash could be this beautiful.

Romeria

I’ve mentioned before that one of the benefits I enjoy from belonging to an organization like SATW is access. While at the annual convention in Guadalajara, Mexico last month, I had another opportunity to take advantage of that perk of membership. A limited number of us were given special access to the Basilica of Our Lady of Zapopan to witness the pilgrimage known as the Romeria, where a statue of the Virgin Mary is carried from the Cathedral in Guadalajara to the Basilica.

091125romeria_1_sotcAs we were waiting to be let into the grounds of the Basilica, streams of dancers made their way past us in the street. Honestly, I could have spent the day there photographing these colorfully dressed folks but we only had a few minutes before passing through the gate.

091125romeria_2_sotcInside the Basilica, we were allowed to go up into the bell towers for a view of the assembling crowds. Some estimates said that there were as many as 3,000,000 people in attendance.

091125romeria_6_sotcSome days I’m really glad that I haven’t brought my entire backpack full of gear with me. On this day, I had assembled a small shoulder bag with a few essential pieces. Even so, it was a tight squeeze in this narrow spiral stair within the bell tower. Once at the top, I had to nearly crawl under the large bell to get to the tiny ledge.

We couldn’t stay on the tower long because they would be ringing the bells at the end of the procession. Looking at the size of the bells, I was fine with that decision. Back to the street level to get some shots…

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I made my way back to the rooftop flanking the bell towers before the statue of the Virgin Mary was brought down the street toward the Basilica so that I could take advantage of another high vantage point. It was a great morning and I thank those who gave our small band of journalists this amazing opportunity. This is one more thing I can say that I never would have seen if it weren’t for this crazy career of mine.

One last shot as the statue is being carried past the platform where commentators were describing every moment:

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Local color — Ajijic style

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While we in the United States paint little beige and light beige sample swatches on our walls to make sure we get that just-perfect vanilla, people in many other parts of the world are embracing color. I love it. I know it’s been done to death, but I am compelled to shoot doors and windows and brightly colored walls. I’ve not found it to be a lucrative field for stock, but I do get the occasional print sale. Probably someone wanting something bright to hang on their vanilla wall.

But I don’t really shoot these colorscapes for profit. I just need to make a record of the uninhibited audacity and joy that shines from these walls. They make me happy.

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I mean, can I even get that red at Home Depot? These were shot in the lovely little town of Ajijic on the shores of Lake Chapala about 30 miles south of Guadalajara, Mexico. The town is home to many US and Canadian retirees who flock there for the great climate. They bring their own local color, too. I was told that this fellow — spotted enjoying a drink at an open air cafe — was a former New Yorker:

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Shooting fashion

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My years with SATW (the Society of American Travel Writers) have given me the opportunity to shoot a lot of different things. On the first night of our Annual Convention in Guadalajara this year, we were treated to a fashion show during dinner. I learned long ago to always have a camera with me, just in case something spectacular happens (if you don’t have one with you, it will, guaranteed). On this evening I had unfortunately pared down to just the D700 and a 24-120 zoom. It’s not a fast lens, so I was glad to have the D700’s high ISO capabilities. The shots here were made at 6400.

The courtyard had been tented as rain was predicted (and it did indeed rain) but at least the tents were transparent so you could get some idea of the architecture above. It would have been amazing to have had this setting open to the sky but, trust me, we needed the shelter.

I’m not a fashion shooter but I’ll try it once. Heck, I’ll try it every chance you give me. Travel photography is all kinds of things: portraiture, architecture, action, food photography, etc. Take every opportunity and add as much to your repertoire as possible.

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Ropin’ kids

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A couple of kids that performed rope tricks for us during a quick lunch in Magdalena on our way from Puerto Vallarta to Guadalajara. It was a beautiful drive through rain forest, over mountains and through lush valleys but the people of Magdalena were the highlight.

Working the sunset, part 3

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One more from my Puerto Vallarta beach session. I was beginning to feel like I was shooting greeting cards — sunset over ocean surf, footprints in the sand, etc. — so I decided to play a little. Call it a game of “don’t drop your camera in the water”. As the waves would pull back from the beach, I would follow them out. Then, as they came rolling back in, I would hold the D700 down almost to the sand and run backward in front of the waves firing off exposures all the way. I wanted to capture some motion and convey the feeling of the waves coming in. I experimented with several shutter speeds — this was f/6.3 at 1/13th of a second. Strong sharpening in Photoshop helped bring out some interesting texture in the distant wave. Technically, I doubt there is much that’s “right” about this photo but I do feel that it captures the moment better than a static shot. At least that part of the moment that I was shooting for. In the end, whether it’s a success is up to the viewer.