My Round the World Trip

[ManWearPants]

BTW, got my new toy ..heheheh

which is?

hahah...very good storyline.. it is fun with a photo and wonder about the story behind it.

yes, I like a photo that intrigues and leaves much to the imagination.

 

[joeleow]

#4 Spain-Granada

Spain, Granada
Columns of the El Alhambra​

this building is absolutely gorgeous... great shots!
just curious... what time of the day was it?

 

[gnohz]

I am reading up about WB and filters for now. BTW, got my new toy ..heheheh

A CPL??

shoot in raw. That will leave WB to be the least of your concern. Seriously, I have been following your thread. I think you are trying to compress the learning process too much too quickly. Take it easy. Photography should be enjoyed slowly. I don't know if overloading one with all aspects within too short a time-frame actually kill the joy of it.

I agree with ManWearPants about shooting in RAW. Although the size of each photo increases rather significantly, you can be rest assured that all the information is captured by the sensor, and no information is lost even if you play around with the white balance, sharpness, contrast, shadows etc. One thing which is priceless to me is that I can recover lost highlights and shadows which can't be done in JPGs as a lot of the data is lost.

Most importantly, it means that you will always have the "original" image data and can always process JPGs from it with different settings. But don't cram yourself with too much info at one time! Enjoy while you learn

 

[pupuce]

this building is absolutely gorgeous... great shots! just curious... what time of the day was it?

Hey Joe, I remember having a late start that day and after struggling up the hill, bought my ticket and have to wait for about an hour plus for my turn to enter Alhambra. I had my sandwich brunch in the gardens so the photos should be taken between 11ish till 5pm. (dont check my watch often)It is very very hot in the afternoons, well above 40degrees C (which explains the siestas) with harsh sunlight. usually the streets are emptied of the locals and only crowded in the tourist zones.
Spain kinda wreck havoc on my meal times and sleeping hours.. I met some Spanish and we went out for dinner.. I was so hungry at 8pm so readily agreed. we went to a cafe and i thought it was dinner time - Nope, we had lots of drinks and chat. Then we went to another cafe 2 hours later and I thought it was dinner - Nope, it was to meet some other friends and more alchohol. Finally we arrived at the lat cafe at 1130pm , I placed order for dinner at 1145pm and my food arrived slightly after midnight - by then, I wasnt hungry anymore:lovegrin:

 

[jungle_sg]

yes, internet speed can be bad in certain part of the world, i worked in a remote part of india back in 99, rishikesh is the name of the town right at the foot of himalayan mountain and ganga flows thru this holy town, the speed at my site on narender nagar, a tiny town just up the hill from rishikesh, the internet speed was simply ridiculous just to read my yahoo maill

anyone, i truly enjoy your thread and it encourage me to travel and take pics even more

I think for long term travelling photographers, this is a biggest issue of all. I have contemplated ways and decided to get a HDD with screen. Bought a local manufactured brand from Sim Lim Sq that has a 160GB storage with direct card reader without a computer. This is raelly a great option because internet speed is a problem with using online library especially with the amount of photos and the size of each picture.
Example in Zimbabwe, the network is so bad, in one hour hour+, I managed to upload 2 pages - one is yahoo webage, the 2nd is to my email page which I can see who wrote to me and that's all.. couldnt even read a single email ior reply anything in that one hour, much less about uploading pics,, can forget it or I will be in the internet cafe for weeks and contribute all my travelling expense to them:devil:

Also , at times, I will be in some remote areas wher I dont get access to internet for days.. by then my memory card might be full or I would have change destinations and have to sort out photos later.

Bringing laptop is another option but a few days ago, I received an email from a Singaporean whom I met in Guatemala and she is still on the road (after 18 months) and her laptop was stolen in the dormitory of Argentina.. it is too stressful to have a laptop while travelling as dormitories are also thieves infested (including fellow travellers, be aware of this) and then also the weight issue.
It was my own fault.. Initially, I backup into CD for the first 5 months or so and thereafter, I became complacent because nothing happened to me. I recall telling myself and some fellow dormitory mates while in Argentina that I'll back up soon as I am arriving in Colombia and I am a little concen about safety issues there... NATO ... and then the S**T hit me faster than expected - In Santiago, Chile

Only can blame myself..

 

[pupuce]

A CPL??

Too many abbreviations in photography.. CPL? I only know CPU
I bought a D90..heheh

I use to think that RAW only for the pros..and especially since I dont really know how to post edit, might as well shoot in JPEG. Tmr I am bringing my new toy out for a walk, will try with RAW just to see how it goes

 

[pupuce]

Hello Jungle_sg!

Hahah.. i can imagine how frustrating it must have been for you then in 1999... wow!
But what can kind of work brought you to that remote part of the country? How to work without internet? (maybe it is possible , dunno?)
BTW, thats the idea of the thread.. make people want to pack their packs and leave

yes, internet speed can be bad in certain part of the world, i worked in a remote part of india back in 99, rishikesh is the name of the town right at the foot of himalayan mountain and ganga flows thru this holy town, the speed at my site on narender nagar, a tiny town just up the hill from rishikesh, the internet speed was simply ridiculous just to read my yahoo maill

anyway, i truly enjoy your thread and it encourage me to travel and take pics even more

 

[pupuce]

#15 Morocco - Marrakech
Heading in the right direction
The weather was extremely hot, temperature was about 45 degrees celcuis. Oranges are in abundance and many orange juice stalls line the city square. Everyone is calling out to you to patronise his stall.. so I make a point to visit a different store every single time. (this is my chance to load up on my vitamin C while on the road) They will entice you with drink one, get half free sometime on a lucky day, you get 2 glasses for the price of one.
Just dont look at how they rinse the glasses and enjoy your fresh juice!​

 

[pupuce]

#16 Morocco, MArrakech
Caught in the act​

Gohnz, you asked me how I take photos of the local people (short of paying them money and asking them to pose for me - which personally I dont like to do as I feels it encourage them to hoard the tourist and travellers in the future for posing of photos. Somehow I feel that It's "less real" in some ways)
So, here is one fore you - what happens when I get caught for snapping pics of them ​

Seriously, most of the locals dont like to have their photos taken. Once in Mali, a guy travelling with me had a african woman chasing him with a chopper down the street. I have also been called aside by some of the local Malian men when they saw me taking photos of people in the market place. Sometimes, I get some ugly looks thrown my way.
Usually If I am taking their photos and its unavoidable that they will see me, I jsut smile and point to my camera. If they nod their heads, I'll take. If they frown, I just smile and wave my hands before walking away. If they come with a chopper, I run for my life!​

 

[wayne900]

thanks for sharing! your photos and stories are very interesting. Please continue to share your valuable and fantastic experience. Cheers!

 

[giantcanopy]

#16 Morocco, MArrakech
Caught in the act​

Gohnz, you asked me how I take photos of the local people (short of paying them money and asking them to pose for me - which personally I dont like to do as I feels it encourage them to hoard the tourist and travellers in the future for posing of photos. Somehow I feel that It's "less real" in some ways)
So, here is one fore you - what happens when I get caught for snapping pics of them ​

Seriously, most of the locals dont like to have their photos taken. Once in Mali, a guy travelling with me had a african woman chasing him with a chopper down the street. I have also been called aside by some of the local Malian men when they saw me taking photos of people in the market place. Sometimes, I get some ugly looks thrown my way.
Usually If I am taking their photos and its unavoidable that they will see me, I jsut smile and point to my camera. If they nod their heads, I'll take. If they frown, I just smile and wave my hands before walking away. If they come with a chopper, I run for my life!​

This is such a beautiful capture of expressions, did you walk over to the guy on the right ? hehe

* while i often love to shoot people in their unsuspecting moments, i somewhat believe that the bit of annoyance that often follows after the first shot makes better photos :devil: But i am usually not too successful in nailing them at that state of irritation since i usually cannot muster enough courage to do so, especially when my wife is my travel partner and she would like me to keep us out of trouble :bsmilie:

ryan

 

[gnohz]

Too many abbreviations in photography.. CPL? I only know CPU
I bought a D90..heheh

I use to think that RAW only for the pros..and especially since I dont really know how to post edit, might as well shoot in JPEG. Tmr I am bringing my new toy out for a walk, will try with RAW just to see how it goes

Sorry pupuce! CPL refers to circular polariser, the filter that we use to reduce reflections and enhance the colours, normally of the blue sky and green foliage. So in the end what you got is a new toy!! Enjoy using it, it's a good machine

My personal experience: I travelled quite a bit in Japan when I was there for a year, and that was the time when I didn't know much about RAW yet so I shot everything in JPG. Now I'm really regretting not finding out about it earlier because I realised that there are so many shots which could have been better if I could adjust the white balance and colours!

Another thing about JPG which you might want to note is that everything you open a JPG image for editing and saving it, some data is lost each time! Which means that if you edit a JPG for 2-3 times, you'll see some significant degradation in image quality such as blotches in colour transition areas etc :sweat:

 

[gnohz]

#16 Morocco, MArrakech
Caught in the act​

Gohnz, you asked me how I take photos of the local people (short of paying them money and asking them to pose for me - which personally I dont like to do as I feels it encourage them to hoard the tourist and travellers in the future for posing of photos. Somehow I feel that It's "less real" in some ways)
So, here is one fore you - what happens when I get caught for snapping pics of them ​

Seriously, most of the locals dont like to have their photos taken. Once in Mali, a guy travelling with me had a african woman chasing him with a chopper down the street. I have also been called aside by some of the local Malian men when they saw me taking photos of people in the market place. Sometimes, I get some ugly looks thrown my way.
Usually If I am taking their photos and its unavoidable that they will see me, I jsut smile and point to my camera. If they nod their heads, I'll take. If they frown, I just smile and wave my hands before walking away. If they come with a chopper, I run for my life!​

Thanks pupuce for your experience! Like you, I prefer to capture people in their unsuspecting environment. It takes a bit of courage to do what you did, take action first until they confront you. Then smile and negotiate. If that fails, then leave/run! ;p

The guy 2nd from the right looks quite menacing though

 

[pupuce]

thanks for sharing! your photos and stories are very interesting. Please continue to share your valuable and fantastic experience. Cheers!

Thanks Wayne for dropping by... I still have another 20 over countries to go..hahah, stay tuned

 

[pupuce]

It might be easier to post and read comments under the photos themselves on the Flickr site.

Possibly.. you can check into Flickr, if you prefer that.. although i dont have too many comments and stories there, just the pictures and the locations. Maybe I will do that so that others can relate to it?

 

[pupuce]

Thanks pupuce for your experience! Like you, I prefer to capture people in their unsuspecting environment. It takes a bit of courage to do what you did, take action first until they confront you. Then smile and negotiate. If that fails, then leave/run! The guy 2nd from the right looks quite menacing though

Actully I was taking photos of their shoes.. but of course they wouldnt know that and thought I was taking them thus this candid shot. I like human street shots as I find that at their most natural..surprisely, when I am at those 'planned tourist tours" especially of the tribes people, I am kinda paiseh to point my camera at their face. cant explain!

The last guy on the left just look so adorable :lovegrin: and yes, I did go over with a big smile, greeting in Arabic, show them the photo before I say bye!

 

[pupuce]

#16 Morocco - MArrakech
Traditional tea man
I spotted him, laughing with a crowd watching the local story teller at the town square. I moved to the front to take a photo of him but he turned away. I am still trying to find out more about this tradtional tea-man as I observed that people drink from the same tea bowls hanging around his neck ( on one seems to mind that it is unwashed)

 

[gnohz]

Actully I was taking photos of their shoes.. but of course they wouldnt know that and thought I was taking them thus this candid shot. I like human street shots as I find that at their most natural..surprisely, when I am at those 'planned tourist tours" especially of the tribes people, I am kinda paiseh to point my camera at their face. cant explain!

The last guy on the left just look so adorable :lovegrin: and yes, I did go over with a big smile, greeting in Arabic, show them the photo before I say bye!

That's a good tactic! Will definitely come in handy
I have to overcome the fear of confrontation when I bring the camera up to my eye to take photos of locals. This is especially so when the lens is of a short focal length as I'll practically be standing in front of them! This is where a zoom lens of 200mm is the most useful ;p

 

[gnohz]

#16 Morocco - MArrakech
Traditional tea man
I spotted him, laughing with a crowd watching the local story teller at the town square. I moved to the front to take a photo of him but he turned away. I am still trying to find out more about this tradtional tea-man as I observed that people drink from the same tea bowls hanging around his neck ( on one seems to mind that it is unwashed)

​

Maybe he is some sort of religious/holy man? :think:
The more I think about it, the more I want to find out ;p

 

[galmen]

Loved what you have put up here so far and also admire your courage to drop everything and go away for close to 2 years! :thumbsup:

Hope to see more of the pictures you took, cheers!