It’s Sao’s birthday and our friend Matthias has come from China to visit us….
So, we have a day out, as one does……

A friend asked me to get a few pics of his Sister racing in her first year.
I also took some of the other races. I have about 1,300 of them . .  yeeks….
What do you think?
In the first photo, there’s a 15 year old chasing a much older player….. it was great viewing.
Tina, Duval’s sister is on number 40 which features in this gallery

It’s off to the speedway this morning…….
Maybe some cool pictures of that this afternoon, but as a teaser, here’s an Albatross from Kaikoura in New Zealand.
This was part of our road trip with Kea, Sao and I heading from Northland, New Zealand to Bluff and back…..
What a trip!!

These blokes look soooo serious!

One of the things you notice in Africa is how a huge animal can disappear really quickly behind some grass, a small shrub or tree…..

There are two other Rhino in this shot……

To see one of these as you drive along is no mean feat. Sao is not only know for her “eagle” eyes, but also for her Owl spotting ones.
Many times I’m regaled with a “Stop!!!!!!”, “Go back” and behold, there under a branch is a tiny Owl looking all regal and pissed off.
This is no exception.

Now you NEED a big lens to get even close to these babies as they are notoriously shy. This particular model is extremely petite!

What do you think??

So often we troll around looking for the best Eagles, Cats and Elephant pictures, when all around are great shots of “food” (from a predators perspective).

This little baby is a male waterbuck. Note the Impala and Saddle Bill Stork in the background. He really looked magnificent standing there looking worried…. well confident actually ….

Here’s another view of the brothers sitting atop a Kruger Sign “Stack??” which are at every intersection and water hole.

What always strikes me with Cheeta is their eyes….. mesmerising… they are intense and highly strung…

It’s early early and we’re trekking along after some other keen punters ahead. But as we get around the corner we hear Ollie on the radio.. “Hyena… … no..no.. Leopard . . .!! !!!>………no Cheeta, wow, two of them!!
And they walked right by us.

This one’s not in great light, so I’ve made the old selective saturation thingy for a laugh……

Any thoughts??

We turn the corner and up in the braches sits an Eagle. It’s blinking and calling.
As is often experience, it’s sitting on a crowded branch, no cooperation with the wanting photographers…..

The sun is going down and we’re photographing small birds and the raptors that are trying to eat them.
It’s warm, bit cooling quickly as the Kalahari  night starts to settle in around us.
Talking about pulling up stumps and heading back to camp and… hang on… wait…..
In lopes a Black Backed Jackal who’s a tad thirsty……

Well, here I am, aptly described by Mr Benn in his latest enlightened moment “The 4 Hour body” sitting in front of my computer, sipping a nice cup of tea…….
I am going to follow this with interest, knowing Mr Benn is almost certainly onto something, and he’s one to do what he sets his mind to.
As a man of souring ambitions and intellect, it’s interesting to have him and his equally perspicacious spouse Ali as good friends that we, alas, don’t see enough of.
We hope to see him soon under the cerulean skies of Thailand or lands nearby as we seek out those places of photographic merit.
I have to smile as the music currently playing is “The Nostalgia Factory”, by porcupine tree….. quite the augery

Anyways, to todays image.

I often mention the bridges and waterways of Africa. There are always plenty of sights and sounds. On this day there were a few focused Giant Kingfisher astride the man made bridge crossing the Lower Sabie River, in Kruger Park. This area is teeming with wildlife and we can often look for the “Big stuff” and miss the little things going on around us. Fortunately Sao is one for the detail and she’s always leaning out looking for those things that are happening nearby. This little fellow was ignoring us completely as he concentrated on the impending meal below……

Here’s a stich up I did.
THis is tough to do on a blue sky background…….

Although I have a new theory, but am too lazy to do it…

Sao took a lot of pictures, and I was often in the way.
This picture is of me getting up close and personal with a wide angle lens.

Check here for more

I’ve done some alterations to help.
This shot is across the Lower Sabie River.
Many of our sightings are like this. Not classic shots, but make for interesting perspectives.

This one was in horrible light, but somehow I managed to get those eyes into play.
Took a while though..

Does gear make the photo? Yes, in a way. Same way a decent car makes for a better or faster ride. People tend to appreciate the camera rather than the photographer for these shots. I am always in awe of other photographers patience and stamina in getting the perfect shot. I can only wish I was like that.

Here’s another unpublished one I quite like…… I should get back to my Africa Photos… he he

This one’s in black and white.
He has his lunch with him, pinched from the Cranes meal….

This is a Juvenile.

Sao has been doing her processing of the Japan trip, albeit a little late.

So I decided to have a look back through a few of my own unprocessed shots.
Here’s one that’s no uber sharp, but really shows the weather and the Raptor, in my opinion.

White Tailed Eagle

As we scoured the Kruger landscape for new targets, we always stop near the waterways for the many species of bird that frequent them.

Bee Eaters are so beautiful, it’s hard not to stop and watch them go about their foraging.

Under the cerulean skies we spotted this fellow….

We’re well back from the Parks now. Ensconced in our lives again, working through the day to day trivia of life working to save up for the next “Trip of a lifetime”.

Our planning boards are full of prospects and we’re looking to see what our 2012 slate will look like, with one fixed in already for Dec 2012.

In the meantime we’ll just cast our eyes to the horizon and let the “Red Eye” settle on our quarry……..

We hope for ongoing cerulean skies ……

Ha, who am I kidding, I’ve no clue. I have an eye for something, but bird identification is beyond me. Some sort of avian dyslexia I guess.

This little beauty is in the sunset dam above Lower Sabie Camp in Kruger Park. This waterhole is home to Crocs, Hippo, and all sorts of birds and other wildlife. There’s regularly action there. In fact, this day, a Leopard was spotted some 300 metres down the road, scared off by the amorous attentions of the viewers….

I like his intensity. He’s feeding and that’s it. All around him are the comings and goings of the vehicles (not cars, as there’s an eclectic spread of transportation modes), other birds feeding nearby as well as the ever present predators. What a life.

We sit in the car, munching an ice cream and wondering about the wonder of it all, which is wonderful of course!

It’s hard to pick one moment from a trip to the African continent.
The most vivid memory was the one we had coming back from Kruger (Crocodile Bridge Camp) to Johannesburg  as we prepared to head back to Thailand and Australia.
We were entering the outskirts of Johannesburg in the early evening and it was cold. The sun was burning off in the distance and the glow of orange was enhanced by the  endless plumes of smoke pouring straight up from the many rows of houses, shacks and makeshift dwellings that are the mainstay accommodation for millions of  South African natives that eek out an existence far from those of the more exclusive residential areas of Johannesburg. The cold weather meant that the smoke was kept within the inversion layer just above the rooftops. This then caused a waterfall effect and the smoke then looked to pour down over the top of the plumes and into the valleys. An amazing sight that I couldn’t photograph as I was driving at the time. Hopefully Sao has a picture I can share once she sorts through her thousands of images, as she was as mesmerised as I was, but had her trusty 5D with her.

That being said, I’ve chose this Hornbill image today. This little pest was responsible for several raids at our table. He took food out of Ollie’s hand and swooped on our table in opportunistic attempts at free food that was on offer from our mornings repast. To add to this “menace” were Baboons and Monkeys all looking for an easy meal. Humanity and wild nature fighting it out for the spoils. This one bides its time and sorts out an itch…..

It’s been a few weeks since we got back from Kruger and Kgalagadi. Sao has recovered from her illness and we’re back in different parts of Australia working on our respective projects. As with all holidays, it seems almost that it didn’t happen. Was it real? Wading through the 4,000 odd photos I took really brings it back for me.

Today there are two pictures, one a Goshawk, scanning (like yesterdays Raptor) for the next meal. He really has a wonderful glare!! The next is the Noble and Hunt Clans in their VITO, letting a giant Tusker walk within feet of them. He did give them a sneer as he wandered past.

These sort of experiences are, as MasterCard puts it, Priceless!

This little Raptor was not even slightly interested in us……

Hunted by the intrepid Paparazzi everywhere!!!!!

We looked up and . . . . . there they were…….. Amazing sight against the blue skies…..

As many know, I like to shoot panoramic shots manually, quickly and get out of there. This is no exception.

This is not really the right time of day for this, but  deep canyon is always a little challenge.

I like it though, for some reason….

Rob

Here’s the start of my online Gallery for our trip to Africa this year.
This is an Eland…… A Goats Head on a massive horses body, in the guise of a goat……

Sao enjoys the view in the Augrabies National Park. We checked this out when we had a little free time.

Sort of a mini Grand Canyon effect…… (ever so slightly)

This would be amazing to see in a flood…… (Google it!)

Rob

And as we checked out a waterhole, the radio sparks up
“Cat’s, Leopard, two, no Cheetah!!!!!!!”
We lean forward, keen to see in front of the lead van…..
Two distinct cat like shapes are loping down the road on our right…
BINGO!!

They then cross in front of us and leap atop the Kruger Provided, virtual termite mounds (sign post things) and start looking around.

The image below is after one had left, and this one was defecating on it to mark territory I guess. I sure answered the “Who’s defecating on top of these things” question that had been posed for a day or two.

This pair wandered out in front of us as we went away from our Breakfast spot.
This is the last morning in Kruger (A few days back)

It’s day 8 in Kruger and it’s nearly time to head back home.
Today was another fascinating day where we saw dead lion, hippo up next to the road late in the morning and birds interacting in many wonderful ways.
There’s never a dull day here.
We were not overly successful trying to get some of our pictures, but there are good reasons (and excuses)
Over the coming weeks I’ll firm up the trip report and some observations from the Safari that may help others doing the same thing some time in the future

Rob

Featured shot is a …. umm…… Bird (Stork-ish thing) flying a lap as it fights with it’s mates for the best spot atop a tree.

Well here we are, two more days of drives before we’re done and back at work (ugh)

I’ll post one image up tonight as a teaser, more later.

This is Eddie, a famous Kruger “Tusker”

Rob

Well today was a day of days. The Big Five were seen in both the Morning drive and the afternoon drive.
For those uninitiated, this means we saw Elephant, Rhino, Leopard, Lion and Buffalo on each drive. No mean feat!

We saw a lot of weird and wonderful sights. An antelope high up in a tree (dead) with Eagles pecking at it. Leopard and cubs feeding almost out of sight in a tree. A “Herd” of Sable Antelope at a water hole. An Eagle practicing flight. It was an eclectic day for sure!!

Todays feature is the last leopard of the day, who we managed to wait out when other people thought he had gone.

Enjoy!

Rob

Today was another good one. Lion were around, but the light was so good we selected other beasties for your viewing pleasures.

Rob

Yesterday the Discovery 4 came up with a Sunroof issue and SMH hire has bought us up a new Landy from JHB. What a drive for that poor lad!!

We’ve had some success over the last few days for sure Day two was quiet and day three was huge. This afternoon (Day 4) we encountered 9 Rhino down on stretch.

Here’s a taster for tomorrow when I will put a new gallery up

Cheetah!

Well here we are in Kruger Park, 2011.

It was some 17 odd hours of driving to get from Kgalagardi to Kruger, stopping for the night in an excellent spot called Glenburn Conference Centre on the outskirts of Johannesburg (Although they delivered cold food)

Technically its day 1.5 as we arrived yesterday afternoon, but I deleted those files accidentally (apart from my backups) so I am calling this merged event day one.

It’s way warmer here.  No freezing nights and mornings with stinking hot days. Much more mild. The park opens at 6am and closes at 5:30pm which seems about right with the light.

Today’s feature is a big tusker who is dusting himself off after a nice drink at a water hole.

More as the days unfold here

Cheers

Rob & Sao

The END

We’re out of the Kgalagadi park now and on the way to Kruger National Park.

The last few days have flown.

Today’s images are from the last hours in the park.

The Leopard we spotted walking along a valley, we could hardly see him his disguise was so effective.

The two secretary birds are on a nest and being all close and cosy,
It was magic.

More from Kruger tomorrow if we get any images.

Rob & Sao

Well, I am back on the grid. Last night at the Kalahari Tented camp we found out that the BGAN had no power. This mornings drive powered her back up again via the invert-er I always bring. The tented camps don’t have power apart from solar lights and gas water / fridges.

It was a long long drive over form Nossob but we enjoyed it (when Sao wasn’t asleep)

It was a quiet day today.
We got out and about and saw a few things, but it was hard game viewing up here in the North.
I am having uploading issues, so only one image until I sort it.

Rob & Sao – Nossob, Kgalagadi, South Africa

Today’s a heavy days driving down some 159 ks of horribly corrugated dirt tracks.
Ollie and crew saw a Leopard early, which had popped its head up once we had passed.
We ended up seeing 4 Cheetah hunting as a pack, or they’d recently eaten, but they sure wound up some local springbok that heaqded for the proverbial hills.

Enjoy todays picks

Cheers

Rob & Sao – Kgalagadi Park

Well we’re here at last. Africa. For those that know us, this is something we do as often as we can. It’s such a great experience.

I’ll add more words once we’re settled. Here’s a few snaps from today that we quickly ducked out and got.

As we sit here in Bangkok, at home, we are constantly reminded of the interesting and varied foods available on the side of any soi (street) almost anywhere in Thailand……

These bottles of drink are served up in Plastic bags with ice, or you can have the bottle……

One of the things we really enjoy seeing is the interaction between species in the parks.
The picture today has a nice waterhole scene where a Rhino is up having a little drink and a Giraffe is contemplating the same.
The taller one is hesitant as he has to do an awkward bend to get down to drink, so he’ll wait for the Rhino to have his full and leave.
Note the four ox peckers on the Giraffes neck.
We’re getting close now to some new live images from Kgalagadi Park next week!!!
Watch this space – Rob & Sao

Here’s a Black and White from a water hole.
These guys were very wary…..

Thailand tomorrow,…….

We’re almost there…..

I am giving some teasers for the pending Africa sojourn.
Sao arrives back here in Perth tomorrow and we then head to Bangkok on Saturday to do the final preparations for the trip.

This is a previously unpublished picture. I quite like these birds, they have striking features.

Enjoy………. The trip build up continues.

Rob & Sao

These Birds we cannot resist. I have a lot of images of these. They never disappoint.

This one is not perfect, with the branch in the way, but somehow it doesn’t matter… to me…

Thanks to E J Peiker who pointed out my typo…. Lilac Breasted…. not Crested….

Cheers

Rob

In 2009 we hoped we might see a few Leopard, but didn’t bank on it.
To our delight we snagged 12 of them.
This one I’ve cropped a little tighter to get the feel of his gaze.

I tingle in anticipation of seeing more of these.

What do you think?

Rob

As the time ticks down for the new adventure, I am preparing for the trip.
A full trip and gear report is to follow.
The next three images are from 2009, our last time in Kruger.

It’s the same image with different crops. You can see the amazing difference it makes by cropping the images in different ways.

For those who thinks this elephant was close, you’re right. That’s taken at 70mm on a full frame camera. We got out of his way once I took this..

Well folks, it’s time for Sao and I to head off on a new adventure.

It’s not like we do it often, so we will savour this as usual. It’s always so great to be in a position to head to the parks of South Africa with good friends (Ian (Ollie), Janine and young Struan) to drive the parks from dawn till dusk in search of “That” picture.

We never know if we’ll get the pictures we want, so now we typically take a “lets take what we see” approach and we get a more satisfying experience all round. In days of old we wanted Leopard shots and more often than not we’d not see one.

Todays image is one taken from high on the Hill, on the balcony of our hut in Oliphants Camp in Kruger park. I’ve double stacked a 1.4x and 2x teleconverter onto the 500/4 so that I can get the cats in frame. They’ve been spotted with binoculars, and contrary to popular belief, the big lenses cannot pick out handkerchiefs of people standing on the moon. These cats are barely visible to the naked eye, but it was a treat to watch them contemplate the walk across the river as a group, past some grumpy hippo and across to feeding grounds on the other side.

This picture is now featured in the 1Ds Header.
We head to thailand and Africa soon and the blog will fire up again with some (hopefully) great pictures from the
Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park and Kruger National Park in South Africa.

This a picture of a Monk staring out at the weird “farang” who was wandering about photographing everything.

I think this one’s come out OK using some selected saturation.

Sao and I pose before a huge tree in a Temple in Siem Reap.

These are the days when there were few tourists, and the town was small and quaint.

Now Siem Reap is a bustling place, backpackers staining the walls everywhere and more hotels than you can point a tout at.

The restful nature of the local families taking their sunday brunch down on the banks of Angkor Wat’s moats seems to be in decline.

I still love the place though!!

Rob

60 Floors up, we celebrate life.
Smile Sao!!

Somehow I was hacked and sacked. I have managed to get it up and running again on a different theme, nothing lost.

Links are a bit of a worry, however…..

More work to do

Thanks for supporting

Here’s another image from Esperance.

Rob

Sao caught this cool image way way South of Pert in Western Australia over Easter Weekend

I am wrapping up a lot of 1ds.com posts, so I can make the site work better, and be more attractive.

This is a rollup of a bunch of posts

Whooper Swans dominated today, with Owls, Deer and Foxes also abounding.
Over dinner a Fox came to the window at eye level and stared in at us
What a magical Birthday treat!!

Cheers

Rob & Sao

Well here we are.
To knackered to write much

Within hours of getting here , this is what we are seeing

Sao picked this one as it represents quite a well known landmark.

I think I have some better photos in that lot, and I will get them onto pbase and 1ds soon.

Enjoy, tomorrow is Hokkaido!!!

It’s Japan, day one.
We got into the Hotel around 1am.
Then up at 7am for a Tokyo “Grand Coach Tour”.

Down one of the shopping streets, heading up to a temple, we came across many interesting shops.
This one struck us as interesting…..

More soon…. need sleep!

Rob & Sao – Tokyo

I miss the days when I had an apartment where I could sit outside in a raging thunderstorm and take pictures like this!!!

This is the “Flying Fox” at Simatai in China.
For a modest fee you can take the quick way down. In actuality, this is not really all that high up (from a Simatai Ridge perspective), but it beats the walk. And on brisk days such as this day (in December 2007) it was a welcome shortcut, as we’d walked a fair way at this point.

Rob

Yunggang Grottoes….. made 1,000 years ago, looks like they carved some of it yesterday, and they really had a feel for scale and grandeur!!

Want to eat us . .  :-)

Here’s a HDR rendition of a view outside the Sanctuary of Truth.

This is a fond memory of China.

There are many reasons we didn’t have fun there, but the people and the place were enchanting. It’s like living on another planet.

Hats off to the Chinese for making something of the Olympics. Unfortunately I feel that, like many hosts, the actual expectation far outweighed the effort and there is a certain feeling of.. so? after the event. It was has been staged and everyone has gone home, now what?

We were real close to this lad…….

Spot the Bird. . . .

This is Sao’s famous “Green Bird”  . . . .

I ignored a plea to stop and photograph one… I paid!!

This place is always amazing.
I have lots of angles of this.

This is with a tripod, which allows the ghost apparition

We walked along this as far as we could see…..

Those boots were relegated to the bin last week.

New boots needed for new adventures!!

2011 – Bring it on!

I miss being able to go there when I want..

Bangkok, from the “Dome”

No tripods allowed, so I was pleased with this 10 (ten) shot panorama of the landscape……

It’s cool up there!!!!

These large birds spend a lot of their time arguing and fighting. Competition for food is fierce.
Size rules and they try to make themselves look as large as possible.

All in the name of survival

Here’s a close up of an Albatross sitting in the water off the coast of Kaikoura.
Amazing stories these birds must have (If they had not a pea brain) given the journeys they have taken.

This was a day to remember on the road trip and we all were left in wonder.

I have a few more of these over the coming days…

I trust you won’t become bored.

Perth has fireworks tonight!!!! I can foresee some images for tomorrow!!

The Guide said that the classic shot was a banking Albatross, with the Kaikoura Hills in the background…… This is close I think.

We were in Perth and Fremantle etc today showing some guests around. As we closed the day Jade pops up and comes over and says hello.
Whilst messing with our iPhones, I downloaded some recommended apps and got this as a result.
Could do it way better with a real camera, but not bad eh?

Rob

Queenstown New Years Day 2011 ……..

A day that will go down in infamy!

Next time we vowed to go to the high one!!!

Flightless Bird, very cheeky and curious.
Introduced species are a plight on these natives.

Some baneter from Westports local Seal population.
Here I’ve sone some selective saturation for a change.. he he

This one I call “People in the Stream”.

Look closely.

Rob

This is #2 in my Westport NZL Landscape Series.
We like this for the foreground Flax Bushes and the skie / sea combo…
Comments always welcome, good or bad

Cheers

Rob & Sao

Here’s a 9 shot panorama from Westport.
Under my feet are some Weka that I am sad to say I didn’t get a decent shot of…..

This is an 11 Shot Pano, illegally parked on Benmore Dam…. he he

All the Dams here are really full and the water is emptying at an amazing rate. Not as bad as Queenslands issues……

Here’s the Royal Albatross, with Kaikoura in the background (Note the weather)

Amazing Birds!

Kea and Sao really enjoyed this day!

Kaikoura 2011, early in the new year.

We had ring side seats to birds that flew 1,400 kms here looking for a meal on the shelf where the lion seals dine out messily.

It was the story of our trip, bad weather.
The Albatross experience was amazing.

Sao and Kea are at the back left of this Jet Boat.
This one’s doing one of many 360′s which seem to go down well.

Kea loved seeing his first Kea……..

Taken at the foot of Franz Joseph Glacier

Running Tigers… so unique……
We will try and find new places to take these in years to come.

Here’s an image with a few techniques.
Using masks and layers I have combined two image, one is the top right where it looks like a TV screen on the wall and she’s looking at herself.
I then went for a B&W background on the main picture… because I could….

Rob

Bangkok Motor Show strikes again.

The “Pretties” are such a large part of the affair, in many circumstances they overshadow the metal…. (Come to think of it….)

Another Beauty for the books…..

and I think there were some cars.

I’ll be sticking a few of these images up, until we hit a new spot . . .

Here’s the first of a few images I took on the 12/12/2010

Enjoy

Bangkok Motor Show . . . . . . . .
4th . . . . .

In it’s landing pattern? No, these hover and feed on the fly, so to speak.

This is from the now defunct “Sai Thip” butterfly park on the road to Pattaya, Thailand

Here’s our refueling stop at Menzies . . . a good 600 odd kms out of Perth. First time for a bit of gas.

Here’s a 9 shot panorama from the top of a knoll in the middle of Lake Ballard in Western Australia.
This lake bed is dotted with statues, which I have artistically super imposed on this larger view for effect
and to represent the art and the lake.

It was too windy and the wrong time of day to do too much photography or exploring, so you have to put up with my artistic impression!!

Rob

Imagine this pit, being so huge you could fit a fair bit off guff in it.
At the bottom of the pit and up the road on the right you can see the trucks hauling the gold laden ore. These trucks are
bigger than houses.
Unbelievable

A Few hundred kilometres from nowhere, there’s another ghost town in Western Australia called Kookynie.

Again the remnants of a bygone era remain. Strangely, the hotel is still active and a few places have been rebuilt for habitation.

This is another compilation of two areas close, but not close enough for this dramatic view…….

At the ghost town of Gwalia, the old houses are quite spread out and the Hotel (from yesterday) is way down in a corner.
I had this image in mind when I took the car piece. I masked out the bit in the middle where the hotel was in the distance and
proceeded to align and bring in yesterdays image (which is processed a little differently and in colour) and put it in a seemingly
natural position.

I think it adds to the mood….

Thoughts anyone??

Tomorrow I’ll head south a bit and add an image from there…..

The last hotel standing.

The town was abandoned in 1963 but they had a few residents that were resilient.

This old Hotel is now privately owned and in not bad condition.

I like this processing to bring out the age………  (My colour these days!!)

We travelled this weekend to Laverton, Western Australia. Out of Laverton, there is a Ghost town around the “Sons of Gwalia” mine.

It’s hard to believe that 150 of these beasties are murdered in China every year. That’s 3% of the estimated Tiger Population.

A Damn disgrace.

My first trip to Europe.
Germany, Winter…..
Loved it. Great food and (unbelievably) friendly people.

Here’s a picture I’ve never shared before. This particular spot is now not available for Tiger shoots. They decided to not have water in the exhibit and to cover it in so we cannot shoot.

So sad, this was a favourite spot for us. But that’s Thailand, it often happens….. But something else will pop up one day..

I like to use “selective saturation” techniques to accentuate the Tiger in focus, and to give the action some spice. These young males really liked to run and fight and run again….. We really miss this place!!

Rob

Than a Medium Format Camera and Lens ???

It’s 2006 and Thailand is in a grip of one of its famous Military Coups!
Our House in Bangkok is right next to a Military base.
We felt so Protected.
This was one of many such vehicles outside showing it’s muscles.

Further down the highway were some serious looking tanks parked smack in the middle of the road.

Thailand… oh Thailand.

As we wandered down the hill to where the car was parked, the views were stunning and the smells and sounds were all encompassing.
People go about their business not worried about us at all.
It’s a whole community that seems to revolve arond this massive Monastery.
Memories……

Often, the best places to photograph are not where we usually look. Look up, look down, look around…..
In this instance, the “up” was the interesting view…..
I think it came out well.

Inside the temple it was dark….. so dark ……

A Few people mingled about and there was a monk blessing people as they passed……

Buddhism is so different there……

What a spectacle!!

It’s 7am in the morning, it’s -15 or so outside.
We’ve been looking at the Monastery  around the corner and we stop here to look at this scene……
The junipers are burning….

The light is starting to come up……
Gotta love it

It’s 2008, February, still bitterly cold. I’d have to say it’s -13 up there, or worse with the wind chill.
I’ve been laid quite low with a lower back complaint and I see this as an opportunity to get some oil in the joints by walking up the great wall.
So I load the Gitzo, the 1Ds3 and the 70-200/2.8 IS in my bag, grab Ali and Ali and we head up to Simatai.
We had no idea that the moon was going to be right there, in face, we had hoped for some snow…..
The trek was long and hard up the hill, but the views were spectacular. UNfortunately, at this time of year the colours are a tad bland, but the moon, the blue sky and the Great Wall of China added up to some magic.
It was amongst this soup of creativity I spotted the guard in the tower with a moon backdrop.

I wish I had a longer lens.

After work, one is allowed to have a look around.

These are fairly fresh turtle tracks……

The eerie view above the deserts of Namibia.

Sao takes pictures from a comfortable vantage point