Ok, so not a blister, per se, but a bit of bright sun to burst through the winter blues, with images full of solar flare and whatnot – that was what the ol’ sensor captured on the big 5d2…
But, it wasn’t just the big camera, in fact it was mostly the little iPhone that got the biggest workout – because…yep, it’s the camera with me…
Actually, I made a point not to take the bigger camera with me for most of my vacation – it was a birthday break, turning 40 in the tropics – a time to relax, take in the rays, drinks some tropical beverages, just to relax. Relalxing means, not obsessing over getting all the spectaular shots… Perhaps this sounds counter intuitive – but I can be, a bit obsessive with my clickage. I want to capture all the pretty.
I actually thought about this for a bit – the images that would or would not be captured whilst I was in the tropics. I wanted both, not to be obsessed, but to be able to get some image trophies to bring home…
So, I scheduled a tour – specifically a photography tour. Alex Wilson runs Oahu Photography tours – and has earned the top spot on the activity list on Trip Advisor – I concur(ponders – Alex, do you need to franchise out – the Big Island perhaps?! – only partially kidding, lol).
Given the schedule I had of family and friends meeting me on the island – I felt like I could only spare a half day – so I chose the Sunrise tour - and it was spectacular – I got my photo on, fed the beast as it were, and my trusty iPhone was able to satisfy me for most of the rest of the 9 days. I only cracked out the big cam again on the 2 trips up to North Shore (the wild seas warranted it), and a few shots out at Haunama… I also chose to shoot primarily with my 15mm fisheye – which I think worked out well. I have really fallen in love with it. Playing with the bend, the flare, the wide angle – a great creative lens and creative image partner.
First – with my iphone, instagram was my friend…posting friend & family pics easily to facebook, and pretty seascapey phone pix to my tumblr. Several of the fun phone pix – here -
And, of course, solar flare most often in sharp focus…big cam shots – about eighty percent from the photo tour – thanks again, Alex!
So…I just got back from an Alaskan cruise – it was…different.
It’s not your typical tropical destination – but the colors were bright – and when out – so was the sun. In fact – the sun, as even just part way north as the Inside Passage isn’t really that far up, doesn’t set till later up there…so sunsets – pretty spectacular. Granted no palm nor coconut trees a la Hawaii / Cali…but, I think the massive mountains and crazy sky make up for it.
And I took plenty of images when inspired with the big good camera – but I also took lot’s of snapshots – you can check them out on the tumblr.
The most impressive part of the cruise and by far the source for most of my images – was the 2-3hr mini cruise we took up the Tracy Arm Fjord after climbing down onto a smaller vessel. We got extremely lucky – only a few days a year are as beautiful as the day we got here…the water was glorious, the glaciers spectacular, the icebergs brilliant, and the mountains, massive.
That last bit, from an image making perspective was really breathtaking – the sheer size. Well the size and the lens flare – but we’ll get to the latter in a minute. First the size – everything in Alaska is, well, bigger. No pun. I could tell, simply because I knew I had a pretty darned wide lens on my 5d2 – I rented a 16-35 especially for the trip – a bit of a trial run – as that is a lens I covet. And honestly – I couldn’t barely fit some of the scenes inside of that wide frame – stunningly massively gigantic.
Now to the latter – who knew lens flare due to massive light would be such an issue – in Alaska?! Well, so many views I captured – I purposely was shooting into the sun – and, I guess, I just embraced it. I think the light was gorgeous – and this image sits as my wallpaper at work…
I probably shouldn’t forget the critters – we saw a few – though I didn’t capture many in frame – here you see some black or brown(??) bears on the shore – they really are large – but alas even cropped in – they look tiny as so many things did, amid the massiveness of the surroundings…
How massive you might ask, is everything really – not to belabor this theme – but BIG. In the next image – smaller tour boats, are but specs amongst the glacier and icebergs…you can’t even make them out – I can see them if I crop to 100% – but they aren’t much to look at – so, eh, trust me:)
Oh, and I probably shouldn’t forget the calving glacier – I guess it’s special that it did it whilst we were there – but then, we did have a bit of magic with us, so…
At the end of the day – bigger is better and more beautiful – here’s a few more, and the full gallery slideshow following…
Well maybe not literally *wowie* as somehow I never caught the herbal scent, even whilst wandering across the park under the infamous banyan tree…sigh – the once cash crop, seems to have gone underground, or rather to ground perhaps, as I know I saw some *happy* surfers at another park – really, just friendly;)
“Wowie” aside, the sunsets were gorgeously divine, the vistas, beyond scenic, the coffee, so smooth, the water so clear, and the sun so warm…I could go on and on, it was paradise. Mom and I stayed at Lahaina Shores – I highly recommend – the town is super cute, and the hotel/condo is right on the beach, you practically fall into the ocean when you step out the back doors…
It seemed everywhere I turned, the frame was post card perfection – the sunsets – so stunning. A not so funny thing happen to my shots for most of the trip – I somehow(don’t laugh!) got a piece of hair caught up in the camera between the mirror and the sensor, ruining several shots – but perhaps, it was meant to be. It certainly made it easy to pass over the shots where a blurry line cut the scene in half. Where I could, I cropped around. Where I couldn’t I moved onto the next frame…sigh, you would think checking the images everyday, I would have figured this out quicker, rather than ruining 3 days? Oh well! Que sera, sera! as they say…
Even whilst the unfortunate technical difficulties, I think I was able to record some of the beauty that surrounded us, 360 degrees…sunsets, to black lava beaches…all the way around the island, here’s a taste…Note – even the old trashed out cars, are pretty – I guess that’s what happens in paradise!
This is notable as, my mom lives in Fresno, and I fly into Fresno-Yosemite International airport when I visit, lol…literally she lived about 90 miles…yet we hadn’t made it up there on my visits until now…
We went and had lunch at the lodge…a few images from our trek…and oh my, the high road is really curvy!
‘Twas the summer of 2008 – my mom and I drove down the California coast from the Hearst Castle to Hotel del Coronado, blue oceans and vistas endless. We constantly had our GPS re-routing each time we took the most coastal roads…everything – so pretty…good times.
A beautifully disturbing film. I have to admit, I don’t see many flicks with Mr. Farrell headlining…
However, I found this one quite interesting…that is when I wasn’t (pleasantly) distracted by my date……….
But we will leave that for another time perhaps…
Movies…I really have gotten out of the habit of going in the last couple years…but I do love them…
Even bad movies have value. I love the escape, the far off locations…it is a bit like a 2hour vacation every time. Fantasy, comedy, drama, action…pure escape…bigger than life. It envelopes you…
Colin’s character, in this film, did not appreciate the gloriously historic surroundings…though everyone else in the movie did…but then, he was but an inept hitman who really just wanted to get a pint and get laid…
I am not sure he ever got the second…sadly. Clearly, his character was not of his own clear charms(I mean how sexy is that Irish accent!?)…
Anywho, I would give this film *** stars…not the best, but very intriguing in its characters…definitley a character piece, not anything epic, nor earthshattering…but interesting and quirky…and oft times quite amusing.
Ralph Fiennes comes in for last portion of the film…so funny…these hit men almost have a heart…but then, not really? Or do they?
Anyways…my message? Go to the movies. They are the cheapest vacation you will ever go on!
Day 6 Gyongju…
We get up an out early…this ends being a VERY good thing!
First up, Bulguksa temple. Beautiful. We took the city bus up. Almost got off at wrong stop…it would have been a walk to the next, so REALLY glad we got back on!
So we get there…wander around. There was only one tour group there and a couple of individuals (like us) so it wasn’t too busy yet…this is good…much more peaceful and better pics! And it wasn’t too warm yet…all good things. Took lots of great pics…
Of the temple:
A buddah inside one of the buildings:
Next up, took bus/shuttle up to Seokguram grotto. This was very lovely, a high vista point that you can look out from the valley. It is a bit of a walk out to the grotto area, but nice. When you get there , you have to climb up a bit of stairs but not too bad. A great place. We ran into some school children/group and the kids are great…they see us as a opportunity to practice a bit of english…they are all like ‘hi’, etc…very cute, and friendly…We spoke w/their instructor/leader, and he told us how he studied a bit abroad a ways back…Berkeley…
Pics from of the grotto area:
By the time we get through here, we head back to Bulguksa, and have lunch in the little village town. Straight up little korean restaurant. We were the only customers. I think it is really quiet there during the week.
Then we head back to town, stop off at our hotel to pick up our backpacks, and then into town…drop off packs in lockers, and head off to visit one of the main parks w/the tombs…
pic of one of the tombs…inside there is a cross section…but no pics inside were allowed…
Day 5…The Wedding and a REALLY long bus ride…
This was a very easy, non active day…We basically got ready for a noonish wedding…went… It was a very Western style wedding. An interesting detail is that the wedding procession/ceremony was combined w/the reception-very efficient! It was in a very upscale building (GS Tower) much like a really nice hotel wedding. Afterward they had a very traditional Korean small gathering. Now the main christian ceremony and reception had 2 rooms w/about 800 guests…the smaller traditional ceremony was less than I would say 30ish people…
Picture of main ceremony/reception hall before wedding:
That afternoon, we decided we would go on a overnight day trip to another popular destination in South Korea: Gyongju. The most efficient way to get there is by bus, so we did this…4 hour bus ride…but it wasn’t too bad; nice bus and we stayed at a really nice hotel resort between the city and the temple area where we were headed the next day.
May expand more on this day later…
Day 4…market shopping!
So, if Day 3 was Palace day, Day 4 was market day. We chose the major one downtown called Dongdaedum. It is basically a market district in part of downtown. There are textile markets, and jewelery markets, shoe markets, etc. There is even an upscale department store(s) to go along with everything. When we got off the subway (after doing our typical pastry/coffee stop before getting on) we ended up at one end of the shoe market, which is really a long hall of stalls, with a mileu of shoes on display. There are just massive amounts of everything you can think of. The whold think is a block or 2 long, of nothing but shoes. Some cool, some justk, yawn. We saw a couple of cute options, but nothing that made us pull the trigger.
So we got done w/that after 2 pass throughs, and headed across the avenue to what we thought was the main market place. I think we actually ended up at the fabric/textile market. There was floor after floor of fabric and trim. The kind for bedding (they had alot of name brand fabric like Pierre Cardin, etc), for traditional dress, laces, wedding, leather, idustrial, pretty much EVERYTHING you could think of. I could have spent all day just there…and we spent an hour or two…I bought a couple of yard of some various trim; sis bought a few yards of some colored traditional silk for my mom. We wound our way out of the fabric market and ended up in the jewelery/bead market. We spent ALOT of time there. We got a couple of items for ourselves, but mostly got gifts here…either already assembled or supplies for us to put pieces together. It was so much fun. Basically a gigantic wharehouse floor (3 or 4th level of market place) of nothing but fashion/costume jewlery supplies and whatnot. Sis pickedup a piece of Jade for my aunt by request, I got a pair of earrings for myself-she got parts to make herself stuff, but a necklace already made…and we both picked up, as mentioned already, lots of gifts. Did I mention this place was endless????
Ok, at this point our feet were killing us (well mine were!) so we decided to get some food/lunch. We headed out of the marketplace, and found the department store, which has lots of restaurants/food courts/coffee shops, etc. We ended up at the food court and got I think a Korean/Japanese or something option. It had some bogogi(sp?) and fried rice and noodles w/sweet and sour. Anyway, very tasty.
After eating/resting for a bit, we headed down to the bank to get cash, that was in the basement of the store…spent some time there right before close(good timing). Then proceeded to shop. My sis was having some purse issues, so we shopped in purses. She got 2! lol…I got one…in fact the one that I got is identical to one of hers, lol…we are twins…not! We will not be walking around w/the same bag here, no worries…but that would be funny!
We admired all the clothes in this store. Very very fashion forward. Trendy, w/o being all outrageous prices. To bad everything is so SMALL, or that we are so BIG, lol…the clothes were adorable and so NOT what you find stateside… Korean have access to so much good and cheap fashion, I am jealous!
So at this point we are completely spent…ALL DAY SHOPPING, lol…no pictures, but lots of time looking at stuff! We are looking for the subway, but end up in another, literally underground market…sigh…Oh, but sis actually buys some shoes! Anyway, finally have to find actual subway, and head back…it is rather late by now…and we thought we would be able to hit more than one market area??? not! After resting a bit, we do to dinner in our hotel…it is almost closing time, and we are the only ones left! oh well. We get to go into the Japanese restaurant, an
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they let us order off of either of the 2 restaurant menus, so we order on Japanese dish and 1 Korean one. We eat, we head back up to room…sis starts to put together some of her jewelery, and I crash! snooze…
next day…we go to friends wedding…
Day 3 – Palace day…
Must find names of Palaces we visited in and around Seoul today…the first one, Gyeongbokjung, was very imperial…beautiful. We went on a guided tour, and were able to see the changing of the guard when we left. I got alot of really cool pics.
Me in front of a building(????) at rear of palace…
inside one of the buildings…(Kings quarters?)
one of the guards:
In between, we went to lunch…Insadong, part of downtown…REAL Korean food this time…I had this cold noodle thing w/buckwheat noodles…my sis had this rice bowl thing w/a fried egg in it(she will tell me the name of it for accuracy later!). And I topped it off as we continued shopping, w/a green tea ice cream cone! hey, simple pleasures!
The second palace, Jongmyo. Anyway, it had a much more park feeling. It actually took us a bit to get to, b/c the entrance was not where we thought it would be…well, first we stopped at one on the way, Changdeokgung, and it was closed(oops!) then when we proceeded to the next 2, Changgyeonggung & Jongmyo(that were just down the street we thought)…anyway, we couldn’t find the entrance to either one, so we caught a taxi, and he took us to the front of one of them, the aforementioned, Jongmyo. It was a very park like setting, and much less imperial. But very tranquil and pretty…
Then back home (on the subway of course)…after resting a bit, we thought we’d go to the Hard Rock…so we went to a rather upscale/Western part of town, and I think it is under rennovations and/or closed, b/c we could not find it…it was not open where the taxi let us off…so b/c I was being a total beyotch, instead of trying some fusion places that were right there or something, we ended up after discussion going to another American style restaurant…I won’t name names, but it was NOT good…best stick w/some authentic food choices while we are here…or starbucks, lol…anyway…off to bed…next up, day 4!!
Day 2:
Headed downtown to visitor center…on way stop Paris Baget(big pastry chain here) then at the Coffee Bean for coffee(Starbucks was across the street…they are EVERYWHERE!…then got on the subway…and off we were to Downtown Seoul (we are staying in outer Seoul). The subway system here is quite extensive, and taxis are cheap as well. Took in downtown…very modern and western.
Samsung Building:
Downtown Canal(name) and walkway/bridges:
Then proceeded to folk festival (at Namsongol Hanok Village – Seoul Dano Folk Festival) on edge of downtown…very cool, lots of traditional stuff going on…
Lunch we had Chinese…for really cheap in between the folk fest stuff…
For dinner we ate w/sis’ friend and fiance…real Korean food…it was cool, they brought you veggies and thin meat, and noodles, and you cook/boil it right there yourself individually. Good stuff!
Day 1-ish: Traveled v.v. far!
I think it was a 12 hour flight… We left SFO at 1-2ish pm on Friday and landed in Seoul like at 4-6pmish…yikes!
Picked up rented cell phone, and found the KAL bus to the city…Seoul is like 90mins from airport…yikes again! First meal after finally arriving…Japanese noodles(Oodon)…but not to worry, served w/Korean sides (kimchee, etc) so we are definitely in Korea!
Here’s the hotel where we are staying…and views from…
The Samjung:
I actually thought about this for a bit – the images that would or would not be captured whilst I was in the tropics. I wanted both, not to be obsessed, but to be able to get some image trophies to bring home…
