Express Egypt: How to Frustrate a Wanna be Street Photographer!

It is almost time to start the long journey home after cruising around the Mediterranean and the Middle East. As a tourist it has been a fascinating tour however as a photographer it has been a great learning experience which at times has been very frustrating. To explain, one must understand the nature of a cruise. You have the opportunity to see many countries and cultures however the time in each is very short. For example, we were in a port anywhere from 5 hours to 24 hours. This may sound like enough time to get several great photographs however in each country we had a bus tour to see the highlights. When you are on a group bus tour, you must stay with your group at all times. This means if something catches your photographic eye off to the east you can not go if your group is going west! I did a great deal of dashing around to catch up with my group. Another inhibiting factor is that at each site you may only have 15 to 30 minutes and they tend to crowded with 1000's of other tourists.

A good example of a frustrating tour is Egypt. We arrived in Egypt at 6 am and were told we had to be back on the ship by 8pm. Since I have never been to Egypt before it seemed important to me to see the great pyramids, the Sphinx and King Tut tomb. As we boarded the bus at 6:30 am I was very excited to photograph Egypt. As soon as we started our drive through the streets of Alexandria I immediately became frustrated. Everywhere I looked was a wonderful image. Images such as children on their way to school, busy narrow streets filled with people dressed in their Muslim attire, laundry hanging from the windows of close knit somewhat run down appartments. The reason for my frustration was that I was trapped in a bus driving quickly past all of these sights and I know we were not returning until well after dark. I quickly snapped photographs through the dirty window of the bus trying to capture some of the images. First I tried using my Program setting and then my Shutter Priority setting. At 40 to 60 miles an hour, one does not have a lot of time to make creative apeture or framing choices.

I remained calm telling myself once we reached Cairo and the Pyramids I would have my photographic chance. The drive to Cairo is 3 hours each way. Once we entered the city the traffic was crazy with cars, trucks and buses all honking at each other in a continuous chaotic symphony. As our guide pointed out the lines used to designate the lanes are considered by most drivers as only a suggestion! Suddenly the Pyraminds appear right in the middle of the city. As our bus lined up along side at least 25 other buses we were told we had 20 minutes to see the Pyraminds. Now in order to get close to the Pyraminds it takes a good 10 minutes to walk up to them. So needless to say there is not alot of time to find interesting angles to frame a shot. I was also interested in trying to capture the Tourism police on Camel back. Back on the bus and off to a panaramic viewpoint of the pyraminds where there are also very (lets say) "friendly" vendors promoting camel rides to all the tourists. I was more interested in photographing the native men on the camels not the tourists. This costs $1 dollar a shot and they are very posed, not what I wanted. Here we were given a total of 15 minutes. Then back on the bus to the Sphinx where we had another 15 minutes to visit this monument. Gates and fences surrounded the Sphinx so I managed to take a couple of photos through the bars of the fence. Again back on the bus where we drove off for lunch in the upscale part of Cairo. At our lunch stop I thought perhaps I could take some street photographs of Cairo however we were instructed to leave all our cameras on the bus. We were scheduled to visit the Museum after lunch and there are no photographs allowed in the Museum. If you brought your camera, security would take it away and you may not get it back. So for the next three hours I had no camera.

The Museum was fascinating and well worth the trip to see King Tutenkhamen's tomb. The burial chamber was discovered within four huge wooden boxes. One box inside the next like the Russian dolls. Inside the last box was the Kings coffins, the mummy , the mask and all of his belongings he wanted to take to the next world. The burial chamber contained statues, jewleru and of course the pure gold inner coffin and mask. They are in such pristine condition that they look brand new not thousands of years old.

After our Museum visit, we headed back on the bus one last time for our 3 hour drive to Alexandria and our ship. As we drove back through Alexandria, the streets were again filled with people mingling around the sea wall. The atmosphere was so lively and active. I would have loved to capture it. However between the low light situation and being a prisoner behind dirty glass going 40 miles an hour passing all the wonderful images. I have to rely on my own memory not my memory card.

I learned a lot about Egypt. Did you know the population of Egypt is 80 million and 40% of this population is under the age of 16 years old? I saw some of the highlights of Egypt however I have very few good photographic images. Most of my photographs are from the inside of a tour bus and taken through a dirty, dusty window. Needless to say most of the pictures are blurry or hazy looking memories. As compared to "Street Photography", I call them my "Tour Bus Images"!

Cheers from Cyprus

It is disappointing that I am unable to display any of the photographs I have taken of the trip so far. However in three days time I will be back in Athens where the internet connection will allow larger files to be uploaded and downloaded.

Cyprus is Europe's third largest Island in the Mediterranean and is the legendary birthplace of Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty. We docked in the port city of Limassol and jumped on a bus for a tour around Limassol and to its old town centre. Cyprus is close to Greece, Turkey and Syria so its history has been filled with many battles and conquests even as recent as 1975. The landscape is marked with ancient Greek and Roman ruins, orthodox monasteries and crusaders' castles. We visited a couple of the castles but unfortunately one is not allowed to photograph in the castles! My visual impressions of Cyprus are of stone, blue water, green orchards, dry stark, beige mountains, terricotta roofs and castles. Unfortuately we were not able to visit the picturesque small villages where I would have loved to take the photos of the winding streets, blue doors and quaint markets. That is one of the downsides of a cruise where you only spend a few hours in each port.


The cruise has been great so far and the people we have met on the ship come from all walks of life and countries. It has been amazing seeing so many different countries in such a short time. In the past two weeks we have visited Munich, Athens, Mykonos, Istanbul, Bulgaria, Romania, Israel, Cyprus and tomorrow we are off to Egypt. I can hardly wait to see the Pryamids! The trip has been an adventure however there have been some challenges in terms of trying to capture everything in a photographic image. I will discuss this further in my next blog.
Bye for now!!

Insights in Israel

We just got back from our 10 1/2 hour tour in Israel. We docked in Haifa early this morning and jumped on a bus for a tour to Jerusalem. I wasn't sure what to expect. I always imaged Jerusalem as a small, old and quiet city. I was in for a surprise. It is a large busy, modern city surounding the older city centre. Once we entered into the old town centre, we visited the area where Jesus was Crucified and buried. As you can image there were thousands of people from all walks of life visiting these shrines. The ancient winding narrow streets which lead from one historic site to another were lined with small shops. The shops are compressed into the tightest spaces one can imagine and sold everything from carpets and jewlery to t-shirts. The winding streets lead us next to the famous West Wall or Wailing Wall. Inorder to approach the Wall, men and women have to be separated. The area infront of the Wall is split down the middle with a fence. The women enter and stay on the right side and the men on the left. The fence that separates the sexes is high enough so you can not see the other side. Next we ventured off to the top of "Mount of Olives" where the view of the Old City of Jerusalm is breath taking. The wood from the Olive tree is valued for its' symbolism due to the fact that the cross that Jesus was crucified on was made from Olive wood.

The bus ride to and from Jerusalem was approximately 2.5 hours each way. Along the way we were able to see a fair amount of Israel's country side. What is amazing is the variety of different terrain. We went from a stark beige desert surrounding to a lush green forest within a few yards from each other. My overall "one day" impression of Israel is an extremely productive land, as what was once arid desert has been turned into lush pine forests, vineyards, and modern towns and cities while still maintaining the ancient ruins and history of the area. The modern architecture is not what I would call beautiful but functional, white stone modern, block buildings.

Tomorrow we will be in Cyprus!

Greetings from Romania!

Well here I sit on a cruise ship surrounded by music, food and laughter. We just set sail from Romania where we visitied the port city of Constanta. Constanta is a gritty, port city on the Black Sea with a definate faded glory feel of the past Soviet influence. James and I took a shuttle bus into the centre of the city of 350,000 people to find a real mix of beautiful old buildings intermingled with stereotypical Soviet concrete structures that have been left in disrepair. Unfortuately, Constanta is the most visually, economically depressed city we have visited so far. It has seen better days. The general mood of the place is tired and somewhat sad with graffiti and litter strewn about. This is a real contrast to our last port city of Odessa where there was construction everywhere and a true sense of rebuilding. In Constanta we visited some of the parks where locals did relax and enjoy the natural beauty of the trees. Also there is a beautiful structure called the Casino which is not a Casino at all but a restaurant located on a pedestrian walkway situated along the water. I do have photos of both the wonderful old historic building we saw as well as the poor living conditions of the people. I will post these later when I am on a faster internet service after the cruise.

Images that come to mind when I reflect back on our short (3 hours) but powerful visit to Constanta are of friendly people trying to make a living in a depressed enviroment. The port its' self is surrounded in concrete and machinery that reminds me of huge praying mantises. At the port there is also a monsterous mound of strap metal full of everything including several kitchen sinks!! James who is a waste management and recycling freak was in awe at this site! Another amazing site to me was all the electrical lines that accessoried every street downtown. I guess the main images that come to mind for me are the maze of electrical lines, the graffiti, litter and stray dogs who wander the streets. Hopefully, one day Constanta will return to its former glory.

Our next port of call is Haifa. It will take us two days at sea to reach this port city in Israel.
James and I are taking a 12 hour tour to Jerusalem. I will let you know all about it!! Bye for now!

IS- Street Photography

One type of photography that I have always been drawn to is Street Photography. I would love to be able to capture subjects/people in candid situations which convey a sense of humanity or humour that everyone can relate to. Most of the images of street photography that I have seen have been in black and white however I would like to also capture colour in these images. Sometimes I see a moment when both the human interaction with the enviroment is interesting and made even more appealing by the chance of contrasting or complementary colours which pull the eye through the composition.

According to the International collective of street photographers called Seconds2Real, the qualities that make a good street photographic image are: interesting, from a real public and everyday surrounding, well observed, documentary & authentic, grasps a certain aspect or decisive moment, the content is more important than technical circumstances and usually contain people, however this is not necessary.

If you want to learn more about Street Photography I have listed three sites below which may be of interest.

http://photo.net/learn/street/intro

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/street-photography

http://www.seconds2real.com/

I have also chosen three images which may interest you. Each one of these Street images capture something that caught my eye. I hope you enjoy them also!

1) Guido SteenKamp (photographer) Berlin Childhood (image)
I love this image because of the composition of the fence with the wonderful expression of the child. The fence creates a visual block that the child peers through while the other children are evident only through the placement of their feet climbing the fence. I feel this image captures both the shyness of childhood as well as the curiousity of children. This image is alittle hard to find. You have to go to the site listed below, click on the square boxes icon on the side of the first photo to open all the small icon images of the photographs. Then click on the 5th image. This will display the photo I am describing.

http://www.seconds2real.com/photographer/guido-steenkamp/4/

2) Siegfried Hanson (photographer) #20 image
I enjoy the multiple reflections in the puddles in this image. I love the ascending height difference of the children to adults as it is captured and emphasised in the reflection in the water. A decisive moment captured! Unfortunately, this image is another difficult one to find. As in the above image you have to go to the site listed below, click on the square boxes icon on the side of the first displayed photo to open all the small icon images of the photographs in his portfolio. The click on the 20th image. This will display the photo I am describing.

http://www.seconds2real.com/photographer/siegfried-hanson/1/

3) Henri Cartier-Bresson (photographer) Aquila deli Abruzi (1952) image
I love this photograph for a few reasons. It feels like painting to me. It captures both a time and a mood from a simpler time. I chose this image because I love the way the eye is directed through the photograph through the use of line and implied line. The mood of the women working contrasted to the young girl with her arms over her head like a dancer. You can find this image at the following site:

http://ultraorange.net/2007/09/09/henri-cartier-bresson-aquila-degli-abruzi-1952/

I hope you enjoyed all the selected images!

IS - Photo Stitching

We were asked to pick a photo technique or genre that interests us. So I found a wonderful informative site from Cambridge run by a photographer/scientist who has studied several photographic techniques. His name is Sean McHugh. His work encompasses mainly landscape and architecture in low light situations and is incredible. On his site he offers tutorials ranging from basic camera techniques to imaging tips and advanced topics such as Dynamic Range, Photo stitching and understanding diffraction.

I was interested in his photo stitching digital panoramas which enable the photographer to create images with higher resolution and wider angle of view than the digital camera or lens would usually allow. This technique is a very technical process which involves taking multipule images , aligning the photographs, correcting for perspective, lens distortioin, identifing pixel matches between subject matter and properly blending each photo at its seam. This also includes using some photo-stitching software. Although this is interesting to me, I think I am going to pick a photo genre to investigate instead!!!! But if you are interested in this technique, please go to the following site:

http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/digital-panoramas.htm

Even if you are not interested in the above technique, I strongly suggest seeing his Gallery of Photographs. They are amazing for their high resolution in low light!! Here is the direct site page:

http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/cambridge-gallery.htm

New York Times Archives

One site that caught my eye the other day was actually a site to purchase photographs from the New York Times Archives. The site takes you to the New York Times on-line store where it displays photographs in several categories such as: American Experience, Buildings & Landmarks, Colour Photographs, International, NewYork, Sports, Politics, Transportation and War. Each category displays small icons of the photographs which you can click on and get more information about the image. You can view a much larger version of the image as well as find out when the image was taken, for whom and the photographers name.

I have found some amazing b/w images of New York city, Babe Ruth with a young bat boy and the Hindenburg. So if you are interested in some wonderful documentary images check out the site below!

http://www.nytstore.com

Hello from Odessa!

I can't believe I have been gone for over a week already! It has been a wirlwind of travel so far with a few more countries to come. We started out in Munich for a day then on to Athens and the Greek island of Mykonos. We spent two days in Mykonos which was absolutely amazing. It is a small port city/town which depends on tourism for its economy. It is a photographers dream with winding narrow streets with suprises around every corner. The white buildings accented with blue, red or yellow shutters are quaint and picturesque. I have been taking a ton of photographs everywhere but unfortunately I can not post any of them from the ship. The ship's internet service is very expensive ($1 per minute) and very, very slow! The tech on board told me it would most likely take me over an hour or two to send one photograph since the internet is by satelite.

After Mykonos we headed from Athens to Istanbul, Turkey for one day. We went on a 8 hour tour of the city which was an efficient way to see the city but not great for photographs since we were in a large group. I would see something that I would like to photograph but the tour was heading in the other direction or leaving on the bus!! Also I was more interested in seeing the markets and the local people milling around than learning about mosque after mosque. Unfortunately the day we spent in Istanbul was one of their holidays where all the locals leave the city and the spice markets were closed. We did get a visit to the Handmade Rug area however no one was working or weaving! It was still an amazing place to see and I did get some interesting photos from the bus. Also everywhere you look in Turkey or Mykonos or Athens there are cats!! Kim you would love it here! I do have a lot of cat photos.

Next on the cruise we set sail for Varna, Bulgaria. James and I took a short tour and then wandered the streets and pedestrian areas ourselves. You can definiately see the former Soviet influence here. Our weather was wonderful and we sat out side at a cafe and people watched for a couple of hours. I think I got a few good shots. I feel a little like a voyeur snaping shots at all the locals. Varna is a very expensive city for Bulgarian to live in. The average salary is about $300 to $400 a month. Even though money is tight the young women are very fashionibly dressed. James pointed this out to me!!!

Today we just got back to the ship after a tour of Odessa, Ukraine. This is the city for construction. Cara would love to take photos here since she said she likes to photograph people working. Almost every street and building is having restoration work done to it. It is great for the local economy and a rebuilding spirit. Odessa has been through some very turbulant times in its past and is now on its way to a bright future. The school kids were out today since it was recognize and reward the teachers day in Odessa. I love taking photos of kids interacting with each other since they are so pure in their reactions and emotions. However I always see potential shots but I am too shy to take them.

Tonight we set sail for Constansa, Romania. I am looking forward to taking more photos. As I mentioned I have been taking a lot of photos keeping in mind what Craig said at the beginning of the course. I am finding that I am drawn to more documentary type subject matter in some of the ports. However I am finding it a real learning experience to beable to get past my initial hesitation to invade someones space. I think I need a very long lens!!!!!!!!!

Well that's it for now. I will try to write more often if the internet works.