Came across this recently. Forgot how nice it is
Countries visited: updated
Been back to www.world66.com
Here's the current countries I've visited.
Here's the current countries I've visited.
Yep, looks right. China is deceiving... I've been to HongKong, but not mainland PRC.
They also have a section for US States:
Iceland is on the list to see the ice, the volcanoes and the Northern Lights.
They also have a section for US States:
And one of Europe - I'm surprised at how few countries I've been to. Does include Albania just after the fall of communism which was interesting.
Iceland is on the list to see the ice, the volcanoes and the Northern Lights.
Terminal 4, Barajas Airport, Madrid, Spain
The Terminal 4 at Barajas Airport terminal was designed by Richard Rogers and Antonio Lamela. Quite a building.
Unicycling in Hyde Park, London
Its a good way to commute.
Hyde Park, London.
Bought by Henry VIII in 1536, its 350 acres in size.
Potted history from www.royalparks.org.uk/parks/hyde_park/history.cfm
- Henry VIII acquired Hyde Park from the monks of Westminster Abbey in 1536; he and his court were often to be seen on thundering steeds in the hunt for deer. It remained a private hunting ground until James I came to the throne and permitted limited access. The King appointed a ranger, or keeper, to take charge of the park. It was Charles I who changed the nature of the park completely. He had the Ring (north of the present Serpentine boathouses) created and in 1637 opened the park to the general public.
In 1665, the year of the Great Plague, many citizens of London fled the City to camp on
Hyde Park, in the hope of escaping the disease.
Towards the end of the 17th century William III moved his court to Kensington Palace. He found that his walk to St James's was very dangerous, so he had 300 oil lamps installed, creating the first artificially lit highway in the country. This route later became known as Rotten Row, which is a corruption of the French 'Route de Roi' or King's Road.
Queen Caroline, wife of George II, had extensive renovations carried out and in the 1730s had The Serpentine, a lake of some 11.34 hectares, created.
Hyde Park became a venue for national celebrations. In 1814 the Prince Regent organised fireworks to mark the end of the Napoleonic Wars, in 1851 (during Queen Victoria's reign) the Great Exhibition was held and in 1977 a Silver Jubilee Exhibition was held in honour of Queen Elizabeth II's 25 years on the throne.
In 1866 Edmund Beales' Reform League marched on Hyde Park where great scuffles broke out between the League and the police. Eventually the Prime Minister allowed the meetings to continue unchallenged and since 1872, people have been allowed to speak at Speaker's Corner on any subject they want to.
The Lido was set up by George Lansbury, the first Commissioner of Works, in 1930 and in warm weather is used for sunbathing and swimming.
Singapore
In August 2010 I got to go to another new place, Singapore. I've been _through_ there before on stop overs at the airport, but not made it landside.
I wasn't there for very long, even so I can remark on a few things:
- With a GDP per head higher than Wales, if you thought it was in any way developing, think again. Its developed and its ahead of you.
- It is super clean and super safe. You could be an unaccompanied female walking home at 3am and be safe.
- Leaving the airport and stepping out of air conditioned comfort is like walking into a suana.
- A Singapore Sling isn't bad.
- Singaporeans love to shop
- I'll be back!
East Sussex
Here's a stitched panorama of the East Sussex countryside I first
rendered a few years ago, before I had AutoPano. So I've returned to the image file and
re-rendered it.
The observant will note its the banner image on this blog
Wellington New Zealand
Been to "Windy Welly" a couple times now, and yes its rather windy.
Although it is the capital of New Zealand, its not the largest city, thats Auckland, and its not even very large at around 400,000 people. Auckland has around 1.4M people.
If you like steak, you should try the Green Parrott on Taranaki Street.
I was only there overnight on this visit, so not much chance for photography.
Sydney June 2010
More catching up to do on places I've been.
Everyone knows what a truly great city Sydney is. Friendly people, nice climate, and stunning location.
This was one of my very first goes at a photowalk, well it was sort of successful.
View Sydney June 2010 in a larger map
The City's modern history started in 1770 when Captain Cook landed in what is now called Botany Bay. In January 1778 Arthur Philip arrived with the first convict ships, found that Botany Bay was unsuitable for a colony and so went one inlet further north.
There he founded Sydney, named after the then British Home Secretary, Thomas Townshend, Lord Sydney. Sydney Harbour is more properly called Port Jackson. Sydney became a real city when it incorporated on 20 July 1842.
Tenerife July 2010
Went back to Tenerife, because firstly its very nice for a family holiday, and secondly because we wanted to go the very top of the volcano.
We did the star gazing again, though it wasn't quite as good because the moon had only just set so the sky was too bright.
And we did Garachico
And Los Gigantes.
To get to the very top requires a permit, so we went to Santa Cruz to get one, and came across the Auditorio de Santa Cruz. Designed by Calatrava, it is very impressive, and is home to the Tenerife Symphony Orchestra.
Tenerife August 2009
The highest mountain in Spain, its one of the worlds largest mountains taken from the base at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, at over 23,000' / 7000m. Still active today, with a special permit you can walk to the very top, feeling the steam and sulphur vents along the way. We didn't know about
the special pass, so we only made it as high as the cable car station.
Its not the best value trip, but it does give fantastic views from the
top.
At the top its 12,198'' / 3718m above sea level, and is a very conical volcano indeed, looking like a giant nipple from many directions.
The centre of the island is a huge caldera from previous eruptions, and its only a matter of time before it goes again.
One big reason for going there is to go star spotting. Forget the organised tours which are super expensive, just hire a car and drive yourself. The maps are excellent and there are so few roads in the interior that its hard to get lost. The album linked below even has the GPS co-ordinates of the best place to go, which is where the tour takes you anyway. And don't take young kids, they'll get bored and you won't appreciate the expense of their ingratitude.
I didn't take my tripod, so my star and milky way photos were taken with the camera on the roof of the car. To prevent getting star trails, unless thats what you intend, the shutter speed needs to talk account of the focal length / angle of view of the lens. A wider lens means angle subtended per pixel is less, which means you can use a longer speed. A picture such as
had the settings
Other interesting sights are:
Garachico where the locals have turned solidified lava into swimming pools and features
Los Gigantes which has giant cliffs 1600' / 500m above sea level. Try to go early as it can get crowded, and also the weather clouds over.
If you like sunshine, then avoid the north coast, which due to prevailing winds and topology is very cloudy even in summer. The south-west, by contrast, can start cloudy but often clears by mid mornings.
The centre of the island is a huge caldera from previous eruptions, and its only a matter of time before it goes again.
One big reason for going there is to go star spotting. Forget the organised tours which are super expensive, just hire a car and drive yourself. The maps are excellent and there are so few roads in the interior that its hard to get lost. The album linked below even has the GPS co-ordinates of the best place to go, which is where the tour takes you anyway. And don't take young kids, they'll get bored and you won't appreciate the expense of their ingratitude.
I didn't take my tripod, so my star and milky way photos were taken with the camera on the roof of the car. To prevent getting star trails, unless thats what you intend, the shutter speed needs to talk account of the focal length / angle of view of the lens. A wider lens means angle subtended per pixel is less, which means you can use a longer speed. A picture such as
had the settings
- ISO: 2500
Exposure: 30.0 sec
Aperture: 2.8
Focal Length: 17mm
Other interesting sights are:
Garachico where the locals have turned solidified lava into swimming pools and features
Los Gigantes which has giant cliffs 1600' / 500m above sea level. Try to go early as it can get crowded, and also the weather clouds over.
If you like sunshine, then avoid the north coast, which due to prevailing winds and topology is very cloudy even in summer. The south-west, by contrast, can start cloudy but often clears by mid mornings.
London in the Spring
From London can be Nice
Sometimes though, spring arrives early, and its glorious as early as March like it was in 2010.
Ferrari super cars near London
Happened to pass a Ferrari race engineering company one day... Ferraris everywhere. All kinds from 250s F40s F50s I can't name them all, plus an E-Type Jag and a Lamborghini.
Where've I been since June 2009?
Yes I'm blogging again. Although Its been a while since the last blog about my travels, I've still been travelling, still taking photographs. In no particular order:
Tenerife
San Francisco
Sydney
Wellington
Auckland
Rotorua
Perth
Brisbane
Melbourne
Singapore
I'm sure I've missed a few. Anyway, over the next few days and weeks I'll try and do some catching up.
Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi to Tamarama
It was only by chance I found about this annual exhibition. And what a treat it is!
The sculptures are whimsical and fun and thought provoking.
Now is its 15th year, it is very very popular. We got there at 9am and had trouble parking and it was already busy. The effort the artists have gone to is substantial, knowing it'll all be gone in 10 days.
www.sculpturebythesea.com
Bonfire / Guy Fawkes Night
From 1605 to the 21st Century. Thats 500 years and still going strong.
A proper Guy Fawkes night is cold and clear. There's a huge bonfire, kids have sparklers, and most people go to organised displays, although since you can still buy fireworks for personal 'consumption' many folks have a party in the own gardens. Before the advent of the large organised display we always used to have our own fireworks.
After some trial and error, my preferred setting for taking photographs of fireworks is
- ISO 200
3s
f/5.6
The 3s exposure gives you nice trails. Go to manual focus, set to infinity, and set the aperture at f/5.6 or f/8. If the image is too dark then increase the ISO. I made the mistake of thinking I needed a small aperture, and also left the camera on auto-focus. Well mistakes are there to be learned from!
I used a timer device on the Nikon. Camera on B (bulb) and the timer set for 3 or 5 seconds. Take picture after picture. You cannot predict when you'll get something nice, so take as many as possible!
Here's some from a couple of years ago
San Francisco January 2010
It was in January 2010 that I discovered a new photographic tool: ImageFuser. It solves a very common problem of dynamic range, but doesn't make HDRs with their hyper-real false colour.
The picture above is a fusion of 3 or 4 images where ImageFuser takes the best exposed pixels.
Also on this trip, because its winter in the Bay Area, the clouds and weather are a little different.
Lovely!
The picture above is a fusion of 3 or 4 images where ImageFuser takes the best exposed pixels.
Also on this trip, because its winter in the Bay Area, the clouds and weather are a little different.
Lovely!
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