Around the World: Travel Photography 101

Very nice article about travel photography from National Geographic: http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/photo-tips/around-the-world-richardson/
Contributing editor Jim Richardson is a photojournalist recognized for his explorations of small-town life. His photos appear frequently in National Geographic magazine.
Around the world by private jet. Sounds like the perfect photo assignment, right?
National Geographic Expeditions sponsors these "around the world" tours, and they are amazing adventures. I was asked to go along to deliver lectures, help guests with their photos, and shoot pictures for an end-of-the-trip show. Nine countries in 22 days with all stops being signature destinations of world travel. What could I say?
Photographers are known for their ability to find things to complain about, and I'm no exception. So I got right down to it on the first destination of the trip: Cusco, Peru. Our group's bus was trundling down the narrow streets of this ancient Inca capital. It emerged onto the Plaza de Armas, known as Huacaypata (Warrior Square) in Inca times. A stunning sunset was in progress, complete with glorious clouds on the horizon. But I was still on the bus, several blocks away from the hotel where we were to check in. I was champing at the bit, knowing that all the great light would be gone by the time I could get back.
Welcome to the real world of travel photography.
This dilemma is the steady fare of photographers on the road. If you wait for everything to be perfect, you'll never take pictures. The clouds change. We arrive late. It rains. The museum is closed. The monument is covered in scaffolding. The sign says, "No Photography Allowed." Great. Now what? Truth is, these things happen on the very best of trips. The only answer is to hit the ground running.
Running and gunning. That's what I was going to be doing during this tour. In the coming days, we would be traveling on to Easter Island, Samoa, Australia, Cambodia, India, Tanzania, Egypt, and Morocco. Our expedition leader, Carsten Stehr, likes to say that this is an expedition, not a vacation. Carsten is right. And it is also superb fun.
In my next few entries, I'll be taking you along on that trip around the world, sharing the adventure as well as dishing the dirt on making pictures on the run.
Let's start with that evening in Cusco. I had already made one crucial decision before leaving home: traveling light. Almost all my equipment was in one shoulder bag. I had packed a couple of fast lenses to cope with low light and left my lighting kit home. Those two Nikon lenses—the 24mm f/1.4 and the 85mm f/1.4—would be my workhorses. That's why I was able to grab my room key at reception at the historic Hotel Monasterio, dump a clothing bag in my room, and barrel out the door with my camera bag.
Arriving back at the Plaza de Armas, I saw that the great clouds were gone, but that the electric lights on the great Cusco Cathedral and adjacent Church de la Compañia were glowing now. With a quick dash over to the central fountain, I was able to make a good picture within just a few moments. The 24mm f/1.4 Nikkor let me hand-hold this shot at 1/200 at f/2, ISO 2000. (I needed the high shutter speed because I was out of breath.) Within another ten minutes, the blue was gone from the sky and the scene was not nearly as interesting.
It is claimed Francisco Pizarro proclaimed the conquest of Cusco on this square. That conquest brought a host of changes. Perhaps the most telling was construction of the Catholic cathedral, begun in 1559. Cusco is laden with history, including magnificent stone walls crafted by the Inca as only that civilization could. Today Cusco is a vibrant city, and the plaza is its heart. It is the focal point of nightlife and at the same time rich with both tradition and romance. On a more somber note, it is also believed that the conquistadors executed the last Inca ruler on this very square.
On this night in Cusco, I was happy to run and gun with my camera in such a place of triumph, sorrow, history, contemporary Peruvian life, and sheer beauty. There I was reminded that action—not inaction or excuse or regret—is the highest perfection.

Peru Bird-Watching Takes Flight With 1,800 Species

John Roach for National Geographic News

November 22, 2004

Eco-lodges are sprouting under the forest canopy, guidebooks are rolling off the presses, and Peruvians are eager to showcase their country as a bird-watcher's paradise. That is the message trilled by John O'Neill, an ornithologist at Louisiana State University (LSU) in Baton Rouge, who has visited the country to study birds almost every year since 1961. "It's a country that still has major areas totally unknown biologically," he said. "There have been more than 50 species of bird discovered and described in the last 50 years. I've had the good fortune of being involved with 13." Peru is home to more than 1,800 bird species, 120 of which are found nowhere else in the world. At least five new species have also been discovered as of this year and are still waiting official scientific description. The diversity of bird species in Peru, O'Neill said, stems from its ecological and geographical diversity. On the coast, the Pacific Ocean laps at parched desert. Inland, dry forest and scrubland rise to the snowcapped Andes. Toward the east, cloud forests spill into the Amazon Basin. "It really is packed with landscapes and habitats," said Thomas Valqui, a Lima-based ornithologist and graduate student at LSU. "In five hours you can go from a dry desert through snow at 5,000 meters [16,400 feet] elevation to the rain forest." Thomas Schulenberg is a conservation ecologist at the Field Museum in Chicago and an expert on Peruvian birds. He said South America is the "bird continent," thanks to bird species that are more diverse and abundant than those in tropical Asia or Africa. That, in turn, makes Peru a hot spot, Schulenberg said. "Peru has dazzling geographic diversity, which equates to habitat diversity, which translates to more bird species." Birders' Delights Barry Walker is the owner of Cuzco-based Manu Expeditions and a recognized expert on birding in Peru. He said the opportunity to discover bird species new to science is attractive to a handful of people, but most come simply to marvel at the diversity of species. "Large numbers [of birds], plus some large spectacular attractions, are the prime reason for a visit," he said. Walker noted that clay licks in the Amazon River Basin are a particular draw. Hundreds of macaws and parrots gather at the exposed riverbanks to feed on clay, which helps the birds digest their diet of nutritious seeds. Valqui, the LSU graduate student, said another great spectacle is the mixed flocks of birds, composed of as many as 70 different species, that can be seen swooping through Peru's rain forest. "Each species is represented by a pair of birds, and maybe a young or two, moving through the forest, each one with a specific role," he said. Sentinels in the flocks keep one eye out for the approach of predatory birds such as forest falcons or hawks. The guard birds also watch for large insects, which the flock sends scampering for cover. Other birds hunt insects as they scurry from niches in the rain forest canopy. Biologists believe the advantage birds gain by foraging in a mixed flock is primarily one of protection against predators. Also, since only one pair of each species is allowed to join the flock and each species is a niche forager, competition is kept to a minimum, Valqui said. The flocks themselves are territorial. When two mixed flocks cross paths, bird-watchers are witnesses to elaborate, complex screaming matches between like species in each flock. "Regarding bird-watching, it's known to be feast or famine," Valqui said. "You can be walking in total silence, and you think, What's going on here? They told me the tropical rain forest is full of birds; they were talking about 20 to 30 species in a flock. When the flock arrives, it is actually too much." Valqui, whose guidebook Where to Watch Birds in Peru was published in August, added that birders quickly learn to cope with the diversity. "I have guided several tourists in Peru who see more birds in a week or even a day than they saw in their homeland in the last five years," he said. Schulenberg, the Field Museum conservation ecologist, noted that there are some bird species that can only be seen in Peru. He added: "There are any number of spectacular individual birds, such as the Andean condor and Andean cock-of-the-rock, that are found as easily in Peru as anywhere else." The Andean condor, one of the world's largest flying birds, soars on ten-foot (three-meter) wingspans and can weigh up to 33 pounds (15 kilograms). The Andean cock-of-the-rock is a brilliantly colored, pigeon-size bird known for its elaborate courtship displays. Growing Interest O'Neill, meanwhile, said he is thrilled at what he describes as surging interest in Peru's birds. Working with colleagues, O'Neill is preparing a field guide to the country's birds to be published next year. "When I first went to Peru in '61, I knew of two or three people interested in birds. Last October there was a Peruvian workshop on ornithology in Arequipa—a city in the south—and there were 350 to 400 people there," he said. While the workshop drew an international audience, O'Neill estimates 250 of those who attended were Peruvian, many of them college-age students pursuing science careers. Valqui agrees that interest in Peru's birds is growing but cautions that the bird-watching industry is still young. "It has changed from zero to a little bit, and that might be a big step," he said. "Maybe the toughest step has been done."

Blogger vs. Facebook

I found this interesting article about facebook v. blogs at http://everythingopera.blogspot.com/2009/01/blogger-vs-facebook.html

As the title of my post offers for the inquisitive peruser of my ramblings, this post is about why I prefer Blogger over Facebook. For the parties interested, then, allow me to begin.

My younger sister has a Facebook profile, and she graciously allowed me to try Facebook with her profile to see what I thought of it because apparently one cannot enjoy Facebook until one is confirmed as a friend, and until they have these friends, they are obliged to do nothing. Needless to say, I have been interested in creating my own identity on Facebook, so I readily accepted her generous offer, and since she and I possess many of the same friends and acquaintances, with us mutually having more of the latter than the former, I decided to learn what I might about what my acquaintances were doing. I saw several of the people I knew, and I was able to see whatever short instant messages they sent to each other, but I began to feel that this was rather foolish. When I can post to my blog, I try to say things that are worthwhile to read, and, readers, you may inform me of it if I fail to do this in each of my posts, but many of the remarks I read were things that were without any consequence or of little importance. Therefore, I much prefer Blogger with its format of longer posts over Facebook's.

Second, I like the way one may customize their blog page with many sorts of media and lists of blogs that one follows regularly. Facebook's pages, when one is acclamated to the features of Blogger, seem very dull indeed. Although I would not mind having a Facebook profile since people I know would probably not wish to visit my blog, I like the format of Blogger much better; it encourages users to make pages their own and to create posts of variable lengths.

Of course, there is the remote possibilty that I cannot deny exists that I did not fully explore Facebook with all of its usages. Still, for now at least, I am one blogger who is going to maintain my views on the subject. Do not be dismayed, however, that I am one to close my mind to new ideas, for I think that I shall explore it further, but I do not think that I shall subject myself to Facebook quite yet