Down By the Bridge

Down By the Bridge, originally uploaded by eBv iMAGES.

I took this shot under the Purple People Bridge (I think) while in Cincinnati this summer.

Back to Dreamworld Again, For the Umteenth Time

Girls at Dreamworld, originally uploaded by eBv iMAGES.

Today, I took the kids and three friends to Dreamworld. With Yaow in tow, we were only outnumbered three to one.

The kids had fun as usual. The weather was mild and the crowd was sparse, so they got to ride a lot of rides instead of stewing in sweltering lines. Lunch at KFC is a must of course.

The real "interesting" part of the day was the way to Dreamworld. I was pulled over by Thailand's finest. There was another car pulled over receiving a ticket, and another car pulling away after having received one.

I was given a ticket for an illegal lane change. It was absolutely nonsense. In truth, I was ticketed because I pulled up at the exact moment he was done with the previous driver.

Yaow tried to help interpret. I assumed that the officer was seeking "tea money". When I put some under my license, he indicated that he only wanted the license. I called Tim and had her talk to him, but to no avail.

The biggest pain is that they take your license, and you have to go to the station and pay the fine to get your license back. Fortunately, I think there is someone who is going to be able to help me out.

I was pretty annoyed as I was driving largely because I really didn't know why I was pulled over. If he had been seeking tea money, I would have understood. As I continued driving, I saw a lot of police on this road. They pulled over a car driving in front of me who appeared to be doing absolutely nothing wrong.

Then it hit me. They were out in force to just issue tickets. As soon as the officer was done writing one ticket, pull over the next car that went by. I don't think it's like in the states where you might successfully challenge a ticket. Perhaps, it is an end of the month quota issue, or just an aggressive campaign, I don't know.

Colors of the Canyon

Colors of the Canyon, originally uploaded by eBv iMAGES.

Ancient Ruins of Ayutthaya

Ancient Ruins of Ayutthaya, originally uploaded by eBv iMAGES.

Another picture from Ayutthaya. I did some processing in Lightroom, using an Antique preset. I also added vignetting to darken the area around the corners.

Orange Grooves

Orange Grooves, originally uploaded by eBv iMAGES.

This is a photo of a wall in Canyon X. I really liked the texture and color of the sandstone.

Face Of Ayutthaya

Face Of Ayutthaya, originally uploaded by eBv iMAGES.

Played around a little in Lightroom and Photoshop.

Brian in Ayutthaya

Brian in Ayutthaya, originally uploaded by eBv iMAGES.

The Buddha in the Tree

The Buddha in the Tree, originally uploaded by eBv iMAGES.

The tree roots wrapped themselves around the head of this Buddha statue in Ayutthya, Thailand.

Face in the Tree

Face in the Tree, originally uploaded by spurlock.

This morning I drove to Ayutthaya which is about an hour north of Bangkok. I took pictures of some of the ruins.

Rambutan

Rambutan, originally uploaded by spurlock.

I took this photo late this afternoon outside. It was drizzling lightly and I had to move my camera to keep it from getting drops on the lens.

An Egg By Any Color

Tim and I were talking today about the color of eggs here versus in the U.S.  Here, most of the chicken egg shells are generally brown, while in the U.S. they are white.  The yolk and egg whites really don't look different, and I haven't really noticed a difference in the taste. 

My Western Vacation - Life in the Canyon

I was up early on the second day of my trip.  After breakfast, I saw Charly sitting on the patio talking to Brenda, the motel owner and his girlfriend. 

Charly is a tall, thin, heavily tattooed man in his fifties who speaks with a German accent.  I'll blog more about Charly at another time, but let's say I took an instant liking to him.  I had scheduled him to take me to Canyon X, a sandstone slot canyon on the Navajo reservation near Page, Arizona.  Frommer's Guide to Arizona had recommended Canyon X over the more famous Antelope Canyon for professional and serious amateur photographers.  The book explained that Antelope can be very crowded, while only Charly's Overland Canyon Tours is licensed to provide tours to Canyon X.  Competing with twenty other tripods and fifty other people milling about in my photos didn't sound like fun.

The Canyon X tour would only take four or five hours, so Charly and I discussed options for later in the day.   I already had reservations for that night to stay at Jacob's Lake Inn (near the Grand Canyon), so we settled on a tour of Antelope Canyon after Canyon X.  So long as I was okay with missing a beam of light, Charly explained, he could probably get me into Antelope Canyon when the crowds were much thinner.

Charly and I set out in his four-wheel drive truck to Canyon X.  The four wheel drive was not for show, as we went off road on what I believe was some challenging terrain.  Charly took his time, demonstrating his familiarity with the terrain and equipment, and we made it to our destination without incident.  After parking the truck, we walked down a ravine to get to the canyon entrance.

What a difference those first few steps into Canyon X make.  You go from the hot and sunny desert to a much cooler and darker canyon.  The sandstone walls ranged in color from a bright orange to purple where the light was dimmest. 

I spent three hours photographing Canyon X.  It was great being the only person there photographing the Canyon that day.  Well, Charly took a few shots with his new telephoto zoom lens.  While I could see well in the canyon, it was dark enough that I had to use long exposures.  Some of the exposures were thirty seconds long.

As I was photographing the lower part of the Canyon, Charly went and scouted the upper part.  Unfortunately, he reported, it was still flooded.  While a little disappointed, I managed to use the time to take additional shots of the lower part. 

At one point in the morning, a sun beam came down into the canyon.  Charly threw some sand into the air, and I took some photos of the beam of light.  I've posted one on flickr, but more will come. 

At 11:16 am, I took my last picture and we headed back to town.  Charly ran some errands while I checked out and grabbed a snack.  Then we headed out to Antelope Canyon.

Antelope Canyon is much more accessible than Canyon X.  The drive to Antelope is much shorter, and the entrance is adjacent to the parking lot.  You don't have to walk down a ravine, you just walk right in.  There were only three or four trucks in the parking lot when we arrived.  Charly told me that this was good, as he'd been there before when there were thirty plus trucks.  He'd seen photographers yelling at each other when it gets really crowded.

While I didn't have this canyon to myself like I did earlier in the day, I was able to be in parts of it by myself for extended periods of time.  I went to the back first, and after a tour group went through, I had twenty minutes to shoot with no-one around.  It basically followed that pattern for the two plus hours that I was there.    

After we were done, Charly and I headed back to his shop to settle up.  Normally he has a minimum of two people on his tours, but he made an exception for me.  I expected that he might have charged me a premium for this, but Charly treated me more than fairly.  At some point I want to go back and have him show me some of the places that he and I had discussed in the morning, places like South Coyote Buttes and the Wave.    

I'd say that Antelope is probably more beautiful than Canyon X, but they are both impressive in their own ways.  Having Canyon X to myself, and knowing I was the only one shooting it that day made it kind of special.  Antelope has one large open area that is probably more impressive than anything in Canyon X.  Still, I really enjoyed both.

Next I hopped in the Mustang and headed to Jacob's Lake Inn, which is located about an hour from the Grand Canyon North Rim.  When I arrived and checked in, I realized that the $120 that I paid per night didn't buy me much in the way of luxury.  I was paying for location.  The room did have air conditioning, but did not have a TV or internet.  The bathroom was tiny, and the hot water heater sat right next to the toilette.  When I was sitting at one point, I brushed against it and recoiled from the heat. 

I found out later that they had rooms for an additional twenty dollars per night which were more modern and nicer.  Still, I wasn't there to watch TV and surf the net, so it wasn't a big deal. 

There aren't a lot of restaurants around, so I ate at the lunch counter at the hotel.  They also had a sit down restaurant, but I really didn't want to spend a lot on dinner.  The hamburger that I ate there was probably the best I had while in the states. 

I turned in early that night, as I was going to get up early the next morning.  The next day would be eventful, just not quite in the way I anticipated. 

Aleena in Stripes

Aleena in Stripes, originally uploaded by spurlock.

Coming Up for Air

Coming Up for Air, originally uploaded by spurlock.

Hackers Attempt Backfire?

Okay, now there is a movie that I wouldn't have otherwise bothered to watch that I now feel compelled to view.  Hackers, believed to be from China, targeted Australia's largest film festival for showing the movie The 10 Conditions of Love.  The documentary deals with ethnic minorities in China. 

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/07/26/china.australia.uyghur/index.html