5 Questions to Ask Yourself Before You Take Your Next Photo

December 30, 2014

5 Tips to Take Your Travel Photography to the Next Level

“You don’t just take a photograph, you make it.”

I believe that it doesn’t matter what the tool is or how expensive your gear is. Yes a dSLR (& mirrorless/micro 4/3) coupled with some good lenses has advantages, but I believe that no matter the tool the key to good photography is knowing the basics of photography such as light and composition and knowing how to ‘see’. I have taken many fantastic images with my iPhone and have had them printed and published both online and in print.

This image below was chosen to be a part of a nature and landscape mobile photography exhibit in September 2014 that included photographers from around the world. The curator printed this image to about 20″ wide and it looked amazing on the wall.

St. James Beach - Cape Town, South Africa. — St. James Beach – Cape Town, South Africa.

There is truth to the old saying “practice makes perfect”, but to take your photography to the next level, ask yourself these 5 key questions before you take that photo.

1. What is the main focal point of this shot? Keep it simple and focus on one main subject.

2. What light is available? Learn to see the light and use the available light – from natural light such as ‘open shade’ and window light to candles, street lamps or the glow from an electronic device. Move your subject or yourself and see how the light falls differently. Often times if the light isn’t right, I don’t take the shot.

3. What angle is best? Try a different perspective than you’re used to. Get low, look up, tilt the camera, experiment and have fun.

4. Am I close enough? Fill the frame, but leave some space for cropping. Consider how people might view your photo. Images appear smaller on smartphones and Instagram uses a square format.

Don’t use the zoom on the smartphone camera to get closer, use your feet. The quality of the image is reduced when using the zoom feature on a smartphone.

5. Is there anything distracting in the background? Take a quick look around. Avoid cluttered backgrounds. A small change in movement or positioning your subject in a portrait can get rid of that tree or pole that is coming out of someone’s head or a busy background.

These tips can make a difference. To learn more about mobile photography including key elements such as composition, I highly recommend iPhone photography school and this article about a 365 photo project. I have no affiliation with them whatsoever, I just enjoy their easy to read and understand articles.

Until next time –

Andrea… and my wandering iPhone

Capture The Color Contest 2013

September 30, 2013

So there’s a photography contest for travel bloggers that I recently learned of. It’s the 2nd year running and the wonderful Steph Spencer behind the geektastic blog A Nerd At Large nominated me to enter, thanks, Steph.

The idea behind Capture the Colour is that participants enter a photograph for each of the five colour categories. Entrants then nominate five other bloggers to participate.

Here are my ‘wandering iPhone’ photos taken during some recent trips. I almost made it a Paris theme.

B L U E

While wondering the medina of Chefchaouen, Morocco in August 2013 on a trip with my niece on her first trip abroad, we stumbled upon this cat sitting peacefully. I couldn’t resist capturing this and was secretly hoping the cat wouldn’t run away before I got the shot.

Cat in Chefchaouen, Morocco

R E D

This past August while in Paris, I got to check “driving a Vespa in Paris” off my life list. I rented a classic vespa and drove it to Versailles and back and all around Paris! What a thrill. Here’s “my baby” parked on a street in the Opera area of Paris before I headed into a restaurant for dinner. Had some serious helmet hair that day, but well worth it!

i

My Vespa in Paris

G R E E N

I took my 17 year old niece on her first trip abroad this past August. Taking a trip together after her high school graduation was something we have talked about since she was a young
girl. When I asked her where she most wanted to go she said Paris! So I planned a trip for us to go from Paris to Morocco by train. What an adventure it was.

Here is a moment I captured of my niece from the Peace Monument taking her first real look of the Eiffel Tower at night.

Enjoying the view in Paris

Y E L L O W

Every year for the past 3 years I’ve had the chance to visit Paris with someone different and dear to me. It’s also been a tradition to have a crepe from the stand by the carousel and to sit on a nearby bench admiring the Eiffel tower and the children enjoying their ride. Each year I’ve tried to find new ways of capturing the scene. This is my 2013 capture with the slow shutter app on my iPhone 4s.

Le Carrousel de la Tour Eiffel

W H I T E

One of my favourite things to photograph are silhouettes. I noticed the light coming through the infamous clock in Musée d’Orsay on my first visit to the museum in March 2012. I waited for people to appear in front of it and I may or may not have nudged my friend (on the right) to walk towards it so I could capture what I envisioned.

Silhouettes against time in Musee D’orsay

Nominations:

Vanessa from Turnipseed Travel

Shivya from Shooting Star

Melissa from The Mellyboo Project

Mary from Calculated Traveller

Meruschka from Mzansigirl

Getting around in Paris

August 31, 2013

Paris is a large metropolis, divided into what they call, arrondissements. There are 20 to be exact. On my most recent trip there with my niece (see Her First Trip Abroad: A journey from Paris to Marrakesh), we stayed at the Pullman Montparnasse in the 14th arrondissement near Gare Montparnasse. It turned out to be a good location as it was fairly easy to get back to. Getting around in Paris can be daunting at first glance, but we navigated the city like experts in a variety of ways – hop on/hop off bus with L’Open Tour, local bus, taxi and even by a classic Vespa.

This trip, (my 3rd time to Paris in 3 years) I tried new ways to get around. I find Paris to be a very walkable city for the most part, but getting from one arrondissement to the next can sometimes be a long distance.

We had finished some touring, shopping and dinner in the St. Germain area and wanted to go see the Eiffel tower for my niece’s 1st view of it at night. We decided to get there by metro, but the metro in that area was closed due to construction, so we took a surface bus near Notre Dame to Musée d’Orsay where the Metro was open again. The bus was free as it was a shuttle between stations.

If you aren’t familiar with Paris, both Notre Dame and Musée d’Orsay are by the Seine River. I noticed that there was a lot of activity by the river so I wanted to check it out instead of going into the Metro right away. Although it was 9:30pm, I felt that it would be quite safe to wander around as there were many people strolling, sitting and socializing on the river’s edge and it was well lit. Most groups were on blankets and accompanied by some sort of wine or champagne, baguettes, cheese and other picnic type fare. As we walked down the stairs from the street level to river level we noticed a Velib station.

View from Quai D'Orsay — View from Quai D’Orsay

In the last few years, many large cities have adopted a bicycle transportation system. The city stores a number of bikes at stations throughout the core of the city. You rent a bike from one location and can return it to the same location or drop it off at another. If you do so within 30 minutes, the ride is free and you pay just a few dollars for access
fees. In Paris, the system is called Velib.

Velib bikes in Paris — My niece on a Velib bike in Paris

We decided that we would take a Velib bike from Quai D’Orsay where we were to Quai Branly where the Eiffel Tower is located. I found the system simple to use as there were instructions in English and you only needed a credit card to use it. We had a few blips getting started, but we got it all sorted out fairly easily and were on our way. The terminals offered instructions in English and several other languages.

It was about a 20 minute bike ride as some areas we passed were congested with large amounts of people picnicking or sitting at the bars and restaurants.

Wednesday night by the Seine River in Paris

I highly recommend the Velib system in Paris as a way to get around. It was an enjoyable and easy ride along the river’s edge and I felt like a local. Although tourists use the Velib system, many locals use it too. After that first trip we were hooked, but it may or may not have something to do with competing against the clock for a free ride.

We lost to the clock due to some technical difficulties with the seat adjustment, but in the end, this moment and shot, priceless!

My niece + a Velib bike + her 1st view of the Eiffel Tower at night

We decided to rent the bikes once more for a ride to the Peace monument which is at the other end of Champs du Mars in front of the École Militaire. So glad we did.

Here’s my niece enjoying the view

My niece, enjoying her view from the Peace monument, Paris

Adventures in Dakar, Senegal

May 11, 2013

Le Centre Culturel c’est là the taxi driver announced.

C’est le Centre Culturel Derkle? I ask.

Non, c’est le Centre Culturel Americain

Derkle? He sounded confused.

I think back to my conversation with Amina, the nanny at my friend’s house. She also thought I was going to the American cultural centre. Maybe it’s the one most visitors go to in Dakar. I remembered that I saw ‘liberté six’ on the map when I showed her the location.

Now in the taxi and somewhat lost, I pull the map out of my travel bag and show it to him while pointing to The Derkle Cultural Centre.

C’est là, en liberté six.

Ah, oui, je le sais maintenant.

Ndiaye smiles and turns the taxi around as he knows where to go now. Relief spreads over me. For a moment, I imagined myself lost in Dakar and not being able to explain where I wanted to go. Senegal is the first place I’ve ever been where English speakers were difficult to find, a new experience for me.

Dakar Street Life on route to the Derkle Cultural Centre

We pull up to a rose-colored building in the middle of a residential neighbourhood in Dakar. There isn’t a tourist in sight.

C’est ici says, Ndiaye. I look around and hesitantly step out of the familiarity of the taxi and Ndiaye.

Merci Ndiaye, je vais vous répondre ici à six heures

D’accord, à six heures

Thanking him as I get out of the taxi, we make plans to meet at 6 o’clock that evening. I know that it’s the correct place as I spotted a sign before leaving the car.

There is a gated entry way; I walk through. A circle of senior women are on my right. They gathered in the shade of a tree. I can hear them talking, but I don’t recognize the language. I wonder if it’s Wolof. I want to stop and interact with them, but I have a class to attend, and I’m not sure where I need to go.

I continue and am now in the courtyard of the building. There are many rooms; they appear to be classrooms. I wonder where everyone is. I try to look for a sign
that may point to where I’m supposed to go for my Djembe lessons, but there are none. I wander around and try and listen for the sound of a drum, but again, nothing.

I go back to the front of the building and search for someone that may know where I need to go. It looks like I’m at the front office, but I’m not certain. I step inside.

Bonjour? I call out. Suddenly a man appears from a back room. Bonjour.

Savez-vous Ibou? J’ai des cours de djembe avec lui.

Non, je suis désolé mais je ne le connais pas.

I’ve just asked if he knows Ibou, the man I’m supposed to meet. He tells me that he’s sorry but doesn’t know him. I thank him and say goodbye. The only person who seems to know anything about the place doesn’t know the person I’m supposed to meet.

I’m not even sure where I am in Dakar. I don’t know how far away my friend’s house is, and I wonder if there is a local bus nearby but then I don’t know how to get back to my friend’s house. I don’t have a transit map, and I don’t have a data connection as I couldn’t get my Senegal SIM card to work. I don’t even have Ndiaye, the taxi driver’s number, and I’m not sure I can speak French well enough to get me to where I need to go. Suddenly, I feel ill-prepared, and a bit of panic begins to set in.

I take a deep breath.

Okay Andrea, relax. Think. You are more prepared than this; you can handle this. In my excitement, I forgot that I was supposed to call the drumming instructor when I arrived. Good thing I added an Africa phone and text plan to my iPhone the night before since my local SIM didn’t work. I look on my phone, and there’s the information I need. I dial the number. A voice answers.

Salaam alaikum

Alaikum Salaam. Hello, is that Ibou?

Yes, this is Ibou

Great! It’s Andrea; I’m here at the front.

Okay, I’ll find you there

I exhale.

djembe dakar senegal — A group of drummers at a local cultural centre in Dakar, Senegal. The man in the blue shirt on the right is Ibou and was my djembe instructor.

Chapman’s Peak Drive, South Africa

February 22, 2013

Chapman’s Peak Drive is a 9km route between Noordhoek and Hout Bay in South Africa, about 15 km from Cape Town. There are 114 curves along this stretch of the Atlantic coast on the south-western tip of Africa. There are several stops along the way where you can pause and enjoy the scenery.

I have been on a some stunning drives such as the Sea to Sky highway from Horseshoe Bay (Vancouver
area) to Whistler in British Columbia, Canada and the Grand Pacific Drive from Sydney to Wollongong in Australia. I have to say that Chapman’s Peak Drive was the most spectacular thus far.

This photo was taken in panorama mode on my iPhone 4s. Click the photo below for a larger view.

Until next time,

Andrea… and my wandering iPhone

Chapman's Peak Drive, South Africa — Chapman’s Peak Drive, South Africa

Cage Diving with Great White Sharks, check!

January 7, 2013

I came face to face with JAWS (cue the music) and lived to tell. Jaws (the movie) scared the bejeezus out of me, but for some reason, I have been fascinated with sharks for as long as I can remember, especially the Great White Shark.

Over the years, I’ve watched many episodes about them during Shark Week. I knew there were Great White Sharks in South Africa, but until recently I did not know you could get up close to them.

After much research, I chose to go with Great White Shark Tours (GWST) in Gansbaai, South Africa. It’s about a 2 hour drive from Cape Town and well worth it. The transfer company picked me up at the hostel I stayed at, The Backpack, and on the way, we stopped in Hermanus for some stretching. I saw a southern right whale and it’s calf from the shore.

My shark diving experience was a dream come true. I wish I could have gotten more underwater video with my Go Pro Hero 2. At the same time, I was happy to be present and be in the moment. Though you are in the same water as the sharks and only mere feet away, I felt very safe inside the cage.

It was absolutely incredible to be so close to these white sharks and it was actually calming. I compare it to watching a tank of fish swimming by. They didn’t even seem like they cared about us at all. If it weren’t for the chum and the workers on the boat trying to attract them, they probably wouldn’t have even approached us at all.

One of my favourite moments was when I was on the deck near the rail, and we were splashed by a Great White. Another favourite moment was when a shark was right beside the cage. The shark could not get any closer except to be inside the cage. It was so close that I moved back as far as I could as I thought it’s fin was going to touch me, but it missed me by inches.

Here are 2 photos I got with my iPhone from the boat.

Until next time,

Andrea… and my wandering iPhone