Varanasi is said to be the holiest city in India for the Hinduism and Jain religions. It is situated on the banks of the Ganga (Ganges). Every night priests perform the Aarti ceremony otherwise known as Agni Pooja (worship to fire) at the Dasashwamedh ghat (main ghat). We watched some of the ceremonies from the boat we took a Ganges boat ride on.
In February 2015 I had the opportunity to join the Unforgettable India tour with Intrepid Travel. Varanasi was our first stop on the tour and it took us through large cities like Delhi, Agra and Varanasi and smaller cities like Khajuraho, Orchha and Chanderi in 2 states, Madya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.
The first time I visited Cape Town, South Africa in December 2012 I heard about a street art tour in Woodstock while staying at The Backpack. Unfortunately I didn’t find time on my schedule for a visit.
Over the last 2 years I’ve seen some of the amazing street art pop up on my Instagram feed by some of my Cape Town Instagrammer friends. Fast forward to my 4th visit to the Mother City this past November (2014) and I just had to get there and see it for myself.
While you can certainly visit Woodstock yourself as I did, I highly recommend taking a street art tour especially if it’s your first time to the city to learn more about the history and the art. You can plan for a visit to the nearby Old Biscuit Mill and make a day of it in this interesting neighbourhood.
Here are some of my favourite murals in Woodstock that I captured with my iPhone.
Woodstock Street Art, a Cape Town, South Africa neighbourhood.
Save Our Rhinos – Woodstock Street Art, a Cape Town, South Africa neighbourhood.
When I was in Senegal, I took Djembe (African drumming) lessons. I learned from a master Djembefola that the djembe was used to communicate between villages in Senegal and West Africa where it is said the djembe originated. It would signal illness, death and celebrations such as marriage and birth. This is my ode to the tradition and a way to celebrate the upcoming birth of the woman’s baby.
Woodstock Street Art, a Cape Town, South Africa neighbourhood.
Street Art in the Woodstock area of Cape Town, South Africa.
Street Art in the Woodstock area of Cape Town, South Africa.Street Art in the Woodstock area of Cape Town, South Africa.
Street Art in the Woodstock area of Cape Town, South Africa.Street Art in the Woodstock area of Cape Town, South Africa.
Street Art in the Woodstock area of Cape Town, South Africa.
Street Art in the Woodstock area of Cape Town, South Africa.
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.
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.
I came across this quote in one of my social media feeds today and it made me think of my Gran, especially as I am about to embark a trip to South Africa and on the 2nd anniversary of her passing.
“When an old many dies, a library burns to the ground” – African Proverb
I cherish that day I spent with my Gran in 2002 before her dementia really took hold. We visited all her ‘familiar’ places – her church, the hospital where she worked (where I was born) and our old apartment.
Gran at her church in Toronto, 2002.
I photographed her that day though I didn’t share the photos, except to a few family members until I showed a slideshow at her funeral in May 2012.
This is the second time I’m sharing them in a public manner. I’m a private person when it comes to the personal things in my life, but today I want to honour her. I want to tell the world exactly who is my travel inspiration is.
Gran at her home with a Bible in hand as I so often would find her, 2002
Gran 2002, a quiet moment. I often wondered what she thought during her battle with dementia
Gran 2002 as she was getting into my car.
I asked her more about our family history and attempted to fill out a family tree book, but it was already too late as she had already forgotten a lot. I photographed her when I could through the years and she was even in my photography studio 3 times by herself and with our family.
She could always make me laugh. Gran, 2003
Gran 2003. I took this portrait in my studio. It was enlarged and hung in her home and was used as the portrait at her funeral in 2012.
I have often said I come by my zest for life, adventurous spirit, strength, independence and love of travel honestly, as she was all those things. She took me on the first trip that I remember. I can still recall those bright city lights as we descended into the Los Angeles airport at night when I was 5 years old.
She left Burma (Myanmar) for Canada as a divorced single mother with 2 children and eighty dollars to her name. She and my dad and uncle lived in Northern India for 10 months in hopes of getting their visa to Canada. She went around the world at 66 years old for 3 months and her final
trip was to England to visit her sister when she was 80, she travelled a lot between those trips and even kayaked across a lake solo, in her late 70s!
In February 2012, she wasn’t speaking anymore and wasn’t giving eye contact, she’d stare off into the distance as the photo below illustrates and often look down or through you. I visited her just before a solo trip to Europe that I embarked on in March 2012. I wondered if I’d be coming home early from that trip.
Gran February 2012 – my final portrait of her. | Dementia
I told her of all my plans and she started to look up at me. I then asked…
“do you want to go on a trip with me? as by this time she was looking right at me.
She very clearly said, “where?”
I answered “Europe”, she nodded her head.
Those were the last words I heard her speak. She passed away May 12, 2012.
Our hands a few days before she passed away.
On May 12, 2014 my dad & I will be in Cape Town, South Africa and I have arranged a ‘tour’ with Uthando, a responsible tourism company to take us to Khayelitsha. Uthando was the organization that first introduced me to the eKhaya eKasi in Dec. 2012 and continues to bring travellers there and supports many other wonderful and worthwhile development projects in the townships.
I requested that we visit Thokazani brothers, a wonderful youth and men’s singing group that sing traditional songs, NOAH – a home for the elderly that I’ve long wanted to visit and we will end the ‘tour’ at eKhaya eKasi.
I think it is very befitting and serendipitous that it worked out that I’ll be spending time at NOAH and with the elderly of Khayelitsha on the 2 year anniversary of her passing and will then be at eKhaya eKasi. I know I learned much of my compassion from her.
Today I want to send a thank you out into the universe and in the spirit of gratefulness that I had my Gran for as long as I did and to thank her for teaching me to how to live and how to love.
“You will find that people that you really love may leave you outwardly, but they never leave you inwardly. Death has not won for love is forever.” – Bishop TD Jakes.
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.
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
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.
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.
view from a Velib bike
Riding a Velib bike in Paris
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
