I visited a friend in Nova Scotia for a week earlier this month. The excuse to visit her and her Canadian providence was to teach her high school art class a little about photography. She could have simply asked if I wanted to go up there to take our her trash and I’d probably had said “yes”, but it was fun to share some of my photography tips and tricks with her class.
The area she lived in – Cape Breton Highlands – is unbelievably beautiful. Wildflowers were in bloom, the pristine forests were alive with wildlife. I saw moose, coyotes, egrets, geese, rabbits, snakes, eagles, toads… I went on a couple hikes and admired how they were so clean and without graffiti or trash, an unfortunate occurrence here in Southern California.
If you want to save money, you should go to Nova Scotia instead of Scotland. After all, Nova Scotia literally translates to “New Scotland”. The people speak English with a Canadian/Gaelic accent. Even street signs along the Cabot Trail, the main highway snaking up the eastern coast of Cape Breton Island, are in both English and Gaelic.
I enjoyed the graciousness of my host and those who lived in the area. The people I met in the highlands of Cape Brenton had family in the area for many generations. I was staying in a cabin with a friend on the property her family settled on some 200 years earlier. The graveyard on the old property had over 100 tombstones, all related in some way to my friend. Her great great great grandfather who came over from Scotland was buried there.
All the sleepy towns in the area were beautiful, with their cottage-like houses painted either white or a bright color. A local told me that since the weather changes so often and usually involved wind and rain, they use protective boat paint to cover their homes – which probably comes in colors with names like “Ocean Blue”, “Fire Truck Red” or “Banana Yellow”. With the contrast of their well-manicured lawns, the brown rocky shoreline and the blue ocean, it was easy to take “postcard perfect” photos. Here are a few:
I’ll post more photos, as well as a few other things (maps, journal scans, etc.) from my trip, in the coming weeks.
I am spending the weekend preparing for a trip to Nova Scotia, Canada where I’ll be visiting a friend I haven’t seen since 2004. We met while backpacking through Croatia and have kept in touch ever since through e-mail. She invited me to teach her high school class a bit about photography, so I’ve spent the last few hours looking through my photos for examples of composition.
I came across this photo I took in Marrakesh, Morocco last December:
I remember having a strong feeling of déjà vu last month when taking photos of the Pasadena City Hall. It wasn’t until I found the Morocco photo that I realized why:
It might not be obvious at first glance, but the photos are of lanterns hanging from ceilings taken from below looking directly up.
This summer, Outsider Magazine will release their annual Summer Buyer’s Guide. On the cover in all of it’s glory is one of the best tools I’ve owned: The Leatherman Skeletool CX.
I purchased the multi tool recently from REI.com, which had it on back order for weeks. My first impression is of the design – almost a piece of artwork, especially when compared to the boxy design of earlier versions of the Leatherman. When I received it, I was impressed by how light they made it. Weighing in at just 5 ounces, clip it into a belt loop and you’ll forget you are wearing it. Holding it feels like it was designed for my hand.
My only concern is the bit connection, where the Phillips #1 and #2 bits and 3/16 in. and 1/4 in. flathead bits (included) connect into the end of the tool. It would seem that an active hiker like me could easily knock it out and lose it forever. For this reason, I usually leave the Phillips bits at home and keep the flathead bits in the secured slit within the handle. (Who uses a screwdriver while camping/hiking/backpacking anyway?)
I first tested this tool in the wild while in Joshua Tree National Park last weekend (see last post). One of the very first uses was well worth the price of the tool. And I just happen to be holding my video camera when it all went down:
Flickr recently started allowing video posting. I don’t think they’ll replace the juggernaut that is YouTube, but I thought I’d give it a go. Here’s a video I took in May, 2004 in the beautiful country of Montenegro:
One my my favorite photos was taken from the same spot:
I’ve been home sick with bronchitis for the past week. It hit hard and kept me home on the couch like a criminal under house arrest. It gave me a lot of time to contemplate how bacteria could have crippled my lifestyle so quickly and brutally. But now, thanks to a Kiwi friend, I’m suffering from a virus as well.
It all came back so suddenly. One moment I’m just sitting here answering some e-mails, and the next, I’m dreaming of adventures in an archipelago. It all started with an instant message:
“I’m in Vanuata. Doing research in Malekula for three months.“
For a moment, I thought he was making up fictional locales. I’m better than most Americans when it comes to world geography, but Vanuata? Malekula? I really thought he was just randomly pecking at the keyboard.
I met Joe in Nicaragua a couple years ago. We drank hooch with a group of hostelers until we passed out. He kindly kicked me in the ribs at 3am to let me know the hostel wanted me to leave (I was not a paid guest). Only true friends begin relationships this way. We hung out in Granada a few days later and I showed him around Los Angeles when he was on his way back home to New Zealand. We’ve been keeping in touch online ever since.
Which brings us to his current instant message. He tells me he’s about to begin a three-month expedition into the rural communities of Malekula talking to the indigenous people about traditional knowledge and education. Doesn’t that last sentence just bleed excitement and adventure? Thanks to wikipedia, I discover that he’s on an island of the Republic of Vanuata, which is east of Australia in the South Pacific.
Joe’s a biologist, but assisting an ethnobotanist in order to go on this trip. I’m equally jealous as fascinated by his trip. Here’s a photo he just sent me. See if you can pick him out of the crowd:
Thanks to Joe, my travel bug (or virus) is back in full force.
It’s been a few months now since I’ve returned from Morocco, so now seems like as good of time as any to start sharing some of the stories of my trip here on the web. I’ll start with a passage from my journal after the jump.
December 10th, 2007 – Marrakesh, Morocco – Day 11
9:30am – Sitting at cafe in the Place Djemaa el Fna.About fifteen men sit quietly at tables (can sit about 40-50).Most sit by themselves, watching the busy square come alive in the morning sun. Most are dressed in western clothing with traditional Fez hats.One older bearded man is dressed in a jellaba – a robe with a hood – over his plain white dress shirt.
In the large square, many of the dozens of orange juice carts open.A few pairs of tourists wander casually while locals are more determined in their pace.Where are they going? School. Work. Home. I don’t know.Some pass on motorized scooters, bicycles, and from time-to-time, private cars or beige taxis.Women who walk, walk alone or with a female companion.
There are many sellers walk though the cafe, making it hard to find solitude in my journal.Men selling cigarettes does not speak, but rattle a fist full of coins twice to signal to those around him that he is here.Children and women make their rounds with a platter of cookies strapped around their necks like a hot dog vendor at a baseball game.Shoe shiners and their shoeshine boxes also make appearances at this café every 20 minutes or so.
Bicycles and motorcycles line up haphazardly in front of the cafe, their owners apparently sitting or working at the cafe.The waiters dress in a white three-piece uniform with a little red jacket and walk at a quicker pace while helping their guests.They are polite and do not disturb the reflecting men at their tables unless the men motion for them.
An old man with a hunched back begs for money. A few minutes later, a teenage boy leads a blind man around to the tables asking for change.I pull out some change to give to them.
A horse and carriage are not just for tourists.Locals use them as well.Mules are rarely seen as vehicles for humans. They pull carts of produce or have bails of goods trapped to their backs.
As I sit here at the cafe, I find Saharan sand in my jacket pocket.Riding a camel seems so long ago, but it was just yesterday morning…
The journal I kept in Morocco is one of my favorites of recent years. I was able to capture so much of my experiences with the pages whereas in the past, I wouldn’t make the time to do so. Here are a few scanned pages from the journal:
As you can see, I’ve updated my blog to WordPress. I can hear you saying under your breath “It’s about time, Kolby!” Well, you’re right. I should have done this eons ago. In fact, I might have posted more if I did. If you didn’t know me and your only contact with my life was this site, then it might appear that I’ve been sitting on my butt for the last five months. That’s not the case! I went to Morocco for two weeks in December and had an awesome time! Here’s some stuff:
I have updated two sections of my site with some new material:
I have opened up the Design section, showcasing some of the work I have done for various web and print projects.
I have also added a few new albums with some recently taken photos. I just returned from Morocco earlier this month so I’ll have more photos to add shortly. When you check out the Gallery, you might notice that I’ve changed the look of it (yet again). This time I used a Flash plug-in called AutoViewer. It works better than the last Flash plug-in I used, but it still has a few kinks to be worked out. For now, check it out in Internet Explorer. Why don’t you give it a whirl and let me know what you think?
I discovered a cool program called Zoomify that allows viewers to zoom in on high-resolution or panoramic photographs. I always enjoy taking a panoramic shot on my trips and took quite a few while in Eastern Europe a few years ago. I’ve added four of them to my website. Enjoy!
I’ve been planning it for a bit, but I traditionally never mention the name of the destination until I’ve bought the airline tickets. So guess what I did this week? I bought airline tickets! I’m happy to announce that my next international adventure is to Nicaragua! I’ve created a blog over at my travel website, kahunna.net. I hope to update it frequently (more frequently than this one, at least). My trip will be from November 30th to December 13th, which will be keeping my other travel-related tradition alive: celebrating my birthday in another country!
Click on image to be taken to my blog at kahunna.net.
