Tag Archives: Picture of the day

31st July picture of the day…

31 Friday Jul 2020

Posted by in Australia, Picture of the day, Travel

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Oh, what to pick today? Oh, I know – how about this one from Australia’s Fraser Island, which I took on the 21st January 2007.

TD01986. Wreck of the Maheno. Fraser Island. Australia. 21.1.07.

This is the wreck of the TSS Maheno, which has been beached on the island since 1935 when it was en-route to Japan to be cut up for scrap and never made it. Here’s the story of the Maheno. Fraser Island’s rather a special place and I was lucky to visit it with Lynn and Alison all those years ago. If you want to see more pictures of the island, follow this link.

 

 

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30th July picture of the day…

30 Thursday Jul 2020

Posted by in Malaysia, Picture of the day, Travel

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This has been a really shitty day for a whole host of reasons that I won’t go in to, so today’s picture is coming from a ‘happy place’ that I love to escape to where I feel very much at home and miss – especially now we’ve all had our wings clipped, metaphorically and literally.

DG36962.Street food. Lebuh Chulia. Georgetown. Penang. Malaysia. 15.10.09.crop

I took this picture of a hawkers food stall on Lebuh Chulia in Georgetown, Penang , Malaysia on the 15th October 2009. I first visited Georgetown in 1992 and fell in love with it then. I’ve been back many times since and never been disappointed. The old town is a wonderful mix of architecture and cultures and the food is sublime. This shot is of Lebuh Chulia, a street in the backpackers area, but it’s far more than that as the locals still hold sway. Each night the shops shut and foodstalls like this appear, serving Chinese, Indian Malaysian or Western foods. I love the local dishes, but one stall that always amuses me is a burger bar decked out in Manchester United banners! – but that’s for another picture…

 

 

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29th July picture of the day (and a spot of musing)…

29 Wednesday Jul 2020

Posted by in Air Travel, Musings, Picture of the day, Travel

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Today’s actually been quite a varied day. In these strange times that normally means the weather around here’s produced sunshine and rain, instead it’s meant that I’ve been juggling household DIY jobs, work, shopping and cooking as well as managing to get out for some exercise – oh, and I’ve finally finished scanning yet another album of old railways slides from 1995. There’s only 3 albums left to do now after 31 years (Woo – hoo!). You can view the latest batch here. They’re the first ones that come up in the gallery.

These mixed exertions have certainly passed the time and allowed me to play catch-up on a number of fronts so the day’s flown, which brings me to the picture of the day, which was taken Mid-Atlantic in April 1999.

T9168. Boeing 747 wing mid-Atlantic. 1999.crop

Pictures through aircraft windows are always frought with difficulty, especially when you’re shooting into the sun because of the chances of flare in the window layers as well as the optic elements of the lens (which is why I use prime lenses in these situations), but this one worked quite well and it holds a lot of memories. It was taken from a Virgin Atlantic flight from Los Angleles to London Heathrow on the final day of an epic 18 month trip around the world, from 1997-1999. Lynn and I were heading home with no idea how we’d feel about being back. As we crossed the Atlantic the plane banked just before sunset, allowing me to capture the final shot of the trip.

I’ve still many many pictures from our adventures to scan, but you can find the ones I have here.

 

 

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28th July picture of the day…

28 Tuesday Jul 2020

Posted by in Calder Valley, Flora and Fauna, Indonesia, Musings, Picture of the day, Travel, Uncategorized

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Today’s been another less than vintage summer day with a mix of sunshine, showers, high winds and temperatures that are more like October than July. The one consolation is that the Calder Valley always looks beautiful in the constantly changing light and the rain’s left the fields looking radiant with a painter’s palette full of shades of green. Sadly, I’ve not had time to get out with the camera as I’ve various deadlines to meet at the moment so I’ve spent most of the day working from home. Hopefully I’ll be able to tear myself away for a day and hope to make my first rail trip since March.

In the meantime, here’s the picture of the day, which was taken on an island few ventured to in those days. Komodo, island of the dragons…

I took this picture on the 2nd September 1992. I was on my long solo trip and had reached the beautiful Indonesian Island of Flores, where I based myself at the port of Labuanbajo for a few days in order to take a trip to Komodo with a local guide.

In those days small groups would take day trips to the island, sign in with the PHPA wardens, then your group (plus a goat, which was on a one-way trip) would trek out into the bush near the camp where there was a small viewing platform around a shallow depression which had several Komodo dragons of varying sizes hanging around waiting to be fed. The poor goat would have its throat slit and be thrown into the arena, which galvanized the dragons into action – as you can see here. It’s not a sight for the squeamish – and some of these dragons are big buggers!

T4047. Komodo Dragons. Komodo. Indonesia. 1992.crop

When I returned with Lynn in 1998 the practice had been stopped at it was realised that it was making the dragons lazy! So, the chance to get photo’s like this anymore is long gone. Not that the goats mind…

 

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27th July picture of the day…

27 Monday Jul 2020

Posted by in Picture of the day, Thailand, Travel

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I don’t know about where you are right now, but here in West Yorkshire its been a thoroughly miserable day weather-wise. We’ve had heavy rail and gales, with just the occasional glimpse of sun to tease us before the next downpour arrived.  So today’s picture is to break away from that. I took this at a beach on Ko Chang, Thailand on the 28th November 2011.

Enjoy a Chang on Ko Chang with me!

DG99372. A sunset beer Chang on Ko Chang. Thailand. 28.11.11. crop

Sadly, It may be some time before I get to quaff a sunset beer on an Asian beach again…

 

 

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26th July picture of the day…

26 Sunday Jul 2020

Posted by in India, Photography, Picture of the day, Travel

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Today’s picture was taken in Calcutta, India in March 1992. I was staying in Sudder St, the backpacker area of this vibrant city. Sudder St is a bit of an institution as it’s one of those places that become a crossroads for travellers but it’s not to everyone’s taste as the standards of accommodation as are as run-down as the city itself. Even so, it’s a place that I’ve visited several times and really enjoy. Life is lived out on the streets as there’s little incentive to hang around in dark and dinghy hotel rooms. Instead, many travellers  congregate at the street stalls selling food and drinks, where you can sit, chat and watch the world go by. They’re ideal for photographers like me. One one morning I was sitting outside a pavement stall eating curd and honey when I spotted this scene on the opposite side of the narrow street.

T6754. Bathing Man. Calcutta. India 1992.crop

Whilst his washing dried on the line behind him against a wall covered with election posters for the Congress and Communist parties a man was taking a shower from a bucket on the pavement. As always, I had my camera with me, so I quickly grabbed a shot.

I’ve been back to Calcutta several times since, the last time in 2011 and it’d changed little in the intervening two decades. It was still as run-down and gloriously anarchic as ever, but I still think it’s one of my favourite Indian cities as it has a vibrancy and soul that makes it rather special. If you want to see more pictures from Calcutta over the years (including of their incredibly run-down tram network), follow this link. Calcutta (or Kolkata as it’s been renamed) holds a special title amongst Indian cities in that it retains two forms of transport you won’t find anywhere else on the sub-continent – trams and hand pulled rickshaws.

 

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24th July picture of the day…

24 Friday Jul 2020

Posted by in Coronavirus, Malaysia, Picture of the day, Sowerby Bridge, Travel

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Another busy day today that’s seen us out shopping on the first official day of ‘wearing a mask in shops’ day. I’m relieved to report that most people seem to have got the message and are abiding by the instruction. We visited the Tesco in Sowerby Bridge and I only observed one person (a man) not wearing one. Our local Tescos had one or two more backsliders, but not many. Why did we have to go to two branches of Tescos I hear you ask? They’re on a couple of miles apart but the stock they carry is very different. No, I’ve no idea why either!

OK, here’s today’s picture of the day. If you’re squeamish, I suggest that you look away now….

I took this picture on the 8th February 2009 in Georgetown on Penang island, Malaysia during the Hindu festival of Thaipusam.

TD12441. Thaipusam. Penang. Malaysia. 8.2.2009.crop

Yes, those are hooks in the mans back. He was pulling a wheeled cart with them! Although it’s a Hindu festival other religions join in and I’ve seen Muslims and the Chinese community carrying out such acts of devotional sacrifice (which are frowned upon back in India, where the festival was banned). It’s quite an event to witness and the atmosphere’s anything but painful – even if sights like this do make you wince the first time you see them!

 

 

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23rd July picture of the day…

23 Thursday Jul 2020

Posted by in Australia, Picture of the day, Travel

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Today’s been a busy one with too many things to blog about now as it’s late in the evening and I’ve got a lot to do tomorrow, so I’ll restrict myself to the picture of the day.

This is what Melbourne, Australia looks like from a hot air balloon.

TD02571. Balloon flight over Melbourne. Australia. 1.2.07.crop

I took this picture from the basket of the balloon that Lynn and I were travelling in on the 1st February 2007. We were in Oz visiting our friend Alison who was still living there at the time – although she already had plans to move to Bali. It was Alison who organised the balloon trip which was fantastic. Drifting over a city in a balloon is amazing because you get to hear the sounds of the city below you as your transport is totally silent and open to the air. It gives you far more of a connection with the land below rather than being cocooned in a plane or helicopter.

22nd July picture of the day…

22 Wednesday Jul 2020

Posted by in Picture of the day, Sri Lanka, Travel

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Hmm, where to take you in time and space today? In the present it’s been an unexciting day that I won’t bore you with, so let me see what’s in the archives…

I took this picture in March 1992 from the top of Adams Peak in Sri Lanka. It was during my year long solo trip. I hadn’t originally intended to go to Sri Lanka but I met a couple of fellow travellers (who called themselves Pip and Gyppo) in Kerala, India and we ended up travelling together for a while. They’d planned to visit the island and we could get cheap flights from Trivandrum to Colombo, so I thought hell, why not?

We had a fantastic time together for several weeks and one of the highlights was visiting the hills to climb Adams Peak. It’s called that as one of the folklore story’s surrounding it is that it’s where Adam (of Adam and Eve) first stepped down to Earth from Heaven. It’s not just Christians who revere it. Hindu, Buddhist and Muslim pilgrims also ascend the 2243 metre high peak and have different versions of the story and different names for the mountain.

Like most people, we stayed at the base of the peak, then rose early in the morning to begin the climb so that we could arrive at the top just before dawn. It’s not an easy climb, even though there’s steps cut into much of the mountain. But, it is worth it – as this picture shows. The views as the sun rises are sublime.

T3194. Adams Peak. Sri Lanka. 1992.

I’ve never got around to scanning all my pictures from that particular trip, but if you want to see pictures from more recent trips to Sri Lanka, follow this link.

 

 

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21st July picture of the day…

21 Tuesday Jul 2020

Posted by in Picture of the day, Politics, Travel

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Today’s not been the most exciting of times, exactly the opposite. Seeing the Governments reaction to the released Russia report makes me realise that I now live in a Banana republic where the security services have been thrown under a bus. Look into Russian involvement and manipulation of the Brexit referendum? Absolutely not – we might find something…

As it’s late I’ll resist the spleen venting (for now) and move on to the picture of the day. Here’s what’s probably the most famous political rail crash ever. Well, when I say that – I mean literally, not figuratively. I took this on the 12th January 2006 in Santa Clara, Cuba.

FDG2810. Armoured train museum. Santa Clara. Cuba. 12.1.06.crop

This is one of the wrecked freight cars of the famous ‘armored train’ that was attacked by Cuban revolutionaries under the command of ‘Che’ Guevara  on the 29th December 1958. It was a seminal event in the Cuban revolution and it’s a fascinating place to visit – even if most of the explanations are only in Spanish.

 

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