Of Dunes and Star

After about 10 minute drives, the Mesquite dunes appeared to us in the distance, big, beautiful, majestic. We arrived from ‘’behind’’, the dunes already darkened by the setting sun. Seeing soft, white sand felt good and we could not resist the urge to try our luck and drive off road. The trail was unfortunately too soft for us, little inexperienced drivers, so we had to get back on the normal road. We did make time for a little pit stop to feel the sand on our feet.

Although a big thrill this was – fantastic reminiscence of my previous trip to Egypt – better excitement soon came to as we continue on the road and drove closer to the Dunes. The road actually takes you directly next to then. You can park you car on the side and it’s a small 5mn walk to the first, smaller dune.

Since the sun was already low, I stopped myself on the first dune and quickly set up my tripod to start shooting. Unfortunately, he light was not as good as I had expected. The surrounding mountains quickly hid the sun. Although I got some fairly decent shots, the interest at that time was actually the fantastic colours of the mountains. Never before had I seen red, orange or purple summit.

I kept wondering where these dunes came from. All dunes in Death Valley are created by the accumulation of loos sediments coming for erosion of surroundings rocks. Block by the surrounding mountains – Amargosa Range to the east, Panamint Range to the west, Sylvania mountain to the south and Owlshead to the north - these particles just fall in a particular place when an obstacle is to big to be surmounted. It takes years and years of windstorm to create sand dunes like the one seen in Mesquite.

As the sun lay even lower behind the mountain, my partner and I started to feel the shortness of the previous night… As our stress level diminished, fatigue was more and more pleasant. We then decided to drive to Immigrant campground – a small, free camping ground just about 10 miles from the Mesquite Dunes, only to find it already full. With only about 8 spot, that was to be expected, even so early in the season. To tired to drive further away on one of the many back roads, we decided to settle in the Stovepipe ‘city’ camping ground.

With a big, beautiful star filled sky above us, we quickly fell asleep. Too bad the night was going to be short…

By the way: it’s hockey fever here in Montreal and, well, it’s taking a toll on my writing habits… Hopefully I’ll be more consistent next week! ;-)

H.

It's a go!

Well, it's now official: Death Valley it is.... Can't wait to go there!! ;-) It's a little last minute to make plans but a little backcountry camping never anyone.

While researching our destination, I did a lot of research on what has been taken there before and was amaze by the variety of scenery I saw. But more importantly, I stumble across a few darn good photographers, most of who’s work can be seen on Flickr.

What a fun website this is! I just join recently and can't seem to get enough of it. It is fun and somewhat educational to have to opportunity to compare work with photographers from all around the world. And it raises the bar too, which is always a good thing. Just go to the website and do a search on 'death valley'... Sure works my anticipation!!

Well, that's it for now, see you soon!
H.

Going to Vegas baby!

Good evening everyone!

It’s official, am leaving for Vegas in about a week! YAY! While the many attraction in the city are more then appealing – if you embrace the ‘fakeness’ of it, which I totally intend to do - am also excited about my first encounter with the South West USA area.

Although I can’t wait to see the bright shiny lights, the natural wonders of the area are also calling my name. But since am short on time, I’ll only be able to visit one of the many natural parks on the area.

While Grand Canyon seems an obvious choice, my buddy and I are extremely torn between Zion Park and Death Valley. Both offer photographic dreamscape opportunity but there is something about Death Valley… The idea of getting back in touch with the desert – I previously and an intimate encounter last October of which I’ll tell you all about it soon – seems like an amazing opportunity. Am curious : what would you choose?

But with any opportunity come some challenges. Some of the best landscape photographers have shot both these locations so the stakes are high… I think it will be interesting to compare how I saw the Great West to what other have seen. Like this amazing shot of Red Rock Canyon taken by my buddy. I know am looking forward to it! H.

Food for taught - part two

Good evening all! As promised, here are a few more market shots from Vietnam. Have a good beginning of week everyone! :-) H.

Food for taught - part one

Hello everyone,

My previous post was suppose to be my last one about Vietnam but then I realised that I barely talked about one of my favourite thing to do while traveling: visiting the local markets.

And the food markets in Asia are definitely worth a visit. Full of life and colours and strange food, they are a shutterbug AND an epicurean dream. I guess that would explain why I love them so much… ;-) So I couldn’t resist doing one – or two – extra entry about Vietnam.

But doing justice to the markets I visited in Vietnam only in with words in extremely difficult. The experience is too sensual, to intense. Between the roasted meat smell mixing up with a more muddy, fish like perfume, the sounds of locals chatting and going around there business, the fun and new colours and shape of food you’ve never seen before and the occasional escape of a chicken or eel cutting you off, you’ll always be busy.

So instead of loosing myself in words, here are a few pictures taken in the many Vietnamese markets I visited. They can never do justice to the real thing but I hope they’ll inspire you to swing by the local food market on your next trip.

Happy Easter everyone! H.

Talking pictures (2)

This is part two of a little interview I did with Nha Trang's photographer Long Thanh. Enjoye it and have a sunday evening! H.

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H : In Canada, we’re constantly bombarded with images of all sort and this rises our tolerance to harsher images. To the point where nothing seems sacred or ‘tabou’ anymore. Are there any subjects or things that you wouldn’t allow yourself to shoot?

L.T In theory you can shoot everything. In reality, things are a bit different… That being said though, I never think about that when I go out to shoot. Am just open to what I see.

H. Which bring me to your favourites subjects. You have a marked preference for the countryside and the rural way of life. Do you define yourself as a witness of Vietnam traditional ways?

L.T It’s all very intuitive for me. I just basically shoot when I see something that I like. I don’t think my pictures are proof of anything or should be label as ‘expressions’ of specific ideas. Some like to shoot rock star of models, I like to shoot a woman walking in a field. This is more beautiful, more natural to me. Genuine. Vietnam’s reality is still very rural. And besides you, it’s in the simplest things that you truly understand the essence of a culture.

H. But there is a lot of sadness in you pictures. They very often talk about aging, expectation…

L.T. I simply adore talking about life. And life is complicated. You sometimes have to go through very difficult moment. And all of this to return to dust in the end! (Laugh) I like to shoot elderly people because they have seen so much and just experienced so many things. And you can see this in there bodies, the way they old themselves, the look in there eyes. For me, an elderly woman is a much more accurate incarnation of life then a baby. I know some people are touched by my pictures but sadden? I don’t really know but… if you think about it they wouldn’t buy my pictures and they were making them sad!

Talking pictures (1)

Hello everyone! So it looks like am finally going to travel to Las Vegas in about a month. The big question now is should we go to Death Valley or the Grand Canyon? Very difficult choice...

Anyhow... Here is the first part of an interview with photographer Long Thanh from Nha Trang, vietnam. The conversation lasted over an hour but I trimmed a lot to get to the essential.

***

Hereshe goes : You started your career very young, at age 13. What push you toward photography?

Long Thanh : I started to work in my uncle photo store to help out my family. We came from China and were very poor so I had to work for him. I've always like photography and was hoping to buy a camera but could not dream of finding the money. Luckily, my cousins would lend me their cameras so I could slowly learn how to play with them. I never imagine making a living with a camera; all I wanted was to take pictures.

H: You are extremely attached to b&w photography and still refuse to do anything else regardless of all the new development. What pushes you to resist to colour and digital photography?


LT: All photographers learn their skills with black and white photography. It is the essence of photography : light and shadow. B&W manual processing allows a direct, almost organic contact with photography. It's very physical to measure the acid, bath the pictures in them, be present throughout all the steps... It's a bit like being present throughout a pregnancy... This is a much more sensual way of working. Digital is handy for journalists. But the problem with digital photography is that most people how uses the technology don't take the time to really look and understand light... they just click and fix it after if necessary.


And of course it's very sentimental for me. Am very attached to this traditional way of working. Am not against colour but it would never be my first choice. Unfortunately now, paper is more and more expensive. So god only knows how long i'll be able to continue...

***

Next : Long Thanh favorite subject and themes. H.

Seeing the light in Nha Trang

While in Nha Trang, I had the opportunity to meet with Long Thanh, one of town most renown photographer. His work has won many prizes and is a perfect illustration of the genuin nature of photography.

In my next post you'll have the opportunity to read the interview I was lucky enough to do with Mr. Thanh. In the mean time, here's a little tease... Hope you like them! H.

Watch and leard

Yesterday I was watching the documentary ‘Born into Brothels’ from Ross Kauffman and Zana Briski.

‘Born into Brothels’ follow 8 kids as they discover photography and thus learn to look at their world differently. These photographs are a pure incursion into the soul of these kids and genuine expression of beauty and talent.

So fare, this project help put these kids through school. The project proved so successful that the organizers decided to help under privileged kids from other country such as Egypt or Zambia.

You can view the kids pictures and make donations to support further development of the project by visiting http://www.kids-with-cameras.org/


More then an inspirational story, this is also a good demonstration that candour is one of the best qualities a photograph can have. We should all watch and learn… H.

Here she goes again, around her world

Well, here it is. (French at the bottom)

I've been thinking about this for a little while and finally decided to go ahead with this project. I figure this will be an easier way to do something interesting some of my work and share it with the rest of the world. And, really, it's a lot easier to maintain then the website I did before....

So, what to expect here?

This is mostly a travel blog. I love to move around, exploring new cities, country, and culture. I have tons of travel stories and this seems like the best way to share them. It also helps that am big on writing and taking pictures. With a little luck, some of these posts will distract you. If they can be helpful, even better. Heck, I sure hope I can come across some other travel savvy buddies and we can exchange tips and stories.

From time to time you'll also find post on culture - literature, movies and photography - and food. Those are my two other majors interests and feed me on a daily basis. And I want to brag and show off some of my pictures too. What can I say.... I've always been a sucker for a cute smile or a good compliment!

So I hope you'll like this!

H.

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Le voici enfin.

Il y a déjà un petit moment que je réfléchis à ce projet et c'est aujourd'hui que l'aventure commence. Après tout, bloguer est fort probablement la façon la plus simple et la plus rapide de partager mon travail et mes pensées avec le reste du monde.

Alors... À quoi s'attendre sur ce blog?

D'abord et avant tout des histoires de voyage. J'adore bouger, explorer de nouvelles villes, nouveaux pays, découvrir de nouvelles cultures. J'ai des tonnes d'histoires et d'anecdotes de voyages et ce blog semble être la meilleur façon de les partager. Et j'adore écrire et prendre des photos alors ça devrait être plutôt intéressant... Avec un peu de chances, certains de ces commentaires vont vous distraire. Et si vous pouvez y retrouver des informations qui seront utiles à vos voyages, encore mieux. Après tout, moi aussi j'espère bien rencontrer d'autres passionnés de voyages et partager trucs et histoires.

Vous trouverez aussi de temps en temps des commentaires sur la culture - littérature, cinéma et photographie - et sur la bouffe. Ce sont là mes autres champs d'intérêt et ces activités me nourissent au quotidien. Et très honnêtement, j'ai envie de montrer quelques-unes de mes meilleures photos...

Ah oui! Pourquoi bilingue? Pour le moment c'est un voeux pieux de ma part. Je veux que le français ait sa place sur le web. Mais c'est pas mal plus long...

Allez, j'espère que cela vous plaira!

H.