No Expectations Photography

Bicycle ride from Luang Prabang to Vientiane (Laos).  Web site redevelopment is taking waaay longer than planned (but about what was expected :-).  So here are some recent images from a great trip to Laos.  Some cycling through amazing mountains and karsts, some relaxation in Luang Prabang and Vang Vieng and a couple of days in the capital, Vientiane.

Amritsar is the holiest city of the Sikh religion and the home of the Golden Temple. A small - by Indian standards - city of one million people, it lies close to the Pakistan border and is the heart of the Indian Punjab, a region split during the partition with Pakistan when the British left.  It being summer it was 42 degrees Celsius in the shade, not that there was any to speak of. Apart from the Golden Temple, a visit to the Wagah Border for the daily ceremonial closing of the border is a must. Thousand of patriotic Indians and Pakistanis attend each day about 6:30pm, along with many bemused travelers.

The great weather of Paris disappeared during the 4.5 hour blast down the autoroute to Brittany.  Just one free afternoon to see the most visited site in France outside of Paris.  Mont St. Michel lives up to its post card expectations: an architectural and historical marvel overrun by tourists and campervans - and its only the first week of May!

Spring in Paris is hard to beat, and a week of great weather quite unexpected.  A chance to make some images of old friends not seen for a long time.

A few images from a weekend in New York City.

Friday evening and a chance to catch up on a few "postcard" shots around Singapore.  The Merlion is an icon of Singapore, just across the Singapore River from the Esplanade Theatres.

2007 is the 75th anniversary of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.  For this day (as for the 25th and 50th anniversaries) the Bridge was closed to road traffic and open for the approximately 200,000 people who walked across on this day.  I've always wanted to take a photo looking straight up from the centre of the roadway.  Since that's a bit tricky with 7 lanes of traffic on a normal day, this was a once in a 25 year opportunity.  The weather was about as tricky for photography as it gets - grey, low contrast, no colour and drizzle. Oh well, in another 25 years then....

Halong Bay is a World Heritage listed costal area east of Hanoi.  Its a magnificent bay dotted with over 1,900 karsts, bays and islands.  The three-hour drive from Hanoi is certainly not inspiring, and the congestion as all the tourist boats load and unload at 12:30 is not much fun.  However as your boat moves out into the bay the majesty of the place becomes apparent.  There are several options from a day trip to a multi-day adventure.  I took an overnight trip - amounting to an afternoon, a night and a morning on the bay.  Whilst I would certainly go back again, this combination seems a good balance for most people.  Many of the tour boats are modeled after Chinese junks.  Not wishing to share a boat with a large number of other people I elected to book with Buffalo Tours which has its own two boats, one with 5 cabins and one with 7.  Comfortable, well-catered and a varied selection of libations.  Definitely recommended.  Most, if not all, trips include side tours to various caves as well as provide opportunities for various water sports like kayaking.  Being early March and with winter not yet ended the temperature was moderate and pleasant.  However is was extremely foggy for the entire tour.  This didn't diminish the trip at all, but if you were expecting blue skies and sunshine then you need to go later in the year.

Team meeting to kick off the new business year.  With the late summer sun a chance to have a little fun in the evening on Lake Macquarie, north of Sydney (Australia). 

Time to burn a few frequent flier miles and visit the town of Hoi An in Vietnam.  Just 30kms from Da Nang, it was a major trading port for south east asia during the 17th to 19th centuries.  A world heritage area, it has retained much of its original charm with buildings reflecting a mixed Chinese/Vietnamese heritage and a more laid back style - a great place to relax.  Unless of course you're out trying to take some decent pictures.  I arrived two days after Typhon Durian to find the streets flooded and hence a car, cyclo and boat ride to the hotel - nevertheless a great adventure.