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Huayna Potosí is the closest high mountain to La Paz. Surrounded by high mountains, it is roughly 15 miles due north of the city, which makes this mountain the most popular climb in Bolivia. The normal ascent route is a fairly straightforward glacier climb, with some crevasses and a steep climb to the summit. However, the other side of the mountain -- Huayna Potosí West Face -- is the biggest face in Bolivia. Several difficult snow and ice routes ascend this 1000 meter high face.
Unique design with lots of greenery and water cascades. The Singapore Botanic Gardens is a 161-year-old tropical garden located at the fringe of Singapore's Orchard Road shopping district. It is one of three gardens, and the only tropical garden, to be honoured as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Botanic Gardens has been ranked Asia's top park attraction since 2013, by TripAdvisor Travellers' Choice Awards. It was declared the inaugural Garden of the Year, International Garden Tourism Awards in 2012, and received Michelin's three-star rating in 2008.
The Botanic Gardens was founded at its present site in 1859 by an agri-horticultural society. It played a pivotal role in the region's rubber trade boom in the early twentieth century, when its first scientific director Henry Nicholas Ridley, headed research into the plant's cultivation. By perfecting the technique of rubber extraction, still in use today, and promoting its economic value to planters in the region, rubber output expanded rapidly. At its height in the 1920s, the Malayan peninsula cornered half of the global latex production. 31309
Other stairways lead to secondary platforms, where there are other monoliths including the famous El Fraile (priest).
Current state of the Frail Monolith of Tiahuanaco, with similar characteristics as the "Bennett Monolith".
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Former Sky Resort on our right.
La Paz is just above the third lake.
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The view would have looked very different 20 years ago:
Thought to be 18,000 years old;
Bolivian scientists started measuring it in the 1990s;
They predicted in 2005 that it would survive until 2015;
But it shrank faster than expected and had vanished almost completely by 2009;
Scientists think that the speed of its melting is an indicator of climate change.
Corso Magenta n.12
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Se alzate gli occhi al cielo, ammirerete questo spettacolo.
Walls around the temple Kalasasaya.
Located near the south-eastern shore of Lake Titicaca in Bolivia, Tiwanaku is one of the most important precursors to the Inca Empire. The community grew to urban proportions between the 7th and 9th centuries, becoming an important regional power in the southern Andes. At its peak the city had between 15,000–30,000 inhabitants. While only a small part has been excavated, Tiahuanaco represents the greatest megalithic architectural achievement of pre-Inca South America. Today it is one of the top tourist attractions in Bolivia.
East of the main entrance to Kalasasaya.
The Kalasasaya dates to at least 200 BCE - 200 CE. It is located to the north of the Akapana and west of the Semi-Subterranean Temple, other structures in the complex.
North of the Akapana Pyramid is Kalasasaya, a partially reconstructed 130m-by-120m ritual-platform compound with walls constructed of huge blocks of red sandstone and andesite. The blocks are precisely fitted to form a platform base 3m high. Monolithic uprights flank the massive entrance steps up to the restored portico of the enclosure, beyond which is an interior courtyard and the ruins of priests’ quarters. Note the size of the top stair – a massive single block.
The Monolito Ponce monolith, with his turban (no doubt covering up his deformed cranium), mask, ceremonial vase and walking stick, sits at the center of the first platform. Some say the stick and the vase are symbolic of the dualism of Andean culture (nature versus nurture).
Other stairways lead to secondary platforms, where there are other monoliths including the famous El Fraile (priest).
Slightly north of Taichung City, a bit further east in the foothills past the Hou-Feng and Dong-Feng Bike Trails, in Dongshih town, you pick up the road to Big Snow Mountain National Park.
My old I-Phone shot! :-)
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Come and join me on my Harris and Lewis Photography Workshop 2nd-8th March 2019 £1,395
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I found this wonderful abandoned crofe house on the island of Scalpay on Harris a couple of weeks ago and I could not resist pulling up and having my clients firing off a few shots before moving onto other locations.
The place was in a hell of a state but from high up on the moorland, it looked rather majestic in some outstanding scenery. I love photographing abandoned buildings and to wonder what kind of people once lived there interests me.
The sky was incredibly moody which lent a fantastic atmosphere to the scene. I hope you all like it. Feel free to share it if you wish :D
Canon 5D MK4
Canon 16-35mm f4 @ 16mm
f11
1/20 sec
ISO100
Nisi 0.6 Medium ND Grad filter
Gitzo GT3543XLS carbon fibre tripod
Gitzo GS3121LVL low profile levelling base
Manfrotto 405 geared tripod head
Mindshift Backlight 36L Bag
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Big and famous cities are not iconic everywhere. Leaving the metrostation, I saw these staircases by some condos. I liked their colours and shapes. Found a nice point to compose the image. Using the telephoto-lens made it possible to compress the scene, so it became more abstract.
Enjoy!
(do yourself a favour and click L for a full-screen)
*Image is under copyright by Bram de Jong. Contact me if you want to buy or use my photographs
Enhanced image of Chacaltaya ski resort.
El Alto in the middle.
Sad History:
Bolivia's largest city, La Paz, is currently enduring its worst drought in a quarter of a century. Glaciers in the surrounding Andean mountains are key to its water supply. Simon Parker visited the abandoned ski resort of Chacaltaya, where locals say they have been seeing changes in the climate for decades.
Surrounded by shards of rusty shale, sticky tufts of pampas and a few hundred hardy llamas, Chacaltaya sits crumbling next to a vast furrow in the mountainside: the site of a once mighty glacier.
Titiqaqa Qucha is a large, deep, freshwater lake in the Andes on the border of Bolivia and Peru, often called the "highest navigable lake" in the world. By volume of water and by surface area, it is the largest lake in South America.
Everything – and everyone – that sits beside this impressive body of water, from the traditional Aymará villages to the glacier-capped peaks of the Cordillera Real, seems to fall into the background in contrast with the shimmering opal jewel set into the spare altiplano earth. It is not hard to see how Inca legends came to credit Lake Titicaca with the birth of their civilization.
Set between Peru and Bolivia at 3808m, the 8400 sq km lake offers enough activities to keep you busy for at least a week.
There are trips to the many islands that speckle the shoreline, hikes to lost coves and floating islands, parties in the tourist hub of Copacabana and encounters with locals that will provide insight into the traditions of one of Bolivia’s top attractions.
Railway station Tiahuanaco is located near the archeological complex.
Tiahuanaco, an important object of pre-Columbian archaeological site in Western Bolivia.
It is true that the tropics have beautiful sunset conditions. Here I was knee-deep in the warm water. Camera with wide angle lens on the tripod. Some kelp and mangrove stems in the shallow water. A few islands in the back and to top it off some clouds in the sky. Didn't need any more......
Enjoy!
(do yourself a favour and click L for a full-screen)
*Image is under copyright by Bram de Jong. Contact me if you want to buy or use my photographs
The back of the pyramid.
Underground duct. Made with finely cut flagstones and joined with cast copper clamps.
Climbed the hill up to Tiwanaku’s most outstanding structure, the partially excavated Akapana pyramid, which was built on an existing geological formation. At its base this roughly square, 16m hill covers a surface area of about 200 sq meters. In the center of its flat summit is an oval-shaped sunken area, which some sources attribute to early, haphazard, Spanish excavation. The presence of a stone drain in the center, however, has led some archaeologists to believe it was used for water storage.
Recent findings include craniums, assumed to be war trophies, leading some archaeologists to believe the pyramid may have been a ceremonial temple. Others think it was used for the study of astronomy.
Someone wrote on Tripadvisor, "An astoundingly beautiful golden-sand bay with an Island just offshore, and a small car park. The sea is crystal clear and fairly shallow just off the beach. Ideal for a swim. A lovely place for canoeing or picnic on the beach." And a pub at Glenuig just around the corner.
On a roadtrip across Negros (PH) we passed these palmtrees that were nicely lit. We stopt the car on the side of the road and I entered the fields, finding my composition.
I really liked the rhythm of the trees. It looks like a music bar (upside-down).
Enjoy!
(do yourself a favour and click L for a full-screen)
*Image is under copyright by Bram de Jong. Contact me if you want to buy or use my photographs
Researchers think that Lake Titicaca was coming to this base, which was a port to carry all these huge and heavy rocks.
The Tiwanaku civilization and the use of these temples appears to some to have peaked from AD 700 to 1000, by which point the temples and surrounding area may have been home to some 400,000 people. An extensive infrastructure had been developed, including a complex irrigation system that extended more than 30 square miles (80 km2) to support cultivation of potatoes, quinoa, corn and other various crops. At its peak the Tiwanaku culture dominated the entire Lake Titicaca basin as well as portions of Bolivia and Chile.
This culture seems to have dissolved rather abruptly some time around AD 1000, and researchers are still seeking answers as to why. A likely scenario involves rapid environmental change, possibly involving an extended drought. Unable to produce the massive crop yields necessary for their large population, the Tiwanaku are argued to have scattered into the local mountain ranges, only to disappear shortly thereafter. Puma Punku is thought to have been abandoned before it was finished.
A “via ferrata” translates as “iron path” in English. It refers to metal rungs, ladders or permanently fixed safety wire as a means of crossing otherwise tricky and steep rocky terrain. I am a rock climber for over 25 years and I love all kinds of outdoor-activities. For me these via ferrata's are pure fun!
This beautiful 8 hours lasting route in the Ligurean Alps in Italy contains a sketchy 40 meters crossing over a deep gorge. Just for the scale of it: Look how tiny these people on the other side of the bridge are...
Enjoy!
(do yourself a favour and click L for a full-screen)
*Image is under copyright by Bram de Jong. Contact me if you want to buy or use my photographs
Chester Zoo was founded in 1934 in Upton on the outside of Chester in the North West of England.
It is the most-visited wildlife attraction in Britain with more than 1.4 million visitors in 2014.
In July 2015 it was named as the best zoo in the UK and seventh in the world by TripAdvisor.
I first visited the Zoo in the early Sixties and been a regular visitor through the years I held a Zoo membership through the eighties and again over the past few years.
I try to call into the zoo as oftern as possible.
This visit was a cold and rainy day so I spent most of the time in the Hot house. A jungle in the winter.
It stands out the portal of the church, in carved stone, that is classified inside the denominated baroque mestizo (baroque mestizo). This hybrid decorative style, the work of indigenous hands, mixes European baroque motifs with native motifs.
Every year thousands of people venture here, in the Finnich Glen. So many are tourists, drawn by the entry on Google Maps, Tripadvisor, Instagram and by the urge to see where movie scenes from Outlander were filmed. Although the entry on Google Maps is accurately positioned, so many people never find the Devil's Pulpit. That's because most approach from the 'main' car park, which is on the wrong side of the gorge. They need to walk in from the small layby on the A809 just over the bridge over the Carnock Burn and then venture down the steep steps 200 yards into the woods. The way down is pretty challenging, a bit of a scramble, yet still the white trainer and flipflop brigade work their way to the bottom where it is totally otherworldly.
Your eyes are drawn upwards to the moss covered cliffs, the canyon walls, dripping and hanging with vegetation, the trees leaning over 80 feet above, leafless branches fracturing the patch of sky overhead. And you look into the darkness surrounding you in the floor of the gorge where the water runs red, almost blood red in the parts where it flows over the sandstone. it feels creepy and haunted. For salvation your eyes seek out the safety in light which lies up the gorge, through a narrow gap between the rock through to the cathedral nave upstream where stands a domed, carved rock in a pool of light from above: the Devil's Pulpit where it is said the Devil gave his sermon to those down in the hell amongst the washed down detritus of jumbled logs and trees at the bottom of Finnich Glen.
IMG_3194
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Torpedownia on Babie Dołach
Torpedownia - the Polish common name of the central facility of German torpedo research centers, built in occupied Poland during World War II. Torpedownia was a torpedo assembly hall with equipment for trial shooting, built on the bottom of the basin, a few hundred meters from the shore. Connected to the shore of the pier, which was followed by a narrow-gauge railway transport of torpedo components, eventually mounted in the hall. In the German nomenclature, this building was called Schießstand.
One of the reasons why we chose Tuscany as our goal for this summer holiday was the landscape. I love the curving of the hills and the light touching it. Although it is a rural area, it looks almost as a scifi-filmlocation. So much to see. So much to photograph. Nice people. Good food and driving around in that gorgeous landscape with our rental Fiat 500. How much more Italian can it be?
Enjoy!
*Image is under copyright by Bram de Jong. Contact me if you want to buy or use my photographs*
St Ives – the dazzling jewel in Cornwall’s crown. A picturesque fishing harbour and seaside town voted best family holiday destination by Coast magazine and one of TripAdvisor’s top 10 European beaches. St Ives is a subtropical paradise of palm trees and golden sands where fun and adventure are at every turn.
St Ives, the art mecca of the Southwest, made world famous by local artists including Barbara Hepworth, Ben Nicholson, Peter Lanyon and Patrick Heron. Visit The Tate St Ives, one of only four Tate galleries in the world. Or walk round the Barbara Hepworth Museum and Sculpture Garden. Or The Bernard Leach Pottery & Museum.
Hug the beautiful coastal scenery aboard the St Erth to St Ives branch line train. Go surfing in town at the blue flag-rated Porthmeor beach. Feel the soft sand between your toes on Porthminster beach, gazing out at Godrevy Lighthouse, an inspiration for Virginia Woolf’s classic novel To The Lighthouse. Set off an inspiring walk across dramatic cliff tops along the coastal path towards Land’s End. Or wander through the maze of narrow cobbled streets, independent shops and fisherman’s cottages in the heart of the town in ‘Downalong’. St Ives has many places to stay, with accommodation ranging from, top hotels, bed & breakfast, self-catering cottages or apartments. Come and sample some of the tastiest award-winning restaurants, cafes and bars in the Southwest.
Chalet Inn Motel
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Airstream travel trailers
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With the sheer heartbreak that Italy is going through right now, I cast my mind back to that wonderful morning back in October 2019 when I was stood on the Ponte dell'Accademia, only one of four bridges that span the Grand Canal in Venice, to watch the stunning sunrise and bathe the domed majestic Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute in a wonderful warm light.
It really was a magical way to start my day and it is one of those moments that I shall cherish from my time in Venice. For now, the canals are empty, the alleyways are silent and Venice rests from the visitors that wish to experience their own little piece of magic for themselves.
Well here is mine captured on camera and thank heavens I did. This photo makes me smile and warms my heart. Venice like the rest of Italy shall shine once again in time.
Canon EOS R
Sigma 100-400mm @ 100mm
f8
1/1250
ISO100
Single exposure edited in Photoshop CC and Nik Colour efex
Official Kase Filters UK Sales Agent
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Benro TMA48CXL Mach 3 Tripod
Arca Swiss D4 Geared Head
3 Legged Thing QR11-LC L Bracket
Mindshift Backlight 26L Bag
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UK & International Landscape Photography Workshops, 1-2-1 Private Tuition and Camera Club Lectures available
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