Finally I am getting somewhere with HDR photography
Added: November 16, 2011
The first time I heard about HDR was about 6 years ago. After the first enthusiasm I learned it is not so easy. But I kept bracketing at occasions (sometimes quite often) and tried several different applications to process them. But I was never satisfied. I was never targeting surreal results, I just wanted to get good looking photos in situations cameras were not able to help. I was hardly ever satisfied, many times the result was pure frustration or even disgust. I have shown some of my results in this blog, just because the result seemed better than single exposure. But that does not mean I was happy with them.
Well it is here, time to go back home. But before we can go, we need to visit the last waterfall in Zuzka's list - Pistyll Rhaeadr. She talked about it since I came here, but we'd never managed to get there. Until now. Peter came to visit us, so this was good way to spend our weekend.
We've been there 6 weeks ago, but I had other things to handle like organizing moving, finding stuff we want to buy before we leave (just to have more to move). Plus it seems to be good farewell post, so I was not in hurry with posting it.Iguazu Falls from Brazilian side
Added: July 18, 2010
We thought we've seen it all yesterday. But no, Brazil has many things to offer too.
Lonely Planet suggests the best way to cross Argentinian-Brazilian border is by taxi. Buses are slow and they might not wait for all paperwork. So that's what we did - we moved from hostel in Puerto Iguazú into hostel in Foz do Iguaçu by taxi. We just filled in form given us by driver and he went to handle officials. Quick and efficient.Iguazu Falls from Argentinian side
Added: July 17, 2010
Friday, 19th of February 2010. The biggest of highlights of our trip is just a few kilometres from us. We had a glimpse of mist created by it from the plane shortly before landing. We wanted to see it today, but our flight from Buenos Aires was delayed for 4 hours. Funny thing was I thought it will be one of our shortest stay at airport, because we came rather late (for my likings). And also it was rescheduled couple of months ago so instead of planned arrival at noon we arrived in the evening.
So we will see it tomorrow morning. Today, we are going to lovely hostel Timbo Posada in Puerto Iguazú with friendly staff and small pool surrounded with banana leaves and other tropical vegetation. And then for nice dinner with fine wine in near BBQ restaurant. But you don't need to wait till tomorrow, just continue reading.
Karekare is picturesque area near Auckland. There are nice hills, wonderful beach and small waterfall. Enough reasons to go there. Maybe we will manage to visit also Piha and certainly we should spend some time in Auckland.
After leaving Rotorua we headed to Waitomo. I will write about Waitomo Caves in next post. I wanted to write something shorter this time and following 2 waterfalls provide a good opportunity for me. They are both in the same region - Waikato, but the distance between them is about 140km.
The whole region is nice green with rolling hills. They are either covered with dense foliage or with grass. We passed only a few kilometres away from place where Hobiton from the Lord of Rings movie is located. I have learned about exact location only couple of days ago. If we knew about it we would possibly do something differently. Not because we are Lord of Rings fanatics, but just because we could.Two wonderful days at Abel Tasman - Day 1
Added: May 09, 2010
During our round the world trip we looked forward to 3 places with fantastic beaches. We slept over Bondi Beach in Sydney more than 2 weeks ago and Copacabana or Ipanema in Rio de Janeiro will have to wait for another month. But beaches at Abel Tasman are here and today!
It was not only about fantastic beaches here, but also weather is usually sunny and hot here. After 2 weeks of rain, clouds and occasional fair weather we really hoped this place will show us what a good weather looks like. But it did not look very promising as we were getting close. Since morning there were many clouds in the sky. And they did not scatter. Contrary, when we were climbing winding road to Takaka Hill we could see thick clouds everywhere around. My hope was over. But then, when we got on to the other side of hill, we could see thin band of blue in distance. We could see also some sandy beach ahead. Are they close enough? Will clouds pass before we get there? A slight taste of hope returned.
14th of January. We knew we were not alone in dormitory, but our roommate was not there. He arrived at 2am and went directly to bed. We were sleeping too so we did not bother to check on him. Then his alarm clock rang at 7am, but he managed to snooze it 3 times by ten minutes. We were not sure he was not able to get up or he just wanted to make sure we could not sleep too. He went for quick shower and then left.
Only later we have noticed a paper next to door warning about fake backpackers operating in Greymouth area who steal from unsuspecting roommates.Glacier from ground and from air
Added: April 18, 2010
It is fantastic to live through our trip for the third time. The first time was when we were there, the 2nd time while I was processing photos and now for the 3rd time when I am writing this post. Our experiences from Franz Josef Glacier fully deserve to repeat them for the 3rd time. BTW while I am editing this post I am processing photos from Bolivia (Uyuni) on background making this post travelling flashbacks even more fun.
We had helicopter flight and we were also walking on glacier for a half day. I usually show all photos in one page, because I think some "quick scanners" would miss a link to the 2nd page, but there are too many photos here so the split is necessary.Amazing scenic drive to Franz Josef
Added: April 18, 2010
Landscape we have seen on Tuesday 12th of January was as close to my dreams about New Zealand as it could get. Snowy mountains against nice blue sky are reflecting in deep blue lakes. Lot of greens in tropical vegetation around.
Our only reason to rush through this paradise was to be at Franz Josef at about 2pm to catch so long awaited helicopter ride to Mt Cook. And the only reason to have negative thoughts were occasional, but cumulating clouds ahead.
Milford Sound is one of places used in promoting New Zealand. Others are Lord of Rings locations, of course... I would say it is a must-see.
We looked forward to be here not only to enjoy this place. We could resume our daily rituals like taking a hot shower in the morning. Can you imagine how much better is that compared to an alternative offered by Milford Track - cold water seeping through cheap rain coat whole day? Or not overhearing chatting girls on the third day judging their attractiveness: "I smell like a s**t"?
One of the activities we looked forward to in New Zealand the most was Milford Track - 54km long hike done in 4 days. Plus healthy amount of respect. That respect got even bigger when we arrived to Visitor Centre in Te Anau. Dark clouds to the north and the weather forecast for 3 days did not help to raise my mood. It said it will be raining all the time, it will be cold, snowing, windy and everything we hoped we will not experience there.
We left our car at Burglary point - nice name for parking lot near Visitor centre, took out backpacks and headed to bus for Te Anau Downs. Ignoring warnings I left my photobank and e-reader in the car. 15kg of stuff was about maximum I was willing to take with me. It started raining before we jumped into boat and left our backpacks outside of cabin to give them the 1st test of our rain covers. We were not sure about it in the beginning, but the best buy we ever done in NZ was big yellow plastic bag we bought in Visitor Centre for 5 NZD. Thanks to it at least something stayed dry during whole hike.
From Moeraki we sped to Catlins, completely skipping Dunedin. Cities are not what we came to New Zealand after. We wanted to see Purakaunui Falls and Peter found 2 more nearby.
When Zuzka and me are searching for places to go we are looking at photos in Google Maps, Google Earth, books and similar. On the other hand Peter checks where geocaches are. They are usually at interesting places and it happened many times he navigated us (pun intended) to wonderful places we missed. This was our first encounter with rain forest and we liked it (it was not raining).
During planning of our trip in New Zealand I had hard time to persuade Zuzka to accept big side trip to Moeraki. I wanted to see those famous boulders and she preferred other places - there are so many of them in New Zealand. Peter sided with me so she finally accepted. But everything was resolved in favour of Moeraki after we failed to book Milford Track for beginning of our trip. The first available slot was at 6th, so that we needed to spend more time in south - the side trip sounded better now.
Only a few more days are ahead of us. We are heading to Rio de Janeiro tomorrow and after couple of days on beach to home.
Again the same problem with NEFs...Iceland Day 7 - Geothermal fields, waterfalls, city
Added: August 03, 2008
On Friday 20th of June we are going again to Jökulsárgljúfur, because we did not go to Selfoss yesterday. This time we are going to try western road. Then we are going (again :-) ) to geothermal fields of Námafjall. This time with cameras.
Then we are going to check out surroundings of Mývatn (depends on weather), go to Goðafoss and finally to reach Akureyri.
Iceland Day6 - East Iceland & Jökulsárgljúfur National Park
Added: August 03, 2008
Thursday 19th of June we plan to jump to north part of Iceland. Jump means there are not many stops planned on our route.
Weather is much worse than it was yesterday, it is cold and it rains at noon.
We planned to take Ring road as far as possible, but directions to our hostel in Berunes mention also road 939 Öxi that goes through mountains and is 4WD. We decided to give it a try.
Iceland Day 4 - From Skógar to Skaftafell
Added: July 06, 2008
Tuesday 17th of June is finally sunny and beautiful. No wind is added bonus. I wish all our days were sunny here.
Whole bunch of waterfalls is planned for today, some are small, some tall, and at least 2 are famous. A word about waterfalls. Our plan contains about 16 waterfalls, but we probably have seen so many of them already. But most of them were small streams falling from cliff. Interesting sight, but we are getting to be used to that. Day after afternoon we will stop taking pictures of those anonymous completely :-)
Iceland Day 3 - Landmannalaugar
Added: July 05, 2008
Monday 16th of June we plan to go to Landmannalaugar. Later we are going to move to the Skógar.
Landmannalaugar is geothermal and volcanic area full of unbelievable colors. It was expected to be one of highlights of our holidays in Iceland and I looked forward to it for long time. Problem is that it is rather cloudy and rain is expected.
Iceland day 2 - Golden Circle to Hrauneyjar
Added: June 28, 2008
Sunday 15th June 2008 is our first all-Iceland day. Our plan is to see Golden Circle, a few waterfalls and get to highlands. It is cloudy and forecast predicts rain.
Eilean Donan, Loch Ness & The North West Highlands - Day 2
Added: May 31, 2008
This is about Day 2 of our 2-day tour around Scotland. You can see details of first day here Eilean Donan, Loch Ness & The North West Highlands - Day 1. We will get back to the Glasgow at the end of day and then we go to another tour on Monday.
Eilean Donan, Loch Ness & The North West Highlands - Day 1
Added: May 30, 2008
As was mentioned in previous post 3 sunny days with Lochs, Glens and Bens we booked 3 days of sitting in the coach rambling around Scotland. This post is dedicated to Day 1 of 2-day tour Eilean Donan, Loch Ness & The North West Highlands.
For those wondering what title of previous post means, here is short explanation: loch - lake, glen - valley, ben - mountain, sun - scarce resource in Scotland :-)
If you did not read previous post, I will try shortly to summarize it: All three days were fantastic!
I have been to Ystradfellte 3 times and I am sure I will return again. It is area containing a lot of waterfalls and I have not seen them all yet.
Going there in this spring time was interesting experience. Weather was quite unstable, we had sunshine, raining, hailstorm several times in those 2.5 hours. As a bonus there were places there full of mud which is not surprising after lot of raining in previous weeks. On other side it helped to richness of waterfalls. I had not seen them so forceful before.
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