Archive for the ‘Photos’ category

La Recoleta Cemetery – final resting place of the Buenos Aires elite

May 22, 2007

The sky was clear, the air crisp and still.
Conditions were good.

Armed with a new camera and freshly charged batteries, I set off to La Recoleta Cemetery yesterday afternoon to test it out.

Many influential, wealthy and important Argentinians are buried here – mostly presidents, military figures, scientists and opulent families – several names seemed familiar, later recognised as street names from the city and across the country.

The cemetery is best known to the outside world for being home to Eva Perón´s tomb and for it´s overtly lavish and diverse architectural styles – from walking through the Greek column fronted, neo classical gates – to the narrow streets filled with heavily adorned art nouveau, art deco and modernist mausoleums, all lined in terraces.

There was also an unusually large number of cats here.
They nonchalantly strolled about the place – sometimes playing and prowling amongst the graves, and often (as cats do best), sleeping lazily in the sun.
The cats, along with the tens of thousands buried here over several city blocks in area, are the residents here.

I had a limited number of photos at my disposal due to an almost full memory card, so had to be selective with the shots (otherwise there would be more cat photos).

If anybody has any tips about cameras or photography in general and is itching to tell someone else, get in touch..

Click here for La Recoleta Cemetery photo gallery or see below for a few images.

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Camo´d Amarillo Armadillo Caught on Camera!

May 21, 2007

A headline for all the red top readers out there.

I have a new camera – a shiny Canon Powershot S3 iS!

It is different to the one I had before, hopefully better and longer lasting..

The following photo was not taken with this camera, but with my old one.

Here we have Mike – trying, with near success, to remain unseen:can you spot him?

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Personality test – do the voices tell you that you are disfunctional?

May 21, 2007

This is my own watery version of the Rorschach inkblot test, commonly used for forensic assessment and by psychologists to examine their patients´ personality characteristics and emotional functioning.

Top Tip:

If you ever have to do one of these for real, give responses along the lines of “Flowers”, “Butterflies” and “Happiness”.. This will probably land you in the “non-psychotic” thoughts category.

Answers similar to “Insects burrowing through flesh”, “Immeasurable suffering” and “Bryan Adams and Celine Dion performing an epic duet” are sure fire ways to let yourself not see the light of day again. Or at least get a slap, especially in the case of the Adams and Dion combo. As a doctor, such delusions of bad taste should not be encouraged and must be nipped in the bud as soon as identified.*

* – this is probably true. If it isn´t it should be. I actually have no idea.

Say what you see..

what  do you see?

I see water demons, not dead people.

New photos added!

May 21, 2007

4 new photo galleries added and an old gallery altered.

New:

Ushuaia to ElCalfate and El Chalten

Iguazu Falls

Florianopolis and Isla Santa Catarina

Brazil Party – Limeira

Altered:

Tierre del Fuego and Patagonia – misc

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What´s this then?

April 15, 2007

It´s definitely blue

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A picture says a thousand words..

April 15, 2007

So here´s the last few weeks in pictures.

12,000 word essay to follow..

Gaucho works his hill of sheep, between Tierre del Fuego and Patagonia:

 Gaucho, southern Patagonia

Click below for more.. (more…)

Ubatuba – a welcome respite..

February 28, 2007

I am sitting in a car driving from Taubate to Ubatuba, a beautiful journey across rolling countryside, over a ridge of small mountains to the coast, the frequency of the rich greens of the foliage increasing as we travel. From a distance, all the flora looks the same. On closer inspection, the variety is revealed and it becomes hard to find two trees of the same type.

From the peak of the pass it is all downhill to Ubatuba. There was a memorable section of road to rival that famous one in San Francisco for all it´s twisting, turning hairpins and sharp gradient. I´m thankful our brakes are reliable.

With surfing out the picture and no banks wanting to accept my card I enjoy a much needed break mostly spent on various beaches. Notably Itamabuca, where the river meets the sea. `Red Beach´ is another, where the crusty sand is like demerara sugar, resting in clumps, crunching underfoot like hot golden snow. These are just two of the 74 beaches and 15 islands along the gorgeous stretch of coastline in and around Ubatuba.

Here I spend 5 days learning Portuguese, eating the delicious Açai and reestablishing a sensible diet, away from the Atkins´ orgy and small farms´ worth of cows I must have devoured so far. Concerned over a lack of vitamins, I consume a variety of fruit based Caipirinhias.

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Sun and the sound of samba – An unconventional Carnaval.

February 28, 2007

As I lay on a surfing beach near Ubatuba, some 3hrs bus ride away from the tourist feeding frenzy of Rio, resting and nursing my injuries, I reflect on the short but action packed last few days. If and when I return to Rio, I will walk the well trodden tourist path and take part in more sedate activities.

Hangliding perhaps..

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When it comes to the weather, the British are all talk..

February 11, 2007

The rare British snowy landscape has been and gone, lasting only 2.5 days. These two days were enough to cause chaos for everyone except schoolchildren, who relish the possibility of a day off school with the chance to make snowmen and throw snowballs at anyone within range.

It’s a funny situation that the British spend so much time talking about it yet whenever any real weather with any oomph comes to this fair isle, we have no idea what to do and descend into a state of national panic and general flapping about! At least it gives us the opportunity to do what we are best at. Talking even more about the weather. On Thursday, Great Britain set a new world record for the most utterings of the word “snow” – smashing the old record with a staggering 100 billion* mentions of the word in a 24 hour period.

* – this is an approximate figure. I lost count at 12 and estimated the final figure.

I said goodbye to another house this week, the second in a 7 day period. This time it was the family home, lived in for an impressive 25+ years and where most of my childhood years were spent.

The snowfall did allow for some decent parting shots of the house, to remember it by.

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It’s Alive! ..and so another site spews itself onto the webscape.

January 30, 2007

Welcome!

Who am I?

Have a look at the About page and find out.

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