Firemonkeyphoto

Back to the real world…0
Kate posted in Travel, Kate & Dave on February 23rd, 2007

After a 38 hour trip which included five separate flights and took us across four borders, we finally made it back to Edinburgh. Its good to be back, even if it is nearly 25 degrees colder here than what we had become used to. The very end of our trip saw us exploring the tiny Cuban town of Trinidad, which is very pretty, and has a great collection of pubs and cafes that host live music. However, even when it is played by great musicians, 12 days of constant salsa music is a but much…

We are now back in Edinburgh for approximately one week. This time will be spent drinking beer, trying to see everyone, finding all of our stuff and sorting through it to see what we need to take with us, biking and drinking. Then we head off to Ireland where Kate has a job (a real one!). And I need to start looking for one.

The question that people most frequently asked us when we told them that we were travelling around the Americas for 8 months was: “How do you manage to afford it?” But looking at the price of accomodation and the general cost of living in the UK, the real question is: “How can you afford NOT to?” The rent for a single room in Edinburgh will easily cover all the living costs (including eating out) for two in South America.

I need expressions, stat!0
neil posted in Photos, Neil on February 23rd, 2007

Taking posed team portraits is always a challenge. Unless you’ve got time to get really creative, you just stand everyone up against something appropriate, get them looking the right way (harder than you’d think…I’m over HERE!) and click. All the time, your mind is thinking: If I could just get them to display a drop of emotion, this photo would kick ass. Once or twice it has been done for me (a rugby girl wedgied another during one of these shoots). Fortunately hockey has an advantage as everyone knows how to come off the goal line to intercept a short corner. With the team neatly arranged in the net, I announced that on three, they needed to charge out. Click, click, click.

Fencing photos0
neil posted in Photos, Neil on February 21st, 2007

Been a bit late with these, sorry guys.

The small (at the moment) gallery is here.

Hailing the big yellow taxi5
neil posted in Travel on February 18th, 2007

A mountainbiker went over the handlebars today on the Kelpie staircase in Carron Valley and landed very badly. He landed in a nearby built burn cutting him above his eye and hurting his chest. The unlucky rider was airlifted to hospital a little over an hour and a half later. The air ambulance reached the scene three quarters of an hour after the accident. A regular ambulance could’nt reach the fire roads into the forest due to a locked gate. The rider was concious the entire time and thanked his rescuers as he was placed into the helicopter.

We had lapped the Carron valley trail once with a view to use it to build confidence with our less experienced friends. It is a good deal tamer than most red runs and is better built than most blues. On our second lap we stopped to take some photographs of the Kelpie staircase. Fraser acted as a look-out and told us a rider was coming. The rider rode nearly all of the staircase confidently (he had ridden it many times before) until near the bottom where he lost control. His wheel went sideways and the momentum threw him into the burn. He was able to stand (though very shaken) and with assistance we got him out of the burn and onto the bank. More riders arrived very quickly on this popular trail and contributed phones, warm clothes, lookouts and stretcher bearers. Fraser rode out and put in the ambulance call from a landline while another rider managed to get a signal at the site of the accident. It was good to see how calm, friendly and willing to help everyone was. A medic was one of the first other riders to arrive and took charge of keeping the injured rider warm and as comfortable as possible. The paramedics were dropped in a cut area of the forest next to the accident (requiring some skilful hovering) and then helicopter parked at the nearby fire road. A number of riders rotated through carrying the roll-up stretcher back up the track and carried the paramedic gear out of the site of the accident.

The rider was incredibly unlucky. He landed in the one place that could severely injure him and landed in such a way as to miss his helmet and injure his forehead. A landing anywhere else would have allowed him to roll off the energy or dropped him onto the soft grass beside the trail. A confident rider, he would have ridden the staircase in any case, however the signage before the staircase is inadequate (I did’nt even see it after riding it twice) and there is no escape route, forcing riders to dismount and walk the slippy staircase. No-one present had a space blanket to use in longer emergencies. I’ll now be tossing one in my pack as standard as most first aid in a bad accident is maintaining the casualty while waiting for expert help. The day was warm, sunny and dry which helped a great deal. If it had been wet, cold and in the shade keeping the casualty and our core temperatures up would have been much more difficult.

Another rider was reported to have fallen in the fun park section today.

A forum post on the Carron Valley Development Group website is here:

http://www.carronvalley.org.uk/index.php?module=phpwsbb&PHPWSBB_MAN_OP=view&PHPWS_MAN_ITEMS[]=149

My photographs from Carron Valley today are here. The rider without a helmet was wearing one for the obstacles and would do so all the time normally.

Once more with feeling0
Kate posted in Travel, Kate & Dave on February 16th, 2007

Munch munch munch - the last post we tried to upload got eaten. So here we go again.

Updating from Neils post on our behalf we have now left the tabacco growing regions and are in sugar cane country.  The weather seems to realise we are heading home soon and is trying to get us back into the swing of a European spring (its raining …..a lot).

We started our Cuban trip in Habana and managed to avoid the government sponsored hotels and resorts by arranging to stay with a Cuban family in their home. On the surface, everything seems to be trundling along fine rather like all of the 1950s cars that you see all over the place. And there you have the first sign that you´re not just anywhere, but in Cuba. The city of Habana itself is huge, dirty and falling apart (some of the buildings look like they are held up purely by willpower and just under half of the residents of the old town are living in buildings deemed unfit for human habitation) but underneath it all you can still imagine how grand and beautiful it would have been in the 1930s. A few days here was enough, so we headed to the little town of Vinales a few hours to the west. As Neil mentioned, it is prime tobacco growing country. The valley has field after field of bright green tobacco plants growing in the red soil, and every so often you see a large thatched barn-like structure which is used for storing the leaves while they dry out. After that they are sorted and sent to the rolling factories in Habana. We took a few days wandering (and riding) through the valley before moving on to the south coast and the beach. And thats when the weather decided to remind us of home. So here we are in Trinidad, sitting inside avoiding the rain!

Theres only one thing to be done: add to the Grand Cuban Mojito Count. We have reached 60 so far, leaving 4 days and 40 to go…

Cuba Libre?0
Kate posted in Travel, Kate & Dave on February 14th, 2007

Dave and Kate are in Cuba and getting on fine. They’ve been hiking and sightseeing and are currently in the tobacco producing region. They’re hauling ass back to Edinburgh for the 21st. The reason I’m writing this is because the site ate their post for some reason and they ran out of internet credit.
Neil

How (not) to be a photographer0
neil posted in Photos, rants, Neil on February 14th, 2007

We photographers, professional and amateur alike, all exist on the sufferance of our subjects. Basically, we can only take good meaningful photographs when our subjects grant their (tacit oftentimes) approval. There are exceptions, but there are not many. Thus one of the most important skills in photography is respect. It is possible to respect a mourning family, injured footballer or charred corpse and still get the picture. Rudeness, arrogance and stubborness may get you one picture once, but no more.

We photographers are intrusive, we are distracting. The best among us either become flies on the wall (Cartier-Bresson) or active participants (Harvey). We reduce the intrusion, the distraction and we try to make our pictures without imposition or danger. Access is our key to intimate, emotive pictures and this is gained through respect and communication. If this limits your shooting, tough, make do. Often this will give you the better picture and more open mind.
Today I witnessed how not to do it. Shooting horses, hundreds of kilos of flighty muscle, requires a great deal of respect. It was a competition of Scottish University B & C teams (I.E: not newbies but not the best) involving dressage and showjumping. During the dressage I hunched in the corner and shot available light and only when I was sure both rider and horse were comfortable. One “spooky” horse disapproved entirely and I would just sat tight when it was in the arena. The showjumping was nervy even as the jumps were being built. People were muttering that they were too high and demanding measurement. Even the home team, familiar with the jumps and horses, was nervous. One of the first horses round was apparently a pony and had real difficulty with some of the fences. It needed two or three runs and nearly shucked its rider. Another horse tossed the girl on its back clear up its neck.

I was a bit concerned then when another photographer arrived and started setting up remote strobe units. I’m a fan of these units, they freeze action, add contrast and bring out colour. Well used, they make beautiful photos in the darkest dankest caverns. The arena was a dark and dank cavern (1/40 F2.8 ISO1600) so I can see his logic. He had asked the arena manager if it was OK (common sense) and she’d told him to go ahead but not to flash the horses when they got close. Oblivious to the air of tension already present, he did’nt ask the participants. They would have told him that they were borderline on boycotting the jumping anyway and that flashing twitchy unfamiliar horses was dangerous for them. I admit I’d pulled my flash out at this point, but was really very leery about using it. It would make GREAT pictures, but after seeing horses shy at my mirror slap I was worried I could cause an accident. I decided to let the first few horses run and see how edgy they looked.

Sensibly he flashed the horses as they came in, to see the reaction, however everyone (horses and humans) was too highly strung to tell if the horses were being put off or the riders were having problems. Also the horses were facing away from his strobes.”Fine with it” he declared. The ponies replacement was a horse the colour of dark coffee, long and lean looking. He had a brief warmup and then was “shown” to the watching jockies. Jumping the fence nearest the grandstand (too close for my 80-200) the horse tossed its rider and nearly fell. The atmosphere got even more gloomy/tense. The competition began like this. Each time the horses were flashed as they came in then started their runs. It was obvious however the horses felt about it, the ladies jumping were not happy about man-made lightning being unleashed as they made their runs. They asked repeatedly for the flashes to be turned off. At which point I heard muttering very like “If they’re gonna whine about it…”

Whine? Are you perched on the back of a giant quadruped headed for a fence at high speed? I felt it was a justified complaint and required adapting to the situation. I was crouched low over the grandstand using it as support and was panning with the horses as they jumped. The other fellow, as far as I could tell, was freestanding with a slow canon 100-400 glued to his eye. “Blurry horse going over a jump” Gee….ya think? He stayed for a few more rounds and left.

I was a little upset, he had come across as self-interested and did’nt appear to care for the situation. If you have a camera, don’t shoot like this. Respect your subject enough not to put them in danger or even appear to. We’ve all crossed the line by accident a few times through inexperience, but learn quickly and you’ll be better for it. Is the picture worth it? Or is the relationship worth more?

Kate and Dave’s pictures0
neil posted in Photos, Travel, Kate & Dave on February 8th, 2007

Kate and Dave have been uploading pictures to their gallery here. Their earlier stories are being updated as they come in so check back.

Ruta Puuc and beetle country0
Kate posted in Travel, Kate & Dave on February 7th, 2007

Somewhat north of Campeche, across the state line into Yucatan, but before you reach Merida, you pass through the Puuc hills. These are the only hills in the otherwise pancake-flat northern part of the Yucatan peninsula, and here you will find some of the most interesting Maya sites around. The only problem is that there is no way to reach them using public transport, and if you take a tour, you have to rush to fit it all in one day. The solution: rent a car. So we went back to our friend Mohan, who rented us that lovely dark blue VW beetle the first time we were in Merida, and persuaded him to let us use the car again. And off we went.

We managed to visit the sites of Kabah, Sayil, Xlapak and Labna all in one day and still have time to wander round the nearby massive set of caves called Grutas de Loltun before dark. Uxmal we visited the next day. Each of these ruins were fairly small - certainly they were nowhere near the size of sites such as Chichen Itza or Tikal, but I think I enjoyed them more than the larger sites. What they lack in sheer scale they make up for in the incredably intricate carvings that still cover most of the buildings. And best of all, hardly anyone visits them, so we often had the whole place to ourselves! The Puuc hills have no year-round reliable sources of water. No rivers, no lakes. So the Maya living in the region had to rely entirely on rainfall to provide them with the water they needed. To overcome this problem, each household dug an underground reservoir to collect water during the rainy season, which would have to last them through the dry months. Not surprisingly, the rain god Chaac was of supreme importance and his image covers almost every available surface. (Im sure Chaac was the inspiration for Gonzo from the Muppets - he has exactly the same nose.)

Editors note: Kate and Dave have been uploading pictures to here. Their earlier stories are getting updated as the pictures come in, they’re not quite caught up yet.

Chiapas and Campeche0
Kate posted in Travel, Kate & Dave on February 7th, 2007

After leaving Guatemala, we headed across the border to the highland town of San Cristobal de las Casas, in the Mexican State of Chiapas. Like Guatemala, Chiapas has a very large proportion of ethnically Maya people, and particularly in the smaller highland towns, Spanish is often spoken only as a second language (if at all) - and here as in Guatemala, indigenous people have always been treated as second class citizens. San Cristobal was the centre of the 1994 Zapatista uprising, which sought to address this problem and improve the living standards of Mexicos indigenous peple. The Zapatistas took control of the town (and several others nearby), but were driven out by the Mexican Army after a few days. Still, on the bus trip in and out of town, we passed though several villages which declared themselves “autonomous rebel territories” and there were quite a few army checkpoints on the roads. Interesting times…

Just about 12 km outside of San Cristobal, lies the village of San Juan Chamula, which is home to the Tzotzil people, one of the most fiercely independant groups in the area. The most striking feature of the town is the large church, which combines the Catholic faith with older religious practices. Being inside the church is a wierd experience: it is filled flickering candles set up in rows on the floor, and with groups of people worshiping by kneeling on the pine needle carpeted flor, chanting in Tzotzil and making offerings of liquor and soda. (Coca Cola appeared to be the favourite of the gods, closely followed by Fanta.) Catholic imagery is simply layered on top of traditional Maya imagery. An example is the image of the crucifixion, which ties in very nicely with the Maya concept of ritual sacrifice. The blood of Christ was spilled literally to make the sun come up tomorrow, just as the blood of a captured “Holy Lord” (as the ruler of a city was called) had always been used. You definately get the impression that this was not quite what the Spanish missionaries had in mind when they first started converting the Maya.

Time to move on - time to leave the cool, dry pleasant climate of the highlands and return to the sticky lowland jungle and on the the Maya site of Palenque. After a brief stop there we moved on again to the colonial town of Campeche, which was raided so frequently by pirates in the 18th century, that an enormous wall was built right round the city, complete with eight bastions and two large fortresses bristling with canons. Most of the fortifications are still standing and we spent a couple of days just climbing all over them imagining that we could see pirate ships on the horizon.
But where has all the rum gone? Yo ho ho…