Category Archives: Travel

Six Picks: highlights of 2016 – my Christmas gift to you!

25 Sunday Dec 2016

Posted by in Finland, India, lapland, photography, tourism, Travel, travel photography, Uncategorized

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It’s Christmas Day 2016 and I’m in a generous gift-giving mood, so for my review blog for the year I’m giving you not six, not seven, but EIGHT pictures. Well, that includes the header above, taken one November morning as the sun’s rays spread across the third highest mountain in the world, Kanchenjunga, from the West Bengal hill station of Darjeeling.

It’s been another exciting year with some amazing assignments and adventures. Here are a few highlights – well, seven to be exact:

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Reijo Jääskeläinen runs the Levi Husky Park near Levi in Finnish Lapland. In January I visited Lapland to write a story about how this part of Finland is becoming popular with film makers – with animals among the acting casts.

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In May I went to the one-time Finnish military island of Örö. It’s a spring tradition for myself and a group of friends to ‘conquer’ a different Baltic island. Because access was limited to the military for many years, Örö’s environment is especially pristine.

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My visit to Japan included a tour of the mountainous region north of Nagoya, where I went behind the scenes at a Kabuki theatre.

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Northern Kerala in India is the exclusive location of the weird and wonderful Theyyam ritual, a colourful spectacle involving several hours of make-up and an attempt by participants to become  inhabited or possessed by the deities they impersonate. Extraordinary.

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In the summer I found myself in Belfast in Northern Ireland for the first time, taking a tour in Billy Scott’s black cab around the city. This stop was at the Peace Wall which separates the Republican Falls Road and Loyalist Shankill Road communities.

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Capturing this shot of the Stromboli volcano erupting  in October was something a ‘bucket list’ moment. I’ve seen volcanoes smoking and steaming in Asia and all over Central America but I’d never seen or shot a full scale eruption before.

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I was honoured to attend the wedding of friends Drahkya and Subrata in the town of Nagaon in Assam, India in November. The hospitality of my hosts was overwhelming and the occasion was touching and colourful, and an opportunity to make new friends.

So where next? Lapland again, a voyage on a working icebreaker in the Baltic, and another India adventure are planned so far, but new years always bring new surprises. Watch this space…! And best wishes to all ‘visitors’ for a happy and peaceful Christmas.

Six picks: spring 2017, photo tour to Kerala

14 Monday Nov 2016

Posted by in India, photo tours, photography, Travel, travel photography

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Announcing an exciting opportunity to explore many of the highlights of this most photogenic of Indian States, brimming with exotic tropical colour and visual surprises. Join our compact group of photo enthusiasts in March 2017 for workshops, photo-shoots and inspiring photo chat as we explore a variety of cultural and scenic wonders.

Highlights include

  • The picturesque and emblematic Chinese fishing nets of Fort Cochin, Kerala’s bustling colonial port city
  • A private showing and photo-shoot of the enchanting Kathakali traditional dance
  • Visits to the Kadar, Malayar, Muthuvar and Mannaan tribal villages
  • Hiking in the spectacular tea plantations of the upland Munnar hill station area
  • A backwaters overnight voyage on a traditional wooden Kettuvallam boat
  • A visit to the colourful backwaters town of Kottayam

The ten-day tour has been planned in expert cooperation with the highly experienced UK-based adventure travel operator Intrepid. The itinerary is devised with special attention to the best photo opportunities and with time available for informal workshops, comparing notes and discussion. A local travel guide accompanies us, while Yours Truly, an award-winning English travel photographer and writer who has visited Kerala on several occasions and traveled extensively throughout India, supervises the photography. I’ve earned a few prizes for my work, including British Guild of Travel Writers’ Photographer of the Year in both 2012 and 2015.

INTERESTED? VISIT MY WEBSITE FOR CONTACT DETAILS

I will advise about the kind of camera gear that will be useful to have with you on the tour and I am available before and during the tour to discuss other photography-related aspects of the tour. My eBook, Motion Pictures – a travel photographer’s companion, is packed full of tips and anecdotes about his travels and photography experiences and is available for purchase through Amazon, Kobo, and for Apple iPads from iTunes. Tour participants will be offered a free PDF download of the eBook.

Accommodation will be in a range of exciting hotels of four-star standard, a secluded rainforest resort and on board a fabulous wooden Kettuvallam backwaters boat.

To get you in the mood, here are six photos from Kerala, giving you a taste of what to expect and the photographic riches on offer.

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The backwaters and traditional fishing nets of Kerala are a gift for photographers, especially in the subtle light of early morning or late afternoon.

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A dredging sand boat: the backwaters are a parallel world along the coast of Kerala, India’s southernmost state.

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A fisherman on the beach at Fort Cochin, where colonial Portuguese architecture and a rich trading history offer plentiful material for photo-shoots.

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The colourful traditional Kathakali performance. A special show will be arranged for our tour group, ensuring some unique photography.

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Tea plantations contrast with rugged landscapes in the mountainous Munnar area.

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Kerala is rich in wildlife, and if we’re lucky we’ll have a chance to photograph some of the wild elephants that inhabit the forests and nature reserves.

KEEN TO COMBINE YOUR LOVE OF TRAVEL WITH YOUR PASSION FOR PHOTOGRAPHY, IN THE COMPANY OF LIKE-MINDED, ADVENTUROUS PEOPLE? CONTACT ME FOR MORE INFORMATION.

 

Six Picks: Suomenlinna, fabulous in winter

15 Friday Jan 2016

Posted by in tourism, Travel, travel photography, Uncategorized, winter

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A shamefully occasional photo blog presenting six-at-a-time appetizers of the delights in my photographic larder. Sneak in for a midnight feast at www.timbirdphotography.com

The most exotic and exciting venue for photography for me in the locality of my home in Helsinki, Finland, has always been the historic island fortress of Suomenlinna (literally, Finland’s fortress). Helsinki is a vibrantly modern city but that means it’s short of truly old historic districts. Suomenlinna’s ramparts and defences are built across a small archipelago of rugged islands, a mere 20 minute ferry ride from the city’s main market square. A UNESCO listed World Heritage site, it’s a wonderful place to visit at any time of the year, romantic and windswept and with wide sea views.

For myself, winter has always been the best time to visit, especially when (or in these days of unpredictable climate, if) the sea freezes. This winter has been the coldest for some years and that means dramatic sea ‘smoke’, the effect of very cold air sweeping across not-yet freezing water. There has been a fair amount of snow, too, with more to come, it seems.

And it also seems that my fondness for Suomenlinna in the winter is being increasingly shared. Today I got a press release recording the fact that the numbers of winter visitors have soared. There was an increase of 14 per cent in the total number of visitors in the winter months in 2015, and the total of over 200,000 was a new record.

Since this means I might not have the place to myself in coming years, I don’t know if celebrations are called for, but in any case I’ll mark the news by showing six of my best shots from the dramatic afternoon on January 5 when the the entire archipelago and South Harbour were enveloped in that extraordinary ‘sea smoke’. Here goes:

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Visiting Suomenlinna while in Helsinki is easy – just jump on the ferry. Helsinki city transport tickets are transferable. Click here to find the timetable from the Kauppatori (Market Square). More information about Suomenlinna and its museums and restaurants: click here.

If you’ve enjoyed your visit to Six Picks, come back and let me distract you again some time, or visit previous blogs in the series. And feel free to Tweet toot, hoot, share and anything else that social media well let you do – but remember copyright is MINE! If you’d like to use the photos for any other purpose please get in touch.

Six picks: sign up for my Bird’s Eye Tour to Assam

11 Sunday Oct 2015

Posted by in Assam, India, photo tours, photography, Travel

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A shamelessly intermittent photo blog featuring six images from or hovering around my files at www.timbirdphotography.com.

I’m pursuing the India theme again as promotion starts in earnest for my exciting and unique photo tour to Assam in northeastern India, planned for April 2016. The itinerary, planned in cooperation with the very reputable Intrepid adventure travel operator, features the following highlights:

  • the vibrant Bihu festival celebrations
  • the hidden side of Dibrugarh’s temples
  • meeting the residents of the world’s largest river island, Majuli
  • capturing images of colourful local tribes
  • seeking the one-horned rhinoceros in Kaziranga National Park
  • sunrise from river boats in Nameri National Park

Although I have traveled extensively through India, from north to south and east to west, I have only visited Assam briefly, so this trip excites me as much as it should excite anyone who loves combining their passions of travel and photography.

In this issue of Six Picks, I’m showing six images from a single village in Assam’s neighbouring state of Bihar, which I have visited several times. Visual surprises abound in India, and many of them are found in scenes of every day life. I hope these pictures demonstrate what I mean and whet your appetite for the photo trip of a lifetime.

Click here for contact details and more information about Bird’s Eye Tour to Assam.

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Twitter, share, blog, brag and shot from the rooftops, be my guest. But copyright remains with Tim Bird, that is me, and you must contact me if you wish to use the photos commercially. Feedback always welcome – say hallo using the contact form on my About page.

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Six Picks: Presenting Bird’s Eye Photo Tours

23 Thursday Jul 2015

Posted by in India, photography, Travel

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A photo blog providing a quick distraction in the form of six images from the files at www.timbirdphotography.com

I’m taking the opportunity in this Six Picks to announce the launch of an exciting new venture, Bird’s Eye Photo Tours, which I am planning in cooperation with Intrepid Travel. The first adventure sets off in April 2016 to the state of Assam in north-east India. Initial details of the tour itinerary are listed at Bird’s Eye Photo Tours  – I’ll be adding to these later – and if after reading this you’re interested in joining our compact group of eight photo enthusiasts, just send me an email at timothy.bird@kolumbus.fi or contact me using the comment form below and I’ll tell you more. You need an adventurous spirit, an interest in and basic competence in the basics of photography, and a willingness to accept and embrace India’s special culture shocks. Here are some highlights to whet your appetite:

  • the colourful Bihu festival celebrations
  • the hidden side of Dibrugarh’s temples
  • meeting the residents of the world’s largest river island, Majuli
  • capturing images of colourful local tribes
  • seeking the one-horned rhinoceros in Kaziranga National Park
  • sunrise from river boats in Nameri National Park

I passed through a small part of Assam once on the way to the mountain state of Sikkim, but I didn’t spend enough time there to do much photography. But as my compact but loyal readership will know, I am a regular visitor to India. So in this issue of Six Picks I’m taking the opportunity to delve into the archives and share some previously unseen shots from Indian adventures hinting at the limitless diversity of cultures and geography that this extraordinary country contains. Here goes:

The ceremony of closing of the border with Pakistan near Amritsar has become a tourist attraction. The soldiers are staring towards Pakistan, where a similarly flamboyant guard contingent is staring back at them.

The ceremony of closing of the border with Pakistan near Amritsar has become a tourist attraction. The soldiers are staring towards Pakistan, where a similarly flamboyant guard contingent is staring back at them.

A bather in the Ganges at sunrise on the main day of the Hindu Kumbh Mela festival at Allahabad.

A bather in the Ganges at sunrise on the main day of the Hindu Kumbh Mela festival at Allahabad.

Rope for sale at the Sabai grass market in Odissa.

Rope for sale at the Sabai grass market in Odissa.

Goat herder - and goats - in the Rajasthan countryside near Jodhpur.

Goat herder – and goats – in the Rajasthan countryside near Jodhpur.

Sufi worshippers at the Nizamuddin Dargah or shrine in Delhi, my favourite place in the Indian capital

Sufi worshippers at the Nizamuddin Dargah or shrine in Delhi, my favourite place in the Indian capital

Fishing boat at sunrise at Pondicherry, the one-time French colony on the south-east coast.

Fishing boat at sunrise at Pondicherry, the one-time French colony on the south-east coast.

OK, I'm feeling generous, so here's a seventh, bonus shot of the spring Holi festival in Delhi. I needed a bodyguard to stop the guys throwing paint on my camera. My camera came out of the ordeal safely - I was covered in paint myself.

OK, I’m feeling generous, so here’s a seventh, bonus shot of the spring Holi festival in Delhi. I needed a bodyguard to stop the guys throwing paint on my camera. My camera came out of the ordeal safely – I was covered in paint myself.

I realized this is just the tip of the iceberg of my Indian archives so I’ll be doing this again! If you enjoyed dropping in, please do follow the blog and tweet, twerp and google, goggle, share and like!

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Six Picks: the Estonian island of Hiiumaa

20 Wednesday May 2015

Posted by in Estonia, Travel, travel photography

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A lamentably irregular photo blog, presenting half-dozen selections from my archives and/or recent travels. Find more at www.timbirdphotography.com

Apologies for absence. I haven’t been blogging for a while, but a long weekend of cycling and hiking on the lovely island of Hiiumaa off the Estonian Baltic coast has moved me to share some shots.

We reached Hiiumaa by bus from Tallinn, the capital. The bus ticket includes the hour-long ferry ride from Haapsalu on the mainland – itself worth an exploration, with its old wooden quarter, intimate local bars and castle. In the island ‘capital’ Kärdla, we stayed at the Kaptenite Villa (their website seems to be under maintenance currently, and it was formerly known as Villa Loona), a very hospitable guesthouse run by mother and daughter Maria and Sigrid, whose breakfasts lived up to their ‘luxurious’ billing. Highly recommended as a base for a visit.

Like its bigger and better known neighbour island Saaremaa, Hiiumaa was a ‘closed’ island during Estonia’s Soviet era, with military bases dotted around the coastline. This ‘closed’ status, which forbade visits by foreigners and most Estonians, means that the natural environment is especially well preserved.

My friends and I rented bicycles and braved the elements (Estonia in the spring can be cold and blustery). Here are a few highlights:

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Tahkuna Lighthouse, one of several lighthouses on the island and the site of a memorial to the wreck of the MS Estonia in September 1994.

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The entrance to a military museum near Tahkuna is marked by a Soviet tank with flowers placed in its barrel.

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The shingle spit at Sääre tirp, with millpond calm to the east and angry seas to the west.

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Barrel chalet accommodation in the community of Kassari.

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Grazing sheep at Orjaku

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Wild spring flowers – cowslips and forget-me-nots – in a meadow close to Kärdla, Hiiumaa’s main town.

I strongly recommend a visit to Hiiumaa. Meanwhile, I hope you enjoyed this brief introduction to an Estonian treasure. Welcome back, and please share, shout, tweet, hoot and Google Plus as much as you like – but please give credit where it’s due and remember copyright is MINE, ALL MINE!

Six Picks: Yangshuo encounters

09 Thursday Apr 2015

Posted by in China, Guilin, Travel, Yangshuo

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A periodical trawl through my photo archives, focusing on a different theme each time. Visit www.timbirdphotography.com for more.

Yangshuo is on the Li River and close to the city of Guilin, famous for its classic Chinese scenery of limestone karst mountains and rice terraces. It’s the venue for a spectacular light show on the river against the backdrop of the mountains and some equally spectacular caves. It’s a handy base for exploring the region. I stayed at the highly recommended The Li River Retreat on the edge of town, which is closed this year for renovations, but the friendly Australian manager Alf has alternative accommodation at Alf’s Place in the town itself until it reopens.

I spent some days here in 2010 during a break from visiting Shanghai for Expo 2010. I rented a bike and cycled to small market towns and followed the waterways upstream, loading the bike on bamboo rafts to make the return journeys downstream. I haven’t done a blog of photos from China for a while so I thought a return was long overdue. But rather than repeat the familiar scenes of those limestone mountains (perhaps I’ll return to those later; they are beautiful), I’ve selected six captivating characters encountered on my trip. Here goes:

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If you have enjoyed dropping in for this little photographic distraction, do come again. You’ll also find me on Twitter at @BirdTimothy and on Instagram at @indifreak, as well as on Facebook.

Six Picks: Arctic Snow Hotel, Rovaniemi, Lapland

02 Monday Mar 2015

Posted by in Arctic travel, hotels, lapland, Travel, travel photography, winter

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An occasional photo blog presenting six themed shots from Tim Bird’s travel photo archives – visit www.timbirdphotography.com

It’s a drab and relatively snowless winter in southern Finland and skiers and skaters, of which there are many in this part of the world, are lamenting the lack of the white stuff. Up in Lapland, a thousand or so kilometres, it’s a different story – there’s always lots of snow up there. I was there myself a few weeks ago, and one of the highlights of the trip was a visit to the Arctic Snow Hotel, just above the Arctic Circle and close to the provincial Lapp capital of Rovaniemi.

This isn’t the only architecture of snow and ice in the northern Nordic area, of course. There’s an annual Snow Castle at Kemi on Finland’s north-west coast celebrating its 20th year in 2015 (I’ve stayed at that one too) and igloos full of Auorora-hunting Japanese couples at Kakslauttanen near Finland’s Saariselkä ski resort, where I also spent one icy night. They’re wonderful creations which usually start to thaw at the end of March and whose inside temperatures soar to minus five – compared with minus 20 to 30 outside. Being an honorary Finn, I can’t bring myself to name those impostors on the Swedish side of the border.

So to deliver a taste of winter to snow-free zones, here are six images from the Arctic Snow Hotel. If you want to stay there, you’ve got one month left – they’re taking bookings until ‘around’ March 31!

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Snow sculptures on the walls, the work of local art students.

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Reindeer pelts on beds of ice, and a fire place made of ice! Real fires not recommended.

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A ghost in the ice chapel. Weddings are held here.

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Gothic lighting in the ice restaurant.

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Cool suite in the Arctic Snow Hotel.

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The Ice Bar, always on the rocks.

Visit the Arctic Snow Hotel web site at http://www.arcticsnowhotel.fi/

If you’ve enjoyed this little pictorial distraction please Share, Tweet, Like, and watch this space for more Six Picks photo blogs.

Six Picks: the Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris

17 Saturday Jan 2015

Posted by in culture, France, music, Paris, Travel, travel photography

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Six Picks – a photo blog drawn from my archives, much of which is on show at www.timbirdphotography.com

Paris and religion are this week’s buzzwords, so it seems like as good (or bad) a time as any to combine them in the symbols of the Père Lachaise Cemetery in the French capital, a wonderfully atmospheric place of burial and the resting place for the likes of Jim Morrison (probably), Oscar Wilde, Édith Piaf and Frédéric François Chopin, to name just a few of the celebrities, in addition to many other less well-known souls.

The cemetery is near Boulevard Menilmontant and was opened in 1804 on the site of a Jesuit retreat. It’s at turns touching, scary and poignant, very large and rambling,and well worth a visit.

These pictures were made using my previous Canon camera using a gimmicky little gadget called a Lens Baby that gives the spooky blurred effect.

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I have heard Oscar's memorial has been sealed off to prevent his many devotees from planting their lipstick on it.

I have heard Oscar’s memorial has been sealed off to prevent his many devotees from planting their lipstick on it.

A disturbing and hard-hitting memorial to French Jews who perished in the death camps of the Second World War.

A disturbing and hard-hitting memorial to French Jews who perished in the death camps of the Second World War.

Vampires?

Vampires?

She had no regrets.

She had no regrets.

Very sad.

Very sad.

Thank you for visiting – please drop in again. Find me also on Instagram as Indifreak and on Twitter as @BirdTimothy

Six Picks: Colonial towns and volcanoes in Nicaragua

03 Saturday Jan 2015

Posted by in art, Central America, culture, geology, Travel, travel photography

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A photo blog delving into my travel photography archives at www.timbirdphotography.com

A few years ago I had an obsession with volcanoes. Or rather, my continuing obsession with volcanoes manifested itself in the form of several visits to Central America, to Guatemala, Costa Rica and Honduras, for example. One of those visits was to Nicaragua where I did managed to gaze, Frodo-like, into some ominously smoking volcanic craters. More of those later, but here is a quick New Year re-visit to the lakeside colonial gems of Leon and Granada, and a glimpse of one smoking vent.

Happy New Year, Six Picks visitor!

Street mural commemorating the July 23, 1959 massacre of slaughters in Leon.

Street mural commemorating the July 23, 1959 massacre of slaughters in Leon.

Street scene from the bell tower in Granada

Street scene from the bell tower in Granada

Firework celebrations in the square at Leon

Firework celebrations in the square at Leon

My guide, Jesus, took me to the mountain. Here he is peering in to the smouldering crater of the Telica volcano.

My guide, Jesus, took me to the mountain. Here he is peering dangerously into the smouldering crater of the Telica volcano.

Festival procession makes its way to the cathedral square in Leon.

Festival procession makes its way to the cathedral square in Leon.

Granada residents taking it easy

Granada residents taking it easy

Six Picks is a fairly regular introduction to my travel photography. To view my galleries, visit my website at www.timbirdphotography.com. If you enjoy your visits, please share, Tweet, shout and holler.