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Six Picks: A walk in Bali’s rice fields

14 Thursday Aug 2014

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Six images in a weekly photo blog

The first time we visited the town of Ubud on the island of Bali was about 20 years ago and the place has mushroomed out of all recognition. When you’re one of them, you can’t knock the thousands of tourists who crowd the streets and restaurants, otherwise clogged with minibuses and motor scooters. Even less when you’re a travel writer/photographer, sharing with the world the hidden treasures of the world, making them less hidden. Although this is purely a holiday – no commissions, no pressure to deliver, no scribbled notes about hotels and restaurants.

Just the same, I’m glad we chose to stay outside the town, in the cooler, calmer hills surrounded by rice paddies and lush, jungle-covered valleys. In the mornings, the cockerels provide a rousing alarm, and the night falls to a chorus of cicados and the croaking of frogs and geckoes.

The locals aren’t complaining either – tourism is the source of a substantial livelihood and affluence. But it’s good to see that the unique Balinese culture and traditions, rooted in a hybrid Hinduism far from the religion’s original Indian home, remain as strong as ever. The essence of what makes Bali attractive has survived, even if some of its mystique has been eroded.

Here are a few visual souvenirs from my strolls through the nearby rice fields.

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Burning discarded waste and old baskets at a basketware market near Ubud.

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Innocent but spectacular pleasures: Bali’s skies are dotted with kites of all shapes and sizes.

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Levelling the rice paddies for planting the rice is tough physical work.

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The rice fields of central Bali are exquisite attractions in themselves, but keeping them in good shape is hard work – for all the family.

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There’s only so much rice field work a kid can take. He’s seated in front of one of the countless shrines dotted around the paddies.

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Sun goes down over the flooded rice fields near Ubud.

Thanks for taking a look – if you like what you’ve seen, please share and/or follow this photo blog. Copyright remains with me, Tim Bird, and permission needs to be granted for any other re-use or publication. Please also visit my web site at www.timbirdphotography.com

Six Picks: Boko National Park, Sarawak, Borneo

27 Sunday Jul 2014

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Six weekly images from the archives at www.timbirdphotography.com 

A certain Malaysian airline has had some rough luck lately and it doesn’t deserve the dark name it has acquired. A year ago it was flying me, safely and comfortably, from London to Sarawak, the Malaysian section of Borneo.

By way of a morale boost for Malaysia and a personal reminder of my trip, here are six shots from the Boko National Park, an agreeably compact area of preserved rain forest and mangrove shorelines that is home to some extraordinary wildlife and dramatic maritime scenery. It’s accessible (by road and then boat) from the Sarawak capital Kuching and visitors have a great chance of some exciting close-up encounters with a variety of beasties.

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Proboscis Monkey – Bako is one of the best places to see this rare and large-nosed creature, found only on Borneo.

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Wave-cut platforms and rock pools in weird shapes mark the coastline.

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At low tide, shell-dwelling hermit crabs cling to the vegetation.

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Langurs and macaques are among the monkey species.

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Mudskippers scuttle around the sand at low tide.

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Boko is easy to reach from Sarawak’s capital, Kuching, but feels remote. It can only be reached by boat – there are no roads, just hiking trails.

If you’ve enjoyed your visit, please share the photoblog, giving due credit to the copyright holder, and come back for more on a weekly basis. And take a look at my photo website at www.timbirdphotography.com

Six Picks: Finalists and winners

13 Sunday Jul 2014

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Six images in a weekly photo blog from my constantly expanding archives at www.timbirdphotography.com and bulging hard drives.

It’s World Cup Final day, and this week I’m taking the opportunity to recall some of my own photographic triumphs and near-misses.

Last week I was in London for the opening of the Travel Photographer of the Year 2013 competition exhibition at the Royal Geographical Society in Kensington. The creator of the competition, Chris Coe, and his wife Karen have developed this contest to be among the world’s top showcases for travel photography, encouraging amateurs as well as professionals to enter their work and giving a boost to young aspiring enthusiasts. I’ve entered the competition every year for at least seven of the ten competitions judged so far – number 11 is open for entries right now until October 1 – and I’ve had varying degrees of success. I’ve entered again this year, so keep your fingers crossed.

I like entering competitions, partly as a way of increasing my confidence as a photographer and partly to match myself against other photographers. You can always learn something new in photography and you can do that by seeing what other people are doing. Being able to tag “Award Winning” to my description also helps to convince editors that I can shoot as well as write, not something that everyone can do. At the TPOTY opening I had another chance to meet and compare notes with photographers from all over the world. The deserving overall winner this year was Timothy Allen (bad move on my part, this – now I’ve linked you up to his page, you’ll probably never come back to mine!), an intrepid and talented photographer whose professional credits include the stills for the BBC TV series Human Planet.

So in this week’s Six Picks forgive me if I take the opportunity to indulge in some celebration of some of the prizes I have won in recent years.

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Planet Ant, a highly commended entry from the Digital Photographer of the Year competition a few years back. Taken in Koh Chang in Thailand in 2009

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The Travel Photographer of the Year competition celebrated its tenth anniversary last year with a separate “10 for 10” contest. My Splash of Colour shot won the overall prize and it’s on show at the exhibition in Kensington until August 17 (see below). It was shot in Udaipur in India in 2013. I won a handy and versatile Fujifilm X20 compact camera for this one.

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May Day (Vappu) band in Helsinki. This shot earned me a Highly Commended in the TPOTY competition, single image Festivals category, in 2006.

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A young cricketer in Agra, India, with the Taj Mahal looming through the mist. This won the Famous Places category in the AA Holiday Photographer of the Year 2008 – and earned me a cruise for two in the Canary Islands.

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Buddhist monk novices in Bodh Gaya, Bihar, India, the site of the original Tree of Enlightenment. This was one of four images published in the Finnair inflight magazine Blue Wings that earned me the title of British Guild of Travel Writers Photographer of the Year for 2012 – and a commission to shoot for the Sarawak Tourist Board in Borneo.

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Ghost ship to Stockholm: third prize in the Finnish Readers’ Digest / Matkaopas magazine / Kamera magazine Travel Photographer 2009 competition. Taken on the island of Suomenlinna in Helsinki with the help of the Silja Line ferry. The prize for this was a Canon Powershot camera.

If you are in London, drop in to the TPOTY exhibition at the Royal Geographical Society in Kensington. It’s free of charge and runs until August 17. Many of the pictures are displayed outside in the courtyard, with the pervading and exotic perfume of jasmine flowers lending an appropriate sense of far-off places. The exhibition shop includes postcards, prints and posters from the competition Collection, soon to include another of my own short-listed entries, as well as the Journey series of compilations of previous competitions. The shot from Udaipur above is included in the latest volume, Journey Six.

Please feel free to share this weekly photo blog and to follow future issues. But please request permission before re-using this photos in any other context, including commercially – copyright remains with the photographer, that is, me, Tim Bird.

You’ll find more of my photos at www.timbirdphotography.com.

Six Picks: Helsinki – world’s best summer city

06 Sunday Jul 2014

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Six themed images from the archives at www.timbirdphotography.com.

This week I wish it was 12 picks, not just six. The summer in Helsinki – when it finally arrives in earnest – is, well, more summery than just about any other city I know. The sun barely sets, there are mountains of berries in the market places, there’s a continentally European feel to the cafes and bars spilling out onto the pavements, and the Baltic horizon is dotted with sails, cruise ships and tourist boats. This week we’re in holiday mood, so here is a quick photo tour – almost as quick as the summer itself – on this magical July evening in the Finnish capital. Not just a run-through of the main tourist sights.

New potatoes in the market places are a sure sign that the Helsinki summer has arrived.

New potatoes in the market places are a sure sign that the Helsinki summer has arrived.

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Get on your bike and cycle around the Helsinki shoreline and you’ll come across plenty of small, sometimes quirky cafes and ice cream kiosks. This one, Regatta, isn’t far from the Sibelius monument but thankfully off the itinerary for the bus loads of Japanese tourists that make a beeline for this tribute to Finland’s most famous composer.

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The classic harbour view of the Neo-Classical centre of Helsinki, dominated by the Lutheran cathedral. The quayside market square is in the foreground.

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The summer climaxes with the Helsinki Festival in August. The 2013 festival included the Harmonic Fields installation along the shore front close to Eira and Hernesaari – literally, wind instruments.

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If I could do it all again… Helsinki is a great place to be young.

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Traditional hay making in full swing in the fields near the manor at Tapaninvainio, close to the Vantaa River. Anyone can join in.

If you’ve enjoyed these quick glimpses from my photo archives, please share and follow this weekly blog. And take a look at my substantial photo galleries from Finland and around the world at www.timbirdphotography.com

Six Picks: Summer Festivals in Finland

29 Sunday Jun 2014

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Six images selected from the archives at www.timbirdphotography.com in a weekly photo blog.

It’s Glastonbury weekend in England, which brings to mind Helsinki’s own festive fare. Summer in Finland is when the place comes alive with music and dance festivals of just about every imaginable kind, from chamber music to opera, to jazz to samba, from world music to heavy metal. Small sleepy towns spring into life as they’re invaded for a few wild summer days with festival fans. Helsinki has its fair share of the summer festivals too. There really is something for everyone. Here you have six quick visits to festive summer Finland:

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Elbow’s Guy Garvey at Turku’s Ruisrock.

The now sadly deceased Gil Scott Heron at Pori Jazz.

The now sadly deceased Gil Scott Heron at Pori Jazz.

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Chinese dancers at the Kaustinen Folk Music Festival.

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3D spectacles in place for Kraftwerk at Helsinki’s Flow.

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“Giving it the horn” at the Tuska Metal Festival, Helsinki.

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Dancers ready for the procession at Helsinki’s Samba Carnaval

These are just the tip of Finland’s festival iceberg (and in case you were wondering, no icebergs here in winter or any other time, although if your idea of a good festival is rolling around in mud, you’ll probably find somewhere to do that). Literature, dance, visual art, movies… you name it. To find out more, visit the Finland Festivals website: http://www.festivals.fi/en

Individual Festival links for those mentioned above:

Ruisrock: www.ruisrock.fi

Kaustinen: www.kaustinen.net

Pori Jazz: www.porijazz.fi

Flow: www.flowfestival.com

Tuska: www.tuska-festival.fi

Helsinki Samba Carnaval: www.helsinkisambacarnaval.fi

If you enjoyed visiting, do some back! Share with friends, but remember that copyright remains with the photographer, that is, Tim Bird, that is, me! Take a look at my website at www.timbirdphotography.com for more travel photos from around the world.

Six Picks: Tribute to Costa Rica from an Englishman

21 Saturday Jun 2014

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Six images from the travel photography archives at www.timbirdphotography.com

One of the best things about Costa Rica in Central America is that it doesn’t have an army. It has a surprisingly good football team, though, and they’ve just sealed the fate of my national team, England, by beating Italy. Thank you, Costa Rica, for getting the pain out of the way sooner rather than later.

Costa Rica has a lot more going for it than just a decent football team. The abundant concentration of wildlife in a relatively small area and the ease with which visitors can witness it are unequalled pretty much anywhere. It has Caribbean and Pacific shores, clean sandy beaches, surf, cool cloud forests, clammy jungles, volcanoes and friendly, easy-going people, known as Ticos, whose motto – Pura vida! – meaning literally “pure life” but is used as an all-round greeting and positive exclamation, sums up a smiling and gently upbeat fatalism.

Here is a pictorial tribute in six visual highlights:

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Three-toed sloth in the Manuel Antonio National Park on Costa Rica’s Pacific Coast. These astonishing tree-dwelling creatures sleep between 15 and 20 hours a day and have extra vertebrae in their necks, so they can turn their heads more than 250 degrees.

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Humming bird on the edge of the Monteverde Cloud Forest. Fifty-four species of humming bird have been identified in Costa Rica.

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The “Iguana Tree” near Fortuna is just off the main road and provides guaranteed sightings of these fabulous reptiles.

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Pura Vida! The friendly face of Costa Rica – a cheerful Tico.

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The active Arenal volcano and surrounding countryside.

ImageA red-eyed tree frog at the La Paz Waterfall Gardens.

If you’ve enjoyed visiting this blog, please send feedback using the comment form. Even if you haven’t it would be good to hear from you, and please share the blog link. If you want to re-use the pictures, though, please give credit where it’s due and remember copyright remains with Tim Bird, the photographer.

Six Picks: the mountains of Anja in Madagascar

15 Sunday Jun 2014

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Six themed shots from the archives at www.timbirdphotography.com

The Anja Community Reserve in Madagascar is known as one of the best places to encounter ring-tailed lemurs, but it’s also distinguished by its incredible scenery. Located about 15 kilometres south of the town of Ambalavao, itself the site of regular cattle markets, Anja covers about 30 hectares of wooded land around the base of spectacular outcrops where the caves were used as ancient Betsilao tribal tombs and are still sacred sites for the local community. That community is empowered with the responsibility to manage the reserve and the short but varied hiking trails that lead up to the rock faces and past the homes of the inquisitive lemurs.

We visited in autumn 2012 and watched the rocks glow in strange blue light as a storm approached in the evening and the following morning we saw the swirling mist pierced by the rising sunlight. Unforgettable.

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Want to get in touch? Please do, using the form on the ABOUT page (see above).

Six Picks: Summer scenes from Helsinki’s River Vantaa

09 Monday Jun 2014

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Six themed shots from the archives at www.timbirdphotography.com

The River Vantaa is one of the Finnish capital’s treasures, and one that visitors often don’t get to find out about. Leading upstream from the rapids at Vanhakaupunki – literally, old town – where Helsinki was founded in 1550 and arcing around the eastern side of the city to the northern edge of the forested Keskuspuisto (Central Park), the river takes its name from the city’s northern neighbour, Vantaa.

For me, the river, flowing a few hundred metres from our house, makes summer visits to the city centre a special pleasure, with cycle tracks leading through woods and meadows, past bathing beaches and rapids, as well as the occasional outdoor summer restaurant terrace. Canoe rental is an option near the bridge leading up to the old manor restaurant and stables and riding school at Tuomarinkylän kartano, fishing is popular near the rapids where the river cascades into the sea, and the beach at Pikkukoski (“Little Rapids”) is packed with bathers and partying kids once the holidays get under way. Haltiala farm to the north is popular with families, especially during the lambing season in spring, and anybody can join in with the traditional hay-making at Tuomarinkylän kartano. Sunflowers, flax and peas are grown in some of the fields adjacent to the river towards the Central Park and anybody can go and pick them.

Here are six shots of one of Helsinki’s best summer assets.

ImageHiking and cycle tracks run along both sides of the river, a fabulous scenic ride.

ImageThe rapids at Vanhakaupunki where the river meets the sea and where Helsinki was founded in 1550. The buildings on the left contain a small hydropower plant.

ImageFishing on the river, home to perch, pike, grayling, salmon, trout, and rainbow trout.

ImageModern developments creep closer to the river banks every year.

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Sunflowers are grown in some fields and once they’re in bloom anyone can pick and take them home.

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Dramatic sunsets are common on the river, but you have to wait until nearly midnight to see them on long light summer evenings.

Please feel free to get in touch – all feedback appreciated – and visit my website to see more pictures from all over the world: www.timbirdphotography.com. Feel free to share these links using social media but please ask permission before re-using any of the shots displayed here and on my website in any other way – copyright is mine for all photos.

Visit my other occasional Blog at birdseyeview.me

 

 

Six Picks: Midsummer feast on the Danish island, Bornholm

02 Monday Jun 2014

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Six themed shots from the archives at www.timbirdphotography.com

Sol over Gudhjem – Sun over Gudhjem – is a midsummer food festival (and the name of a local sandwich) on the Danish Baltic island of Bornholm, and my article with photos about last year’s festival and Bornholm’s other attractions is published in the just-published summer issue of Blue Wings, the Finnair inflight magazine. There are a few weeks left until midsummer proper, but here are six summer shots to get you in the mood.

Bornholm is an exquisite concentration of the best of the Nordic and Baltic character, its shores and meadows are dotted with charming fishing villages, rugged cliffs, churches, castles and forests. It’s also criss-crossed with excellent cycle routes and renting a bike is affordable and easy in the capital Rønne, where ferries and flights from the mainland arrive, and the other towns.

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Click here to find my article in Blue Wings.

If you’ve enjoyed dropping by or you’re interested in any of these photographs, why not drop me a line using the form below or on the ABOUT page (you’ll find the link above). Feedback and comments welcome!

Six Picks: A Prague Spring

25 Sunday May 2014

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Six themed shots from the archives at www.timbirdphotography.com

These shots are so fresh they’re not even in the archives yet. I have just returned from a hosted trip to the Czech Republic, touring breweries, bars and hopfields and finding out the secrets of Czech beer production. More of that later, but I had time for an evening stroll through Prague, and here are a few shots of one of Europe’s most beautiful capitals.

DSCF5990prague DSCF5970prague DSCF5911prague DSCF5885prague DSCF5855prague DSCF5838pragueIf you’ve enjoyed dropping by or you’re interested in any of these photographs, why not drop me a line using the form below or on the ABOUT page (you’ll find the link above). Feedback and comments welcome!