testmeat photoblog

about face

one of the unique aspects of cuba that it took me a while to notice was the lack of commercial advertising. you can't walk down a street in london, new york or almost every other city in the world without seeing a bus, billboard or poster trying to sell you something. you see it so much that most of the time you don't really notice it. what with the political makeup of cuba it's not so surprising that they have an absence of this kind of advertising, however that doesn't mean there was a lack of billboards. the difference is the billboards in cuba are selling an ideology instead of hamburgers or shampoo. there were a lot of repeating catchphrases like patria o muerte and hasta la victoria siempre but one of my favourites was: discipline is the most important part of success - keeping it old school. i suspect the locals treat these messages the same way we treat our adverts, they just see it as part of the wallpaper. in addition to this propaganda the only other decorations on this wallpaper was street art - and this was one of the less-politicised pieces that didn't involve mister guevara - a rare find.

here's the original

4th April 2012 ]]>

mahfucka we rollin

things i liked about my trip to cuba: the landscapes, the beaches, the weather, the skies, the history, the cars, the rum.
things i didn't like about my trip to cuba: the cubans.
i'll preface this by saying that of course there were exceptions, but in general i found the cubans to be a bunch of arseholes. they were unfriendly, unwelcoming and rude. and it can't help but affect your experience and impression of a country if the inhabitants don't want you to be there. like i say there were some exceptions and they usually came in the form of people we stayed with or who guided us on excursions - in other words people with a financial incentive to be (at the very least) polite. oh and that's another thing, everyone (and this time i mean everyone) who approached me wanted money. and it's really hard to warm to people when you know they're only talking to you because they see a walking dollar bill. now i know the economic situation is different in cuba, so in some ways that's to be expected, but i've been around enough of south america to know that lack of money does not equal lack of happiness. it got so frustrating that in the end i pretended that i couldn't speak spanish to save myself the stress of walking outside. for the record i didn't have any contact with this young chap, or his posse, so this isn't personal against him - just most of his compatriots whom i met.

here's the original

3rd April 2012 ]]>

alas, i cannot swim

i've written before about 500px which is a photo sharing website in a similar mould to flickr. the difference seems to be that you are encouraged to only upload the best of the best of your photos, and as a result the images there are nothing short of astonishing. everytime i feel like i'm getting good at photography a quick visit to the site brings me back down to earth and reminds me how fallible i am. it would be easy to blame not being in the right place at the right time, but as well as plenty of you'd have to be there shots there are lots of really creative ideas - for example this daffodil or this dancer. both of those shots appear on the editors' choice page, which are hand picked shots the site regards as extra special. i've made it my mission to work my way onto that page, but i haven't succeeded with my first 50+ photos so i don't expect to complete that anytime soon. i was thinking of this when i visited guatape in colombia, which is a small town near medellin. you can climb over 600 steps to the top of a rock and have a view over the whole town, which is made up of a series of islands poking out over a man-made lake. it was a stunning view which made for great photographs, but i lamented the lack of mist, or sunset, or other dramatic lighting which in my head would have transformed a good shot into an amazing one. i don't know if that's a healthy attitude which leads to self improvement, or an unhealthy one which starts with unrealistic expectations and ends with unjustified disappointment. meh - it's not going to stop me posting photos that i like, even if that sentiment isn't universally shared.

here's the original

2nd April 2012 ]]>

walking on water

i just finished reading life of pi for the second time, and i think i enjoyed it even more this time around. partly because i had an idea where it was heading, yet also because i forgot enough details to keep it surprising and interesting. also, like the best movies which have unexpected endings, you find subtle clues and pointers which you ignore and dismiss at first glance. i read online that ang lee is making a movie version which will probably be released some time this year, which i was cautiously optimistic about until i heard it was going to be in 3D. either way the book is so well written that i'd recommend consuming that before the hollywood version. i thought of that book with this photo as in an early chapter the lead character talks about the flight distances of certain animals, which is the minimum distance at which an animal wants to keep a perceived enemy. for the first example of this behaviour he writes a flamingo in the wild won't mind you if you stay more than three hundred yards away. cross that limit and it becomes tense. get even closer and you trigger a flight reaction from which the bird will not ease until the three-hundred-yard limit is set again, or until heart and lungs fail. now i'm not exactly sure how long a yard (or three hundred of em) is - but based on the triggers we pulled from the boat in this lake, that sounds fairly accurate.

here's the original

1st April 2012 ]]>

you keep starting over

i think this shot is the first time i've taken a sunrise photo on the same day as a startrail shot - i had around 4 hours sleep between the stars and the sun. whilst it's common for me to get to bed around 1 or 2 in the morning, getting up before the sun is a rarer occurrence. i must have been stirring already as i woke up naturally, checked the time, and thought i'd nip down to the jetty to see if the new day was photoworthy. it was, and my timing was perfect, the sun followed me 2 minutes later. despite my indolent state i was uncharacteristically efficient - out and back into bed in a 5 minute round trip - and captured one of my favourite cuban photos in the process. sometimes it pays to ignore the voice that tells you your bed is too warm and cosy to leave. obviously most of the time that voice is spot on - in fact your looking a little tired yourself, why don't you have a nice lie down...

here's the original

31st March 2012 ]]>

wondering why we bother at all

i find taking star photos a boring, frustrating and rewarding process. the boredom comes from sitting and waiting up to 30 minutes for the shutter to open and close. the rewards arrive as soon as the shutter does close and the camera reveals the starry result. the frustration mainly centres around getting the shutter open in the first place. i have particular difficulty with this as my celestial lens of choice - 10-20mm wide angle - doesn't switch to manual focus with my nikon d60. this means i have to use the auto focus, which becomes exponentially weaker the lower the light. the cruel irony being the darker the scene, the better the star shot yet the harder it is to focus. my solution for this is to stand in front of the camera and shine a torch into the sensor. for some reason this moon-less shot was particularly trying and it took almost 5 minutes for the sensor to acknowledge the light. a few days later i was discussing this with a nova scotian in havana and he presented an altogether superior solution. it turns out there's a menu setting on my d60 where i can force manual focus, no matter what lens is attached. it was an illuminating discovery which means no longer will i have to perform a torchlit dance each time i want to take a long exposure. god bless canadians!

here's the original

30th March 2012 ]]>

they can't buy the sunshine

this is vinales and it's probably the most beautiful landscape i saw in my two weeks in cuba. according to wikitravel it's fidel castro's favourite place on the island and one of the only places where cubans seem happy. whether you're oppressed by a communist or a capitalist regime it must be a pretty good feeling to have this as your back garden. i took this between climbing out of a cave and jumping into a swimming pool... so i was happy

here's the original

29th March 2012 ]]>

street chess

up until a couple of months ago i thought i knew how to play chess. i never did a great deal with that knowledge as i find the game a little drawn out and tedious, but i was satisfied i knew the rules. then the guys i was travelling with bought a mini chess set and started talking about a bunch of techniques that sounded completely alien. the most complex move that i was aware of was that if you get the pawn to the other end of the table it turns into a queen. turns out even that's not quite complete, at least it can choose to turn into a queen or a castle, bishop or knight. however there's also a rule called en passant which allows (in a specific scenario) a pawn to capture an opposition pawn without moving to the opposing pawns square. even more confusing is something called castling which is a strange dance between the king and castle where, again under special conditions, they can move towards each other and swap sides. since i constantly forget which squares the bishop and knight are supposed to start from i doubt i'll be throwing out any of those advanced moves any time soon.

here's the original

28th March 2012 ]]>

i like it how it's always been

ok, lets get the clichés out the way early, i'm sure every conceivable type of classic car in cuba shot has been done a thousand time before. but what do you want me to do, go there and take pictures of bicycles? actually i did take a nice shot of a bicycle, but that's for a different day. anyways i've got prior form for clichés, like when i went to scotland, or ireland, or new york, so at least i consistently (make excuses for my) lack (of) imagination. despite the modern trail behind this automobile, havana was overflowing with these classic cars, and they looked beautiful. i'm not big on cars, they're useful to go from a to b, they're fun to drive but with the exception of marv they don't really illicit any strong emotion in me. but i turned my head almost everytime they passed me by. i don't really know why they stopped making them. you can't compare them to a modern day ferrari or lamborghini or porsche. sure the ride isn't quite as comfortable, the journey will take a bit longer, and it probably guzzles down the gasoline - but for me it's a small sacrifice for cruising down the street in a moving metallic work of art.

here's the original

27th March 2012 ]]>

the speed of sound

man these little buggers are a nightmare to photograph. of the 180 photos i took there were only about 8 which i was satisfied with, this one graduating to the top. what's more frustrating is the fact that in the other 172 photos there are so many that would be perfect if only the focus was different. then again if only my auntie had bollocks. i took this in a little farm in valle de cocora which is just outside salento. you had to pay to enter but that entrance included free hot chocolate and cheese. yeah you heard me. chocolate. and cheese. anyway despite the strange cuisine the valley was beautiful and you'll definitely be seeing some pictures from there in the future. not in the next two weeks however, as tomorrow i fly to cuba. as far as i'm aware the internet hasn't really infiltrated cuban borders, so there's a good chance these two birds will be occupying this position until the end of the month. hopefully i'll return with loads of colourful photos that i'll take a lifetime to process and post. until then - viva la revolucion!

here's the original

11th March 2012 ]]>

there's mysteries inside

i was going to write a long diatribe explaining my lack of posting, but i figured that would almost be as boring for me to write as it would be for you to read. in addition to not posting i've also not really been processing my photos, so i'm pulling another galapagos photo out of the bag. this was taken on the main island of santa cruz in a ranch called el chato. there were loads of giant galapagos tortoises chilling out during their migration from sea level to higher ground. when you got too close to them they would retract their heads inside their shells and hiss at you. so in order to get this shot i placed my camera on a tripod in front of the hiding head and then moved behind the tortoise with my remote control in hand. i had to wait a while for the tortoise to build up the courage to ignore the camera and continue eating, and even then i was pressing the remote button blind. this guy took it in his stride and kept on chomping the grass like a pro, which is more than i can say about his cousin in the next field who thought my wide angle lens was a special tortuga treat and tried to bite through it. the panicked rush and grab to save my camera resulted in some mutual hissing.

here's the original

9th March 2012 ]]>

the idea just lives on

i'm not usually a fan of the lightroom presets, to me it feels like cheating - not because of distorting the original image, but because you can make that distortion by just pressing one button. i didn't spend years learning photoshop techniques to be outdone by a single click. despite this narrow-minded attitude i still found myself clicking the creative - split tone 2 button, which changed a fairly colourful original into this blue beauty - and i loved it. it concerns me a little that i don't really know what changes that button made, or how to achieve this look by myself, but really who cares? i took this in salento which is in part of the coffee area of colombia. i tried to take this shot the night before, but i didn't feel too safe walking down an unknown, dark muddy path, even with a canine companion. the next day i checked it out during daylight hours as i was walking to a coffee farm and discovered the only monsters were a few disinterested cows, so i planned my return. the clouds rolled up after this as i was taking a longer exposure, but i preferred the non trailing stars anyway - particularly after pressing that forbidden button.

here's the original

1st March 2012 ]]>

why would you lie about anything at all?

whilst we were eating dinner in san cipriano colombia tiene talento was on the television. it's almost identical to britain's got talent, from the c-list celebrity judging panel to the dumb presenter and procession of seemingly mentally challenged contestants ready to be exploited. yeah, i'm not a fan. of the many, many elements that i dislike about the show i think it's the general style that bugs me the most. everything is big, brash and loud - kind of american - drowning out any craft and subtlety. plus any product or programme that lines simon cowells' pockets doesn't make me want to invest my money or attention. having said that i got some enjoyment watching it in san cipriano, mainly because this kid's father was watching and laughing along. there's something about sharing and laughing at a joke in a different language which gives you a good feeling inside - a connection that doesn't care about borders, vernacular or beliefs. and i guess i can't hate on simon cowell too much, if it wasn't for him and his god-awful television output i still wouldn't have seen rage against the machine.

here's the original

29th February 2012 ]]>

you and whose army?

if i had written this post 4 days ago then i would have talked about how i met these army men walking up to a mirador in salento. how they were happy to pose for a photo, but not so happy when i asked if i could get a picture holding their gun.

if i had written this post 2 days ago then i would be moaning about how i was driven crazy by a drugged up colombian guy in my room singing james blunt. as far as i'm concerned you can take whatever you like as long as you don't hurt anyone else. and singing you're beautiful crosses the line.

if i had written this 5 and a half hours i go i'd be lamenting my bad counting skills at incorrectly working out the time difference and waking up an hour too early for the arsenal match.

if i had written this 4 hours ago i'd be ranting about how everytime i get up early to watch arsenal play in south america (man u away, tottenham away) we always lose and it ruins my day.

if i had written this 2 and a half hours ago i'd be gleefully romanticising about how great football is and how i miss being in london on days like these

as it is i'm just going to write about what i could be writing about. i'm so meta.

here's the original

26th February 2012 ]]>

sci-fi cali

after this one and lima i'm thinking about starting a sci-fi theme for south american cities with 4 letters. although now i've just said that i can't think of any other places with 4 letters in their name... loja... tena... and i think that's it. maybe there's more further down the road, then again i'm still looking for a third billboard so it might take a while to flesh this theme out. this was a hotel next to a shopping centre in cali, where an uncharacteristically accommodating security guard let me into the lobby to take this. guess it's true what people say about colombians being friendly and helpful.

here's the original

24th February 2012 ]]>

i'm not afraid of the black man running

i took this on a small trip i went on to a place called san cipriano which is near the western, pacific coast of colombia. it took a while to get there, and as soon as we arrived the heavens opened and it started pissing down. i guess that's why it's called the rainforest and not just the forest. ahem. i assume that historically there must have been a lot of migration from africa as most of the citizens were black. in fact i don't think i've seen that many black people in one place since london. that's not even a joke - all the countries south of here are pretty pale in comparison. not that i'm keeping count, and as anthony jeselnik once remarked, no one ever says too few black people. that was a joke by the way.

i tried something different for the processing on this one, so this time it's that little bit more different than the original

19th February 2012 ]]>

everything that's missing from my life

i've hit the point where i've been looking at this photo too long without being able to think of something to write about. inspiration has run dry so today you just get a silent picture. sorry about that, i'll try harder tomorrow.

here's the original

18th February 2012 ]]>

trying to rid you from my bones

this bird is cool. there are two reasons why it is cool. firstly, because it's rocking two blue feet. you don't get that everyday. secondly because it's called a booby. i met a dutch guy in montinita who enjoyed these galapagos birds so much he got a picture of one tattooed on the back of his leg. i don't really get that - i mean i like boobies too but not enough to have them inked on my skin. i think photographs serve as sufficient memory reminders. well, photographs and scars.

here's the original

17th February 2012 ]]>

what might have been lost

after all i wrote yesterday here's another shot from the galapagos. it's unusual, not just in the way that i decided to process it, but also because it doesn't contain a single animal. i still have plenty of animal shots to work on, but i was drawn into the woods of this shot. that might have had something to do with mogwai's happy songs for happy people which i was listening to at the time. anyways i don't feel like i want or need to add words to this one - so you can go back to the fog

here's the original

15th February 2012 ]]>

warm next to me

well i did say that i was going to be a little lazy when it came to looking through my pictures from the galapagos, and so it has come to pass. i wanted to spend some time to go through them all, and then process them in a bulk like i did with my pictures from la senda verde. however once i started down that road i realised i didn't really enjoy working that way, i much prefer working on the odd photo here and there compared to a huge folder. plus i'm not upping my one a day quota, so it doesn't seem necessary or beneficial to have them good to go. i think my plan was to have them all ready, and then post them in a logical and coherent order - but those of you who regularly visit this blog will know that coherency isn't one of my stronger suits. anyways all these words are basically to say that this is a shot from the galapagos, but don't expect a tidal wave of further photos, i'll release those when i'm/they're ready.

here's the original

14th February 2012 ]]>

what happened next?

i used to like watching a question of sport when i was younger, primarily for the what happened next round. that would be where they'd show a clip of a sporting event, for example a striker taking a shot at goal, and then pause it and ask what happened next? the solution, if not entertaining, was almost always unexpected - like a dog runs onto the pitch, tackles the striker and starts trying to hump the ball. well that question came to mind with this photo - two guys scrapping, an advancing police officer and a snarling police dog - it has the ingredients for an interesting outcome. unfortunately, like the aforementioned television show, the final result is disappointingly mundane, so i'll just leave you with this shot, the question and your imagination.

here's the original

12th February 2012 ]]>

in the neon glow

some facts about colombia:

it's the third most populated country in latin america after brazil and mexico
it's roughly the same size as france, spain and portugal combined
it's the only country in south america to border the pacific and atlantic ocean
it has more plant and animal species per unit area than any other country in the world
i'm there now

oh and this photo isn't - here's the original

9th February 2012 ]]>

get the cool shoeshine

i waited a while before i attempted to climb cotopaxi due to catching a cold when i arrived in latacunga. after my health improved i returned, found a partner and walked up to the refuge. i settled into my sleeping bag at 6pm and tried to get some sleep before the 1am start. after listening to a few albums on my ipod as well as the other people in the refuge go to bed i suddenly felt my cold return. combined with the actual cold which you can't escape when you're sleeping in a wooden shack at 4800 metres i only managed about 1 hours sleep before i set off for the ascent. my symptoms subsided on the way up, but then returned on the way down and have become stronger since. boy my immune system knows how to piss me off. also whilst i was hiking up cotopaxi i paused to get some energy sweets from my pocket, taking off my mitten to open the packet. a strong gust of wind then threw the mitten out of my hand, i turned and ran after it as it was disappearing into the darkness when i was suddenly tugged backwards. i'd forgotten that i was roped together to the guide and my fellow climber. the mitten was lost into the night so i had to do the rest of the trek wearing a thin cotton glove. the snow, ice and freezing temperatures meant my hand was really, really cold - and even now i have a numb feeling in my fingertips. so a cold... numb fingers... what else can i complain about? oh yeah, i went back to my favourite (south american) curryhouse today and they had no aloo gobi so i had to make do with bombay aloo. so a cold, numb fingers and i'm gobiless. life can be cruel sometimes.

here's the original

6th February 2012 ]]>

monkey in the snow

following on from yesterday's entry - i really wanted to post a photo of the view from the top of cotopaxi - and what a view it is. unfortunately this didn't happen and i didn't even make it to the summit, partly because of the weather and partly because i was cheap. i mentioned yesterday that you can pay more to go by yourself, or split the cost with a partner. however if your partner quits then you have to go down as well, as you're both roped to the same mountain guide. that's what happened about 97 metres for the top. i know that sounds like barely nothing, but we'd been walking for over 6 hours and the final 200 metres are the most demanding. physically i was ready to quit as well, but i've got a stubbornness that would make me keep going. alas my portuguese accomplice did not. in fairness the weather had turned and there was really thick cloud all around us, so if we had made it to the 5897 metre summit all i would have captured would be a grey canvas. it was annoying as the trek started at 1am to an almost full moon, which along with the stars, illuminated the volcano. as we continued to walk the moon morphed into a bright orange sphere and created amazing effects with rings of clouds. in hindsight i wished that i'd photographed those skies, but naively i thought i'd save my energy (and battery) for the crater. this was my favourite of about 5 photos i took on the hike, the snow-battered monkey who made the journey to 5800 metres on my head. lazy ape.

here's the original

5th February 2012 ]]>

fox in the snow

there's a volcano near the town of latacunga called cotopaxi. it's fairly common for people to attempt the almost 6000m summit, and i wanted to give it a go when i was there, unfortunately my cold made meant that it would have been dangerously difficult. the closest i managed was a short walk to the refugio which is just below 5000m. that's where i met this furry little guy. i travelled to quito afterwards, and when i started to feel better i returned to latacunga a few days ago. like when i climbed huayna potosi it's standard practice to have two people per guide. the downside of going with an extra person is if they can't make it to the top you all have to give up and go down. the downside of doing it by yourself is that it's 67% more expensive. i've now spent three days waiting for an extra person without any luck, so if i can't find a partner today i think i'll bite the bullet and pay the increased price. i'll let you know how i get on, and if i run into any more hungry foxes.

here's the original

4th February 2012 ]]>