Here is a selection of (my much maligned) panoramas taken with the Fujifilm X100.
Day 2 – Visit to the Gateway of India and Bombay Harbour,
Panoramas and water… doesn’t work so well (except, see below)
Day 6 – Jaipur Pink City, the Palace
Busy streets of Jaipur, I like the effect on traffic 🙂
Fort Outside of Jaipur
Some different Lightroom adjustments
B&W
Some light
Day 7 – My favourite pano from Udaipur
Day 8 – Palace of Udapiur, top to bottom pano
Retro B&W
I got a window seat hoping to take some nice pictures, unfortunately,
there were clouds for most of the flight.
Fortunately I got a few nice pictures over Iran
My first breakfast in India, Parsee!
Home for a few days!
After a nice relaxing day we went to the beach for a drink,
I caught a few moments of life around this family picnic
Last Friday we spent the afternoon walking on the Bisse du Milieu, from Planchouet to Haut-Nentaz and back to Planchouet by bus. Since the 13thC the Bisses of the Suisse Valais are irrigation canals that served to bring water to mills, turbines, textile factories, and water wheels. They criss-cross the Alps of the Valais and hiking paths follow alongside their paths.
After the walk we had a very nice lunch at the Auberge Les Bisses.
There are also a few photos from:
The Simplon Pass, a fascinating pass famous for brigands, smugglers (of salt to avoid… taxes of course), it’s tunnel, and where Napoleon decided would be the quickest route to bring munitions to Italy.
Saillion, a small hillside village in the Valais, most famous for it’s Thermal Baths.
Photos from the Norled express boat from Stavanger to Bergen; most are snapshots of the Fjords and ships along the way. I also included the first views of Bergen and the Hanseatic Trading Post quarter of the city. We were lucky enough to be welcomed by a Tall Ship leaving the city. There were also two Skjold Class missile patrol boats docked there. Next up: Bergen, the bus trip back to Stavanger and a few photos of Lysefjord – and my commentary on the visit.
My camera caught a UFO flying over Dublin.
And a few other things as well.
[music: I follow rivers – Lykke Li]
The following pictures are perspectives of Norway, mostly landscapes. All of these photos were caught with Fujifilm X1oo and post-processed in Lightroom, mostly on a preset I call Bergen Blue. I was looking for mood and movement. I removed all of the colours except for blue, which is barely perceptible in some of the pictures. A Nordic follow-up to Mysterious Winter.
What do you think?
[music: Strauss – Also Sprach Zarathustra]
I was in Lausanne a few weeks ago.
Sitting down few minutes at the Lausanne Cathedral, I noticed someone working on the organ console. As he made his way up the stairs, I motioned to him and asked him if I could see the organ. I was in luck, he was an American from CB Fisk working on the 10 year maintenance of the organ.
So I snapped a few pictures 🙂
[music: The Partisan – Leonard Cohen]
Walking through The Killing Fields was a sombre and emotional experience.
I have been asking myself what responsibility the citizens of democracies have for the actions of their government? I have the feeling that citizens of most democracies have absolved themselves of their countries’ actions, “It’s the government that did it, I didn’t agree” or “Had I know, I wouldn’t have agreed.” Terzani provided me with my own answer to this question: a vote for war with Sparta means going to fight and possibly die… whether you voted for war or not. Citizens need to have ‘skin in the game’ for a democracy to function as one.
We act as we want the world to be. Inaction, indifference, ignorance must be more than tacit approval or disapproval, they are active participation. Despite the discomfort of considering oneself a collaborator in whatever crimes the nation has committed; what other incentive do we have for engagement? Isn’t a democracy simply a collective responsibility? They certainly aren’t limited liability companies, no matter how much this idea is attractive to leaders and the herd. We elect representatives to represent us, we can not feel that we delegate responsibility of the decisions, we only delegate the action of taking them.
When citizens fail to act to hold their leaders, legislators, prosecutors, and judges to their own standards, then they are themselves complicit in their actions; the citizen is, after all, both the initial decider and final arbiter, no matter how much how lazy or how cowardly he may be. I think that freedom has been erroneously interpreted as “right to abstain from” responsibility, when in fact it must mean “obligation to” act, challenge, change.
Evidence would suggest that our leaders would prefer that we remain ignorant. I find it ironic when references to the ‘nanny state’ refer only to state social programs (like healthcare, unemployment insurance, welfare) and not other matters of state (see link for examples). So I ask myself, why? Now it’s Orwell that provides me with an answer (see below).
My conclusion is that private opinions don’t matter, only our acts are material. Feeling helpless is not an excuse, we all have the ability to set priorities, to take small simple step. And I am the first to opine instead of act. I would go further and ask myself whether the members of groups, churches, associations bear, at the very least, moral responsibility for the actions these organisations?
I ask myself these questions because wars, genocide, war crimes, do not spontaneously appear, they are often the direct or indirect result of the foreign or commercial policy of ‘third party’ nations… our nations. Here is a Hollywood illustration.
I’ll end this with two quotes from George Orwell:
“Freedom is the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.”
“War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.” 1984
[music: Avalanche IV – Jean-Louis Murat]
Angkor was the largest pre-industrial city in the world, 1,000 square kilometres (roughly the size of Berlin or Bangkok) and up to 1 million inhabitants in the 10th -14th C.
Although there are far fewer tourists at Beng Melea than at the principal site of Angkor Wat, they and their litter are still plentiful. The site is under the shade and quite a relaxing visit after the 2 hours it takes to cover 40 kilometres from Siem Reap. On day 3 of my visit, I was accompanied by my new Australian friend Paul from Days 1 & 2 and we set off again with the professional guides from beyond.unique escapes
Here we are stopping for gas and snacks.
We then stopped at a stream, and met these children about to take a swim.
Beng Melea, reminds me of a poem.
What is it with people’s inability to put things in the trash?
CMAC – Cambodia Mine Action Center sign. Two takes on the sign, any preferences?
Next up: Psah Chas of Siem Reap and the city of Four Faces.
[Music: Tristan und Isolde – Wagner]
Here are some photos from Angkor Wat, Day 2 of my visit with beyond.unique escapes
Here is a link to my last post on the sites of Angkor Wat. I will try and finish the rest of the posts of my trip before the end of his year 🙂
The 'Just George' Blog 