Sunday afternoon at the Coisters, Fort Tryon park.
Another longboarding contest that wasn’t… Those guys found shelter in the woods and rode the steep trails there. Away from sunday’s road rage, above on the park main road.
More pix at freshpaved.com.
Cloisters, NYC
Cloisters, NYC
Cloisters, NYC
Hiking the Northeastern Caminho, Nordeste Transmontano, Portugal.
For this part of the trip on the trails of the Caminho, I chose to travel light and go low-tech: Nikon FM2, one lens (35mm, f 2.0) and B&W film. Pretty basic and retro, ideal for the “road” through fields, stone villages, roman roads, bridges and medieval castles.
The Northeastern Caminho
This is a lesser known route to Compostela, a short cut of the main road from southern Spain, through the remote northeast corner of Portugal, rural and less populated. The region of olives, almonds and wine of the Douro river.
The Northeastern Caminho
Most of our itinerary was within the Parque Natural do Douro Internacional, Portugal’s second largest nature park along the Douro river. The steep cliffs on the riverbanks (Arribas de Douro) offer prime shelter for nesting birds. We saw Eurasian Griffons and Egyptian Vultures, Bonelli’s and Golden Eagles, Black Storks, Peregrine Falcons.
People living inside the park’s borders, created in 1998, are still exploiting farmlands, raising cattle and mostly sheeps.
Small villages are shrinking, many people have left to cities and other countries. Making a living off the land is not for the weak, but life has it’s own rhythm there, tuned on the cycle of seasons. This is sustainable agriculture as it always was. On the table, the olives, olive oil, sausages and wine come from the orchards and the fields nearby, the open pig pen, where hogs still get servings of acorns.
The Northeastern Caminho
The Northeastern Caminho
River crossing.
Sunday, I went to Jersey, just across the Hudson River at Palissades park for the Major Stock Em’ outlaw DH and slide competition! The NJ longboard crew had to switch to this location after someone reported their planned site to the local police! That wasn’t enough to ground them… At awards time, a hawk circled in approval by the Palissades cliffs above us. More images at frehpaved.com
Major Stock Em' outlaw
Major Stock Em' outlaw
In the african press:
The thirsty Jackal sharing water with Elephant is running on the two pages spread “around africa” in the March issue of Africa Geographic, the major african nature&wildlife magazine based in Cape Town.
Black-backed Jackal and Elephant, Etosha National Park, Namibia
I was involved in another RedBull event almost in my backyard this time. Didn’t have to travel far for Snowscrapers, last week at the East River Park. Four photographers covering the event for RB; I chose to move around and get some overviews of the site.
Travis Rice, RB Snowscrapers, East River Park, NYC
Talking post-production, here is a serie from a trip to Northeastern Portugal for MountainBike magazine, earlier this year! Storming the Castle Trail, the Grande Rota das Aldeias Historicas, with a2z adventures! A Portuguese based & owned company that offers Mountain Biking, Cycling and Hiking in Portugal and anywhere in remote locations.
Ascent from the Côa River Valley to Castelo Mendo
The Grande Rota links the medieval Historic Villages of Portugal. The region including Serra da Estrela, the territories of Beira Interior and the border with Spain is loaded with history’s remains: roman roads and bridges, medieval fortresses and prehistoric rock art in the Côa River Valley.
New York City.
Grey skyline, november sky, I must be home!
Time to reajust to the city buzz, time for editing and reflexions!
And the Thabazimbi gecko reminds us that “birds are just reptiles with feathers!”
The digital Gecko in Thabazimbi
A selection of the ballon drop in the Namib Desert for the December 2008 issue of Flamingo (Air Namibia’s in-flight) and a sequence of Karel Koster in the Namibian sky.
Karel Koster high above the Namib Desert
The keys for a successful photo travel are solid contacts abroad, in the fields you are involved! People with connections and knowledge of the country! My friends, hosts and guides were more than helpful for planning the different stages of the adventure and providing supports.
The Academic:
Adam Welz (my base in Cape Town) is a writer, photographer and film maker, he spend three month each year researching and studying African Fish Eagles in the western Cape region
Adam on the African Fish Eagle mission
The Pilot:
Paraglider pilot, climber and world traveler Walter Neser splits these passions with nature and action photography/video. He is also working on raptors research programs.
Walter on the reptiles trail
It is very easy to travel within South Africa, car rentals everywhere and cheap internal flights and e-booking! The problem with these low-fares are the restrictions on chek-ins and sometime carry-ons as well. I had to fight hard to keep my photo-backpack with me on a flight from Jburg to CPT! This time it worked out but who knows what restrictions we’ll face on the next air travel!
The big flyers:
The Vultures were the motivation behind this project! I wanted to see these birds on their daily routines: shredding carcasses, feeding the youngs and mostly on the wing! Gliding through the skies on their endless quest for thermals.
Cape Griffon on the wing at the Kransberg colony
Unfortunately all Vulture species are in precarious situations; poisoning, loss of habitats and folk customs to name just a few. In South Africa and Namibia they are on the endangered species list!
Desert Flyers
The torch is lifting the envelop of the balloon
Before dawn, near Solitaire in the Namib desert, pilot Rob Lowson is directing silhouettes in the dark to unroll the envelop of his hot air balloon. Putting up such craft is no small affair, first the canvas need to be inflated with a powerful fan in order to blow the torch into the opening. The wind has picked up and keeps flattening the envelop dangerously close to the flame. Finally, the ballon stand upright, Rob and three paraglider pilots are in the basket ready to take off!
Chris Lotter, first Namibian to drop from a hot air balloon
Chris Lotter over the Namib desert
Linda Willemse, Chris Lotter and Walter Neeser get a lift to 1000 meters and then drop in the desert sky with their canopies. I’m hanging under the basket in a comfortable harness for a smooth ride to catch the action.
I am getting ready to catch the action, photo by Pieter Steenkamp
Later in the day the pilots ride the evening thermals along the ridge at Spreetshoogte
Riding the magic wind, the evening thermals at Spreetshoogte
A martial eagle gliding along the ridge with Linda