Taking photos when traveling

As you may have noticed, most of my pictures do not have people in them.  I would much prefer to take and look at pictures with people because people are endlessly fascinating.  But having been lucky enough to travel to so many places and having been lucky enough to be raised in an extremely picturesque place myself, I have now come to realize how strange it is taking pictures of other people when they are just going about their daily lives.  Taking pictures of them makes me feel like I am treating their real lives the same way I would treat animals on a safari.  Now that doesn't hold for festivals or public events, when the whole event is sort of one big picture taking opportunity.  But when it is just people going about their lives, I usually hesitate to shove a camera in their face.  Doesn't mean I won't subtly try to take a picture of something that brings a smile to my face, but I try not to be too much the ugly American about it.

So here is a picture I tried to subtly take by turning my head in the complete opposite direction and pretend I wasn't taking any pictures at all.  I just loved the color that this man was painting his house.  I think we need more over the top, cheerfully painted houses in the states.  Who could stay in a bad mood if they passed a house painted the color of a sunflower?



Oh and not to have a spoiler alert or anything, but tomorrow is a big festival in Ethiopia and I am really hoping to get a few pictures of the festivities.  Not everything needs to be ruined by my constant fear of cultural imperialism.  Some things can just be appreciated, even by me.

Back in Ethiopia

This 365 day challenge is, well... it's challenging!  At first, I thought it would be fun to take a picture every day but after a few days, it started to get harder.  I started to think that maybe people aren't really all that interested in seeing a picture of my life every day and its a little self-aggrandizing to think that they are.  But then I remembered, that if they don't want to see it, they don't have to and for the most part I am trying to put pictures of beautiful things that make me happy.  So how can that hurt anyone?

What I am realizing is that this a great challenge to help with creativity and with seeing the beauty in the world.  When I was in Belize, where it is gorgeous and picturesque every day it isn't too hard; turn around and there is a photo opportunity.  But today (and yesterday) I flew from Baltimore to Ethiopia.  And when you are on a 13.5 hour flight and spend four hours in the airport on top of that, there aren't that many opportunities to take a picture.  So it starts to make those creative muscles work, trying to think of something that you can take a picture of that isn't a selfie or a picture of food (both of which I am guilty of).  Some days it is a bit of a loss, like today.  I took a picture but it was just from my hotel room at sunset because I had slept for most of the day, completely ruining any chance I had of not having jet lag, and wasn't feeling up to wandering around the neighborhood trying to circumspectly take a photo of someone's food stand or something.  But other days, instead of seeing something beautiful and thinking "oh, that's nice, I wish other people could see that" and going along on my way, I stop and I take a picture and I share it.  Or, instead of focusing on all the ugly things there are in the world, I have to force myself to see the beauty in things.  Or to focus on the things that make me happy so that I can capture those and share them.

Maybe it is self-aggrandizing and maybe no one in the whole huge internet universe really cares about another sunset I saw.  But the fact that I made myself get out of bed so I could capture the gorgeous colors in the Addis sunset and appreciate the fact that there is beauty everywhere, even if I am too grouchy and jet lagged to want to see it,

made the challenge worth it today.

I might just turn this into a photo blog

There are million photo sharing sites out there but I just can't seem to figure them out.  Other than instagram, I just get confused.  So while I can't promise to update this any more often than I have in the past, I was thinking if I just try to add a few more photos from time to time, it might make it easier on me.  Anyway a picture is worth a thousand words right?

If that were true, I could just turn in 20 pictures and my dissertation would be done...

Anyway, here are a few of my favorite pictures from my Belize trip so far...

Temple 1 through the trees in Tikal, Guatemala.  Tikal is a world heritage site that has a huge array of Mayan ruins that span hundreds, maybe thousands of years of Mayan history.  If anyone is in Belize or Guatemala, its a must.

The view from the top of Temple 4.  Getting Dad to smile is always a challenge but he almost made it here.

This is the view from the Singing Sands Inn in Placencia.  Its not the most perfect panorama but you get the idea.  It was a beautiful sunset with Dad and I sitting on the dock watching the world go by.

The sunset on Caye Caulker.  We walked past a dock full of people just watching the sunset.  The golden sunset was too much to pass up.

If that code works, this should be an instagram picture of the horizon as I waited for the scuba boat to pick me up this morning.  Its obviously a little blacker than it should be since I was taking the picture into the sun, but it really isnt too off color.  There was a big storm front coming in and it made the whole horizon this beautiful, monocramatic color.  Not the best for scuba (it was canceled, it turns out) but still beautiful.

Mom and Dad and I went for a walk yesterday and watched the storm front roll in in the afternoon.  I loved the sun on the hut with the front rolling in behind.  We barely made it back for the rain came, but it was worth it!

Also, I just realized I have a predilection for shots of the horizon.  I will mix it up more in the future!

I posted a picture on instagram today, where most of my pictures will be, but Caye Caulker nicely gave me a few photo ops today so here is another one or two.

And just because photo manipulation is fun...

14 in 2014

I don't really do resolutions.  They always just seem like an opportunity to set yourself up for disappointment.  "Hey, here is a thing that I feel bad about.  I am going to fix said thing about myself.  Surely, when I inevitably succeed at this, I will feel so much better about myself..."  Except that it never happens and I just end up feeling bad about not only whatever I resolved to change but also about how I failed to change.  So, instead of doing that, in 2012 I came up with 12 new things I wanted to do before 2012 ended (and by extension before the world ended.  I guess the Mayans got that one wrong).   There aren't really any rules other than they are things I want to do and things I haven't done before.  I didn't make the whole list that year although I did get a couple big ones checked off, but I am going to resurrect the list this year.  It's not really a big deal if I finish them all or not, but just having the list makes me try new things

So, the 14 things that I want to do in 2014 are...

1. Finish my dissertation (This is non-negotiable and completely boring)

2. Scuba dive (doing this tomorrow with my Mom.  Checking one off right away)

3. Bike trip in Italy.

4. Take a picture every day.  (This is probably the closest thing to a new year's resolution.  Most of the time it will be on Instagram and certainly I wont be able to post every day when I am traveling but I will catch up if I miss a day.)  Here is #1 off the coast of Caye Caulker in Belize.

5. Go rock climbing

6. Go to a concert at the Bowery Ballroom

7. Take a cooking class

8. Try reiki

9. Go to the American Visionary Art Museum

10.  Go to a college or professional football game (I can't believe I STILL haven't done this.  That's what I get for going to small private schools)

11. Muddy buddy.

12. Go to Paris (This will either be immediately before or after #3)

13. Go to Club 342

14. Korean Karaoke

Many of these wont mean anything to people not in Baltimore.  But thats ok.The idea is just to try new things or finally do those things that I keep saying I am going to do and never getting around to.  It doesn't really matter how big or small or silly they are, as long as its something that I can look forward to and something that will give me a new experience.

Cheers to 2014!  A year for adventure!