Pack Light And Travel Far

Mississippi -- furthest south I'd traveled, just over 1,500 miles from home -- in 2008, & 2010....

Heading north in the spring for another adventure.... life is good.

Look up... look down...not a moment's beauty to be missed, all around



~ Carmen Hathaway

Someday I'd love to visit England, Scotland and Ireland. Perhaps Norway and Sweden. But as of now, the farthest away from home I've ever been is to Florida. To Walt Disney World. :P

At least Epcot has World Showcase with its mini-versions of England and Norway...

Lol @ J L . The little lands of Epcot - loved them. No passport required.

I would like to make it up to Montreal & Quebec for a little culture. After retirement a dream trip would be to our Grandparent's native countries Germany/ France/Italy to explore the countryside & some great food.

Otherwise - I'm satisfied with "home" - the East coast of the U.S. , pretty much everything you could want.

Well Vince, as you know Karen and I have travelin shoes. We have covered the width and breadth of America including Hawaii and Alaska, Canada, parts of Mexico, southern Africa and a fair chunk of Europe. With the addition of my newest painting one of our short trips to Amsterdam has resulted in four paintings alone. I have sketchbooks filled with notes, drawings, and water colors of our sojourns. It has been a great adventure.

Over a period of time, compliments of the U.S. Navy, I made multiple 6-7 month deployments (5 to be exact) to the Mediterranean Sea between 1973-1984, visiting various ports-of-call in Italy, France, Greece, and Spain, plus multiple cruises to the Caribbean, starting in 1972, to include Jamaica and Haiti. Unfortunately, all of those could be classified as "working cruises", and I didn't have any artistic excitement from those travels. Still some good memories of the visits though. :)

i just can't get up and travel, while i may work for myself, i don't have that kind of free time. and i'm not a free spirit either, we plan our trips to maximize the outing. 3-4 days is all i can handle, and then we need a vacation from the vacation.

---Mike Savad

Oh yeah, I do have the wanderlust, ever since I discovered the low cost of Megabus, often I would take a day trip to neighbor cities ( both Canadian and American) near Toronto where I live. I would just take my camera and passport to explore another city all within a day.

Alfred,

A day excursion as you mention would be nice. The older i get, the more of a home-body I become, having moved around my entire life (father in the military, I was military), I now find it nice to just stay put in one place. :)

Kevin Callahan is a prolific traveler. It(experiences) shows in his work which I have actually seen up close and in person. Thanks Kev!

I've noticed while crossing the US by car and jet that travel seems a big hassle lately with the sheer numbers of people from all over the world traveling at any given moment. The airports and ship docks are full of people as are the highways and back roads and the corporate clumps of gas stations and fast food stores look all the same.

Now I travel to get away from people and the less beaten path when I can arrange it.

I remember the most stimulating travel was in europe by train where one can sleep in the train as it goes into Stockholm, Sweden for example after departing from anywhere else in europe. The whole day or two can be spent checking out things of interest plus the restaurants.

Anyone been on an art expedition to Rome as there are the most sculptures and sculptors who carve marble. There are art workshops available but they can be expensive. I have relatives in Germany and in EstoniaI I could visit too but it depends on sales.

Getting more grounded like Greg. For me working on art is a trip in itself.

One thing for certain there is no place like home as travel can be a bit weary even for a day!

Gosh, the places I've been. Work if it's the right work (or the wrong work for that matter) can lead to amazing chances for photography. Just since May 2013 I've had the chance to shoot in Texas, Illinois, Ohio, New Jersey, Florida, the Boston area, Tennessee and Long Island.

Work and military are two ways to get around without spending much of your own money too. The travel jobs make you sort of homeless in a sense but eventually those jobs stop unless you are a news correspondent or something and then you choose the best place to settle down.

I noticed Canadians are happy folks and there are many really great places to hang out there away from the US National Parks crowds. I'm wanting to get to Zion National Park to see the geological formations which look like sculpture on Mars to me.

My creative side tends to wane considerably if I don't get out of town a couple of times a year. Also, it's an absolute must for clearing my head, even if only for a weekend.

If you want to see America (or any other place I assume) drive through the "fly over" then get off the interstates, go into a small town and have lunch (or dinner) do NOT eat at the corporate logo restaurant but find a local place where the cars are parked. Meet a local and strike up a conversation. It is amazing what one can find within driving distance of their own home. I am sure this will not be news to most here on FAA. The Spring General Store is in Sharpsburgh a tiny town of 175 with a dirt main street. The store has been there for a long time. My inlaws stopped to eat there last year and smiled when they saw a framed print of my painting hanging there.

I started travelling in 1969 when I joined the Navy to avoid the Army...my profile pic is taken on the deck of the USS Camden during a break leaning up against stack of bombs reading popular photography magazine. I got to see a lot of places in the Western Pacific then and stayed far enough off shore in Viet Nam to stay safe. I've been lucky enough to do a lot of travelling since then on air liners and cruise ships and on our sailboat which is home ported in WA state just a few hours sailing from Canada. I think one of my favorite trips was going back to Viet Nam in 2010. They were celebrating 1000 years in the same location in Hanoi but then there was Thailand, Taiwan, China, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, Croatia, Malta, Montenegro, Slovinia and a few others. Next big trip planned is to Burma with another stop in Bangkok on the way. Life is good.

I travel as much as my budget will allow. There are still so many places I still want to see. I hate the hassle of flying and find it horribly stressful now days, but it is the price to pay to get very far. I was just looking recently at some old slides I took in Columbia around 1970. I do not have a way to convert them myself, but thinking about sending them somewhere and see how they look. Some appear age damaged.

I'm restless so I have a need to go 'elsewhere' annually. One place I would love to return is northern Spain. I once walked the French Route of the Camino de Santiago for the better part of a month; definitely the sort of experience that shapes your life and work.

I've been wandering around the us for 4 years sleeping in the car, camping and staying in the occasional hostel or dirt cheap hotel.

Ann; there is a slide converter to digital but I do not know how well it works;

Ion Audio PICS25D

"The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page." ~ Saint Augustine

To this end my wife and I are selling our beautiful house and cars in Florida and going on a long-term travel adventure. The expense and responsibility of "stuff" will be transferred to life somewhere else in the world. As long as health and money and desire hold out we can rent a small apartment and "be there" where ever that is. To be recognized by the baker, or the waiter at the local cafe or even the barber will be the reward. Oh, and lots and lots of photographs!
We are keeping a blog on the progress at http://slownomads.phoosh.net/
Join us if you like.
Chris

I not only love to get away but need to even if it's just renting a cottage or camping at least 2 weeks in the summer - I have visited China, Italy, Egypt, Paris, Germany lots in the Caribbean, some South America, Central America and Mexico. Have also done bit of travelling in the US and of course tons in Canada. At this point in time, I prefer to travel more in my own beautiful country of Canada.

Growing up an Army brat, I consider every place I live to be temporary so we are always out and about exploring. Usually the pattern is five to seven years in one spot. Definetly looking for some travel after this weekend. Off to Southern Florida next month and then to Banff in August.

BTW - our financial planner made a good point the other night - make sure you don't put it off too long! You want to travel when your body still wants to go.

Edward, it's a similar situation for us. We also move every five years and spend the time exploring my new home knowing that I'll be moving on. As a result I don't have a huge desire to travel elsewhere as I live in an area of incredible natural beauty and there is no way I can explore it all before we leave.

People come from all over the world to visit the place I live and since I'm here and it is the most beautiful place I've ever been, I have no desire to leave it other than to go to a city once on a while. It is a photographer's paradise and it is going to break my heart to leave it as we are due out this year or next at the latest...

For me, frequent moving takes away my need to travel, as I am always in a state of change, either adjusting to a new one or getting ready for another.

Lisa

Some of you people are MAKING ME JEALOUS!

Edward, yes DO travel while you can.

Just trying to decide where to go ... any ideas? I love good hotels!!

Rick Steve's travel shows offer some great suggestions of where and how do go and with all the details.

To sell everything and live on the road is great for some but I like my old land rovers and cruisers and get enough travel in locally. International travel is so expensive today unless you plan carefully. My cousin Victor, who lives in Brazil and works as a translator, travels europe every year and last year went to Africa where I wish to go. He did it without those tourist tour safari things and just rented a car and went out into the desert of Namibia.

It's true travel is better when not so old you are aching in the back.

Where to go is a matter of interest so locally travel clubs often have experienced travelers who will share some experiences and suggest to you something you might like.
Traveling alone is not only not a good idea but not much fun either.

I totally agree with you Vincent. For me travel is what got me into photography in the first place. It was while cycling through Canada and America that I was guided in that direction. At the moment I back to Nepal to photograph the Annapurna walking trails and have just completed the Annapurna circuit and the Annapurna Base camp trail. For me, travel and photography go hand and hand. I dont agree with you traveling alone comment, you can always meet other people and sometimes other photographers too.

I read a magazine article years ago about learning to go places that others can't, so you can shoot things others will never see. I took that advice since I love art and adventure, and used an electricians license that I hated to take me to remote places around the world to work for the government, national science foundation, and now maybe settle into a national park position. I became close friends with King Kaboua of the Marshall Islands, and sponsored by him to be in his Kava club, exiled to a remote island at one point for helping natives. This next job and maybe last place I work is at Lake Clark National Park in Alaska.
Sometimes you might have to do things you don't like or even hate to be able to do things you love.

I would love to but just can't afford it. I get up and down the east coast and to the Gulf states. As a biologist specializing in endangered species protection in industrial situations I get some free travel. But work is scarce and training and health certificates more than I can afford now. I have every shot needed to go to every country in the world and I have done all kinds of industrial, Hazmat, ship, fire ,and water safety and aviation crash safety training but these days you pay for it yourself and you have to do it over every few years. A younger guy I trained has been to Africa twice this past year and to Iceland, but does not get enough work to pay his bills. I am not as adventurous these days but would like to get to the west coast and also a sail to the Caribbean.
Meanwhile I put miles on my car and stay with friends and family.
Oh yes biggest Indiana Jones move was flying commercial airline to New Orleans, then going across the airport to the private plane side and getting in a seaplane. We landed in the water and came up a ramp over to a waiting helicopter. I transfered my back pack and Pelican camera case to the helicopter and we went 150 miles to an ship, stopping to refuel on an oil rig.

Something about seeing a place with fresh eyes. I lived on Mount Desert Island, Maine for seven years but at the time I had put my photography aside to concentrate my youngster and other business. I only had a point and shoot in those years.

So ironic that I got back into photography after moving away. Where I live now, seems everyone heads to MDI for summer vacations.

Has anyone been to the Galapagos? I think you practically have to be a millionaire to do it, because it's so expensive! I'd love to photograph those wonderful blue footed boobies. Unfortunately, I have a morbid fear of snakes, so I'll never get there anyway, even if I did win the lottery. Guess I'll just keep going back to Hawaii or Ireland, so I can tromp around without fear.

Vincent, I love Rick Steves, and I think I've watched every one of his episodes! Thinking of Rome, but it seems quite crowded. I guess I'm trying to come up with a destination that has few people and is picturesque enough to get the creative juices flowing. I've already been all over the US, but that was many years ago. Maybe I should just start driving and see what's new.

Been travelling for 4 years now :)

Patricia, yes Rome is quite crowded but well worth seeing. The many tourist sights are great, but what struck me was the things that are not on the travel brochures. For instance: you are walking down a street where the cobblestones are who knows how old. You pause for a breather and look over at a fountain (or post where one would tether a horse) and realize that it has been there perhaps for 2000 years. Stop for lunch or a coffee and when you step out there is a little book store and in it are original intaglio prints from old books that can be purchased for pennies. That's what makes travel so rewarding.

One of my old buddies in the zoo business had begun traveling the world's tropics just to get the best bird photos. He reserved $5-8000.00 per year from his business as a landscaper and went in winter months to the rain forests of Brazil, Galapagos islands, Burma, Thailand, East Africa, India, etc. He never took a tour and was such a tightwad he carried a calculator to make sure no one cheated him.
Zoo people are most all photography orientated from the start as their scientific background attracts them to fleeting wildlife.

Getting around for me means getting far away from the beaten path. Thats why I love to drive British Land Rover and Toyota Land Cruisers as these are the original expedition vehicles of the world.

If you put your mind to it and can avoid hotels and/or have a vehicle you can sleep in its possible to see a lot for virtually nothing. I can usually manage to wander around the us for between $600 and $1,500 a month to the national parks and everything in between. The cost range is mostly due to lodging expenses. If its possible to camp, sleep in rest stops, Walmart parking lots and I stay in a small area for a while then its just food and a little bit of gas.

Even places like Jackson Hole that can be pretty pricey can be done at certain times of year for under $1,500 a month with a bed, shower and kitchen and include good gas and lodging.

Kevin, I will be on the lookout for such a wonderful place/experience as you describe with cobblestone lanes and character to discover!! That's what I'm after.

Vincent, that is interesting about your zoo friends. The people I've known who have gone to the Galapagos must have done it in style. You mentioned Wordsworth. Reminds me of a Rick Steves show on the Lake Country in England, where Wordsworth wandered "lonely as a cloud" and wrote about his "host of golden daffodils." It was stunningly beautiful. That seems like a must... on the list.

Adam, I traveled bare bones when I was younger. I'm probably too achy and creaky now ... wish I could turn back the clock! Your life sounds quite exciting, actually. I admire you for doing that. I do have a van, however. Question: do you ever get kicked out of Walmart parking lots for sleeping there? Not sure I'd be brave enough to try it.

Again I always say like "Dortohy Gale" in the "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" that there is "No place like home"! Of course that may be the cab of a Land Rover and I've made a nice mattress there for sleeping without the need for tents and all.

I also am a champion of the Volkswagon campers. I've traveled all over Florida and a few hours before sunset I always headed toward the most desolate place I could fin..two track sand roads, etc and would camp for the night among alligators and swamp creatures to serenade me!

Right now I have a military long wheel based Land Rover with a canvas top. Great for a painting or art expedition as well as zoology research.

One of my most vivid memories was going one summer to the World's Fair in Montreal. If you have never been it is a French infused city that is gorgeous, beautiful huge red geranium pots hang from every city lamppost, the "low rent" district is like visiting Paris with flower boxes on every window. The city is very cosmopolitan and immaculate with fashion a year ahead of New York. There is an amazing underground shopping mall with fashionably dressed people everywhere. Stop signs are all in French and people traveling on foot have the right of way. Montreal Rocks!

This past summer I traveled to Cape Cod, MA and visited my cousin who lives in my home state of VA and has a summer home there (her husband is from the area). I did a lot of bike riding around the town and traveled by car the length of the peninsula. The big state park is at the very tip which is practically all sand with a few pine trees holding it all together. Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket, islands off Cape Cod still retain the maritime culture, that will be for another visit. My beach pictures are from there.

It has been proven that people need to take a vacation (mini or otherwise) every two months for a more positive outlook on life.

Only adventurer’s travel, others simply move. A traveler has to be wary of what he or she carries. A perfect load should be a third of one's body weight and my ideal carrying weight hovers around 23.5 kilograms after all items have been carefully weighed. These are brushes, paint, easel, palette, raw canvas, laptop, two pens, one drawing pencil and sketchbook, digital camera, day pack, back pack, documents and clothes in order of importance.
My leather boots are sheep-shearers boots made to stand on one spot for hours. Other items include leather sandals for the heat, 2 liters of water and memories of better days in my back pocket weighing more when walking uphill.

Worse days are when I'm carrying a full pack on the metro in London, Rome, Paris or Prague. When armed with a daypack, easel and local fruit, chasing a fine scene in moderate weather, I am perfectly in my element. This also requires warm temperatures, some cloud movement and lots of color through flowers, grasses or trees. In the desert I simply tough it out and hang in, knowing that somehow protection is guaranteed from above. In the snow at minus temperatures, paint viscosity drops and chill factors can threaten like wild wolves, snapping at fingertips.

As you may very well know Vincent, I go on vacation when I go home along the Orara river in Australia, but I have fond memories of Dogubayarzit in Eastern Turkey along my search to paint the mountain where Noah supposedly landed with his Ark on Mount Ararat. The local Kurdish population is very poor, living off their goats and brave hearts. The dogs too tired to bark, sheltered from fierce winds and merciless cold.

Suzan;
Expo '67 in Montreal was the olympics of architecture no doubt giving a window to the most innovative architecture in the world. My grandfather who had designed some of the tallest and most contemporary skyscraper buildings in Sao Paulo, Brazil was an award winner in the Expo '67. By the way brazilian architects are known for their solid and earthquake proof works.

Enver; The last part where you mentioned the Kurdish dogs"too tired to bark" breaks my heart. And for this reason I suffer much when traveling in various places. In Mexico I can't help but feel for the poor and suffering simple people who are very religious as a result of their predicament. I noticed the wealthier people are the less contemplative about their existence they seem to display.

In Jamaica the contrast between the very rich travelers there and the poor inhabitants is an example. Dogs are suffering the starvations as well. There and many poor countries in the world revert to "black market" activities but we travelers try not dwell on this and go on about our pleasant good time vacation travels. Even at "home" the same contrast appears anyway.

Your Van Gogh like outdoor painting adventures are a testimony to the life of a painter. I wish I could do more of what you have been doing. Group excursions locally are a benefit for those die hard painter and can be a fun outing & experience. Thanks Enver for your contribution..please keep us informed as to your next adventure or anything exciting!

One of the things causing me to travel is a reason to travel such as a place to go and re-affirm something in history. I like to travel the same trail that someone like Lewis&Clarke or Stanley&Livingston traveled but I find I get not much further than the trail Laurel & Hardy had frequented!LOL

A friend of mine has since retired from leading African Safaris(Gary Clarke Cowabubga Safaris LTD) and he insists that anyone who has thought of doing a real safari that they should do it now. Booking it as soon as possible because our tomorrows become fewer as each day in life goes by.That there are so many usual activities which get in the way of travel is why people dream more than do. Gary fell on lava rock while climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro and has too much back injury to travel anymore.

Each day is a miracle so special times need to be placed on our agendas I think. The spirit of travel is a healing activity since we are enriched by getting around where there are new environments. I love to be in a desert one day and the mountains the next day and tropics the next. Some places have all three nearby. I started all that by getting into studies of animal habitats. Their environments are unique to each species.

I have a book known as "Sanamu" about a British fellow who traveled all over Africa and employed wood carvers as he collected it and shopped it to New York. The author who lives in the British Virgin Islands now traveled Africa in a Toyota Land Cruiser FJ 40 and learned which tribes in Africa had a feeling for art and which did not. This might be a good project for the US as some areas and cities care nothing for art and others are full of artists just like in Africa.. Unfortunately today so much African art is not made for real and traditonal tribal use but designed to sell as a tourist trinket.

Vincent,

a South African Artist friend of mine recently went to Ethiopia to photoshoot exotic African faces, which he copied into more exotic large canvases - that a South African audience lapped up with incomprehensible zeal. In Ethiopia he bought a wheelbarrow load of local money which enabled him to hire a landie, driver, cook and manager. Armed with this load of money and battalion of servants, he was like honey to all that he encountered...all smiling for the camera, their tooth-grinned faces finally lavishing the walls of a contemporary gallery in Cape Town, stunning the stupid audience into an orgasmic voyeur of indulgence about the unfortunate state of affairs in the world, while they sipped on fine reds and tried to appear as sophisticated as physically possible. On visiting his studio recently he said to me "Enver, this is how you should travel" but being the gentleman that I am. I only thought to myself.....I appear in the middle of a village in Africa, armed with my meagre tools, and start to work irrespective of what happens in that place......by the end of the day, the whole village surround me in absolute awe...even the animals sense that something wondrous has happened and I am the prize of their day...invited by the most powerful man to dine with him and his family in a hut somewhere.......this is real fame, to be celebrated by simple folk in their homes and sensing their unfortunate lives with the earnest of a priest. I think those who travel and shoot......point and shoot then regurgitate the experience in a studio somewhere sophisticated - can never understand where they have been, least of all try to make Art of their experience.....Painting is alive with every stroke of the brush...it lives in the hearts and minds of real people, living real lives, far removed from the directory of civilisation......it is a simple matter that my South African friend and others like him, who use a camera to hide behind their guilt, will never understand or comprehend...the magnificence of the world or the miracle of ourselves.

Enver, for a minute there I thought you were changing horses. Not to be. Your prejudices against all other ways of creating art but your own are alive and well. You are an internationally acknowledged and wonderful plein air painter. Your adventures in traveling the world are epic. Good on ya. I have no way of knowing your entire body of work but I will note that mountains and deserts stand pretty still while you are painting them. People you may meet in passing while you are halfway around the world tend to keep moving and not want to pause for a few minutes or hours while you go about capturing them as "local color." I was pleased to do my own plein air sketches and water colors while in Capetown, Durban, and Victoria Falls. In Vic Falls I met the lady who sold me a carved stick and laughed when I bargained her down and she got the money back when I asked to take her picture. In Capetown I gazed across the bay at Robbin Island and did my own water color of the scene. In Durban I prowled the city alone, meeting and talking with cab drivers (one who stopped in a park to warn me against muggers, we struck up a wonderful conversation), young lovers, shop keepers, homeless men, and witnessed young girls in an AIDS protest naked from the waist up. IF one could freeze time you could have them ALL just stop so you could gather each of their impressions live. But alas that is not real life for the majority of us, we have families and jobs and schedules to keep. So inside of all this diatribe I have written is that the camera can be the artists' best friend while traveling.

Jambo Kev;

I was not aware of the extent of your African travels. An Irishman might see the place differently than a Bedouin or Moor of which Enver may be related. And as well the traditional African art was the foundation of abstract art itself. Asanti sana!


Jambo Enver, asanti sana!;

Well written as if in an adventure novel! Your experience is something I would relish but I'd want to be driving the Land Rover with the wheelbarrow of money. What an adventure!

WAKAMBA CARVERS;

Robert Dick-Read in his book "Sanamu" found markets in New York, Florida Keys, California, Iowa, and Michigan to supply the carvings and masks he bought in Africa. He said he sometimes received orders of over 500 and up to 2000 carvings(one or two dollars each back in the 1950's) at a time and could simply not fill them as the artists were often finicky and inconsistent workers. He said that 90 % of the goods he bought for export were from the Wakamba carvers of Machakos district. These Kamba carvers are known as the most prolific in the world. In 1958 alone a Kamba village known as the "Wamunyu" had themselves grossed L250,000.00(pounds) f0r the sale of wood carvings. The tribes in my view got the short end of the deal but bus is bus.

The Ukambani Kamba are is one of the largest tribes in Kenya(4 million), Africa's most breathtakingly beautiful as well as hospitable land. They are neighbors to the Kikuyu. This tribe has known in the past for heating up the boiling pot after drum messages reveal there are unwary white people around.

Vince

Vince we were there in 2000, where does the time go? I will tell you that in the villages of Zimbabwe you would have to rent a large truck to even begin to haul away the carvings one could purchase. And for pennies as the Zim in Zimbabwe was nearly worthless then and is worse today. In the market place vendors offered to trade their wares for the clothing (literally) on our backs. We rode back to our hotel on day with a young American man clutching an armload of beautiful carvings. He was in sneakers, underwear, and t-shirt. He had "traded" his American blue jeans, his shirt, and his ball cap for the carvings. I am amazed he was still wearing sneakers.

To visit the Falls on the Zimbabwe side is an adventure. We were cautioned to select a couple of boys (and they are just boys) and pay them to be our escorts. Our minibus was mobbed as soon as the door opened. 20-30 young boys clamoring to rent umbrellas and be our escorts (read protection). We pointed at 2 who seemed to be together and beaming they took our money, handed us umbrellas, and then proceeded to beat away the rest of the mob. The umbrellas are very important in viewing the falls. The water comes down in such force the spray is thrown one-half mile into the air. One can see it clearly from the plane as you are flying into and out of Vic Falls. At the beginning of the walk it is merely noisy but the farther in one proceeds along the path the wetter it gets. All that spray that goes up must come down. By the time you are a 1/4 mile along, the water is hitting your umbrella with such force it is very difficult to proceed. It is however a most breathtaking sight. The night before we saw the falls from above on a boat trip on the Zambezi river. There were tense moments when our pilot cut the engine close to the falls and it did not start immediately. Also we pulled up to a bank to watch 3 old bull elephants cross the river. As it happened we had beached the boat right under their path. One by one they walked to the edge of the bank, swung their trunks back and forth just feet away, then proceed to turn left and walk by the boat. I have photos.

Vincent,Your grandfather sounds fascinating and a lover of the arts, what a wonderful legacy to have designed buildings at the Worlds Fair. I appreciate architecture of all kinds, at the Worlds Fair in Montreal I remember the famous cube apartment building in addition to the modern and old architecture in the city.

Vince is being modest as his sculptures are first rate, as are his paintings.

Quote "but I will note that mountains and deserts stand pretty still while you are painting them." Unquote Callahan

Well Kevin, what can I say? Have you ever tried looking at them? You must be dreaming because in real life nothing stands still.....you seem expertly informed about my appreciation for Art...that's one good thing.

Asanti Vincent



The lady next to me is a cop on her way to work, the others are locals traveling like me....from point A to B....away from the peddling, meddling, (where's that pot so we can cook them for dinner) jackasses and voyeur travelers losing their underwear.....

The Victoria Falls standing still while I photograph it with my paintbrush.....

Great scene and asante Enver!! Looks like you and the people are quite happy!

Kevin; Bless you my brother for your kind and respectful comments on my works! I've always known that(as per Randy Kelly), after a certain number (of brews), the Irish love everyone!
If there is some traditional Irish singing and happy celebration of the deep and rich culture of Ireland then new friendships are forever bonded!

Vincent,

Not that the internet should be a platform for hailing one's tribe - as this is why wars are started, but my grandmother (Constance) carries the illustrious name of Plunkett, fiery Irish republican revolutionaries from Athlone in the Highlands and her daughter Annie Plunkett was my mother (Born in Bulawayo Rhodesia of Catholic descent) That I was born in Africa (Cape Town) was rather fortuitous as it enabled me to align with people just out of visibility to loud westerners with their cameras, wheelbarrow loads of money, important schedules and bad attitudes, though still keeping my appetite for potatoes. Art is the greatest key...to open doors.....the noise of clicking cameras coming from open-decked landrovers on the African savanah, closes them and is no sound that excites Africa....(or me for that matter) on the contrary it only interferes where most unwelcome, even to the beasts of prey. I love all people, even the Bedouins of the Arabian desert, Moors and Ottomans who occupied Spain and translated directly from Greek to Arabic thus avoiding the clutter and fog of western religious predisposition. I am not calling out anybody here, least of all my own kin but copying photos is just such a cop-out and life is so miserably limited....man, if you can paint, why not just do it? You are damn right...travel light and keep the lip firmly zipped. For the purpose of general knowledge, my life has been involved with Art from the get-go....why would I not be interested in all its possible forms......

Northern Zimbabwe near Wankie

My last trip took me to Lapland, Finland. We were about 20km from the Arctic circle and 50km form Russian boarder. Amazing nature and 100 of pictures

I feel myself so alive when Im on the way... For me fascinating everything around from the majestic mountains to the moss on the stone. Thats probably why Im always bringing thousands photos with a huge variations of the theme, including animals, macro plants, people and architecture...

The only big problem Im taking the different lens for different purposes thats why my backpack never light ...unfortunately...

Jenne; You have very great work!

Guna; being Estonia and familiar with the Baltic states I can appreciate your genius! The op art photo is somethig which I am so inspired from I'm today going to try some effects for an op art painting. Thank you!!!

Kevin: I hope you have recovered by now from St. Patricks Day!

The shots you have of the Falls and the elephants; can you find them?

Now that Pat's day is over the cops can go back to handcuffing folks! I heard that the parade in New York was so full of fighting Irish cops and firemen that no one could call the cops as they were the one fighting" according James Vader, actor on "Blacklist".

Vince von Frese