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Travel Notes from the World
I have always been fascinated by the idea of travelling and
exploring other countries, and now my work of photographer allows me to
visit many of the places that I have always dreamt to see :-) For some
trips I have already published in depth articles, but here I want to
give some "first impressions" about all the countries I have visited. This
page is not meant to give in-depth information about every trip: these
are quick notes, impressions, travel tips from the point of view of a
nature photographer.
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Argentina is a huge country and it has a great variety of
landscapes and wildlife. I have visited Patagonia - the
southern half of Argentina - with my friend Emanuele
Castronovo; we planned the trip by ourselves and we had
chosen February because it is a summer month in Patagonia
(in the southern hemisphere the seasons are to opposite in
comparison with Europe: Winter is in June, July, August, and
summer is in December-February). Argentina is an easy place
to visit for the independent traveler. There is not a lot of
criminality, if you stay outside of the big cities you are
safe; there are many hostels, and the prices are very low in
comparison with Europe or USA.
We arrived in Buenos
Aires and the same day we toke the flight to Trelew, to
explore the Valdes Peninsula. Valdes is a great Place to
take photos of South American Sea Lion (Otaria flavescens);
I recommend going to Punta Norte near sunset, here you can
take great photos of these animals. This is also the place
where killer whales arrives very near to the beach to catch
the sea lions, even though it is not a thing you can see
often - we had no luck. Another great place in Valdes is the
"loberia" (that means sea lions colony) near Puerto Piramide:
you can take photos there from the right angle with the boat
tours organized every day. The tour lasts about three hours
and we paid it the equivalent of 30 Euros. The boat is
packed with tourists, but we had no difficulties to find
good viewpoints. You need luck: the boat trip is in the
central hours of the day...we did it in an overcast day and
we came back with great photos, but if there had been sun,
the trip would have been completely worthless due to harsh
light. One last thing about Valdes: if you stay near Puerto
Piramide, don't miss the beautiful "La Estacion"
bar/restaurant, it is a wonderful place full of color!
The second place we visited was Tierra Del Fuego.
Ushuaia is a small city on the Beagle Channel; it is called
“La Fin Del Mundo" (the end of the world) because it is the
most austral city of the world. From there, you can reach
Antarctica with two or four weeks boat trips, with prices
ranging from 2000 Euros to 60000 Euros (slightly crazy!). In
Ushuaia we stayed in the "Freestyle hostel", very cheap and
nice! We visited the Tierra del Fuego National Park (awesome
views and many animals; if possible, try to go there near
sunrise). In the park I have taken good photos of very tame
Caracara and other birds...it is impressive to see how
animals don't care about persons there! Other than that, we
have done a boar trip in the Beagle Channel near sunset and
another trip in the Chilean side, were we have seen a large
colony of penguins.
From Ushuaia we flew to El
Calafate. If you have time, I recommend to sleep one night
here. At sunrise and sunset, you can visit a nearby lake,
where you can take photos of flamingos and other birds. If
you come here in February, the landscape is awesome, too:
there are endless daisy fields...From El Calafate we visited
the Perito Moreno glacier...another great place; here you
can do a 1-hour boat trip to see the glacier from a
different point of view, or walk in one of the many
viewpoints. It is quite common to see large blocks of ice
falling in the water! After Perito Moreno, you can come back
in Calafate and take the bus to Torres Del Paine. Don't
forget your passport because Torres Del Paine is in Chile!
The transfer last several hours and your documents will be
checked twice. Torres Del Paine is an awesome place for
landscapes, but it is not one of my favorite places of the
trip. If you want to see it really well, you have to stay
there 5-6 days and hike around the many trails, sleeping in
tent: it is the best way to visit the place, and it is also
the only way to visit it if you have a limited budget. There
are not cheap hostels in Torres Del Paine, we spent about 50
Euro/person per night in a shared room! Moreover, we stayed
in the cheapest places we found. Other than landscapes,
Torres Del Paine is also a good place for many birds and for
Guanacos; you can easily photograph them with a 300mm lens.
The last place we visited has been El Chalten, were you
can see the Fitz Roy and the "out of this world" Cerro
Torre. I loved this place, it is the opposite of Torres Del
Paine! In TDP you pay for everything...I guess that one day
you will end up paying even for the air you breathe ;-) The
first thing we were told when we visited the information
center of El Chalten, instead, was that camping places were
100% free, and for them it is important to maintain the park
and the campings free, even though it is not easy. We slept
in a nice hostel for 7 Euro/night, and it even had free
Wi-Fi internet!!! El Chalten is a friendly, relaxed place.
From the village, you can reach the viewpoints for Cerro
Torre in 1 hour and 1.30 hour (if you have fast pace).
Getting there at sunrise is grea,; getting there one or two
hours before sunrise is even better! I arrived at the Cerro
Torre viewpoint at 5.00 a.m. and I had to wait an hour and
half for sunrise, but it was great because I have taken some
fascinating night photos! I used the 300 2.8 on 1DsIII - the
Cerro Torre is not so close, so you need a 300mm or 300mm
equivalent (as 70-200mm on APS-C camera). You also need
luck; I have been told that very often the mountain is
completely hidden by clouds, so it is not so common to see a
beautiful sunrise as I have seen!
We planned to stay
the last two days in Iguazu, but we had no luck here so we
spend the last days in Buenos Aires. Is it worth the visit?
Well, it absolutely depends by your interests. For me the
cities are only places whence I want to run away as soon as
possible :-) My travelmate Emanuele instead has enjoyed the
visit to the city. In B.A., magic things can happen
unexpectedly: for example, bags and cameras left unattended,
even for few seconds, have a surprising tendency to vanish
in the air. In other words, pay attention to thieves!
Emanuele's D300 and some lenses had been stolen, and we did
not even notice when it happened, it was really a matter of
few seconds...
Argentina can be very cheap. If you
sleep in hostels, you can spend as little as 7-8 Euros per
night! You can find a good hostel guide here:
www.getsouth.com; booking usually is not necessary. We
have always slept in hostels, it is a good way to meet
people and to save money; of course you must remember that
beds are in shared rooms with 4-6 other persons and usually
toilets and showers are shared too...this is why they are
called hostels and not four star hotels :-) If you stay in
Buenos Aires and you are looking for nightlife, I recommend
the Milhouse Hostel (www.milhousehostel.com),
we slept here for a couple of nights and it was a pretty
crazy place!
My photographic equipment was Canon 7D,
Canon 1DsIII, and four lenses: 12-24, 24-105, 180 Macro and
300 2.8 L IS USM. There were not many macro opportunities in
Patagonia (anyway, I have used the 180 for some details of
the landscape); instead I have used a lot the wide-angles
and the 300 2.8 L IS USM. Of course I had my Manfrotto
tripod with me, it allowed to get otherwise impossible
photos, as the night and sunrise at Cerro Torre. The 7D is a
great camera...the more I use it the more I like it! Of
course there will always be who say that a 1000 Euro camera
can not compete with a 4000 or 6000 Euro camera, that the
more expensive cameras are always better, and so
on...honestly I keep thinking that if you are not able to
take great photos with the 7D, you can only blame yourself
;-) In future, I plan to replace my Sigma 12-24mm with the
new Sigma 8-16mm (13-26mm equivalent on 7D), if the image
quality of the 8-16 will be satisfying, in my next trips I
may even leave at home the 1DsIII, and shoot exclusively
with the 7D.
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Costa Rica, November 2008 and
November 2009
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Unlike other countries, Costa Rica has given me a positive
impression regarding the man/nature relationship. I have
been impressed by the sensitivity of our guide Yehudi: he
clearly knew well the animals, and he taught us how to take
photos without disturbing the subject. When photographing
the famous Red-Eye Tree Frog he even prohibited to use
flash, to avoid damaging the sensitive night vision of these
frogs...an huge difference with our Tanzanian guide, who did
not even care to slow down the car to avoid killing small
animals along the road. In Costa Rica there are many natural
parks. You may be disappointed to know that outside national
parks, forests and nature had been replaced by cultivations
and other human activities; there is very little wilderness
outside parks. The good news is that Costa Rica is one of
the countries with the largest percentage of protected areas
of the world - the 25% of this country is either a national
park, a biological reserve or another protected area!
Costa Rica is not a rich country, but in terms of
criminality it is one of the "safest" countries in central
America. The people we have meet has been always friendly
and polite - even tough it must be said that we have always
been outside large cities; when we have come back in Italy
we have meet two guys that told us they have been assaulted
by thieves three times!
My photographic equipment has
not appreciated the wet, rainy tropical environment: I have
had problems with both camera and lenses. The Canon 1DsIII,
in spite of weather sealing, has often had fogging inside
the LCD screens; even worse, after one week the exposure
meter has gone crazy, underexposing all the photos by about
2-3 stops. Of course, I managed to keep shooting by using
exposure compensation on +2 or +3, but if I need to
overexpose I have to use manual mode. When I have come back
in Italy, I have sent the 1DsIII to Canon for repair and for
sensor cleaning (the camera anti-dust function is close to
being useless). The sensor now is perfectly clean, but sadly
the 1DsIII still show the underexposure problem: Canon has
replaced many electronic components, but when they have
given me back the camera, it still had the same problem.
Maybe in future I'll send again the camera to Canon, but now
I need it, so I have to live with the exposure compensation
permanently set on +3...
Another victim of the rain
has been my Sigma 12-24. I have often taken photos under
heavy rain both with the 24-105 and with the 12-24...both
have suffered from fogging, but after one day the Canon
24-105 (weather sealed) had dried up and it worked well,
while the Sigma has taken a lot more time to dry, and now
the AF no longer works. My friend Simone has not had better
luck: his Nikon D3 developed various problem, and three
lenses got stuck and heavily fogged; other than that, the
auto-rotation of his Samsung i900 camera phone stopped
working. In conclusion, this experience has taught me that
weather sealing sometimes helps (as with the 24-105), but in
heavy rain it is not a guarantee, even with the best
sealing as those used on 1DsIII and D3. From now I'll no
longer thrust the weather sealing - I'll simply protect the
camera with a transparent plastic bag, that is light years
better than any weather sealing.
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In May 2009, I have spent eight days in Finland for
wildlife photography. The trip has been organized by Memy -
a nature photographer and member of the Italian JuzaForum -
and there were 16 persons! Usually I prefer trips with much
smaller groups, but thanks to Memy's effort, the trip has
been a success! We reached Helsinki by plane, then we rented
four cars and we traveled towards north. Traveling in
Finland is very easy - there is always very, very little
traffic! On the other hand, we have made about 4000 km in 8
days, we were always around taking photos and we slept 2-3
hours per day!
We have seen bears in various places.
We have been at Wild Brown Bear (www.wildbrownbear.fi/en),
Kuntivaara (with
www.karhukuusamo.com) and Martinselkonen (www.martinselkosenerakeskus.com).
These places are not zoos as the famous Bayerische Wald Park
in Germany: these are places with permanent hides, where
wild bears are baited with carcasses of animals or other
kind of food.
To take bear photos, you have to enter
into hides at about 6 p.m., and you can not leave the hide
until 7 a.m. of the next morning: bears are active mainly in
late evening, during night and at sunrise. In Finland, in
May the nights are very short - the sun sets at 10.30 or 11
p.m. and it rises at 3.30 a.m., so during the 11 hours you
spend in the hide you have a lot of time for photography.
Since the majority of photos are taken in low light, I
highly recommend a bright lens, f/4 or even better f/2.8. A
long prime and a tele zoom are the ideal choice - for the
majority of my bear photos I have used the Canon 600 f/4 L
IS and the Sigma 120-300 f/2.8 EX DG HSM loaned from a
friend. In some places the bears were pretty distant so I
used the 600 f/4, while in other places I have used mainly
the 120-300 on fullframe...actually, in some moments the
bears were so close that I could have used a wide angle!
You don't need to bring tripod in the hides; you can use
beanbag, or you can mount the tripod head directly on the
structure of the hide: these hides are created for
photographers. The comfort of the hides varies widely: some
hides are extremely small, you can't even stay up and there
is not any kind of toilet; other hides are large and they
have places to sleep, toilets, and even gas stove to warm up
the hide. The only real downside of these structures is
price: they range from 150 € to 250 € per person, per night!
But they are the only way to take bear photos in Finland.
Finland is not only bears: from these hides you may see
even the wolverine, eagles and birds - if you are lucky...we
have not seen wolverine nor eagles! We have had great luck,
instead, with black grouses: we have seen them from some
hides built by Karhu, and we have taken photos and video of
grouses fighting in the mating season...a spectacle!
Another beautiful thing of Finland are landscapes: there are
lakes everywhere, and every day you can take photos of
fantastic sunrises and sunsets! I highly recommend to bring
a standard zoom and a wide angle, with a good tripod. I had
the Sigma 12-24 and the Canon 24-105, with Manfrotto 055
tripod and ball head. I have taken all the photos of this
trip either with the 1Ds MarkIII and the new Canon 500D,
that has saved me when the 1DsIII failed...in spite of the
extremely high price, the 1DsIII is so far the camera that
has given me most problems: in the Costa Rica trip the
exposure meter has gone crazy, and Canon never managed to
fix it, and in one of the latest days of this Finland trip
the lens release lever got stuck! It is a small thing, but
it created a big problem, and the camera becomes nearly
unusable because lenses may fall from a moment to
another...my 600 f/4 IS got off the camera while I was in a
hide, and it almost fallen out between bears! The Canon 500D
worked pretty well, even though of course it has its limits
- the user interface is not as good as the user interface of
higher end cameras, the battery life is not great, and it
can not be customized as much as the 1DsIII. |
As many of my trips, I decided to visit France at last
minute - I had no idea about where to go in late december
2009/early january 2010, and I ended up choosing the north
of the France because it is relatively close to my home
(about 1200km, that is one day of driving) and it has a mild
climate even in winter, thanks to the Gulf Stream. The
purpose of this trip were landscapes, and I have been really
happy, Normandy and Bretagne are fabulous!!
I have
visited countless nice places on the coast, but there are
some places I really recommend. The first is the Falaises of
Etretat...impressive! The photos I had seen on internet does
not give the idea of the beauty of this place...there are a
lot of nice views, a joy for the landscape photographer. I
have spend one day here, but if I'll come back I'll stay at
least two days. Another cool place is the famous Mont Saint
Michel: it has a very unreal look, it looks like a place
from some fantasy book...other than that, if you come at low
tide, you can walk all around St. Michel in the endless sandy
beach - even though you have to pay attention, both for the
tides and for the presence of quicksand.
Bretagne is
famous for its many lighthouses: even though I have not been
lucky to see them surrounded by spectacular huge waves as in
some photos seen on the web, they have offered many
beautiful views and photo occasions. If you visit Bretagne
you must absolutely see the lighthouse of St. Mathieu - it is
placed on a spectacular cliff and it is close to the ancient
abbey of St. Mathieu...by the way, this lighthouse is open
for visiting and you can reach the top, a very interesting
experience both to see the inside of a lighthouse and to
view the landscape from above. One last suggestion: do not
limit you visit to the most famous places...explore the
coast as much as you can, you will find a lot of photo
opportunities!
I have done the trip with my own car,
and I think that it is the best way to visit this area. I
slept in cheap hotels; you can find rooms for 35-50
Euros...overall the cost of this trip has been about 1200
Eur for 11 days (including fuel, toll roads, food, hotels),
and I was travelling alone...if you do this trip with one or
two friends and you share the costs, you can spend as little
as 600/400 Eur per person! Summer month may be more
expensive, but I won't hesitate to come back in winter...in
my opinion it has been perfect for this trip! The days are
short, so you don't have to wake up too early - sunrise is
about at 8.40 a.m. and sunset at 5.30 p.m.; the climate on
the coast is surprisingly mild (between 0 and 10 degrees in
late december!), and the weather is often cloudy. Clouds are
a bonus for the landscape, they make the sky a lot more
interesting than a cloudless sky, and when you are lucky to
see a sunrise or sunset with golden and red clouds it is
awesome!
My photo gear for this trip was my new Canon
7D, the 1DsIII, Sigma 12-24, Sigma 20 f/1.8, Canon 24-105
and Canon 300 2.8 L IS. I have never used the Sigma 20 1.8
(too much light pollution for milky way photos) nor the
Canon 300 2.8 (I have seen many bird, but at the end I
preferred to spend all the time for landscapes). Instead, I
have used a lot the 12-24, mounted on the fullframe 1DsIII,
and the 24-105, mounted on 7D. Of course I had the tripod,
it has been essential for the best landscape photos. |
Ireland has been a pleasant surprise. I have travelled all
around the country with Agata, for a trip focused on
landscapes - we visited mainly the coastline...some places
are truly impressive! The most beautiful places I have seen
are the "Giant's Causeway", thousand of basaltic columns
with geometric shapes, created by a volcanic eruption
millions of years ago...it is an amazing view, and it is
very easy to reach: it is close to the village of Bushmills
(we slept in the beautiful Kal-Mark B&B, 64A Causeway Road,
Bushmills), and with a 20 minutes walk you can easily reach
it. Other spectacular places are the Slieve League Cliffs,
near Donegal, and the Cliffs of Moher, 200mt high cliffs on
the Atlantic Ocean. For visits to the Cliffs of Moher, I
recommend to stay in Doolin, that is close to the Doonagore
Castle, another good photographic opportunity. In Doolin we
slept in the Paddy's Doolin Hostel (www.doolinhostel.com),
it is nice and cheap, and it sells "relaxing stones" for
0.10 € ...these stones are simply common stones, as you can
find everywhere for free, but I thought it was funny that
Paddy sold them, and I wondered who can be so crazy to buy
an useless common stone... I ended up buying one, with great
amusement of Agata :-)
We have visited also the
Killarney National Park - we had been there only one day but
this place is worth a more in-depth visit! Here I have
photographed the Torc Waterfall and some forest landscapes;
the forest looks like a tropical rainforest, it remind me
the forest of Malaysia and Costa Rica! All these places can
be quite crowded during the day: if you want to take photos
without people, I recommend to get these at sunset or, even
better, at sunrise, when at most you can meet few others
early morning photographers.
Traveling in Ireland is
easy and safe: there are a lot of small lovely villages, and
there are Bed&Breackfast everywhere - there is no need for
booking, you will always find a place to sleep! People is
kind and friendly, and even "big" cities as Dublin looks
quite nice and safe, they are much less chaotic than Italian
big cities! On the other hand, Ireland has its downsides.
Driving is a pleasure for the eye, there is almost
everywhere lovely countryside, but it is less a pleasure for
the driver: roads are crazy tight, and speed limits make no
sense. The speed limit on the majority of Ireland roads is
100 km/h...both on small curvy roads between the mountains,
where driving at 50 km/h is already dangerous, and on
highways, where you could drive safely even at 200 km/h...
The other downside of Ireland are prices: everything is very
expensive! Many things cost almost twice than in Italy.
In this trip I had the 1DsIII, 500D, Sigma 12-24, Canon
24-105 and Canon 180 Macro. I have not taken any macro
during this trip - in Ireland there is always wind! But the
180 Macro has been useful for details of the landscape.
Other than that, I have used a lot the wide angles (on
1DsIII), in particular my Sigma 12-24, that has broken
during this trip...I was shooting on the top of the Cliff of
Moher, on a flat rock few meters from the edge, when the
tripod fell on the rock due to strong wind...it almost fell
out of the cliff! The lens toke the impact, and it was
completely destroyed, while the camera had only few
scratches. The funny thing is that before this incident the
1DsIII had stuck lens release (it got stuck in the previous
Finland trip), and after the accident the lens release was
working again! But this is a very expensive way to fix
things ;-) Now I have already ordered a new Sigma 12-24, it
is a lens I use a lot: in my opinion the best wide-angle for
fullframe. |
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Madagascar, September 2009
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Madagascar has been pretty different from what I imagined: I
expected something like Costa Rica, a country covered by
forests, instead many parts of Madagascar are very arid.
There are forests in the north, while the south of the
country is pretty dry, sometimes even desert. I have visited
this country with my friend Emanuele Castronovo - we had not
prepared this trip so we trusted a local agency, that gave
us a far from perfect itinerary. From Antananarivo, we have
made a long round trip passing by Morondava, Tulear,
Ambalavao...even though this itinerary is good for
landscapes and for reportage, it is not good for wildlife:
if you want to take macro and wildlife photos, I recommend
to visit the north of the country, covered by forests. Other
than that, you have to carefully plan your trip, considering
that it takes a lot of time to move from one place to
another: the majority of roads are in very poor conditions,
and to move of 250-300km may take an entire day.
Even
though I don't recommend the itinerary we have done (for
wildlife photography), if you are interested mainly in
landscapes and reportage there are some places I suggest:
the market of Morondava, the Baobab Avenue near Morondava,
the Tsingy formations (awesome landscape, but make sure to
visit is at sunrise or sunset, and take just a couple of
lenses with you, it is a very hard walk/climb!), the Isalo
National Park (great landscapes and some wildlife) and the
Ranomafana Park (the only forest we have seen). By the way,
if you stay in Morondava I recommend the Hotel Tre Cicogne (http://hoteltrecicogne.com)
of our friend Gabriele! If you want some music and
nightlife, you won't find a lot in Morondava, but I
recommend the Oasis Hotel Restaurant, run by Jean Le Rasta.
Sadly, it is very difficult to rent a car by yourself,
the majority of car rentals in Madagascar rent only car with
driver...the cost is not an big problem, you can find a jeep
+ driver for reasonable costs, but it does not give the
freedom of movement that you can have by driving by
yourself, and it may be a pretty "adventurous" experience -
many Madagascan drive like mad! Many parks in Madagascar can
not be visited by yourself, too, so you need to get a guide
(other than the driver); usually you "rent" the guide
immediately when you arrive at the park, or you can book him
the day before. Having a guide has both positive and
negative aspects: sometimes we got some truly good guides,
who helped us to find animals we would have not found by
ourselves, and some of the guides knew many languages, even
Italian! The negative side is that you have less freedom in
comparison of a visit by yourself.
The accommodations
range from super cheap hotels, where a room costs just 4-5
$, to mid-range hotels (25-40$ per room) to luxury
structures that make cost several hundred dollars per room.
I recommend to avoid both the cheapest places (they are
really poor and dirty) and the luxury hotels (money threw
away); mid range hotels are already pretty good, almost
European standard, and they are a great value for their
price. Food is very cheap, but it is also very shitty - I
have never ate such bad food as in Madagascar...my
recommendation is to bring something from home ;-)
Even
though Madagascar is a very poor country, it is surprisingly
safe to visit by yourself - outside big cities, we have had
no problems walking around with all our photo gear. People
is friendly and often they are happy to be photographed, and
they rarely ask money for the photos...Madagascar is an
heaven for the reportage photographer!
Talking about
photo gear, I had with me the 1DsIII, the 500D (now replaced
by 7D), 12-24, 20 f/1.8, 24-105, 180 Macro and 300 2.8 +
teleconverters. I have used a lot all lenses, expect for the
180 Macro, since we did not have many macro opportunities in
this trip. For the first time I have got great results from
the Sigma 20 f/1.8: even though image quality is poor, the
night sky in Madagascar is awesome, and you can take great
photos of the stars and Milky way...in many rural areas
there are no lights during the night, so light pollution is
not a problem. September is a great month for this kind of
photography, since it is pretty dry and we often found clear
sky...that said, for all other kinds of photography I'd
prefer more rainy months, some clouds in the sky are better
both for landscapes and for wildlife/macro.
In
September the climate is dry so humidity was not a problem;
sometimes the equipment become very dirty with dust, but
everything kept working well. During the day the temperature
may be quite hot, while the nights are cool, and in the
central areas of the country they may even be cold - about
10 degrees. Remember to bring with you spare batteries and
triple electric socket, in many hotels there is electric
energy only for a couple of hours so you may need to charge
everything at the same time.
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In February 2009, I visited the peninsular Malaysia in a
three weeks trip with my great friend Daniela...we have
chosen this country mainly because we were fascinated by the
idea of tropical rainforest, and because we hoped to see the
rare Malaysian orchid mantis (Hymenopus coronatus) and leaf
insects (Phyllium sp.). We did not found any of these two,
but still it has been a great experience! Peninsular
Malaysia has a great variety of environments: tropical
rainforest, mountain "moss-forests", and spectacular islands
with a beautiful sea. The forest is for sure the most
fascinating environment, but it is far from easy to find
animals and to take photos between the abundant vegetation
and the high trees. In Taman Negara, for example, we spent
an entire day walking in the forest, taking almost no
photos. We have seen many spectacular butterflies, but they
never stay still enough to be photographed, and often they
flew too high and too distant, even for the 300 f/2.8 + 2x.
Overall, we have taken much more photos in small grass
fields
we found along the road than into the forest.
The
society of Malaysia has left me a mixed bag of impressions.
Most people were kind and friendly; traveling by yourself
generally is quite easy and safe (English is widely
understood). For an European visitor, prices are really
cheap - unleaded gas costs just 1.8 Ringgit per liter, that
is three times cheaper than in Italy; food and restaurants
are cheap, and even hotels prices are very low: the cheapest
hotels cost just 30-40 Ringgit per room (6-8 Euros), and
luxury hotels costs 200-300 Ringgit per room (40-60 Euros).
The capital, Kuala Lumpur, is a modern city and its symbol,
the Petronas Towers, are a truly amazing view, in particular
at night, when they are brightly illuminated.
On the
other hand, many times we have seen a lot of rubbish along
the roads, in the fields, on the beaches...even on some
small islands (as Pulau Lang Tengah), sometimes there was a
lot of rubbish badly hidden few meters from the beach. My
impression is that many Malaysians don't care much about
nature - it is truly a pity for such a beautiful country...
In this trip I brought with me nearly all my photo
equipment, with the exception of the 600 f/4. The lenses I
have used more often had been the Canon 180 Macro - often
mated with the 2x teleconverter, to get more working
distance - and the Sigma 12-24, that is one of my favorite
landscape lenses. Since the Costa Rica trip my 12-24
autofocus no longer works, but it has not been a big
problem. Sometimes I have used the 24-105 and the 300 f/2.8
L IS, but not as much as the other two lenses. I did not use
at all, instead, the Sigma 20mm f/1.8 - it has been one of
my worst purchases, and I'm going to sell it. I have not had
any problem with humidity, since the rain season finished in
late January. In Tioman island, I have done some snorkeling,
and I have been amazed by the beauty of many fishes: even at
few meters from the beach, you can see corals and colorful
fishes. I did not have underwater equipment, but I am
seriously considering an underwater housing for my next
trips that include islands and sea! |
I have been in the Netherlands two times, in 2007 and
2009, to take bird photos on the Texel island. From northern
Italy, you can reach Texel with an about 15 hours drive;
otherwise, you can fly to Amsterdam, rent a car and reach
the island in about one hour. Texel is a small island with
few little villages; it is a lovely, relaxing place, both
for nature lovers and for those who just want a relaxing
holyday. The are a lot of tulip fields, green grass fields
with sheep; roads are small but there is little traffic, and
the villages are really nice - cute houses with huge roofs
and large windows. On the north of the island there is a red
lighthouse, and a beautiful endless beach - it is almost 1
kilometer wide and it looks like a desert! In late afternoon
light, it is an awesome view, even though it is difficult to
capture in photo the magic beauty of the sand blown by the
wind into the golden light...
For birding, the best
place I have found is on the western size of the island,
very close to the coast (here)
: there as some swamps where you can take photos of dozen of
birds! You don't even need blinds or camouflaging - the
birds are relatively tame, and you can take great photos
even with a 300mm or 400mm lens. That said, longer lenses
give more opportunities: in my Texel trips, I have used a
lot the 600 f/4 L IS, often mated with 1.4x teleconverter
(on fullframe Canon 1DsIII). Other than that, I recommend to
bring with you some wide angles for landscapes; I have used
mainly the Sigma 12-24, that has an amazing angle of view.
Visiting by yourself the Netherlands is quite easy; the
only problem may be the language, but at least the main
hotels and restaurants understand English. If you are going
to stay in Texel, I highly recommend the Residentie Californië (www.californie.nl)
: its room are really nice and they are not too expensive,
if you travel with friends (we paid 90 Eur per night per
room, but every room can accommodate four persons, so you
can spend less than 25 Eur per night if you are in a small
group). |
The trip to North Cape, in 2007, has been my first real trip
outside Italy.
Norway is a very nice country, in
(almost) every respect. The landscapes are marvelous! You
can take fantastic landscapes even with little or no
walking, you just have to stop along the road! I have
visited Norway in September: it is already quite cold, and
very rainy, but I loved it...the cloudy sky and the autumnal
colors created awesome colors and very moody landscapes.
Other than that, in September there are very few tourists,
and you can truly appreciate the wilderness of the place.
This trip was mainly for landscapes, so I did not spend
much time in search of wildlife. Nevertheless, near North
Cape I have enjoyed a lot taking photos of reindeers, they
are everywhere and you can easily get close! My longest lens
was the Canon 100-400 L IS and it has been more than enough
for reindeers.
Renting a car or driving your own car
is a great way to explore Norway...I have travelled all
around the country, from south to north, and every day was a
new marvel! I have never booked and hotel - every evening I
searched a place to stay; usually I have had no problem to
find camping or hostels, even though some times I have had
to sleep in my car. Many roads in Norway are not kept very
well, and you have to be careful when you drive during heavy
rains. But even when there is sun and large straight road,
you can't go very fast - the speed limits in Norway are
sloooooow! Here in Italy the limit on highways is 130 km/h
(even though people often drives way faster); in Germany
there are even roads without speed limit at all, while in
Norway you can't go faster than 80 km/h...
I have
spent the majority of this trip either driving or in the
solitude of the wilderness, so I have not much to say about
Norwegian people; anyway my impression has been positive - I
have always met kind persons, and nearly everyone speak
English, so I have not had any problem with the language.
In late 2007 I still used the Canon 20D has my main
camera. I have liked it very much; it was a great camera
both for landscapes and wildlife, and it worked really well
for this trip. I have used a lot the 24-105 and the 10-22
for landscapes; two great lenses - the 24-105 L is one of my
all times favorite, I bought it in 2006 and I still use it!
I used the 100-400 L IS as tele lens for this trip: even
though now I have replaced it with the stellar Canon 300 2.8
IS, I always consider the 100-400 an excellent lens for its
price...it is a small, lightweight and versatile tele lens.
I brought with me even the 180 Macro; I have used it only
for a couple of photos: in September there are not many
occasions for macro photography.
|
|
Switzerland, 2006-2007-2008
|
Switzerland is at few hours of drive from my home, so I have
been there many times. I have been in Switzerland for the
first time in 2006, with my friend Luigi Ziotti, a great
nature photographer and videomarker. In my first trips I
have visited mainly Engadin, that is famous for its birds:
in winter, it is easy to get close to many small birds, and
sometimes they even take food from your hands!
The
best place for this kind of photos is near Pontresin, a
small village in the Swiss Alps. Here you can take frame
filling photos of birds and other wildlife (squirrels) even
with a wide angle! Of course, a tele helps if you want to
get separation from subject and background. Many times the
light is difficult, so a flash may help to fill the shadows
and to give a more pleasing light to the photo. In winter
the temperature may be really cold, be prepared! One time I
have photographer at -20 Celsius degrees...
Other
than wildlife, Switzerland is a great place for landscapes.
In November 2007 I tried to make a landscape trip but I had
to come back after a couple of days because there was too
much snow and many road where closed; in October 2008 I have
come back with my friend Daniela, and this time we have had
better luck: we have photographed some marvelous landscapes.
I have used a lot the 24-105 and the 12-24 on my 1DsIII; of
course tripod is essential. When I do landscape trips in
Switzerland I leave home the 180 Macro and the teles.
As the majority of European countries, Switzerland is a
safe place and it can be easily visited by yourself; if you
travel by car in the winter month you must have snow chains,
and of course you should be prepared for cold temperatures. |
Tanzania is famous for its wildlife; many nature
photographers visit the parks of Tanzania to take photos of
the classic African wildlife...lions, elephants, zebras,
hippos, and a lot more. No doubt about that: Tanzania is a
nature photographer dream! I have never taken so many photos
as in this trip; I filled up three 32 GB CF cards, and I
have even had to make selection between the photos!
Tanzania is also a place that makes you think...about many
things.
I have read countless discussions about
photography in captivity vs photography in nature...there
are those who say that true nature photography is only
photography in the wild, and there are those who don't make
any distinction between wild environment and captivity.
Personally, I have begun bird photography photographing
ducks in captivity, but nowadays I take photos only in the
"wild"; nevertheless, I'd never say that who take photos in
zoos is not a nature photographer...
When I posted my
Tanzania photos on a discussion forum, a reader commented
that "Tanzania is an open-air zoo"...honestly I agree; in
terms of difficulty, photographing a lion in Tanzania or in
a zoo is about the same...the main difference is that in a
zoo you can see immediately the animal, but it is difficult
to exclude man made elements, and the animal behavior is
heavily influenced by captivity, while in Tanzania it is not
guaranteed to see immediately the animal (but during a 10-15
days safari it is sure to see it), and of course in Tanzania
you can take photos in a natural environment, observing the
natural behavior of the animal...
In other words, I
think that taking photos in the wild don't makes
automatically you a "better" nature photographer than
someone that takes photos in a zoos...in my opinion, the
photos that have the greatest value are those that catch the
attention of the people, those that transmit emotions and
those that tell a story.
Another thing that you can
not ignore in Tanzania is poverty and its consequences.
There is a stark difference between the tourists structures
and the life of Tanzanian people - the lodges are as good as
European hotels, or even better, they are modern and
opulent...but as soon as you move away from the structures
created for the rich tourists, you will see an appalling
poverty. Walking around outside the tourist structures is
very difficult for the "tourist"; sometimes we stopped in
small cities and as soon as we come out from the jeep we
were surrounded by people that tried to sell us something,
sometimes even very aggressively. Don't even thing of taking
photos of people: if someone see you, he will ask you money
with insistence. Of course there are exceptions...near the
end of our trip, we visited the Masai village of Jorna, that
turned out to be a very kind, friendly and honest person!
Obviously, poverty influences the relationship between
man an nature. I have had the impression that people in
Tanzania consider nature only as a way to make money...the
thing that has impressed me most was the behavior of our
driver (in many Tanzanian national parks you can no longer
drive by yourself, you have to rent a car with authorized
driver/safari guide). During the "working hours", he drove
very slowly on the tracks to allow us to take wildlife
photos; as soon as it was 6 'o clock, he drove back to the
lodge or camping at crazy speed, without paying any
attention to the animals on our track - if the animal was
not fast enough to run away, it ended up being killed by our
jeep...appalling. One day we found a small gazelle agonizing
near the road, with wounds clearly caused by the impact with
a car; another victim of the many careless drivers.
Don't get me wrong: Tanzania is an unique place for the
nature photographer, I highly recommend the visit and I'm
going to come back there soon! But it is not a place that
transmit peace and harmony; it is a place full of
contradictions...
In terms of equipment, the
main difficulty is dust. After few hours
driving on the dry roads, there was dust
everywhere... sometimes in our car there was
so much dust that it was like being in the
fog! (it sound unbelievable, but I am not
kidding!) Of course, all the equipment has
got very dirty, but it has not given me any
problem. I had the 1DsIII with 12-24,
24-105, 300 2.8 and teleconverters; I have
used a lot of time the 300 and TC and I
loved it...I did not miss a lot the 600 f/4.
In Tanzania many animals are very close and
even a 300mm is enough for many photos.
The 24-105 once again proved to be an
awesome all around lens; the stabilizer helped a lot
considering that it was impossible to mount the tripod (you
can shoot only from the Jeep, it is strictly forbidden to
come out from the car when you are in the field). I almost
never used, instead, the 12-24, except for some night shots
from our campsite. I am very glad that I brought with me the
three Transcend 32 GB cards, instead of choosing other
solutions. One day we have meet two Italian photographers
that had brought some portable hard drives: out of four, two
drives had failed after one week!
|
Tunisia is a great place to visit: there are many
fascinating things to see, it is easy and safe to explore
and the prices are really low, at least in comparison to
Europe or USA. Usually the trip begins from Tunis: if you
can, I'd suggest to get there with your car; otherwise you
have to rent something - a 4x4 is essential for off-road
trips in the desert, but for the majority of the country a
cheap car is OK (we had a Ford Fiesta). From Tunis, go
south: there are some great places even in the north (I
highly recommend to visit Tabarka with its beautiful beach;
the roman ruins of Sbeitla; the quiet city of Madhia), but
the south is the most amazing part of the country. The area
near Tataouine has been the set of "Star Wars" movies, and
indeed the barren landscape offers great opportunities for
photos. Near Tataouine you can visit the abandoned village
of Douiret, the big Ksar of Ouled Soltane, the village of
Chenini, and many other Ksour. Another otherworldly place is
the Chott El Jerid dry lake, between Kebili and Tozeur: it
is an endless desert of salt, where few puddles show
unbelievable colors: in some places the water is so salty
that it becomes...pink!
Of course, if you visit
Tunisia you must not miss the Sahara desert! Without a 4x4
and good driving skills, the only place that you can reach
in the desert is the Oasis of Ksar Ghilane, 150 kilometers
from Douz. Ksar Ghilane is a beautiful oasis with limpid
water, palms and endless dunes all around: here we slept in
tent, and we did a camel ride to the ancient ruins, 2 km
from the oasis. Overall, I spent two weeks in Tunisia, even
though one week is enough to visit the most beautiful
places, if you don't mind driving a lot every day. The
prices are really low - I spent about 7-8 Euro per night in
cheap hotels, and food costs few dinars, if you eat in
non-touristic places of if you buy food at the market.
English is rarely understood, while most people understand
French, and sometimes Italian. The persons are friendly,
even though sometimes they try to sell you souvenirs and
guided tours very insistently.
A thing that has hit
my attention are the ubiquitous photos of the president Ben
Ali. Tunisia was a protectorate of France until 1956, when
Habib Bourguiba declared the independence and become
president. Bourguiba did very important steps towards the
modernization of the country: he gave more freedom to women
and he eradicated the religious fondamentalism. In 1983, Ben
Ali become president with a coup. In spite of the declared
"democracy", Tunisia has always been a kind of "benevolent
dictatorship", both under Bourguiba and Ben Ali. In 27
years, Ben Ali has made the country much more stable and
modern than the majority of other African countries. The
price to pay for this wellness are limitations of personal
freedom: magazines, television and internet are censored by
the government; it is mandatory to show a portrait of Ben
Ali in all public places, and the "democracy" is in practice
non-existent.
Talking about photos, in this trip I
have used only two lenses: Sigma 8-16mm for the majority of
the photos, and canon 24-105. Both lenses were mounted on my
beloved Canon 7D :-) As you can imagine, for me landscapes
and reportage had been the main interests in Tunisia. In the
desert the fine sand blown by the wind can be a problem for
the lenses; other than that there are not big difficulties
for the equipment. |
|
United States - Florida &
Louisiana, May 2008
|
There had been two great things that have led me to
visit Florida and Louisiana: the famous Everglades Park and
the possibility to meet the mythical Ronnie Gaubert, the
world most talented macro photographer! I knew him from a
lot of time by forums and e-mails, but I had never met him
personally, until this trip. The idea of visiting US had
been proposed by my friend Daniela, but I gladly accepted.
For this trip we have chosen my favorite way to travel: we
had planned only an approximate itinerary, and we decided
the places to visit directly on the place, day per day.
In the US I have often had the impression that
everything is big, sometimes even exaggeratedly big...the
road are large, way larger than here in Italy; the cars are
big, even the portions of food often are huge...I remember
one time I ordered a (single) portion of chocolate pie, it
was so big that me and Daniela were not able to eat it all
:-) But huge does not mean better - while I loved some
foods, other times food was really poor...sometimes we had
been in "Italian Restaurants" that had nothing of Italian,
except for the name...the only Italian Restaurant where we
have been really happy was "Fratelli La Bufala" in Miami
Beach, where we have eaten delicious pasta...
Gasoline prices are dirty cheap in the US, in comparison
with Europe - this is one of the main reasons that make huge
SUVs so popular in the US. We had, instead, a nice Dodge
Avenger, that allowed us to travel for more than 4,500
kilometers with just 250 € (350 US$) of fuel! (in May 2008,
the fuel was at 4$ per gallon).
Driving is the US is
quite pleasing; the roads usually are well kept and they are
much larger than in Italy. Of course, there are some small
differences: for example, the traffic light are on the
opposite side of the road, while in Italy they are near
corner at traffic's right side (it may take a little to get
used, but I prefer the US way); you can pass other vehicles
both on the left or on the right (I like it); speed limits
are lower than in Italy (way to low...). Last but not least,
the majority of cars in the US have automatic transmission:
you may like it or not, depending by your personal
preferences, but for sure it is very comfortable and easy to
use. Unlike other countries, travelling by yourself in the
US is easy and quite safe; we did not even make a detailed
travel plan, but we choose the destination every day. There
are a lot of motels everywhere so we had not any problem to
find a place to sleep; usually the rates are very
affordable.
Nature in the US is great! Actually, it
is even better than what I expected: there are many large
parks, and it is a lot easier to see wildlife than in
Europe... for this trip I had the 300 f/2.8 and converters
as wildlife lens, and it has been enough almost always. The
Everglades park is huge and it offers many good
opportunities, even though many areas can be reached only by
boat. During the first months of the year, it is a great
place for birding, while august and September are the best
months for macro. When walking around in the grass fields of
the everglades, I highly recommend to wear long trousers and
boots: there are some dangerous snakes, one time I have even
had a close encounter with a rattle snake! Other than that,
mosquitoes are a real pain, but the beautiful nature that
you can photograph is worth the efforts.
Other than
the already mentioned 300 2.8, in this trip I have brought
with the the 1DsIII, 12-24, 24-105 and 180 Macro. The macro
and the tele had been for sure the most used lenses, but the
wide angles turned out useful for landscape photos. Cameras
and lenses have not given me any problem, while I have not
been happy with the Manfrotto 190MF4 tripod - in the
Everglades it got stuck in the mud, and when I toke it out I
lost the "foot" of the tripod leg. Other than that, after a
couple of weeks the legs became dirty with sand, and they
often got stuck. (now I have replaced it with a Manfrotto
055 WNXB)
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