Can't believe ...

... it is over a year since I've posted here.

What a year.

Since I started pretty much non-stop travel in late 2009, I logged almost 300,000 miles in the air. 22 ferry rides between Singapore and Indonesia or Hong Kong and mainland China.

I blogged about some of those trips.

Well over a hundred taxi rides and then there are the other rides on ricksha, bicycle, motorbike, rowboat, canoe, bi-plane, Cessna, helicopter, steam train, high speed train and bullet train ... all in 18 months and most of the time with camera since my friend Margeaux urged me to keep photographing what's going on around me while away from home.

I have worn-out shoes to prove the many miles I walked ... hiked ... trotted. They brought home dust from other continents.

I've spend over 100 nights in about 15 different hotels and 35 rooms. Plenty of shot material for a book about my "jet-setting" hotel life and splendid scenery.

Not. Jet-setting that is.

The book is an idea I mull over though as I've stayed in some beautiful gory places.

On the long plane rides home or away from home, I've written about some of the stories whose ideas are captured and hidden in this playground blog.

The horizon is getting more and more shape. In my world the horizon is not a gently arched curve fading far away.

Not.

And will never be.

All those days traveling for business also opens up the door for connection with the various cultures I pass through. An opportunity to meet new people. Make new friends. Experience new lovers. Observe what makes people work.

Leave minimal footprint and maximize the impression while expressing my emotional range and need for connection.

Eye to Eye

Neuron to Neuron

Skin to Skin

Soul to Soul

That's the essence in my world. In no particular order.

Being away has a downside.

My house and studio are in an extended remodeling phase.

I don't get to shoot the women I love as often.

I don't get to make new local friends as often.

It is hard to stay in touch with my children who are now traveling on their own and are

themselves spread over the globe.

It is hard to keep a relationship going as I'm ... well ... gone most of the time

Yet ... in spite of all these lapses in continuity, there were so many wonderful things happening around me at "home"

I'm still in a fabulous technology career where I positively impact the lives of people worldwide and that career is the enabler for many things I truly enjoy and share.

In spite of all the travel, I did connect with wonderful friends and experienced new relationships that have confirmed that I'm foremost an innovator, a creator, an artist unwilling to compromise in that passion.

I did get to shoot with old friends and discover new friends with a shared love for photography and all things beautiful

My best friend married and brought another wonderful friend in my life. I got to shoot the wedding.

Emotional.

Priceless.

I did come across old souls from previous lifetimes. Likeminded brains. Parallel experiences in different universe.

Im lucky.

I'm blessed.

I'm happy.

* * *

Why write about this now on July 26, 2011 while I should be in bed ?

I made a new local model friend a couple of months ago.

She brought chocolate to the shoot. Big points for this.

And cookies covered in Belgian chocolate. Even more points for this.

She wrote me recently:

"Rudi ... I'm going through your blog every day, so you better update it soon, or else I'm stuck with nothing "

So here Frosan, this is for you.

* * *

The image below was shot in Februari 2011 around 6am while en-route to Boston on a red-eye. Altitude 2,000 feet. The sun was just peering through a slit in the clouds and I noticed this shaft of orange light over the water turning my direction as the plane was banking

The seatbelt sign was already on for landing. My camera was in the overhead compartment. I was in an exit row and the stewardess was sitting across from me.

What to do ?

I unbuckled. Stood up, opened the overhead bin and quickly yanked

my camera out of my backpack over the protest of the stewardess. Closed the bin while my fingers are snapping the camera to the ON position.

On my way to my chair I looked her in the eye and she silenced. She turned her head away from me and stared the other direction.

I took two shots before buckling up. Timing was perfect. The beam of light appeared to float just below my window.

We landed without further incident. I apologized on my way out. It didn't register.

The final composite art work print size is 18" H x 43" W.

It's a shame blog posting doesn't do this type of images any good. Color range and detail are exquisite.

The composite image was created out of the two out-of-camera images below taken with a couple of seconds in between.

Pulau Galang Baru

Sunday, May 30, 2010

I hired a driver for a full day for about $55. This is definitely my favorite way of traveling around in Indonesia. I got a great recommendation for a driver and he didn't disappoint. Ropik showed up in an SUV which was very comfortable on some of the bumpy no-roads on the islands.

Goal for the day was to drive all the way to Pulau Galang Baru, the last island connected to Batam through the 7 Barelang bridges.

I have been many times at the first Barelang bridge, the most imposing one. I've never driven all the way over all seven to see where this leads to.

On my way we stopped at Kampung Vietnam to take a look at the Vietnamese refugee camp. I had read about it online ... I could undeniably feel the suffering still hanging around on this hot day many years after the closing of the camp.

Once we made our way to Palau (Island) Galang Baru, we were rewarded with with amazing views of tropical islands in an environment were time stood still for many years.

Everywhere I went I heard girls yell "bule bule ... photo ... photo ... please take picture ..." (bule = westerner) ... No greater delight for these young women to know someone snapped their picture with their girlfriends ... big smiles guaranteed ;-) No need to worry about leaving an email address for them to get the image ... all that's required is to know someone spend time taking their picture and will have a souvenir from them forever.

At this time in the year, sun is only guaranteed in the morning. As soon as it turns around 2:00 pm, the clouds change dramatically into thunderclouds with torrents of rain falling down. It doesn't last long but one has to take precautions. Not too difficult when one travels in car but it's a totally different story for the locals on their motorbikes and scooters.

Two of the images I shot that day show clearly rain drenching down in buckets at the horizon. We only got wet on our way back to Batam. Rather than hanging out on a tropical beach waiting for a nice sunset, I decided to go visit Tanjung Uma ... a place I'll write more about when I have time to process the images.

Those who have been following my travels know that this is my fourth trip in about 5 months to this area of the world.

I've been in Indonesia before. In 1999 to 2001 I spend quote a few weeks in Bali paradise working special effects for an amusement park. Although a perfect introduction to the beauty of Indonesia, it didn't prepare me for the beauty of the Riau Islands comprising Batam. Most of these islands are sparsely populated and as of today, I'm constantly taken by the genuine happiness of these people whatever their living circumstances are.

More images from my recent Indonesia travels to Batam can be found in my Travel Images folder on Facebook.

So far I've not been able to find any shells on any of the beaches I visited. Who took them all ?

Travel images from Batam, Indonesia

It has been a while since my last post ... I don't seem to snap out of this busy spell fixing technology problems.

This images here were all shot on a sunny February Sunday afternoon while sight seeing in Batam.

The sunken boat can be found close to a fisherman village in the neighborhood of Bengkong Laut.

There are still people living in the old fisherman town ... I spend about an hour around noon snapping images around the town ... the lighting was brutal though.

I hired a cab driver for the day and he drove me to the old town on Nongsa beach. That's where I found the pier and a couple of boats. There were quite a few boats available to go visit the neighboring islands (Pulau Putri) with pristine white sand beaches.

I spend the late afternoon on the beach close to the "industrial" park on Nongsa beach. There were plenty of treasures to be found there.

Boats in all sizes, shapes and states and the light changes around the evening were quite dramatic.

I collected sufficient images to fill a coffee table book with the catch of that day ... maybe one day ...

Can't wait to go back there ... it's a different world ... different pace ... ;-)

More images soon ... time to put a travel gallery up on my Facebook page ... ;-) ... soon ...

Travel ...

My travel schedule is still hectic ... been in Singapore and Batam a second time in January/February and I'm ready for my next trip to Asia in March. In between there's the occasional domestic business travel ... Los Angeles, Boston, Orlando ...

All by all a great opportunity to discover new places, meet new people and get a deeper insight in local cultures and habits ... oh ... yes ... let's not forget the culinary aspects ... ;-) ... Indonesian food is a pure delight ;-)

I'm always on the go with a camera so I do have an opportunity to snap some travel images ... Above some shots from my first ferry ride between Singapore and Batam on December 23, 2009.

Whole families travel on a bike ... 4, 5 and even 6 people on a single bike ... dangerous ... yes ... but there seems to be some order in all the biker chaos ... all in all traffic moves smoothly ...

Business Travel

Writing this from the Frankfurt airport where I'm waiting for my 4th flight in 50 hours on a total of 6 hours of sleep. It's called "business travel" for a reason ... lol

On my way to see mom and to catch some zzzz's ... it just started snowing here ... cold front from the North Pole moving in ...

Continued ...

Singapore August 2-3, 2008

I've made the trip to Singapore many times and I'm always looking forward spending time in this multi-cultural living city.

Yes, some have called the city "too clean" with "too many laws" but this city is living, hustling and bustling. there are a ton of things to see on this small well organized island. Language is not an issue as most speak English well. The beauties are the people ... friendly,helpfull regardless of origin, creed or religion

I always take the opportunity to photograph when I'm traveling and this trip is no exception. When I was making the layover in the Narita airport my eye caught this glimpse of detail and color of a kimono ...



The trip from SFO to Narita takes between 10-11 hours and the second leg from Narita to Singapore takes another 6-7 hours. Invariably, you arrive around midnight ... the immigration lines are short and there are plenty of taxies to take you to the city.

The airline lost my suitcase ... again ... lol ... no panic, usually arrives first thing in the morning.

I got to the Royal Plaza around 1:00am and the lobby display brought a big smile on my face ... Singapore advertising has a different feel than what we're used to in the States or Europe ... somewhat exaggerated, forced ... no holds barred ... but stimulating and challenging


Oh la la ... Chocolah ... yes, this F1 car is reportdly made of mostly chocolate ... I'll find out ... eventually as I'm staying till the 8th this time.

After a short night of trying to sleep I ended up deciding on an early breakfast and going for a walk on Orchard Road. The main shopping street with emphasis on luxurary goods. My favorite shopping complexes are the Paragon and Takashimaya. All major expensive brandnames are represented there. Got to Takashimaya and photographed some of the store displays. Security was shadowing me but didn't stop me. There's a strickt no-photography policy but I guess they don't care before opening hours.

I'm always looking for color, photography challenges and ideas for my own shoots. I love to do tight crops and often I recrop existing advertising collateral just for fun or to check if I can improve on the message.

Less is more.



To be continued ...