World Image issue 11 October 2014

The Magazine of the 

Peoples Photographic 

Society 

Issue Eleven - August 2014 

Website = photosociety.net Page 1 email = magazine@photosociety.net

Society Management 

Management Committee: 

Gordon Longmead - England 

Peter Hogel - Tanzania 

Dave Walster - England 

Scott Hurd - Namibia 

Tom Coetzee - South Africa 

Alexander Rostocil - Kenya 

Paul Welch—Australia 

Steve Cook - USA 

Robert Murray - Scotland 

Regional Co-ordinators: 

Arusha, Tanzania - Peter Hogel 

Benton, Kentucky, USA - Jack Glisson 

East Herts UK - Gordon Longmead 

Lincoln UK - Dave Walster 

North Scotland, UK - Robert Murray 

Peak District, UK - Kev Sidford 

Yorkshire UK - Rodger Lee 

In this months issue: 

3 Chairman's Bit - Your Society 

5 Costa Rica - Peter Hogel - Tanzania/Uganda 

8 September Exhibition 2014 

9 Blog Spot - Skills in Photography - In the Beginning 

12 Toubkai Climbing, Morocco by Ibrahim Jellah, Morocco 

13 Transforming Portrait Photography Into Photoart - Gordon Longmead 

16 So who actually invented photography? - Gordon Longmead 

17 On the Buses - Kev Sidford, England 

22 Pentax K10d - User Review - Gordon Longmead 

24 A Personal Ramble - Phillip Tureck, England 

28 Capturing Lightening - Paul Welch, Australia 

31 Cycling in Cuba - Tina Andreasson, Sweden 

35 Tour Operators and Advertisers 

Cwm Idwal, Snowdon, Wales - Gordon Longmead 

© Please remember that all articles and images published in this magazine are copyright protected 

Cover Picture Lincoln, Nebraska, by Gordon Longmead 


Chairmans Bit - Your Society 

The Peoples Photographic Society was founded 

in September 2013. In the first couple of weeks 

after we formed we had gained just 27 members 

of whom three have since withdrawn due to 

workload. 

Although people come and go, our current 

membership stands at 450 people across the 

four society profiles. Many of these are 

associate members through linked-in, World 

image Magazine Group, and the Facebook 

group. Also in the last few weeks, we have 

established a blog page. Although still in its 

infancy, it has started to develop a following. 

The really pleasing aspect of the Society is that 

we currently have registered and associate 

members in 29 countries, but we are apparently 

being followed in 47 countries. 

The second count shows the overall number of 

visitors currently 6397, this was included on the 

29th April 2014 to show us how many people 

are returning to view the site. 

This number should increase much faster than 

the first, but only if you take the time to revisit 

the website. 

We have changed the management structure of 

the society so that we might better represent the 

society when talking to companies. 

In order to find new ways of promoting the 

Society, we recently asked members to share 

the post about the issue of the last magazine 

from the open page at https:// 

www.facebook.com/1worldimage to their own 

timelines. 

Of the 200 FB members eight shared the post 

and we reached 707 people. Unshared posts 

reach an average of 30 people. 

We would like to expand the Society, but we 

can not do this unless the members help us to 

do so. It may be that those we share with will 

pay no attention but if we show enough people 

it exists then the opportunity of expansion is 

greatly improved. 

With support and encouragement from Doc Rao 

in Chennai, the Society began to grow and we 

produced the first of our magazines in October 

2013. It originally began as a newsletter for the 

Society, the first issue contained six pages of, 

well, not a lot really. 

It introduced the Society to members and that 

was all. Although I write some of the articles in 

the magazines, by the time we published issue 

two, the magazine had grown to fifteen pages, 

with articles submitted by other members, Ian 

Wickison in Brazil, Peter Hogel in Tanzania, 

Alan Scuterud in the USA, and Phillip Tureck 

in the UK. 

Issue three was up to twenty pages and 

contained the first of an ongoing series of travel 

articles by Tina Andreasson (Sweden) and 

another article by Peter Hogel. 

The magazine remained at this level until issue 

seven in April when, with submissions and 

reports from the Photography show in 

Birmingham, UK, the magazine rose to 31 

pages. By this time Kev Sidford (UK), Tom 

Coetzee (South Africa), and Robin Chun (UK), 

had joined the ‘writing team’. 

Issue eight saw some new additions to those 

submitting articles, with Dave Walster (UK), 

Paul Weijenberg (Netherlands) and Wendy 

Longmead (UK). This was also our first edition 

with a dual language article. 

With the April Competition results, the June 

issue of the magazine reached the giddy heights 

of 45 pages. This also included the first post 

Birmingham product review. 

Peter Hogel submitted a stunning article on the 

gold miners of Uganda which was worthy of 

National Geographic, sadly this was tempered 

with the news that a collapse at the mine had 

killed a number of the miners. 

Gary Bridger (Malaysia) joined the writing 

team with an article on underwater 

photography. 

By now we hope that you have all read through 

the July issue, even without the boost of the 

competition results this reached 41 pages. 

High quality articles from Derek Solomon 

(South Africa), Peter, Kev and Tina, with a 

review from Matthew Brooks and the inclusion 

of some blog spots and reports from a couple of 

steam fairs completed the line-up. 

The magazine will continue running for at least 

two years and is expected to continue to be 

produced thereafter. 


Its ultimate success will depend on how many 

of you want to get involved with submitting 

articles, and of course how many people 

continue to write, read and support it. 

The other new addition to the society is the 

Blog page, anyone can write a blog and submit 

them. Managers are registered as Authors 

automatically, other members can request to 

become contributors. 

Blogs are to be on photography or photography 

related subjects, and some may be copied into 

the magazines as Blog Spots. 

We have had two successful competitions so 

far, even though the only reward is certificates, 

the submissions have been of a high standard. 

Our last competition was supported by the 

Photoacademy with pro membership 

subscriptions to the category winners. 

We are looking for further sponsors for the 

international level competitions, especially for 

the end of year Exhibition in December. 

We are also looking for national level sponsors 

to donate prizes for national winners within the 

international competitions. This begins to open 

up the potential for more tangible prizes. 

We should mention that companies are more 

likely to support the competitions with prizes if 

the number of entries warrants their 

involvement. That is down to you, the 

members, getting involved and submitting 

pictures. 

The Society in the UK have started to have 

national and local gatherings. These are 

informal, those who can attend do. As a direct 

result of the UK meetings, members have 

gained new friends with a common interest. 

Unfortunately I am not in a position to arrange 

gatherings in other countries, but it is hoped 

that with an increasing membership that such 

meetings can take place so members can 

interact face to face and enjoy a day out should 

they desire to do so. 

If you want to invite others to join you, the 

easiest way is to select a venue in your locality 

that you are visiting anyway, and let members 

know you will be there at a given time and date. 

You do not lose and others may gain. Most of 

all, you may just discover some new friends. 

Although we are a Photographic Society, we 

also have a voice in areas such as conservation. 

At this time it is a very small voice, but that can 

become louder as the membership increases and 

we become more established on the world 

stage. 

We do try to actively support the Cat Survival 

Trust, http://www.catsurvivaltrust.org/ and we 

are currently supplying mounted pictures 

depicting non-domestic cats to their shop to 

help raise funds for them. 

If any member would like to get involved by 

offering the use of pictures for this purpose, 

please contact me at Gordon@photosociety.net 

You will all be aware that the Society and its 

magazine are maintained free of charge so that 

members do not have to pay membership fees 

or annual subscriptions. 

There are some costs associated with the 

website and promotions that must be paid for, 

and these we are covering by advertising in the 

magazine. 

It is intended to keep the adverts to a minimum 

within the body of the magazine, those will be 

restricted to registered members who are 

submitting to it. 

A limited number of photography based adverts 

will be accepted for inclusion to future issues. 

Current arrangements will stand as agreed, but 

as from now, new advertising will be charged at 

GBP5 per issue or GBP30 per quarter page for 

12 issues. 

So why am I telling you this? Well advertising 

is not restricted to UK companies or safari 

operators. You may have companies in your 

area or country that might wish to support the 

Society with advertising or prize donations. If 

you can make the initial contact, I will be happy 

to discuss the options with them. 

Thanks for your support. 

Gordon. 


I wanted to write about Costa Rica, and in 

particular my passion for insect photography … 

but first things first! 

COSTA RICA 

Peter Hogel - Tanzania/Uganda 

Writing this gave me a real challenge in what to 

include and what photos to show, Costa Rica is 

a nature lovers wet dream…Rainforest as it is !? 

Insects aside there’s this massive rainforest with 

its trees and plants inhabit by diversity of birds, 

monkeys, lizards and frogs there’s two types of 

sloth, there’s bats and Crocodiles and the 

awesome black sand (lava sand) beaches, there 

are turtles and more birds, but to narrow this 

article down, both in text and photos… I'll stick 

to insects… mostly! 

When shooting insects I always been using 

natural light, never used flash before, arriving 

the Costa Rican rainforest I faced a new 

challenge…there were not that many insects 

there….in daylight! 


I use my all time favourite macro, Nikon 

105mm 2.8, Camera settings at iso 400, F8 

(most of the time) at 1/200s flash head point 

slightly upwards giving it not as a direct light 

and gave the shadowing a bit softer look 

otherwise I didn’t use any reflector just 

shooting straight on. 

Now, just saying, I'm no flash photographer 

outside of my studio and believe many of you 

could probably have given me a good piece of 

advice or two but this is how I did it and this is 

what it looks like. 

So heading out in the night looking for the 

creepy crawlers, and this time around they 

weren’t hard to find, in all shapes and colours. 

An interesting thing when walking the bush by 

night is that you find a lot of lizards, sleeping so 

I got a couple of different lizard photos as well! 

…and waking them up as doing so… 


Rainforest have a tendency to be rainy… rainy 

and wet and a bit moist on top of that, I didn’t 

face to many problems, at the time shooting 

with my Nikon D700. 

No problem with the camera but walking in and 

out of the sun and walking through the damp 

forest and in to actual clouds, can fog the lenses 

now and then, a actually detached the skylight 

filter that use to be on so it was just to have 

plenty of clean and dry cloths to wipe the lens 

with. 

And one last piece of advice; when horseback 

riding up a volcano do not have one camera 

over each shoulder especially not one with a 

battery grip and a 150-500 zoom … they will 

bump on to your hip leaving you severely 

bruised … I actually haven’t found a solution to 

this one, maybe someone else have. 

I really want to give Nikon some good credit 

here ( no I'm not getting paid to say this, LOL), 

but I have been using Nikon D7/800 shooting in 

blistering winter cold (ok not too often, staying 

away from that) but thorough desserts and 

rainforest, Australian heat and Tanzanian sand 

storms these cameras has so far always stood by 

me. 

So today's question, how to have two cameras 

ready while riding a horse up a volcano? You 

can’t put them away because you want to be 

alert and ready, and you need one hand for the 

“steering” … 


Exhibitions 

September 2014 - Closing date for entries 30th September 

The International competitions are open to all 

members of the Society. 

Categories - Open (Colour and Greyscale) 

Each member may enter up to six pictures, 

three in colour and three in Greyscale. 

No identifiable marks or copyright statements 

are permitted on pictures, and submitted 

pictures should not be posted into FB until after 

the judging process is complete. 

Entries should be sent by wetransfer.com or 

emailed to lendasnow@hotmail.co.uk and be 

between 1mb and 5mb in size. Larger files 

received will be resized, smaller files will be 

inspected and rejected if they appear to be too 

small in size to provide proper quality. 

In this case the entrant will be contacted to 

resubmit the image. Previously top three placed 

or similar pictures may not be resubmitted. 

An email giving the file names and picture titles 

and categories, should be sent to the above 

address at the same time as submissions. This 

email may also contain a resume about the 

picture. All submissions will be acknowledged. 

Copyright remains always with the 

photographer but the society shall be permitted 

to display the pictures on its website were 

reasonable precautions will be taken to prohibit 

unlawful downloads and coping. 

All competitions are judged 'blind', the names 

of judges and entrants will not be displayed or 

supplied until after the results have been 

ascertained for each event. 

A prize of a years membership to The 

Photographer Academy at pro level will be 

awarded to the winners in each category. 

www.thephotographeracademy.com 

Events Calendar - East Herts, England 

Cuffley Steam and Country Show 

Sunday 24th August 2014 

9am to 5pm 

Colesdale Farm, Northaw Road, 

Cuffley, Hertfordshire, 

EN6 4QZ, England 

National Traction Engine Trust 

60th Anniversary Road Run 

Saturday 27th September 2014 

Shuttleworth Park, Old Walden, 

Biggleswade, Bedfordshire 


Blog Spot 

Skills in Photography – In the Beginning 

Taken from the Society Blog Site at http://20society14.wordpress.com/ 

I recently heard a tutor discussing the mistakes 

most beginners make when they pick up a 

camera for the first time. While I may disagree 

with the fact they are referred to as mistakes, 

the points are valid and well worth discussing. 

So you have a new camera, you know where 

the viewfinder, auto setting and shutter release 

are located, Now you think you are a 

photographer. 

No, it will not, and anyone who really believes 

it or tells you otherwise is a fool. There are 

common errors that will ruin your pictures and 

no amount of post processing will recover 

them. 

So let us look at the most common problems. 

The first and most fatal mistake is believing 

that you are better than you are because you 

have a top flight camera. Any one can take a 

picture, a photographer takes a work of art. 

The next step in the learning process is to 

discover what the camera can do and find its 

limitations. most camera manufacturers go to 

great expense to generate a manual to tell you 

everything you need to know about the camera. 

That is the one you remove from the box and 

file away to the immortal words “I will look at 

that later”. try looking at it now, later never 

comes. 

Work through the book with the camera in your 

hands and try out what it is telling you. You 

may never use most of the functions but it is 

worth knowing they are available. 

Once you have mastered the camera, repeat the 

process with the lens, every lens. It is not just 

about how to set auto focus and auto aperture, it 

is about how to switch into manual mode, it is 

about distance and depth of field. 

Once you put camera and lens together is is 

about exposures, apertures, shutter speed and 

ISO speeds. It is about camera shake and soft 

focus, monopods, tripods, and lamp posts. 

Ok, so you have done the homework and know 

all about these things. But now you want to take 

pictures. of course every picture you take will 

be a wonderful work of art … wont it … ? 

Taking pictures into the sun. This is a problem 

for a number of reasons, firstly it can blind you. 

Every element in the lens of the camera is a 

magnifying lens and the sun can burn your 

retina in an instant and cause blindness. 

Definitely do not try and photograph the 

daytime sun and especially not with a zoom 

lens. This can also cause extensive damage to 

the camera. Those indulging in photographing 

or watching the sun use an almost black filter. 

If you think the moon is beautiful, be aware that 

it is reflected sunlight and can cause the same, 

if lessened, problem. 

Second problem with the sun is called ‘flare’, 

and you can get this any time the sun is in front 

of the lens even at an angle. If this is your habit 

then use a lens hood. It will not always stop the 

flare but will reduce the times it affects the 

picture. 

A good rule, all of which rules should be used 

as a guide only, is to keep the sun behind the 

camera when taking pictures. 


Apart from the reasons stated, it also puts the 

light on the subject where it is required. 

Be aware that light areas will burn out and dark 

areas will be black depending if you expose for 

the light or dark parts of the picture. Auto 

exposure can not always compensate for the 

variation. 

This is a greater problem in full sun as the 

shadow areas are more defined. 

It is actually better to take pictures on overcast 

days when the shadows are not so dark and the 

light areas not so bright. 

Also cloud serves to break up the plain blue 

sky. Interestingly the temperature of a blue sky 

is about 5000k a bright overcast day can be as 

much as 20,000k. 

Try and avoid the high contrasts in pictures, if 

you can’t and you want the detail, use a tripod 

and take three identical pictures, one exposed 

for the highlights, one for the shadows and one 

for the mid-range. Do not move the camera. 

Then when you post process you can merge the 

three images into one. This is called a triple 

exposure. 

Most of the other failings that beginners, and 

even some experts, fall foul of are in ‘seeing’ 

the picture and what is really there. So here we 

are on a photo shoot with the most stunning 

model you have ever seen. 

You have only a few minutes to take the 

pictures so you raise the camera, frame the face 

and press the shutter release. 

Having taken the 200 pictures because you 

forgot to lift your finger you go home to review 

the pictures. 

Every shot is a masterpiece except for the lamp 

post coming from their head or the fence post 

leaving their ear, or more likely the half face 

peering from behind the models head. 

And it is not just the portraits that suffer, 

landscapes are spoiled by the power lines and 

street signs that the powers that be always try to 

put in front of otherwise beautiful scenes. 

Lastly, for this post at least, you will hear of the 

rule of thirds. This is a rule that was established 

long before photography was invented and was 

developed over many centuries. It is a rule that 

is governed by how the eye views a scene and 

is to do with aesthetics. 

The last time I tried to count them I discovered 

23 variations on the basic rule and every one 

was valid. Interestingly even a centered image 

can comply to the rule of thirds. 

Add to this the Golden Spiral, the Golden 

Pyramid, and a few others, we come down to 

the fact that anything goes but with one 

important proviso, it must be aesthetically 

pleasing to the eye of the beholder, and that 

means you the photographer. 

You will never please everyone so your 

pictures MUST please yourself. 

Gordon 

Grossglocknerstrasse 


Who Says I’m Ugly? - Gordon Longmead 

Alex Rostocil 

Phone: +254 722 411 566 

Website: Beach2bushkenya.com 

Email: alex@beach2bushkenya.com 

Website = photosociety.net Page 11 email = magazine@photosociety.net

Toubkal Climbing, Morocco 

An introduction by Ibrahim Jellah 

First, let me introduce myself, I am Ibrahim 

Jellah, and I am a mountains guide in the high 

Atlas Mountains in Morocco, north Africa. 

Mgoun Summit 

We are based only a 90 minute drive south of 

Marrakech, in Armed Berber village (2000m), 

at the foot of the beautiful Toubkal 

mountain (4167m), the highest peak in north 

Africa. 

In addition to a day trip to Essaouira, we also 

provide treks of three, six and eight days to 

such places as the Ouade Mgoun Roses Valley, 

Mgoun Gorges, Ait Bougmez Valley and treks 

to the desert M’Hamid and Desert of Ouled 

Driss. 

I am part of a team of professional mountain 

guides, Atlas Summit Tours, who have acquired 

an extensive experience in organizing trekking 

itineraries in the mountain areas. 

For more details of the treks and upon Atlas 

Summit Tours please visit our website at - 

www.atlas-summit-tours.com 


Transforming Portrait Photography Into Photoart 

Gordon Longmead 

Love it or hate it, Photoart is a development of 

photography. Manipulating a picture turns the 

basic ‘Art of Photography’ into Photoart. This 

is different from digital art since the latter does 

not require a photograph from which to develop 

the final concept. 

Having looked at Portrait photography 

previously, I will start by explaining that a 

portrait picture does not have to show the face 

of the subject, it should however enhance the 

original image or be used to convey an idea or a 

story. 

Every picture is used to capture a moment, this 

one has been created to capture a thought. 

When I started to process it the idea came to me 

of a woman looking towards the stars and 

wondering to herself how many wonderful 

shops there must be out there. Once the thought 

was formed, the picture followed. 

This is still street photography. For me the main 

subject is the most important part of the picture, 

my art is to make my vision of the image and 

the story into a reality. 

There are three levels to this photography, the 

first is straight portraiture presented in the 

format as taken in camera. 

The second is to distort the background and use 

that distortion to frame the main subject. Here I 

have used rotation to create the distortion. 

Ideally you should try to use the original image 

to generate the distortion due to the colour 

balance between the main subject and the 

framing. 

I saw the girl standing in St Gilgen, Austria, 

and I wondered what she might be looking at 

and the thoughts she may be having. 


In this picture the original background was a 

mess of tour bus and people with suitcases 

which did the subject no justice and would have 

led me to scrap the picture. 

So here I changed and distorted the background 

using a picture with complimentary colours to 

the girl. 

In reading this you would be forgiven for 

thinking that all portraits need to be post 

processed to create a piece of Photoart. This is 

most definitely not so. 

The aim is not to try and fool the viewer, but to 

fool the eye into believing the originality of the 

whole image. 

A similar effect was created with the picture of 

the man in the sunglasses but using the colours 

of a beech hedge in autumn for the contrast. 

All of these images are created by layering, in 

these cases there are three layers, two of the 

background and the main image. 

Once the processing is complete on the 

backdrop, duplicate the layer and put the main 

subject between. 

Then using the soft eraser, remove the front 

layer to reveal the main image being careful to 

leave the framing. 

In this image the scene is unaltered, but using 

the cameras depth of field, we have removed 

the subject from the background. The picture 

fools the eye into believing the background is 

blurred. In reality this is not what the eye sees. 


To create something a little different we can 

also use mixed media to build a picture the 

Lady in Pink is just such a combination. 

Although the picture uses the same multilayer 

technique, this character was created in a 

slightly different way. 

The background image is the original, while the 

framing image is a scan from a printed letter 

page. There are only the two layers in this 

picture, but again the eraser has been used to 

remove the foreground to reveal the face of the 

main subject. 

Using two copies of the background, one was 

placed to the back and the other to the front of 

the figure. The background to the figure layer 

was carefully erased and then the front layer 

was erased leaving the overlay as required. 


So Who Actually Invented Photography? 

So who actually invented photography? An 

interesting thought that, with the onset of 

digital, may just desire some enlightenment 

from a different perspective. 

Looking at the subject in reverse starting with 

digital, many expound the idea that this is not 

‘real’ photography. The extol the virtues of film 

photography as being the real thing. 

The first successful attempt at producing a 

digital image was made by Steven Sasson of 

Eastman Kodak in 1975 with a resolution of 

0.01mp and taking 23 minutes to produce an 

image. The result of this experiment was that 

the film camera all but died a death even 

though it has taken 30 years to accomplish. 

But for 170 years film photography held its 

ground. Firstly with Black and White and in the 

1960’s with the introduction of colour film to 

the marketplace. 

This photographic process using a negative and 

positive prints was invented by William Henry 

Fox Talbot in England in 1839. Talking to the 

old hands at photography this was, and still is, 

considered to be true photography. 

But when Photography started, the Fox Talbot 

process had competition from France in a 

process that used a silver coated copper plate 

that produced a one off, highly detailed image. 

According to many books on the subject, this 

process died out during the 1860’s in favour of 

the negative/positive option. 

It might interest some to know that there was 

still a photography shop in London (I believe in 

Dagenham) in 1936 using coated copper plates, 

not to produce the image, but to produce high 

gloss prints. This same shop used cyanide and 

egg white somewhere in the processes, but I 

never found out where. 

But I digress, In fact we can move further back 

in history to experiments on the light sensitivity 

of certain chemicals conducted by Johann 

Heinrich Schulze of Germany in 1727 as being 

the first experiments leading to the 

photographic process. 

The principles of camera optics go back much 

further, to the 4th Century BC, with the first 

form of cameras being the Camera Obscura. 

Although the Camera Obscura was originally 

used as a drafting aid, it was quickly taken up 

by artists for use in painting and drawing. 

It was later when it was coupled with the plate 

and film processes of Daguerre and Talbot to 

record the image, that the foundations were 

completed for all photography. 

It is also interesting to note that the camera 

obscura design has a similar principle to the 

photographic enlargers used in the darkroom. 

The mirror having been replaced by the light 

and negative carrier. 

Yes, I am aware that this is a simplistic 

comparison, but it was the same principle that I 

used in 1964 to build my own enlarger. My first 

camera was a shoebox that also used the 

principle of the camera obscura. 

So it would appear that it was the inventor of 

the Camera Obscura who unwittingly invented 

the basic equipment for photography. 

So we return to William Henry Fox Talbot and 

Daguerre. There is discussion on who was first, 

but the fact remains there were two different 

processes that were fundamentally different in 

their concepts. 

Daguerre produced a process to create a single 

finished image in the same way as an landscape 

painter. 

William Henry Fox Talbot produced a system 

that also produced a single picture, but allowed 

that picture to be copied many times. 

Times and processes change, but photography 

will go on, and I dream of the day when the 

camera can be replaced with an optic implant 

that will allow me to record in print the beauty I 

see with my eye, so that I do not keep missing 

those special, unrepeatable moments. 


ON THE BUSES 

Words and Photography: Kev Sidford 

You can travel off-road through Mongolia by 

bus! Well, by ancient Russian four-wheel drive 

UAZ minibuses, as this group of British 

students experienced earlier this year. 

For some people, Mongolia means Genghis 

Khan and the Mongol hordes. For those of us in 

Europe it is one of the few remaining 

mysterious, distant lands that we perhaps 

occasionally see on a TV natural history 

programme, but can never imagine visiting. 

Remote, and somewhere that surely you cannot 

have an off-road adventure? 

Indeed, for this writer, I would like to stand 

proud and shout that, like fellow contributor 

Scott Brady (see page 30), I have competed in 

the Mongol Rally and raised bucket loads for 

the local charities. 

Unfortunately, that’s not the case. However, I 

did have the good fortune this summer to lead 

an expedition to three different mountain ranges 

in Mongolia. By bus. 

For this trip, the participants all came from 

King Edward VI Grammar School, Chelmsford 

and they arrived in Ulaanbaatar looking 

forward to three weeks of adventurous trekking 

in the Bulgan and Khanggai Mountains and to 

ascend the second highest mountain in 

Mongolia, Ikh Bogd. 

On our arrival, we caught the overnight train to 

Erdenet to meet our support crew. This team 

comprised of three drivers, two guides and two 

cooks and the adventure trekking began or so 

we thought… 

We were presented with our transportation, the 

Russian UAZ-452, probably the most versatile 

off-road minibus that has ever graced this 

planet. 

UAZ stands for Ulyanovsk Avtombilny Zavod 

or simply the Ulyanovsk Automobile Plant. The 

first vehicles came off the production line in 

1941, but our 452s appeared to be pieced 

together around about 1966. 

Our vehicles appeared to be initially configured 

for military but later converted for civilian use, 

once the military had finished with them. Over 

the years, many such vehicles have been sold 

off and commercial companies now use them to 

convey adventurers across the diverse 

landscape that is Mongolia. 

The vehicle is very basic, looks like a loaf of 

bread, always breaks down but seems easily 

repaired. Indeed, it’s one of the few vehicles 

that still have to be started with a hand crank. 


It did not take long before we got settled in to 

our passenger-damaging vehicles. The girls on 

the trip, always ensuring the highest standards 

in cleanliness, quickly turned their wagon in to 

a mobile washhouse. 

This was a constant source of amusement, since 

the vehicles moved across the terrain they 

created their own vapour trail of sand particles 

that constantly covered the freshly cleaned 

washing. 

God help anyone that has a head-on crash in 

one, as there are no seat belts and no impact 

protection; safety it seems, being an optional 

extra. 

The engine used is the same that powered the 

GAZ-21, which was the ‘Top Marque’ of its 

day in the USSR during those heady days of the 

Cold War. One of our vehicles had a fourcylinder 

in-line water-cooled petrol unit, 

developing a claimed 112bhp and a four 

forward/one reverse gearbox and two-speed 

transfer box. 

The other UAZ was much older and could only 

generate 72bhp. To be honest, the UAZ-452 is a 

metal shed, held together by a trolley load of 

good luck, but they are a masterpiece in offroad 

capability – provided, that is, that you 

match it to the skill and tenacity of the driver. 

We loaded 14 expedition holdalls, day sacks 

plus tents and food for the first week, little did 

we realise that to get to the first mountain range 

was going to involve 120km of serious off-road 

driving before we could actually manage any 

proper trekking. 

As we travelled across the steppes, the terrain 

reminded me of the incredibly annoying 

children’s television programme Tellytubbies 

and Tellytubby Land, it just had endless square 

miles of grass. 

If the same landscape was in somewhere like 

Australia, they would have been having some 

kind of international turbocharged lawn mower 

competition. 

The area is vast, and for large parts it is just 

grass, neat small blades reminiscent of a putting 

green. Then, as you travel further west, the land 

becomes less fertile as you reach the Gobi 

Desert. 

As we travelled toward the Gobi desert, which 

covers much of the southern part of Mongolia, 

you begin to notice that unlike the Sahara there 

are few sand dunes in the Gobi. 

There are, however, large barren expanses of 

gravel plains and rocky outcrops. 


The climate range can be extreme, with 

temperatures reaching +40degC in the summer, 

dropping to -40degC in the winter. It is no 

wonder that the Russian UAZ is so adapted to 

this environment as there appears to be 

similarities to the temperature range in Siberia 

where they are even more commonplace. 

Before arriving in Mongolia, I had done 

significant research especially on the weather 

and environment. Everything was telling me 

that there was very little rain, approximately 

100mm a year. 

As July/August is the wettest season, at worst 

you would expect an average of around 2mm of 

rain a day. Even the worst equipped off-road 

vehicle should be able to cope with this level of 

saturation. 

What we had not expected, however, was a 

regular as clockwork violent rainstorm that 

ripped across the Gobi between 1700 and 

1800hrs every day. 

The hard baked desert quickly shed the water 

where there was natural drainage, this quickly 

fed into the wadis, which made driving across 

the Gobi a very interesting experience. 

Negotiating rivers was a regular occurrence – in 

the Western World there would be endless 

signs saying: Danger - Do Not Cross. But here 

it is part of the way of life, the rivers and wadis 

had to be crossed or risk a very long and 

potentially dangerous detour. 


The Oyu Tolgoi copper mine has projected 

production levels of over 81 billion pounds of 

copper as well as 46 million ounces of gold. 

The investment required for this mineral 

extraction is currently estimated at $13 billion. 

With this level of investment comes a massive 

infrastructure of new builds and new roads. 

During our expedition we were supposed to be 

trekking for nearly 15 days, this turned out to 

be nearer five days and the rest was a bumpy 

off-road drive in Russian minibuses, but this 

was great for me as an off-road enthusiast 

getting the experience of negotiating some of 

Mongolia’s fascinating landscape. 

Interestingly, while in the capital, Ulaanbaatar, 

I had noticed the odd Hummer, a couple of 

shiny Range Rovers, there was even a static 

dust storm looking for all the world like a 

Discovery 4 but the majority of 4x4s were 

Toyota Land Cruisers. 

It has to be said that of all the countries that I 

have travelled around, I have never seen such a 

massive collection of expensive up market offroad 

vehicles. One of the main reasons for this 

growth in 4x4 ownership is the sudden rise in 

wealth and external corporate investment. 

Mongolia is a massive country, but you fear 

money rich corporations will buy up vast tracts 

of land and the regions of the nomadic people 

will slowly be eroded and may eventually 

disappear. 

Mongolia is a fascinating country steeped in 

nomadic culture, bio-diversity and a unique 

creed. In the cities and towns it is clear that 

predominantly, Mongols follow Buddhism, but 

as you drive deeper into the countryside the 

ancient practice of Shamanism still exists. 

It is not uncommon to drive to the high cols and 

see a recently sacrificed head of a horse. 

Genghis Khan, who used to command half the 

world, could not have conquered and ruled the 

largest land empire in the world without the 

horse. 

Mongols held these horses in highest regard 

and accorded them great spiritual significance. 

Before setting forth on military expeditions, for 

example, commanders would scatter mare’s 

milk on the earth to insure victory. In rituals, 

horses were sacrificed to provide ‘transport’ to 

heaven. 

While Mongolia is no longer intent on 

conquering the world, the practice is still 

initiated when family elders pass away as they 

believe they will be transported to heaven. 

Sitting having a beer one evening with one of 

the ubiquitous global executives that are part of 

the upsurge in expensive vehicles in 

Ulaanbaatar, I learnt that Mongolia has a wealth 

of 80 different minerals and is home to one of 

the biggest copper projects in the world. 


As a leader of expeditions, it is essential to have 

some understanding of the background to a 

country. Especially, if travelling alone on a 

long haul trip that is miles from anywhere and 

your technology is not as robust as you would 

like it to be. 

During our odyssey, our guide seemed to have 

absolutely no clue about his own country, the 

three-vehicle convoy at one time descended the 

wrong valley, dropping 2000m in height and 

eight kilometres in distance. 

We were already at 2700m above sea level, and 

on spotting the mistake, we had just 15 litres of 

fuel in each vehicle to re-ascend the mountain 

and drive a further 40km to fill up. 

As an expedition leader you have to be wired 

tight and ensure your clients are safe, but when 

you find yourself in a situation where the locals 

are out of their depth, that’s when you start 

earning your crust. 

Thankfully we made it, and left Mongolia with 

a full scrapbook of wonderful, if at times 

frustrating, memories. 

Mountainrite has developed a fantastic range of 

treks for you in the Carpathian Mountains of 

Romania, the Atlas Mountains of Morocco, the 

Jetim Bel Range in Kyrgyzstan, the Pamirs in 

Tajikistan and a spectacular twenty-two day trek 

along the Wakhan Corridor. 

They are a blend of energising culture and 

picturesque landscapes with a diverse and fantastic 

range of flora and fauna. 

Courses: 

Certified Navigation Training 

Personal Security 

Expedition Hygiene 

Tom Coetzee 

Website: www.fstopsafaris.co.za 

Email: tom@fstopsafaris.co.za 

Mobile: +44 (0)7976460697 

Email: kev.sidford@mountainrite.com 


Pentax K10D 

User Review - Gordon Longmead 

The last film cameras purchased were the SFXn 

and the Z50p, after running two test films in 

each, both were consigned to storage a few 

months later with the introduction of digital, 

enter the Pentax K10D. 

While the film cameras were never exactly light 

to carry, especially over distance, the K10 was 

heavy in comparison. That being said you soon 

get used to the weight. 

I found that the weight of the camera, coupled 

with the lens, helped when trying to hold the 

camera steady when using it freehand. 

First off, if you want the full technical review 

of the Pentax K10D then go to - 

www.digitalcamerareview.com/default.asp? 

newsID=3050&review=pentax+k10d - where 

you will find an excellent, in depth review of 

the camera. 

The purpose of the user review is to let you 

know how those that buy it get on with the 

equipment in normal usage, so here goes. 

Before getting the K10 most of my 

photography was accomplished with the Pentax 

ME , I had two of these which replaced my two 

former Pentax MX models. 

The on camera controls for taking the pictures 

are well placed and easy to use one handed, for 

someone who is right handed. Menu and other 

controls do require the use of both hands if only 

to steady the camera. 

The shutter release is in the standard position 

with the first of two control dials just below it 

for using with the same finger. The second dial 

is perfectly positioned for the thumb of the 

same hand. 

There is a switch for shake reduction which I 

always left in the on position. I could not work 

out why they give this as an option rather than a 

standard function. 


There are all the usual settings for exposure 

methods but I confess I only ever used the Tv, 

Av, M and Flash Sync options. I never used full 

auto with this camera. 

The menu controls are also easy to use, clear to 

see in the rear screen. There are only four main 

subsections in the menu unlike the Canon 7D 

which has seven in auto and eleven in manual 

mode. 

The lenses used with the K10 were Pentax 28 - 

80mm, and the 135mm, and the Tamron 

500mm mirror lens. The latter needs a tripod or 

a wall to steady the camera, but so do most long 

lenses. 

The camera is robust and easy to use. And gives 

good sharp images with all of the lenses used 

with it. The pictures shown in the article were 

taken with this camera (except the camera). 

Overall, the K10 is an instinctive camera. You 

do not need a degree in computer science to get 

to grips with the technology unlike some other 

cameras. 

In good lighting the picture quality is 

outstanding. Many of the pictures, including the 

tiger, taken with the K10 were enlarged and 

printed to two meters on the longest length and 

still looked excellent from the normal viewing 

distance. 

I now use the Canon 7D but if you ask the 

question ‘would I use the K10D again?’ the 

answer would have to be, ‘well I do still use it’. 

If you were to ask me which camera I prefer … 

honestly … it would have to be the Pentax. The 

only thing I felt that let it down was the image 

quality in low light conditions. After changing 

to canon I realised that this problem with low 

light was not confined to the Pentax. 

I hope this is useful to those considering the 

Pentax K10d as a starter camera. They are still 

available and, like all equipment, if you get a 

good one and look after it, they will last for 

years. 


When I started writing this article for the 

magazine I never thought that in a year that 

commemorates 100 years since the outbreak of 

World War 1 we are in a world that could easily 

be thrown in to that same scenario again. 

A Personal Ramble 

Phillip Tureck 

In the last few months since I wrote my last 

article I have travelled from Lima to Miami 

through parts of South America and then in a 

short separate trip to Moscow – hence my 

opening line for the article. The world is a 

precarious place, but for anyone with any kind 

of photographic device the world is out there to 

take images. 

Whether you are visiting places such as Macho 

Pichu or the Panama Canal, Red Square, 

conservation wildlife trusts, or even in your 

back garden and local area. The world is 

waiting to be captured in your images. 

I have made no secret that I quite like wolves, 

not quite sure how and when this started but I 

do have a passion for them, having seen them in 

conservation or in the wild in Yellowstone or 

fleetingly a back of a wolf in The Great Bear 

Rain Forest. Reading a book about the last wild 

wolves took me all the way to the forest last 

year. 

In between work and travel I have tried to 

improve my alleged photographic skills, and I 

have attached some images to the article but 

find myself being drawn more and more to 

conservation issues and in particular spending 

more time at the Cat Survival Trust. It is 

because of the trust that I came into contact 

with Gordon and found we share a mutual 

interest and passion for not just the wildlife but 

to give the magazine a wider audience. 

Social media is changing the way we view life 

but for myself this is a place where forums such 

as Wildlife Conservation and the pressures 

around the world come to the fore from a 

variety of people from around the globe. 

But nevertheless the wolf is one of the most 

persecuted animals in North America, hunted 

for the sake of hunting, numbers being limited 

to the point of obscurity in some states, 

humankind has currently an endless thirst for 

the persecution of this animal. 

Wildlife in general is under pressure from 

population explosion, habitat encroachment, 

hunting, poaching, people thinking that for 

some animals their parts have medicinal 

purpose or just a complete lack of interest in the 

world around us to preserve and embrace it. 


We as photographers or travellers or even home 

dwellers can play a role in preserving the 

wildlife and cultures of indigenous peoples by 

writing about them and showing their images. 

Wildlife moments, too many to mention here 

and hopefully so many more still to come. 

Once we are all the same and the wildlife it is 

gone, it is gone. 

Travel has always fascinated me, the world is 

getting smaller and in March of this year I 

embarked on one of those, ‘bucket list’ trips. 

Ever since I saw the first images of Machu 

Pichu many years ago I had the fascination to 

go and see for myself, but after a week in Peru I 

realized that whether you were in Cuzco, 

Ollantaytambo or Pachacamac the Incas were a 

nation in South America that thrived well until 

the arrival of the Europeans. Machu Pichu was 

not in cloud the day we went to visit, up at 

around 4.30 am. 

Then to the train station to take the Inca 

Express through the Andes and finally arriving 

at the local town. Boarding a bus and then when 

reaching the base you climb the steps until you 

suddenly come into an incredible sight, Machu 

Pichu in all it’s glory – you are not 

underwhelmed or disappointed in anyway and 

we spent many hours exploring the city. 

This trip was about places new, explore and to 

visit, Lima was bustling, Santiago was new, and 

shiny. Manta and the Cloud Forest were 

stunning with it’s flora and fauna, mammals 

that day was limited to howler monkey, you 

have to be there early or late to get a chance to 

see the elusive Jaguar. Enough insets and sharp 

plants to satisfy your curiosity. 

Cartagena was fascinating before we found 

ourselves travelling through one of mankind’s 

greatest feats – the building of the Panama 

Canal. 

You can gloss over the visit as another 

adventure but the sight will live with me for 

many years, it is right up there with the Ice 

Bergs in Antarctica and the migration in the 

Masai Mara, three incredible scenic moments in 

my life to date. 

It was fascinating as we traversed the locks and 

we saw crocodile, pelican, numerous other 

birds but alas no flocking parrots (typed real 

careful here). And then you return and it is but 

another passing visit, I never got to Manu in 

Peru or the Amazon, this will have to wait for 

another time. South America is huge and 

although this was the second visit, we just saw 

a little more. 


I have one more image for you, the snow 

capped volcanoes of Chile of Atiplano, not easy 

with the height being over 12,000 feet above 

sea level. 

It was another great day and the volcanoes were 

not in cloud. Breathing heavily to get used to 

the altitude I got close to the lake and took the 

image. It was worth it. Even managed to get the 

llama in the foreground. 

I started off this article about the world and the 

developing situations in Eastern Europe as I 

type this article, in June we were in Moscow, 

the onion domed cathedrals, Red Square, the 

Armoury and Faberge, the fountains. 

Many people have come to Moscow, Ivan The 

Terrible, Napoleon, Lenin, Stalin and the list 

could go on. But as Russia changes is it the 

time to go now, after all we are not quite sure 

what future visits may hold. (Do not forget to 

go on the underground and see the incredible 

architecture). 

But where would I be without the passion for 

the wildlife, I went mad for my long lens when 

I spotted a green woodpecker walking in the 

garden, soon as he saw me coming he flew up 

into the tree, but he did not reckon on my new 

shiny lens, one snap was all I needed. 

The people, the Gum Store and the changes as 

some people in Russia enjoy the new found 

wealth but for many others it remains as it was, 

certainly outside of the cities. Lenin looked 

surreal in his tomb but nothing quite compares 

with going inside St.Basils cathedral. 

We have the red kites of the Chilterns getting 

ever closer and numerous hawks/buzzards and 

foxes. Oh I would love an owl to move in close 

by, they are wonderfully photogenic. I wanted 

to see a snow owl in the Arctic but no, but I 

have seen great grey owls in the forests of the 

USA. 


It is the Cat Survival Trust that is a lure close to 

home, I never tire of being there, seeing 7/8 

week old servals in July as well as my regular 

feline friends was surpassed by all expectations 

as I was granted an audience with mum and her 

one week old puma kittens, the conditions were 

cramped, dark in the enclosure, it was to see 

them so young, with rosettes that grow lighter 

visually at some time. An image, not perfect, 

but who cares, seeing the new born means new 

hope for another large or smaller wild cat. 

But what do I still want to see? More animals in 

the wild? More new cities, towns, villages., 

jungles, rainforests., national parks? 

Yes to all of them but in time, I never will look 

back and say if only, I have been fortunate 

enough to travel and continue to do so but if I 

am unable to fulfil any more ‘bucket list’ visits 

we have it here all around us like the green 

woodpecker moment. 

You have to take out of what you can today for 

tomorrow is but a moment away. 

I am planning however to embark on something 

slightly different, a visit to Yellowstone in the 

dead of winter to see the magnificence of the 

park and maybe just maybe a wolf stalking in 

the snow. We shall see if I am successful. 

The snow leopards are there waiting for me to 

come along, the jaguar, amur leopards, lynx and 

others. Wonderful, wonderful. All being 

conserved and preserved for the future. 

The image here was taken in conservancy, 

would I prefer this image or the grainy image 

above in the wild what do you think? 


Capturing Lightening 

Paul Welch - Australia 

During my years of photography, I have 

captured pretty much most subjects and 

obviously my passion is wildlife. 

Wildlife is a great challenge to capture and it 

can be quite unpredictable, which leads me to 

something else wild and very unpredictable... 

Lightning. 

One of Mother Nature’s natural but deadly 

beauties and to capture this is a challenge that a 

lot of photographers would love to take on but 

wouldn’t know the first thing about how to go 

about it. 

Well now this is where I come into the 

equation. The first thing to remember is that 

you are dealing with a force that can and 

possibly will knock you off your feet or even 

Kill you if you are not careful, the last thing 

you need is to be in reach of a strike with a 

camera in your hands. 

Now, when you have a chance to get into 

capturing a storm there are a couple of things to 

remember... it can be an electrical, cloud or 

even sheet lightning storm, but all of them need 

specific settings on the camera. 

During the day depending on light you could 

work with f/5.6 ISO125 and an exposure time 

of 1/125sec. 

This is good for your average rolling clouds 

during daylight hours like this picture above 

from North of WA which soon became a 

monster of wind and rain, But no lightning in 

the end. 

So to be sure of no electrocution stay far 

enough away from the storm to capture it and 

keep a watch on what direction it’s going. 

Some people like to chase storms for that great 

shot, I like to watch and wait for it to come to 

me. If you listen to the weatherman and he 

say’s possible storms then get your camera 

ready to go and keep an ear out for it, also take 

note of the wind direction. 

This is of course is the safe way but you don’t 

always get a result when the storm passes by 

and you didn’t hear a thing. 

Where I live is close to the coast in Western 

Australia so when the weatherman says storms 

we can head to the ocean and watch for it 

coming in usually it’s on a westerly or North 

west wind. 

This is where the storms come from each year 

so it’s not hard to get ready for them. 

Then you get the daytime lightning. 

This is when the old trick of counting comes 

into play. You can do it in a number of ways 

like setting your camera up with a setting of 

f/22, an ISO of about 1000 to 1600 depending 

on cloud cover and a short shutter speed of 

about 4-6 seconds. 

Now you are wondering what I mean about 

counting... 

Do you remember as a kid you would hear the 

thunder and then count to the next rumble. If 

the counting got shorter, the storm was getting 

closer but if it was getting longer on the count, 

the storm was going away. 

Well that’s what I mean by the counting. 


I captured the daytime shot (above) by counting 

when I knew the storm was getting closer after 

the first few counts then I ready myself to open 

the shutter for that short space of time to 

capture the lightning. 

Unless you have a screw loose), several storms 

were passing through our area, which you get 

over here when they are electrical storms. 

One of the storms decided to take a different 

path to the other storms I was almost caught on 

the roof with a step ladder and camera. Believe 

me; you have never seen someone leave a roof 

so fast, which also points to the fact of how 

unpredictable they can be. 

I did of course get some wonderful shots from 

the storms that passed at a safe distance. 

This was a hard way to judge things and not 

always guaranteed. This did take several 

attempts to get this shot with that particular 

method, but in my defence it was with a small 

point and shoot camera, Nikon PS4 6 mp, so 

it’s possible for anyone to do it with that 

method. I have even captured it on my iPhone 

with this method as seen below. 

It’s a good idea to be a good distance away too, 

so that you get the full effect of the area of the 

storm. It’s much easier to crop these days and 

you can just delete the shot if you don’t like it. 

Getting too close to a storm can be hazardous. 

This picture shows the good distance I had and 

the shot just speaks for itself. 

Nowadays though with the updated camera and 

all the mod cons like triggers and better quality 

shutter settings I can control the longer shutter 

speeds to capture lightning far more easily. 

The next two pictures were the view of storms 

getting a touch too close. 

Believe it or not though the counting technique 

is still in play when seeing where the storm is 

going and how fast it is travelling. 

If it is that you want to chase a storm then be 

careful with making sure you don’t get in its 

path and you know what direction it’s 

travelling. 

I have been almost caught out with shooting 

Lightning while on the roof of my house (NOT 

RECOMMENDED... 

The setting for the above picture was f/22 ISO 

6400 on a 1/20 sec exposure. The first of the 

two was that close it set off car alarms and 

tripped the switches in the house. 


When I turned on the TV that night I had found 

it had turned all the colours around and people 

were green. 

This Picture was shot on a much slower shutter 

speed and lower ISO with a longer shutter 

speed; you can see the movement in the clouds. 

f/4.5 ISO 200 with a 30 second exposure time. 

It was travelling at quite a pace too. The 

settings I used for the longer distance shots 

were f/7.1, ISO200 on a 30 second exposure 

time. 

Another setting to try is a good one for dark 

nights and lots of storm... f/8 ISO 125 and an 

exposure time of 6 seconds. 

This is especially good for shots over water as 

it shows light on the water too. 

At the end of the day capturing lightning is far 

easier than people think; all you really need to 

do is just count. 

This shot was taken again on a different setting 

due to it being closer f/36, ISO 6400, Exposure 

time of 4 seconds. 

Just play with settings and you can get the 

results as long as you can count. Be safe and 

enjoy trying this method. 

It is a wonderful thing when you get to capture 

probably the most wild and unpredictable 

creature in nature. There is always counting to 

tame the beast for you to capture on camera 

Paul Welch 

Reviews of Older Equipment 

We often see reviews on new equipment which 

is all very nice if that is what you are buying. 

But how many do you see in retrospect on the 

equipment you actually buy? 

Many of us buy second hand, so wouldn't it be 

good to see reviews written on things that 

people have been using and can advise you on 

things like reliability in different climates and 

over extended usage, rather than just those 

bench test reviews on the new items. 

It is not hard to do, just tell us what the 

equipment is and how easy or otherwise it is to 

use. Add a few pictures of the item, or taken 

with the camera. We can do the rest. 

If you have managed to read this far then you 

will have already seen the one completed for 

the Pentax K10D. It may not be perfect but I 

have no doubt that these reviews will improve. 

Fact is that while I know how to use the camera 

for my purposes, I am not always that good at 

writing it down. Enter the teachers comments, 

“Must Try Harder”. 


Cycling in Cuba 

Tina Andreasson 

Tina is also an artist and her Artworks can be found on her website at 

www.gallerytina.com 

As the leaves slowly start falling off the trees 

and the wind has gained the chill of autumn, I 

am yet again filled with a wanderlust stronger 

than R Kelly's belief that he can fly. 

From the album "Monochrome Misery" 

Knowing myself, I decided to book in a trip to 

look forward to a long time ago already, and so 

made plans to fly over to Cuba to explore the 

island by cycling. 

With the 2.5 months ahead I was planning to 

get really fit for this challenge, but ended up 

really ill with pleurisy, a busted rib through 

coughing, and THEN I got a cold... So for 

TWO whole MONTHS I was unable to 

voluntarily break a sweat by any sort of 

physical activity other than by trying to cough 

out a lung, possibly followed by a liver, a 

kidney or two, perhaps even a gluteus maximus 

finally topped off with a calf muscle. Let's just 

hope it's not too hilly... 

Besides cycling, I intend to take some amazing 

photos, drink some mojitos, puff on the odd 

cigar, and swing my hips to some hot salsa 

rhythms! 

I'm leaving on my own but am sure I'll meet 

lots of cool people along the way, and if I don't 

it doesn't matter as long as I don't meet jerks... 

So with a suitcase containing (amongst other 

things) a helmet, cycling gloves, pretty dresses 

and padded-ass-pants, I am ready for Cuba! 

Having spent endless hours on flights I've 

learned a thing or two that I'd like to share... 

1 - If you need to bend over to pick something 

up for any reason, try to keep in mind where 

your butt ends up. For example, if you're a tall 

person bending over in the aisle in front of a 

short person, what may be used as a possibly 

good neck rest will be shoved too close for 

comfort on the wrong side of the head of the 

short person, leaving him or her cross-eyed... 

If you're looking for a rolling little sod of a 

battery (taking for ever), shorties eyes just may 

get stuck. 

2 - Please be careful using the touch screen, 

especially for games requiring repetitive 

pressing, especially if you're a giant muscled 

man who frequently ends up crushing every 

kitten you simply mean to hug, then end up 

sucking all its fur off as you catch your breath 

in shock, as the realisation of your unintentional 

deed hits you... 

3 - When you get up to go somewhere, please 

be careful if you use the seat in front of you to 

pull yourself up. If too much force is used you 

may end up catapulting that passenger all the 

way to your destination with an arrival time far 

better than your own! 

I was pretty lucky on this flight, none of the 

above, and my surrounding passengers were a 

big group of deaf people. I've never sleapt so 

well on a plane before despite them all 

"chattering" away... 

I've just finished breakfast at the roof-top of the 

hotel as the sun started rising over Havana. 

Now I'm ready to go out and play! 

As the first rays of light started colouring in the 

bright and cheerful buildings of Havana, and 

the city's colorful and friendly inhabitants 

started getting about their usual business, I set 

off to lose myself in the many streets and alleys 

with my camera. 


This place is, as rumoured, amazing! The 

architecture, and the people, are just filled with 

a rare kind of beauty and have a spirit that’s 

hard to come across in many places around the 

world. 

After walking for just one hour I’d spoken to 

more people than I ever do even when I meet 

colleagues at the department store where I 

work! Coming from the culture that I do, my 

first gut feeling is often "what does he want 

from me?", but most of the time, it was simply 

to exchange a few words. 

As in many places, of course some beg, or just 

demand money after basically stopping you and 

blurting out a few sentences about some statue 

that you couldn’t care less about, then want 

cash for “the tour”… 

And as in many cities, there are a few slimeballs 

thinking that calling at you in the same 

manner that you lure a cat, then doing some 

rude tongue and hip moves, will catch your 

interest 

Seriously, sometimes I feel like just walking 

right up to them and asking “Oh, can you do 

that? Is that a promise? Let’s GO!” But I’ve 

been too scared I won’t get the shocked, 

embarrassed reaction I expect, so I’ve just 

decided to leave it be for the time being… 

Luckily my fingers have swollen slightly due to 

the heat and I can wear my middle finger ring 

on my ring finger and say that I’m married. 

Strangely, that has helped in some situations. 

(Like that would be the reason I didn’t want to 

follow Mr. Sleaze-bag home to meet his mum). 

Car 

The air in Havana is filled with all sorts of 

scents, smells and sounds. In the streets, 

balconies and doorsteps, people of all ages just 

hang out. Something understandably rare in 

countries where we have to take our winter 

coats out again before our favourite summer 

dress has been worn twice. 

After walking randomly for about three hours I 

found a fairly modern looking mall. It came as 

a bit of a shock as I’d so far only seen tiny 

pharmacies or butchers that were mere “holes 

in the walls”, the butcher with his raw meat 

lying out marinating in the fume and dust filled 

air… 

Coming from a country where many rarely let 

their closest friends pop over unannounced 

because they don’t have time to mop and swap 

the book on their bedside table from some easy 

going chick-lit book to some Paulo Cohelo or 

Nobel Prize bull-shit (I’m not saying all of it’s 

bad ok) they think will make them look all 

academic and deep, I found it pretty cool how 

people had the doors and windows to their front 

rooms open to let some air in 

Especially with all the traffic going on. 

Pedestrians and cars. Or was that all part of the 

entertainment? My guess is that they’re not as 

fascinated by all the cool old Yankee 50’s cars 

as I am. 

Well there they were in their couches and arm 

chairs (adorned with doilies) having a chat and 

watching Eastenders. Just kidding, I meant 

watching life go by of course. 

I often felt guilty as I happened to look in, as if 

I was a peeping Tom! Imagine if I’d taken 

photos, like at a zoo… But I think I’ll just stick 

to shooting the beautiful and vibrant 

surroundings… 

I spent the second day letting my little (read 

short) legs take me wherever they wanted to go 

in this gorgeous old town. I ended up trying to 

take in more of the beauty of the Habana Vieja 

(Old Havana). 


The Singing Lady begins again 

Walking around that day, I noticed what I think 

is a pretty smart version of door to door selling. 

People send down a basket on a rope from the 

balcony, the guy selling veggies or some other 

produce, puts it in the basket and the goods get 

hauled up. 

Thank you, come again! This beats "Mr 

Whippy"! (For those who don’t know what “Mr 

Whippy” is, it’s an ice-cream van, not some 

gimp in a porn movie). 

Man from Barcelona who had opened a shop here 

Already feeling more at home, the day really 

was a stroll in the park, but better, because this 

was Havana. It feels like the people here live 

together somehow,chit-chatting on the streets, 

calling to and from balconies, greeting each 

other and waving. 

At lunchtime I stopped at “Dos Hermanos” 

where a band was playing old classics such as 

“Quantanamera” and “Besame Mucho”. 

Perhaps a bit touristy now, but the atmosphere 

was nice and it was cool thinking back to other 

customers they’ve served such as Marlon 

Brando, Graham Greene, Hemingway, to name 

a few. 

This town is vibrant! And today I finally got to 

enjoy the rhythmical tunes of salsa music 

seeping through the open windows and doors. I 

bumped into an old local man who'd been to 

Sweden amongst several other countries. Turns 

out he’s the saxophonist (or was it trumpet?) for 

The Buena Vista Social Club. 

Being the loner that I am I’ve enjoyed being in 

the midst of all this, just taking it all in, 

watching. I think, if you want to be alone you 

will be left to your own devices, but there 

doesn’t seem to be a risk of ever becoming 

lonely. 

Rhythm 

After that it was time for a mojito stop next 

door at the Bar Havana Club. 


Also there a band was playing the kind of 

music that’ll make any old spinster want to kick 

of her dusty old slippers with holes in the toe, 

rip off her trackie-pants (with knees), and slip 

into something a bit more uncomfortable to 

sway her little hips in. 

I’m not kidding. When I stepped in I swear my 

hair curled, my lips blushed, and my heart 

changed its beat from its usual “chaos-panicdisorder-rhythm” 

to a “I-have-no-cares-in-tiheworld-I’ll-even-wear-hair-rollers-under-apolka-dotted-scarf-in-the-street-with-a-prettydress-passion-passion-rythm”. 

You know the 

one… 

Ended up drinking far too many mojitos with 

two friendly guys from Germany, enjoying the 

music and laughing until darkness had fallen. 

The morning after, I met up with the people I 

was going to cycle around parts of Cuba with 

for the following six days. These days turned 

out to be very physically demanding as we did 

up to 60 km a couple of days, and yes, it was 

hilly… 

These days also turned out to be totally 

amazing, as I enjoy a physical challenge, but 

also because by travelling this way you get to 

interact with the locals, listen to the sounds and 

take in the smells enjoy the wind in your hair. 

Not having internet connection or time to write, 

the story will continue from home, where I 

don’t have the sun waiting for me and exciting 

exploration on my doorstep. 

I am still in Cuba loving every minute of it, but 

I've found some time to write as I was sitting 

enjoying a cold beer and watching Havana-life 

pass by on Plaza Vieja, so the story continues: 

If my trip to Costa Rica earlier this year was 

about wildlife, this trip is definitely about the 

people. Cubans are by far the nicest, friendliest 

people, ever. 

Cycling through the countryside and small 

towns was no doubt the best way to explore this 

beautiful island and meet its even more 

beautiful people. 

Farmer 

As the stunning countryside and the mountains 

(where Che Guevara trained his army in 

preparation to fight Batista in the 60’s) were 

swooshing past me all too quickly, I was 

constantly accompanied by the beautiful sound 

of roosters, pigs and goats. Once in a while I 

could hear a farmer’s songlike tones almost 

sounding like a monotonous mantra as he 

shouted out to steer his team of oxen as he 

worked the land. 

The air was filled with the scent of tobacco, 

diesel, and farms, and the cheerful greetings 

from the locals, with whom I sometimes 

stopped to exchange a few words with. 

I wanted to stop many times to just take it all in, 

but I had many kilometres to cover and no time 

to spare, so most photos were shot as I was 

cycling, looking out for pot-holes and holding 

on with one hand I snapped away hoping to 

catch what I aimed for. 

The road was mostly smooth but I did 

encounter some pretty rough patches where I 

thought my bat-wings (read relaxed triceps if 

you’d be so kind) might take me flying off 

somewhere involuntarily. Once in a while a 

vehicle came thundering past, I could feel the 

road vibrating, I almost became momentarily 

religious as I expected to get flattened to the 

ground in a Tom and Jerry manner, but it most 

often turned out to be a medium-sized vehicle 

which caused a total eclipse of black smoke. I’d 

simply hold my breath until I saw the light 

again (tough going up-hill)… 

See you next time for part two … I hope. 


Tour Operators 

Members who operate, or work on behalf of Tour Operators are invited to submit reports on their 

tours as a feature of the magazine. These can be a regular feature if desired and may include 

pictures to highlight aspects of the article. The first of these reports should be an introduction to 

the company area of operations and its tour guides and staff. 

Although the Society can not be held responsible for the conduct and safety of the tours, the tour 

operators that advertise on, or have links within, this site or provide reports within the societies 

magazine, do so on the understanding that they undertake to conduct the tours in a professional 

manner, be customer focused, with an emphasis on safety and value for money. 

As many of the tour operators and guides are members of the society, they are knowledgeable both 

on the areas they visit and on the subject of photography and will be willing to offer tips and 

guidance if required. Feedback about your tour is always welcomed and may appear in the society 

magazine. 

Magazine Submissions 

Members are welcome to submit Bio’s and other articles relating to expeditions and equipment 

reviews. Small file size pictures may be included. Recognised wildlife trust and Nature 

Conservation group adverts may be included free of charge per quarter page subject to approval. 

Any one who would like to write a feature article for the magazine, please do. I have no real limit 

on the magazine size but for ease I will find a comfortable limit depending on the method used for 

circulating it. 

Trade Adverts 

Adverts may be placed with the magazine at the editors discretion. A charge will be made in 

advance of publication towards the running costs of the society amounting to 10 GBP per quarter 

page per issue. Submissions should be emailed to magazine@photosociety.net please state 

‘magazine article or advert’ in the subject line. 

www.thephotographeracademy.com 

We hope you like the magazine, the size and content of future issues depends on you. 

Submissions for the next issue are being accepted 

In case we do not issue for December, Merry Christmas 


Alex Rostocil 

Phone: +254 722 411 566 

Website: Beach2bushkenya.com 

Email: alex@beach2bushkenya.com 

Tom Coetzee 

Website: www.fstopsafaris.co.za 

Email: tom@fstopsafaris.co.za 

Mountainrite has developed a fantastic range of 

treks for you in the Carpathian Mountains of 

Romania, the Atlas Mountains of Morocco, the 

Jetim Bel Range in Kyrgyzstan, the Pamirs in 

Tajikistan and a spectacular twenty-two day trek 

along the Wakhan Corridor. 

They are a blend of energising culture and 

picturesque landscapes with a diverse and fantastic 

range of flora and fauna. 

Courses: 

Certified Navigation Training 

Personal Security 

Expedition Hygiene 

Mobile: +44 (0)7976460697 

Email: kev.sidford@mountainrite.com 


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World Image issue 11 October 2014

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