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I’ve always been drawn to symmetry in my images, but when you view a few of them in a group, the effect can be ridonculous! Or maybe not. What do you think?
This is the barracks I lived in from September, 1985 until March, 1987. It must be summer, because my pals are firing up the grill. Funny. I think I have more pictures of the exterior of my barracks in Thule than I do of the building I live in now…
For a month or so in the spring and fall the sun’s trajectory became very shallow – barely rising above the horizon and before setting again. The cool thing about this process is that it took a long time, so moments like this lasted for hours.
I didn’t notice all of the antennas when I lived there. Wonder what they were all for. We had no Internet (Times were tough in the mid-eighties!) and just one TV station — the always thrilling AFRTS.
The distinctive Mt. Dundas was a popular destination during the brief summer in Thule. Carved from the landscape by ancient glaciers, the thousand foot high pile of rocks offers a spectacular view of the confluence of three huge glaciers. I’d love to see the place now, although it might be depressing to see how far the ice has receded.
In Thule, everything was built above ground. Buildings rested directly on the ground — held in place by heavy concrete slabs. Utilities which would be buried underground or carried on telephone poles in warmer climates were exposed to the elements. I can’t remember if this is due to the hardness of the permafrost or to prevent it from melting. I suspect the latter.
In the distance, Mount Dundas is clearly visible.
Every few months one of us discovers a cache of negatives in some far corner of our storage space. This always propels me into a scanning frenzy. However, the scanning and retouching process is so time-consuming that I’m pretty picky about what I scan. This image didn’t make the first cut or the second. The negative didn’t look like much, and I had no recollection of even taking the shot. I had some time to waste last night, so I did a quick preview scan of the image and I was blown away.
As soon as I saw the image appear on my 30″ display, I was transported back to the moment I shot it back in 1985. Now I can’t stop looking at it.
I took this picture thinking my friends and family might be interested in seeing Thule, Greenland at high noon on a typical winter’s day. I can still taste the cold calm.
It turns out that Facebook is actually good for something — finding old friends. Normally, I don’t even want to connect with any more old friends, but when I found Pete, it motivated me to fire up the old scanner and send this shot to him.
Pete was my next-door neighbor during my stay in Thule, Greenland. We took a bunch of once-in-a-lifetime shots, including this fisheye view of him lounging with a cool beer on the Greenland ice cap. Right after this shot was taken, Pete returned the favor.
The November full moon is cause for celebration in Taunggyi, Myanmar. The Hot Air Balloon Festival must be seen to be believed. It was a wild and wonderful way to end our trip.
As beautiful as they are, still images can not adequately capture the cacophony of light and sound. Have a look at the videos below to get a better idea.
This was one of the most beautiful sights we saw during our trip to Burma. The parade was the first act of our most amazing evening.
The Balloon Festival in Taunggyi has to be one of the biggest, if not the biggest party in all of Burma. This incredible event takes place during November’s full moon, and has to be seen to be believed. These shots were taken as the sun went down and spirits began to heat up.
Come back soon to see the shots of the amazing parade.
We visited this delightful old couple in their home on the way back from Kakku. Although we could not understand a word of what they said, their warmth and hospitality could not be missed. It’s impossible to imagine living like these two, but at nearly 80 years old, they seemed as happy as any two people I’ve ever met. It was lovely to share tea with them.
Well, it’s been five months since we returned from Burma, and I’m still looking at the pictures pretty much every day. Luckily, I like looking at pretty pictures of things and places I’ve seen. No matter how good (or bad) you think these images are, they definitely look even better to me, and hopefully, Kelly too.
Photo blogging is a selfish endeavor, but it sure beats the pants off an old-fashioned photo album. Long live the Internets!
On the morning of our twelfth day in Burma, our guide told us we would be taking a three and a half hour drive to Kakku. This is the amount of time required to drive 26 miles on Burma’s horrible roads. Our rough ride took us to yet another truly amazing site – more than 2500 stupas crammed into a small square patch of land.
Our visit coincided with a Pa-O tribe festival – probably related to the full moon. There were thousands of people at Kakku on this day, many in traditional Pa-O garb.
Here’s another look to give you a sense of the scale of this place.
