Rick Collier is a travel writer and photographer with a worldwide portfolio.
Rick writes the travel and photography blog "The Photo Tourist." His images can be viewed and bought at www.RickCollierImagery.com.
The Washingtonian Magazine’s August 2010 issue features one of my photographs on the cover: a hot-air balloon lifting off at the Shenandoah Balloon, Wine, and Music Festival. A couple years ago my lovely bride Nancy brought the festival to my attention. My head immediately filled with dreams of those emblematic photos of balloons filling, lifting off, flying … and all the rest. We booked our favorite B&B in Winchester, the Old Waterstreet Inn. We crept out before dawn and drove the 15 minutes or so to Long Branch Farm in hopes of catching the balloons lifting off at sunrise. It was hard to get up and out before breakfast: We were cold, hungry, and sleepy. Never having been to the site before, I ran around like a mad man for an hour or two. Then we went back to the inn for a fabulous breakfast (and excellent hot coffee!).
As often happens, the photos for which I’d hoped were just not available at this site on this day. High winds were expected aloft so the balloons were filling but not launching. But there was still lots to see and shoot.
I first spotted this balloon from across a field. It was a dull, dark purple and maroon in the morning light. They were filling the balloon on a down-slope at the side a hollow. By now the sun was up; I noticed the stark shadows as the balloon filled. Soon the balloon was off the ground and people were climbing in. I took a guess and ran for my spot. As the balloon lifted, it drifted directly between me and the sun. Just as I’d hoped.
(I originally blogged this photo in a post about our visit to the Balloon, Wine, and Music Festival on The PhotoTourist in August 2009.)
We are finally live with the first The Photo Tourist iPhone / iPod Touch application, Rehoboth In My Pocket. (And I’m pleased to report that personal testing shows the app also works well on the new iPad — though it looks best in an iPhone-sized window.) A lot of the photos in the app are my own, also available for purchase on the Rick Collier Imagery web site.
The Rehoboth In My Pocket web site has been up for a few months now and seems to be attracting some interest; As we wander the streets of our “second home,” Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, more and more we are talking to folks who are interested in the app and the web site. Still, it is really exciting to be able to announce after several months of research, photography, and writing the app has finally gone live and is available at the iTunes App Store. We’ve also been getting some press for the app in the newspapers in Rehoboth and Delaware. We’ll be very interested to see where this goes, even as we start on our next project, Virginia Wine In My Pocket (which we’re hoping to launch in the spring and update with a “150 wineries in 150 days” wine tour over the summer).
Visitors (and locals!) in small-town friendly Rehoboth will appreciate this easy-to-use app with more than 100 entries in 20 categories, designed especially for beach getaways.
Vacation priorities are covered in all-important categories such as Beach It (of course!), Caffeinate, Breakfast, Happiest Hours, and Nightlife. For parents, Child’s Play lists more than two dozen kid-friendly activities (and a GREAT place to drop the kids off when you need a little “me” time). Rainy Days recommends 20 ways to entertain yourself when the clouds roll in.
You’ll find fun stuff to do in Fun Stuff, places to sleep in Sleep Here, advice on where to find Tours & Culture, how to Get Moving, and tips on where to Relax. Oh, and Shop. (No sales tax! And more than 200 outlet stores!)
… and …
Freebie alert! There’s even a monthly Rehoboth SWAG list of some great offers from Rehoboth merchants. Just flash your app at the merchants to claim your freebie (or see them online at RehobothInMyPocket.com).
Now that the new web sites are ready, I have finally been able to finish uploading the photos from our Caribbean Cruise last fall. Over Thanksgiving 2009 Nancy and I went with a bunch of folks on a Cruise on the Holland America Line’s MS Ryndam, on a western Caribbean cruise. Our cruise sailed from Tampa, Florida, and stopped at Key West, Belize, Guatemala, and Costa Maya in Mexico. Never having been to Key West before, I did the usual tourist stuff, visiting Hemingway’s House, Duval Square, and Mallory Pier before returning to the ship just in time for sailing. It was a spectacular sunset that night, with an orange and red sky reflecting off the sea as the sailboats and pleasure craft returned to port. In Guatemala (not known for its fabulous diving), Nancy and I joined the ship’s excursion to Quirigua Archaeological Park. Quirigua is the site of a large Mayan settlement, with some features still visible and preserved while others are still being excavated. Quirigua was a beautiful tropical garden, with vibrant greens contrasting with the dark shadows wherever there was shade. It was a perfect opportunity to try out some High Dynamic Range photography.
Predictably, I went diving in Belize and Costa Maya. Diving in Belize I was lucky enough to come across several things that are relatively unusual, and a couple of them made good pictures: an octopus out on the reef in broad daylight; a tiny neck crab, normally so clever at camouflage and hiding, that had completely goofed up and found himself out and exposed on a contrasting piece of coral just as we swam by; and the relatively unusual whitespotted toadfish, which is pretty ugly but also unique in that it has only really been cataloged in the waters around Belize (this according to the authority Paul Humann’s book “Reef Fish Identification: Florida, Caribbean, Bahamas“). At Costa Maya I was followed for a while by a 4- or 5-foot giant moray eel (which was a vibrant green in color). We figured the Green Giant was mainly curious about his own reflection in the lens of my camera. We also saw some lionfish in the shallows. Lionfish are new immigrants to the Caribbean; some say they are invaders and should be destroyed before they damage the Caribbean ecosystem, but I think they are still quite striking fish no matter where they’re found.
The galleries are finally up on RickCollierImagery.com. There are shots from the cruise and a few we took while waiting for our flights in and around Tampa and nearby Tarpon Springs. Here’s the slideshow:
I’ve also added a special gallery to collect the High Dynamic Range (HDR) images, for anybody who’s particularly interested in that style. The expanded dynamic range of HDR can make for some truly striking contrasts and vibrant colors. (All the HDR images will also be found in the “normal” galleries, but I thought it might be useful to have a special place to go if those are the images you’re specifically seeking!)
I’ve finally published the collection of photos from Jordan over in the new galleries on www.RickCollierImagery.com. The Jordan photos were uploaded a few weeks ago, but this weekend I finally got it sorted and filed. As I went through these images, I was reminded how much I loved Jordan. The people are warm, cosmopolitan, open, engaging, and friendly. The visitor finds warm greetings, wonderful conversations, and hospitality at every turn. The land is full of history and fairly alive with religion and the shared history of the peoples of “the book” (by which I mean Christians, Jews, and Muslims). Traveling from place to place, especially to the south of Amman, one also gets a real movie-set / western romantic “Lawrence of Arabia” feel as you traverse the desert highway, passing old forts and visiting the remains of ancient civilizations. Everywhere one turns, there is something else to see, do, and experience: The Mount Nebo upon which Moses stood; the Dead Sea; Petra, the capital of ancient Nabatea; Roman Philadelphia (Amman); and thousands of other sights. And how can one fail to stop and take a photo of a completely empty highway in an empty desert, with just one warning sign: Beware of camels.
As often happens, the photos for which I’d hoped were just not available at this site on this day. High winds were expected aloft so the balloons were filling but not launching. But there was still lots to see and shoot. .png)
