Another shot from La Palma island. This one was taken close to a place called El Pinar, at around 1500m in the dense pine forests that are often shrouded in cloud. This long exposure shows the clouds rolling in, covering the forest and hill tops in the distance.
Apparently, there is a specific species of pine tree on the Canary islands, called Pinus canariensis. These Canary Island Pine trees can grow up to 50 meters tall and have large cones (up to 30cm).
A few years ago, I was in the Canadian Rockies, travelling around Banff and Jasper National Parks. The shot for today was taken from an observation platform above Peyto Lake. It was not a great time of day to be shooting as it was close to midday but this really made the turquoise colour of the lake stand out all the more against the lush green of the surround forest, greyness of the mountain face and deep blue of the sky.
This was taken a few miles away, along the river bank above a raging torrent below. You can make out a young girl relaxing by the river, wearing red, to give you a size perspective of the scene.
This afternoon, I went for a walk on the wilder side of Singapore. In the centre of the island, there is a slither of nature called MacRitchie Reservoir Park. Just south of Upper Pierce Reservoir, there is a tree top walk, which in effect is a narrow suspension bridge, just wide enough for someone to traverse across the rooftop of the jungle below.
Lining the side of the bridge were many monkeys. They were generally quite skittish but the character in the image above was more than a little bold. I had a wide angle lens on my camera, meaning he was sat within an arm’s length from me when I took this shot.
This weekend, I went for a walk with my family in a place called Bukit Brown Cemetery. It is a secluded, overgrown graveyard in Singapore. It is unique in that you are in the middle of a metropolis that is Singapore but be standing in the solitude of a rainforest.
Bukit Brown Cemetery is also known to the local community as Kopi Sua or Coffee Hill. It is a Chinese cemetery, established in the early 20th Century and was the biggest Chinese graveyard outside China. The cemetery was named after its first owner, George Henry Brown, who was a ship owner and arrived in Singapore from Calcutta in the 1840s. He bought the area and named it Mount Pleasant.
As I wondered around this oasis of nature and calmness, it was very distressing to see all the construction work underway, something very common in Singapore. The issue here is that Bukit Brown Cemetery is slowly but sure being sacrificed to the god of progress. Large swathes of land have already been dug up and this beautify setting will soon be replaced by suburbia, concrete and glass.
In a place like Singapore, where such places are rare and revered, it is a shame that such a tranquil and spiritual place is being ruined to make way for apartments and the MRT (underground system).
If you are keen to see this wonderful place before it disappears forever, you can find it located between Lornie Road and Mount Pleasant Road, off Sime Road and Kheam Hock Road.
For further information about Bukit Brown Cemetery, here are some links, including a site to help save it from extinction:
1) Information about the cemetery: http://bukitbrown.com/main/
2) Save the cemetery site: https://sosbukitbrown.wordpress.com/
3) Preserving the history of Bukit Brown: http://www.bukitbrown.info/
Nature is often endowed with beautiful patterns that can only be witnessed from certain angles, making them all the more delightful you finally see them. A river running through a forest in Berkshire created a scare line in the dense, evergreen forest. The view is more akin to Scandinavia than Berkshire. I can almost smell the pine trees.
Recently, after many failed attempts, I was fortunate enough to go on a balloon flight over Berkshire. The evening weather as perfect as the breeze pushed us eastwards, towards Henley. On the way, we flew over a verdant forest, where a horse and rider momentarily materialised from between the trees as they crossed the bisecting path beneath us.
Hard to imagine that you are only 25 miles from London at moments like this.
It’s day nine for Julien today and he started out from Brake early this morning catching the ferry across the Wesar river. Julien tells me he loves a ferry ride in the morning!
He then continued on to Beverstadt where he had a good German lunch and saw a number of schoolchildren disobeying their angry teacher!
Julien cycled over many hills today so he had a bit of a problem with both his knees. He also got a bit lost again (I am starting to sense a theme!) this time around Lambstedt. After a while he made it to a more major route to Wischaften and took another ferry along with a load of trucks and cars.
Julien then made a final 12 mile push to get to the campsite in Dageling where he is staying in for the night. Apparently the place is occupied by a few people who look like they have been there for too long!
Julien estimates one more full day in Germany heading towards the northeast around Schlesig and Flensburg.
Here is the Google Map for today and as always please visit the Child’s i Foundation and Julien’s Just Giving page. Thanks!
All Terrain Photography 