bioneural.net » cambodia

IOTW: Angkor Wat condensed

Bruce — Mon, 25 Sep 2006 06:00:40 +0000

Cambodia wasn't the first humid climate where I'd forgotten about the prospect of condensation on the lens. Although condensation itself can be very beautiful, it's not something you ordinarily wish for when capturing that once-in-a-lifetime photo. It can happen when your camera is initially cooler (e.g inside a case that has been kept in an air-conditioned room/ bus) than the warm and humid outside air, such that water condenses out of the air to "fog" your lens. It typically dissipates quickly once the camera has had some time in the outside air, and the only way to counter it is to acclimatize the lens before you intend to use it. That said, condensation need not be a complete disaster. In this shot it gives the temple a surreal look, replicating the "soft focus" appearance you might tease out of a Photoshop filter (or with Vaseline on the lens if you're old-school). Click thumbnail to enlarge image Angkor Wat at dawn, Cambodia Want to see more from IOTW? Click here for an archive view.

Angkor Wat in three minutes

Bruce — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 13:40:46 +0000

From http://www.bioneural.net :

Following our visit to Bangkok in February 2006 we carried on to Cambodia, primarily to visit the 12th century temple of Angkor Wat. I kept a journal on my lean, mean, messaging machine but unfortunately accidentally deleted it. Bugger! At least we still have the photos and some video, three minutes of which I'll share with you here. Requires QuickTime Angkor Wat, Cambodia (6.7 MB H.264-encoded movie)

IOTW: Photographing man's inhumanity

Bruce — Mon, 10 Jul 2006 20:17:13 +0000

From http://www.bioneural.net :

In stark contrast to last week's landscape, this IOTW (Image of the Week-ish) encompasses a different kind of reflection: how cruel we can be to each other. I present two images, one a work of art and the other a randomly piled natural material, but both strong in symbolism. They record a recurrent theme in human history, on this occasion events approximately 30 years apart. My notes Sometimes travelling entails things you aren't supposed to enjoy, but that are instead educational. The educative process can sometimes be so powerful that it warrants a photograph to reinforce the lesson. The first image was taken in the Sculpture Garden in Moscow during 2002. It's a tight crop from a large curved wall containing numerous stone faces behind bars and barbed wire. The sculpture commemorates those who died or were incarcerated during Stalin's campaign of terror in the USSR. The numbers are uncertain, but one million victims is a conservative estimate. It's hard to capture on film, but the original artwork is very evocative. The fact that the faces are indistinct adds to the message: so many anonymous people suffering, so many stories that will never be told. Click thumbnail to enlarge image Victims of Stalin The second image was taken in March 2006 outside Phnom Penh, in one of the infamous Killing Fields of Cambodia. The Khmer Rouge brutally murdered vast numbers of their countrymen, perhaps approaching one quarter of the country's population. It's beyond comprehension. The aim in taking such a photograph is not to make ...