Even though I am in Hanoi right now working on this post it wasn’t long ago that I was lulling around another World Heritage site.
There is probably a lot more to be said about Cat Ba then what I have to say, but in short there are a finite number of photos you can shoot before you run into repetition. I have a new found respect for the photographers that shoot the same place over and over. Not necessarily skill but definitely dedication.
I was running into issues with the fog/air quality. Whenever it came to shooting wide angle landscape shots there was a very intense film that obstructed even the closest of objects. Judging by the photos I have seen by other photographers – they all face the same problem.
I also failed to get the iconic boat shot with the sails up, which wasn’t my fault (for whatever reason none of the boats had them up). I wasn’t heart broken though. I found out during my own boat trip, it is a tourist ploy. I had an inclination from looking at the images on the net that there is no way the boats could be powered by such small sails. Upon closer inspection of the mast and its anchor system – it became almost comical.
The tourist ploy was all to common in Cat Ba, an unfortunate result of the massive influxes of foreign tourists whiling to through money at just about anything. I resisted as long as I could in favor of skimping by with just a kayak. It took 2 anxiety filled days fretting the loss of my camera to the ocean that I finally caved to the tourist trap.
I’ll start off the images with a shoot I did in and around the city then transition into the landscapes.
Make: NIKON CORPORATION
Model: NIKON D3X
Shutter Speed: 1/400 second
Aperture: F/2.8
Focal Length: 200 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Date Taken: Oct 22, 2009, 12:03:28 PM
Make: NIKON CORPORATION
Model: NIKON D3X
Shutter Speed: 1/1000 second
Aperture: F/2.8
Focal Length: 200 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Date Taken: Oct 22, 2009, 12:06:38 PM
Make: NIKON CORPORATION
Model: NIKON D3X
Shutter Speed: 1/40 second
Aperture: F/2.8
Focal Length: 70 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Date Taken: Oct 22, 2009, 12:16:28 PM
Make: NIKON CORPORATION
Model: NIKON D3X
Shutter Speed: 1/640 second
Aperture: F/4.0
Focal Length: 135 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Date Taken: Oct 22, 2009, 12:21:52 PM
Make: NIKON CORPORATION
Model: NIKON D3X
Shutter Speed: 1/1250 second
Aperture: F/4.0
Focal Length: 135 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Date Taken: Oct 22, 2009, 12:30:27 PM
The Landscapes
Make: NIKON CORPORATION
Model: NIKON D3X
Shutter Speed: 1/4000 second
Aperture: F/4.0
Focal Length: 18 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Date Taken: Oct 24, 2009, 4:18:28 PM
Make: NIKON CORPORATION
Model: NIKON D3X
Shutter Speed: 1/3200 second
Aperture: F/4.0
Focal Length: 200 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Date Taken: Oct 24, 2009, 4:23:40 PM
Make: NIKON CORPORATION
Model: NIKON D3X
Shutter Speed: 1/5000 second
Aperture: F/4.0
Focal Length: 70 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Date Taken: Oct 24, 2009, 4:23:07 PM
One thing that has slowly been getting worse was the build up of dust on my censor. I had been putting it off simply because there was no place to get what I needed to clean it. You can see in this image just how bad it got… and imagine how much Photoshop the images required to get them clean.
Make: NIKON CORPORATION
Model: NIKON D3X
Shutter Speed: 1/100 second
Aperture: F/7.1
Focal Length: 70 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Date Taken: Oct 24, 2009, 5:03:29 PM
The same image without the dust.
Make: NIKON CORPORATION
Model: NIKON D3X
Shutter Speed: 1/8000 second
Aperture: F/2.8
Focal Length: 14 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Date Taken: Oct 26, 2009, 1:34:02 PM
Make: NIKON CORPORATION
Model: NIKON D3X
Shutter Speed: 1/800 second
Aperture: F/4.5
Focal Length: 14 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Date Taken: Oct 26, 2009, 1:41:25 PM
Make: NIKON CORPORATION
Model: NIKON D3X
Shutter Speed: 1/2500 second
Aperture: F/3.2
Focal Length: 14 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Date Taken: Oct 26, 2009, 3:16:08 PM
I’ve since booked a train ticket from Hanoi to Da Nang to reach my destination of Hoi An. It should be an interesting trip that covers just about 800 kilometers. Judging from the reading I have done I should be able to find more unique photos and hopefully get myself out of the Cat Ba lull I’ve been in.
Also for the San Francisco people:
Singapore (Changi) to Beijing (PEK) 12/26/09 12:15 AM – 6:20 AM Air China 970
Beijing (PEK) to San Francisco (SFO) 12/26/09 4:00 PM – 11:20 AM Air China 985
San Francisco to Denver 01/04/10 3:12 PM – 6:38 PM UNITED 318
Denver to Rapid City 01/04/10 7:39 PM – 9:10 PM UNITED 7025
