http://www.followtheboat.com Tales (not just) from the high seas Tue, 07 Feb 2012 11:30:12 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://www.followtheboat.com/2011/11/09/oneprimewednesday-early-morning-basket-boy/ http://www.followtheboat.com/2011/11/09/oneprimewednesday-early-morning-basket-boy/#comments Wed, 09 Nov 2011 13:33:58 +0000 Fiona http://www.followtheboat.com/?p=25251 This is a submission for the theme that asks for a shot taken with a prime lens. A prime lens has a fixed focal length, in this instance 50mm. A 50mm prime lens is the one closest to what a human sees in real life, which is why traditionally crime scene photographers always used 50mm lenses! No crime scene here, alas, just a photograph of a worker with a heavy steel basket on his head.]]> http://www.followtheboat.com/2011/11/09/oneprimewednesday-early-morning-basket-boy/feed/ 0 http://www.followtheboat.com/2011/11/09/mytowntuesday-cochin-kerala/ http://www.followtheboat.com/2011/11/09/mytowntuesday-cochin-kerala/#comments Wed, 09 Nov 2011 12:00:59 +0000 Jamie http://www.followtheboat.com/?p=25249 I went for a wander late afternoon in the market, in between the stall holders and the main depot where they drop off the fruit and veg. This group of workers allowed me to jump up on the lorry and grab a shot of the workers loading up sacks of chickpea on to the workers' heads.]]> http://www.followtheboat.com/2011/11/09/mytowntuesday-cochin-kerala/feed/ 0 http://www.followtheboat.com/2011/11/08/tonemaphdrtuesday-banana-depot/ http://www.followtheboat.com/2011/11/08/tonemaphdrtuesday-banana-depot/#comments Tue, 08 Nov 2011 15:07:43 +0000 Jamie http://www.followtheboat.com/?p=25247 This is an HDR shot, a composite of three identical images exposed differently, to pick up detail in the light and shadow areas. It is a submission for another photographic theme and follows on from the set I took at the banana depot.]]> http://www.followtheboat.com/2011/11/08/tonemaphdrtuesday-banana-depot/feed/ 4 http://www.followtheboat.com/2011/11/08/mytowntuesday-cochin-kerala-2/ http://www.followtheboat.com/2011/11/08/mytowntuesday-cochin-kerala-2/#comments Tue, 08 Nov 2011 09:03:49 +0000 Jamie http://www.followtheboat.com/?p=25248 This picture, taken in the depot of the market, went down well on Google+ and shows yet another worker with a heavy object on their head. These guys must have necks of steel!]]> http://www.followtheboat.com/2011/11/08/mytowntuesday-cochin-kerala-2/feed/ 3 http://www.followtheboat.com/2011/10/27/asmara-market-eritrea/ http://www.followtheboat.com/2011/10/27/asmara-market-eritrea/#comments Thu, 27 Oct 2011 12:30:23 +0000 Jamie http://www.followtheboat.com/?p=25137 Asmara is the capital of Eritrea and sits above the clouds at the top of the mountains. Invariably it gets hot and by the end of the day the market traders and shoppers are exhausted. Winner of The Times Weekend Travel weekly photo competition last year. Liz submitted this without me knowing and was the first photo comp I'd ever won.]]> http://www.followtheboat.com/2011/10/27/asmara-market-eritrea/feed/ 14 http://www.followtheboat.com/2011/03/29/people-places/ http://www.followtheboat.com/2011/03/29/people-places/#comments Tue, 29 Mar 2011 14:00:46 +0000 Jamie http://www.followtheboat.com/?p=21318 Firstly our apologies for some unscheduled email updates regarding Somalia and piracy. We're experimenting with a new service but the emails today were only supposed to be test alerts and you weren't supposed to receive them. Ooops. Please delete these messages. So...before we leave Madurai we wanted to show you our photographs of the people and the scenes of our fave city. It is a pictorial observation of our time there, presented as two slide shows. Once you've clicked on the slide-show to activate it, you can select the four-arrowed button to view in full-screen mode. You'll need a fairly decent connection as they're high res images but it's worth it as the portraits are very personal, whilst the street scenes will give you a good idea of the environment in which these people live.]]> http://www.followtheboat.com/2011/03/29/people-places/feed/ 2 http://www.followtheboat.com/2011/03/24/nayakkar-palace/ http://www.followtheboat.com/2011/03/24/nayakkar-palace/#comments Thu, 24 Mar 2011 15:00:09 +0000 Liz http://www.followtheboat.com/?p=21298 As is probably evident from our previous posts, Madurai is a pretty crazy place. Rest, then, from the madding crowd in the calm of one of her grandest buildings, Thirumalai Nayakkar Palace. Deceptively understated from the outside, the open court-yard of the interior is imposing and beautiful. Liz: "If you are in southern India please do not miss this most beautiful palace. I fell in love with it in many ways. Its shape, colour and structure are sublime. Palest peach, vanilla, apricot, and cream combine to impart an ethereal quality". The palace is close to becoming a UNESCO World Heritage site, which goes some way to illustrate how wonderful this simple building is. At the end of this short post we include a little slide show of a few of the buildings of Madurai.]]> http://www.followtheboat.com/2011/03/24/nayakkar-palace/feed/ 1 http://www.followtheboat.com/2011/03/22/meenakshi/ http://www.followtheboat.com/2011/03/22/meenakshi/#comments Tue, 22 Mar 2011 15:00:24 +0000 Liz http://www.followtheboat.com/?p=21264 Last time we left you we'd been wandering the back streets of Madurai and offered plenty of photographic evidence of its energy. In this post Liz gives a more cerebral account of our experience in this fabulous city, taking in the huge Meenakshi temple, which wouldn't look out of place in Disney World. Her guide teaches Liz about the five sense, and they're not the sense you or I learned about at school. Strangely every single photograph taken inside the temple 'disappeared' from Jamie's camera, but we have plenty more images of the huge 'gopurams', as well as the people of Madurai. Liz's prose is what travel writing is all about...]]> http://www.followtheboat.com/2011/03/22/meenakshi/feed/ 9 http://www.followtheboat.com/2011/03/20/the-buildings-of-madurai/ http://www.followtheboat.com/2011/03/20/the-buildings-of-madurai/#comments Sun, 20 Mar 2011 15:00:20 +0000 Jamie http://www.followtheboat.com/?p=21311 This short slide-show gives you a little taster of the buildings of Madurai, and has been published to coincide with our Madurai blog posts. Pictured are the Meenakshi Temple, the palace, and a strange 'mall' with a temple in the middle of it. Plaster of Paris gods stacked hundreds of feet high look out across the city, whilst back-streets hide away secret retreats.]]> http://www.followtheboat.com/2011/03/20/the-buildings-of-madurai/feed/ 0 http://www.followtheboat.com/2011/03/17/madurai/ http://www.followtheboat.com/2011/03/17/madurai/#comments Thu, 17 Mar 2011 14:00:02 +0000 Jamie http://www.followtheboat.com/?p=21144 Having finally made it to Madurai after our fairground ride through the Western Ghats, we were able to relax, put on the walking boots and go for a romp through the back streets of this great city. It is full of strange wonders and fascinating people. This post, with its many photographs, captures just a small part of this: street vendors, manual labourers, layabouts, kids, beggars and strange architecture... ]]> http://www.followtheboat.com/2011/03/17/madurai/feed/ 15