Wednesday, May 14, 2014

The bucket list

If you were going to kick the bucket tomorrow, what would you like to be remembered for? For myself, I'm not really bothered about what I'm remembered for. I'm more interested in trying to get all the things I'd like to do done before I kick the bucket. Life is all about experiences and whether there is an afterlife or not, experiences definitely enrich our present life if not our future lives too.

For the traveler, it could simply be a list of the top ten places they'd like to visit; for the photographer, the top ten things they want to photograph; for the foodie, the top ten things they want to eat etc.

Travel and photography are synonymous for me as I'm more of a travel photographer than anything else. I have written a couple of books on high-speed imaging which an unnamed individual fought me tooth and nail to stop me from taking the photographs for and to stop me from writing. My bucket list consists of travel photographs and types of photography. Thus, in no particular order save for the order I thought of them.
  1. The bridge over the River Kwai (I realize this is not the original bridge but it'd still be neat to photograph it).
  2. Schlieren imaging (This is not high on my list of priorities but it's something I'd like to do).
  3. More high-speed imaging (at the moment I lack the facilities).
  4. Monument Valley - It's in all the films. I'd like to see and photograph it up close - perhaps in the winter one year.
  5. Fall colors in Virginia - I particularly like the photo I often see of an old watermill surrounded by autumn leaves.
  6. Animals of Africa in the savannah - I'd love to though I'm not sure quite how safe Africa is for pudgy white guys.
  7.  Shipwrecks of the Orkney islands in Scotland. That's easy enough with just a short flight from the mainland.
  8. Bolivia - the salt deserts and the train graveyard.
  9. Lake Titicaca - this looks to be a fascinating region.
  10. Moscow - St Basils cathedral.
Now I bet you're wondering why I don't have Machu Picchu or  Arlington on my list. The fact is that I've been to Arlington and have no desire to visit Machu Picchu since it has become far too touristy. One of my great dislikes is touristy areas. I like to be able to wander alone in safety, taking photos at leisure. This is largely why I am probably going to be burnt at the stake for being a heretic for saying that I don't like DisneyWorld. It's a tourist magnet and that's all you'll see. It's full of sweaty tourists belching over each other and greedy vendors demanding vast sums of money for trinkets.It was hard to take a photo on one of the occasions I was taken along to DisneyWorld to get a photograph devoid of people.

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