Unique tufa towers or tufa formations (calcium carbonate) at the South Tufa Area, Mono Lake in California with the eastern escarpment of the Sierra Nevada Mountains behind.

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I’m back home again after a week in San Francisco. Really tired and sleepy after three trans-Pacific flights in three weeks. Still have a lot of photos from American Southwest to process and more new photos from San Francisco.

In my trip to American Southwest I used iPad for everything except backing up photos. For that purpose I used small Acer netbook. This time in the trip to San Francisco I took only iPad and my almost 5 years old Sanho HyperDrive COLORSPACE with 120GB hard drive inside. I’m quite happy with this device as a backup for my photos but it’s not possible to check photos without a computer. However recently I discovered that this company introduced a new device: HyperDrive COLORSPACE for iPad. Works as photo & video backup device with iPad compatibility (Apple Camera Kit Connector). Seriously thinking about buying and testing it in a field. If you are sick and tired carrying laptop with you and you do have iPad then this is the solution for you. Hope that helps you save some space in your luggage.

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Panoramic photo with boats and yachts parked in the Farm Cove in Sydney Harbour in front of the Sydney Opera House and the Harbour Bridge waiting for New Year Eve fireworks.

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Tunnel View, within Yosemite National Park, is a viewpoint on State Route 41 located directly east of the Wawona Tunnel as one enters Yosemite Valley from the South. The view looks east into Yosemite Valley including the southwest face of El Capitan, Half Dome, and Bridalveil Falls. This is, to many, the first views of the popular attractions in Yosemite. Many cars stop right outside of the tunnel to take pictures and absorb the visual aesthetics.

While the sunrise after the snow storm was quite nice and colourful and I do like it, I prefer this black and while view of the Yosemite Valley and Bridalveil Falls from Tunnel View lookout. Snow covered peaks, mountains and trees and morning fog was laying in the valley making the entire scene very graphical.

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The “Seven Sisters of Postcard Row”, also known as the “Painted Ladies”, Victorian style houses at Alamo Square in Haight-Ashbury District, San Francisco, CA, USA with the city skyline in the background on a colourful pink sunset. This row has become (along with the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz) synonymous with San Francisco.

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Hi Everyone!

I’m really sorry for being silent for such a long time but now I’m back home in Sydney and back online. I spent one month travelling around American Southwest: San Francisco – Yosemite National Park – Lake Mono – Death Valley National Park – Las Vegas – Bryce Canyon National Park – Capitol Reef National Park – Goblin Valley State Park – Arches National Park – Canyonlands National Park – Dead Horse Point State Park – Monument Valley – Page (Antelope Canyons, Horsebend, Rim Rocks and Stud Horse Point) – Grand Canyon National Park – Big Sur coast – San Francisco. Drove around 5150 miles (~8300 kilometres), lost 11 pounds (5 kilograms, which is quite nice), shot 14.5K images (okay, a lot of duplicates, bracketing, panoramas etc) and almost exhausted. Now I need some rest after this vacation!

Overall I’m quite happy with the outcome of the trip. In almost every place I visited I shot some decent photos. Except probably for the Monument Valley and the Race Track in the Death Valley. That are two big epic failures (for different reasons). But that is a good excuse to come back. I’ve got inspiration and definitely want to come back. American Southwest (and not only the Southwest!) nature and landscape is absolutely magnificent! Will definitely com back a few times!

This trip was full of nice surprises and meetings. In the Canonlands National Park I met G Dan Mitchell and Tom Till, but unfortunately we couldn’t chat. In the Lower Antelope Canyon I met Alain Briot and we had a quick (he was doing a workshop) but nice chat. Finally in San Francisco I met my long-time online friend Gleb Tarro and Kirill Krylov. Gleb and Kirill are great photographers and doing workshops in the Southwest and helped me with preparation for my trip.

Visited a few galleries: Galen Rowell, Bret Edge and Rodney Lough Jr. It’s a completely different experience to see images in large prints. I was soooo impressed!

I would like to thank the following people for their applications, guides, advises etc:

• Gleb Tarro for his photo tours itineraries, plans and advises he provided to me;
• Michael Frye for his fantastic The Photographer’s Guide to Yosemite iPhone and iPad App;
• Bret Edge for his great series of iFotoGuide applications: Grand Canyon, Arches National Park and Yosemite Valley;
• Laurent Martres for his must-have books “Photographing the Southwest”: Volume 1 – Southern Utah, Volume 2 – Arizona and Volume 3 – Colorado/New Mexico.

I want to finish this positive post with a few things really annoyed me last month. I’m really sorry, but I cannot be quiet.

• Internet in hotels/motels. Owners, please note, when I pay you money for the Internet I’m signing a contract with you and not with an Internet Service Provider. I do not want to spend half an hour on a phone with ISP helpdesk. Why cafe owner can fix his free wi-fi Internet in two minutes (he doesn’t have to as it’s free and it’s complimentary to his main service – cafe), while you are sending me to helpdesk when I paid money to you. If you cannot provide this service at lest you have to make a refund. That happened a lot during this trip. If you cannot provide a service, please, don’t sell it!
• United Airlines. Guys, you are the worst major airline carrier in the world. Certified! You are still living in a stone age. Your service is awful and I saw so many people complaining at counters about seats, service during the flights. Please check with Singapore Airlines, Air New Zealand, Malaysian Airlines, Thai Airlines, Etihad Airways and Emirates and see what they call top quality service. You are sooooo way behind them so you would probably never catch them again.

Huh! I’m sorry again for the last passage but I had to say that. Anyway, as I already said I’m quite happy with the result. Now I’ll start processing photos but it will take some time so please stay tuned!

Sydney Tower Eye (also known as the Sydney Tower, AMP Tower, Westfield Centrepoint Tower, Centrepoint Tower or just Centrepoint) is the city’s tallest structure, is one of Sydney’s most prominent landmarks. The 309 meter (1014ft) high tower was built in 1981 as a communications tower and tourist facility. Each year, more than a million visitors enjoy the spectacular views over Sydney.

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