Fried Green Chillies

This was one of my favorite tapas dish during a trip to Spain .... fried green chillies. Wonderfully pungent with a slight spicy taste was a great way to start a meal washed down of course with some sangria or wine. This shot was taken in a small restaurant just off the Plaza Mayor in Madrid, Spain.

Graveyard Greenery

This old Christian graveyard in the center of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia lies overgrown and run down providing an atmospheric environment of tropical crumbling, decay. It's fascinating to explore these types of abandoned urban areas which provide opportunities for HDR photography. 
Urban exploration (often shortened as urbex or UE) is the examination of the normally unseen or off-limits parts of urban areas or industrial facilities. Urban exploration is also commonly referred to as infiltration, although some people consider infiltration to be more closely associated with the exploration of active or inhabited sites. It may also be referred to as "draining" (when exploring drains) "urban spelunking", "urban caving", or "building hacking". 

The nature of this activity presents various risks, including both physical danger and the possibility of arrest and punishment. Many, but not all, of the activities associated with urban exploration could be considered trespassing or other violations of local or regional laws, including—but not limited to—invasion of privacy and certain broadly-interpreted anti-terrorism laws.

Bamboo

Bamboo is a group of perennial evergreens in the true grass family Poaceae, subfamily Bambusoideae, tribe Bambuseae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family.

In bamboo, the internodal regions of the stem are hollow and the vascular bundles in the cross section are scattered throughout the stem instead of in a cylindrical arrangement. The dicotyledonous woody xylem is also absent. The absence of secondary growth wood causes the stems of monocots, even of palms and large bamboos, to be columnar rather than tapering.

Bamboos are some of the fastest growing plants in the world, as some species are capable of growing 100 cm (39 in.) or more per day due to a unique rhizome-dependent system. However, the growth rate is partially dependent on local soil and climatic conditions.

Bamboos are of notable economic and cultural significance in South Asia, South East Asia and East Asia, being used for building materials, as a food source, and as a versatile raw product.

Sheep Meadow

The 15-acre (61,000 m²) preserve known as Sheep Meadow has a long history as a gathering place for large scale demonstrations and political movements. It is currently a favorite spot for families, sunbathers, picnickers, kite flyers, and other visitors to come relax and admire the New York City skyline. Sheep Meadow is located at West side/mid-Park from 66th to 69th Streets and is open from May to mid-October dawn to dusk in fair weather. This open area is very popular and can draw up to 30,000 people a day. "I've seen people standing in line to enter the Sheep Meadow," said Doug Blonsky, president of the Central Park Conservancy.

Dutch Tricycle

This lady was transporting her children back from school in a neat little tricycle which seemed a perfect way to get around the city; environmentally friendly and offering a little exercise for the person cycling.

Psychedelic Dragon at Spuistraat 199

This building in Spuistraat, Amsterdam had a glorious psychedelic, red-spotted green dragon painted on the yellow walls which brightened up the run-down street. I just wonder what type of local stimulant had been used by the artist prior to painting this.

Three Umbrellas

These brightly coloured Chinese umbrellas were hung from the roof of a shop in Huangzhou as decoration. Always remember to look all around you and especially up as you never know what you may find to photograph.

Green Door and Shutters

Ipoh is a wonderful historic city to wander through with many of the streets exhibiting some classic old shophouse architecture. This brightly painted house down a side lane stood out against the crowd with the bicycle parked outside setting this off and resulting in a timeless image.

Papaya

This beautiful papaya tree was seen in Bali, Indonesia. The papaya (from Carib via Spanish), papaw or pawpaw is the fruit of the plant Carica papaya, in the genus Carica. It is native to the tropics of the Americas, and was first cultivated in Mexico several centuries before the emergence of the Mesoamerican classic cultures.

It is a large tree-like plant, with a single stem growing from 5 to 10 metres (16 to 33 ft) tall, with spirally arranged leaves confined to the top of the trunk. The lower trunk is conspicuously scarred where leaves and fruit were borne. The leaves are large, 50–70 centimetres (20–28 in) diameter, deeply palmately lobed with 7 lobes. The tree is usually unbranched if unlopped. The flowers are similar in shape to the flowers of the Plumeria, but are much smaller and wax-like. They appear on the axils of the leaves, maturing into the large 15–45 centimetres (5.9–18 in) long, 10–30 centimetres (3.9–12 in) diameter fruit. The fruit is ripe when it feels soft (like a ripe avocado or a bit softer) and its skin has attained an amber to orange hue. It is the first fruit tree to have its genome deciphered.

Break Time

This shoe shiner in Madrid, Spain takes a break to read the paper during a quiet spell. I loved the contrast of strong colours between the red of his chair and the green wall behind.

Colombo Tuk Tuk

The tuk-tuks of Colombo, Sri Lanka are very bright and colourful as well as providing a convenient and cheap way to get around the city.
Every year they have the  Lanka Challenge where intrepid foreigners drive these local tuk tuks over the island of Sri Lanka - this has got to be the best way to see Sri Lanka. The Lanka Challenge is by no means an easy affair; contestants will embark on a true test of character, resourcefulness, endurance and navigational stupidity. It is a real maker of men and a genuine quest for wonder woman. This usually requires you to patch up your three-wheel mean machine in the most extreme of weather conditions, marooned in the most remote of locations and wearing the most ludicrous of outfits.   

Jolly Green Giant Drink Stand

Along the beachfront of Galle Face Drive in Colombo, Sri Lanka you will find many food and drink stalls as well as other vendors selling brightly coloured kites and balloons. It's a great spot for a late afternoon walk in the fresh sea air as the sun is setting over the Indian Ocean.
This green drink and snack stand really stood out from the crowd and I half expected the Jolly Green Giant to appear from behind the counter. This was an ideal image to take multiple brackets for some HDR post-processing which was post-processed using the latest Nik software HDR Efex Pro.

You Can Never Hold Back Spring

YOU CAN NEVER HOLD BACK SPRING

Tom Waits

You can never hold back spring

You can be sure that I will never

Stop believing

The blushing rose will climb

Spring ahead or fall behind

Winter dreams the same dream

Every time

You can never hold back spring

Even though you've lost your way

The world is dreaming, dreaming of spring

So close your eyes

Open you heart

To the one who's dreaming of you

You can never hold back spring

Remember everything that spring

Can bring

Baby, you can never hold back spring

Baby, you can never hold back spring

Textures and Colours of Kyoto

It was December in Kyoto, Japan but there were still plenty of wonderful Autumn colours and textures to be seen with red maples, green bamboo, red berries and wonderful green moss on the many beautiful walks around the hills and numerous temples.

This was also the first real opportunity to field test my new canon 5D MkII and the way it reproduced the colour depths, textures and tones can certainly be seen in these photos. I will be posting some more pictures from this trip to Kyoto in the coming few days.