Ben Wilhelmi

New York, part XII

 

 

 

 

even in Tanzania, typical country for modifications to repair or

'improve' load capacity, I've never this.

 

 

taxi and clocks

 

Brooklyn, opposite of Manhattan

 

 

modernity and restoration

 

 

 

 

parking is difficult and expensive in NYC, good thing!

 

 

ugly tourism business but that's all over

the world, true.

 

on the doorstep of a church, each ribbon for one soldier in Iraq.

The grieving mother in the back was unfortunately on the right spot for this issue.

 

 

the famous Flatiron

 

 

no balcony but ideas...

 

just a bit older than mine here in Tanzania. This one in NY!

Funnier but as bad as any jeep. What the Hell in NY?

 

 

old taxi being used for a restaurant advert.

 

 

male and female

 

mind blowing sometimes:

just looking up....

New York, part XI

 

 

for Frenchie culture, heehee. Good food, and sober sign...

 

 

as opposed to this...McShit and not sober at all!

why the fuck do they need to make it so ugly and

flashy? Isn't it an insult to people? to think

they might not know for sure what it is?

 

initially I thought what a lousy job. But then it doesn't look too exhausting.

Got time to watch chicks, to study the NY fauna (and tourists), must be a

good thesis...OK, salary is definitely lousy....

 

 

Empire State Building in full view.

inside the Empire. Real tourist monsters and ...

 

the original one from 1933.

 

this guy must be a Bike Messenger. His bike is too special, typical:

no gear system, no accessory, reputable brand bicycle , and no brakes I'd say.

 

  

Starsky and Hutch... the perfect serial killer car. How

many bodies can one put in this kind of boot?

 

speedy cops...

 

  

followed by a speedy biker.

 

reflection as usual. AND a flag, as usual!

 

New York, part X

 

 

in Battery Park, the Korean war memorial. Let's

hope this kid will learn something...

 

 

Belgium took part in it, something we hardly learn at school,

even in the military academy I've  attended....absurd, no?

 

figures nearly as bad as Vietnam!

 

the early skyscrapers I guess . Made of bricks, well kind of, and not too high.

 

 

no traffic jam as usual, so this guy can push his cart on the main streets.

 

funny bridge near Grand Central. Flags!

 

 

the usual masochist smokers facing the bloody cold weather.

 

 

 

on 5th Avenue....

 

 

 

that door architecture is inspired from Victor Horta, no?

 

 

icons....Empire State Building, red fire truck.

 

diversity, always.

 

 

and colors.

New York, part IX

 

 

a good business in America is to invest in flags! look below....

 

I was teasing about the fat cop the other day, now here

is the non-focused one. Professionalism they say on the car

backdoor...at least cops can read.

 

  

this poor guy was a bit out of touch on 5th Avenue...

 

flags....

 

 

the Empire State building.

 

 

initially I thought the dog was pulling her but she does her share.

 

just in case the obesity rate keeps going up, this entrance should fit

for a long time, heehee.

 

 

 

these 2 must be blind colored...

 

a fun place to eat, and great breakfasts, mostly decorated with

American icons or other celebrities. The restaurant is named

"who's your daddy?". A friend said it is a reference to a porn movie...

 

Forrest Gump must have been assigned to the job and confused

a bunch of flowers and a bunch of flags...

 

 

the Chrysler building. A beauty when the sun shines on.

And another flag! Now Americans are not famous for their

geography skills, maybe they need to be convinced that most likely

you don't leave America by crossing a street...?

 

the corner of Grand Central Station

 

Godiva, forget the French pronounciation of course, but it is still

a Belgian chocolate company, trying to get to the American market.

Maybe the scooter should carry an American flag to reassure people?

New York, part VIII

 

 

a Rolls Royce was not enough for this idiot! It had to

be a stretched version. Money doesn't buy taste!

 

 

slightly but just more sober...the cross is made of bits of the Twin Towers.

 

 

registered in New Jersey, famous for its tough roads and hills

and so on! I'll stay polite on this one....

 

 

this is NY, not far from Ground Zero.

Interesting little neighborhoods. I thought this

kind of ice vehicle would be by now resting

in museums...

 

a huge painting representing NY behind the big letters. I personally

met and flew DK and her group some years back. Not my best memory

and others shared my opinion.

 

 

a place I really loved: Grand Central Station.

 

 

very stylish, cosmopolitan, grandiose!

 

I could spend hours there, just watching, shooting, sketching...

lively like many stations but with the American touch: flags all over.

 

curious kid, maybe asking Mom when she'll

get the same...

 

bad luck...

New York, part VII

 

Venus de Milo and yellow cabs. Antique and modern art....

 

modern art they say...

 

 

no, not a mistake. A double-decker but too sunny to be the UK anyway!

 

 

another piece of art!

 

 

the windshields show a support for the US troops...meaning in Iraq and

Afghanistan. Other people modified the support slightly:

"we support our troops too, just bring them home!" I prefered

the latter version of course.

 

 

the firemen loss after Sep 11 is still vivid

memory of course.

 

a little jam in the streets can be caused by yellow cabs. Great to see

people off their cars. Too bad the cabs are such big gas guzzlers...

 

not only skyscrapers...we're near Washington Square, still on Manhattan.

 

 

Washington Square, some nostalgic Frenchmen must have been

around in the early years. Much smaller and not identical as the

real Arc de Triomphe but still impressive.

 

 

another lousy day. But shopping was also a big activity for us....

New York, part VI

 

one bloody cold miserable rainy day, so we visited the

Museum of Natural History. A little wonder. I advise

to visit it.

 

the wonders of a superwide angle lens, no problem

to frame this whale.

 

here the elephants stand in the middle of a hallway, so the decoration

is not very realistic.

 

 

but look at these gazelles! Behind a glass window with an excellent

job done on the ground and the back wall painting.

 

 

and it was fun to try to shoot through the window,

to avoid the light reflections or the wooden panes.

 

 

 

 

 

here on the other hand, some stands were

not so carefully made.

 

 

 

 

another street corner, another stall.

 

 

there is no way to ignore you're in the US...

flags, paints, adverts, clothes...all over.

 

narrow house, large ass...

 

New York, part V

at Ground Zero.

 

 

the victims' names.

 

 

very sober and silent. No food, no souvenirs on sale....

No touristic business. Mainly the famous dramatic pictures.

A good point for the authorities which kept the shit at bay.

 

Brooklyn Bridge. Great vista from there.

 

 

 

 

 

too bad for the cables but I assume there is no other way.

New York, part IV

New York, it's also all about the people. I'll start with nice pictures.

I'll get the politically not correct ones later.

at the MOMA( museum of modern art), in front of a Jackson

Pollock's painting....

 

I was wondering which one was the most arty, the hair or the painting...

 

 

I doubt this guy brought his trousers from Iraq...

funny mix anyway...

 

 

I wondered what the fat, sorry the woman in the middle

was thinking when the one on the right overtook her in that

marathon style..."bitch", "show off", "maybe I should do

the same", "I hate the world"...?

 

just in case you didn't notice this jerk's Porsche, he stuck his

arm out in a very stylish way to show off his golden Rolex...

 

I used to laugh at our unfit cops in Europe....I hope he'll

never have to run and catch a thief...

 

 

 

he must have landed with his biplane

in Central Park...

 

Washington square.

 

 

these 2 clowns really made us laugh big time.

We watched all of it. They were really

witty, using bad words, showing disrespect

for black people in a way that a whitie

couldn't afford. Which was a relief in this

infected world of politically correct behavior.

 

New York, part III

many tramps checking garbage and wandering

around but not as many as I'd think.

 

biking in this city, my dreams! Going along with camera

ready...as said earlier the traffic is not bad, and having

survived bloody Arusha on bicycle, I'm prepared....

 

ever heard about the famous bike messengers? I applied to be one

in Brussels some years back. But the company went bust in no

time because a flat city is required otherwise the bikers get tired

too quickly and lose business. The NY bikers are famous for being the

most aggressive adrenaline-loaded messengers. Some are reported

to ride without breaks, all used to scare people by speeding and

swinging on the sidewalks, zig-zaging between traffic, all were hated by

motorists because they didn't know the meaning of a red light or a

one-way sign...then the cops finally put some order in this circus I heard.

End of a myth.But according to what I saw, I was not impressed: even

if they have to respect a bit the traffic rules, I hardly saw one speeding

a little bit! Not even close to what I do here in Arusha. Disappointing...

 

about every street corner, something on sale, anything.

 

Keith Richards on a BMX? That would have been a scoop!

Reminds me of a T shirt "Keith Richards for president".

It wouldn't have been worse than Bush Jr. With Obama, wait

and see, heehee.

 

 

does she regret such a colorful hairdo? Anyway it will take time to grow out!

 

  

 

at the Sony shop, no limit for advertising hard.

 

 

cheap dress made of Lipton tea bags.

New York, part II

 

 

we spent 2 weeks there, not bored one second....

 

too much is just too much. Too messy but close your

eyes after one second. What do you remember?

McShit is still the winner....

 

 

original advert for Mini cooper....

 

 

the dream team potential son-in-law....

a bit scary he?

 

 

 

so many reflective windows in those buildings,

natural or artificial lights get creative.

 

it was so cold that early April....

 

 

religion in America.... subtle signs all over.

 

parking is such an expensive nightmare in NYC that many

New Yorkers don't have a car. Ecologists without knowing...

Of course there are the usual fucking gas-guzzlers but traffic

jam at rush hour looked like this.

 

 

useful limo for Dumb and Dumber...

 

 

I had just bought an ultra wide angle lens.

Very fun to use but also practical to get a

full skyscraper in the finder.

New York, part I

 

 

pictures from 2007 in NYC. Like every year for expats

going home, Karine and I 'had' to buy so many things

like clothes, camera or computer gear...that with the

dollar so low against the euros, we should take our

holidays in NYC. In the end we went there for free!

For instance one lens at 1000 $ in the States was at

1350 euros in Europe, which cost equivalent 700 euros...

and so on for all the rest. Amazing and a great

feeling every time we were doing our maths!

 

just in case somebody is lost, many, a lot of,

numerous flags stand all over the place. So we're in

the US. Even without the flags, anyone would

have guessed with such a tasty limo and ghosts

on board, a pub advert inspired from some horror movie

 

 

first days were deadly cold and the sky was

giving a crap light. Without the 'colorful'

police car, I would have shot in black'n'white

 

Remember the great movie 'when Harry met Sally'?

This is the restaurant where Meg Ryan acted her fake orgasm.

Luckily Karine behaved...every single picture on the walls is of a

famous personality. Well sometimes it's just a sport "journalist"...

these guys don't deserve any fame if you ask me but...on

the other hand there were pictures of singers and actors and

actresses,much more interesting.

 

 

funny system with a guard and tickets...

then a row of salamis. Nothing to beat the

Italian or French salamis!

 

 

 

 

NYC is not only about skyscrapers. Huge of course but

there are some very interesting old style buildings.

 

 

the beauty hardly looked at the poor beast...

 

 

we, Europeans, are plagued by a concept

called 'urbanism' where strict rules prevent us

from building whatever we want depending

on the neighborhood style...but New Yorkers

look free from that disease. It was amazing to

meander there and watch so many different styles.

 

maybe I should rephrase: 'urbanism' is a plague with

common regular houses, with a perfect little lawn

and white pickets...which look dreadful to live in. Then

one wonders why one drunkard made the news once

because he trashed a gate and the lawn while driving

home drunk, tried to open the front door with screams

and tantrum. Maybe if the houses were different from each

other... but I understand the Santa Fe urbanism for instance

which is very strict on what to build or how to restore, or

any other special city for that matter.

 

 

Not only did I take the picture, but I wanted to get in!

No kidding. I've always been fond of Walt Disney

cartoons, and similar competitors of course. And even to

this day, I find their drawings the best. As opposed

to the Japanese bullshit mangas... no comparison.

I wanted to get a Disney book with sketches of their

famous characters though the ages. I've always drawn

a lotof comics dudes since school days but I find I could

learn a lot more.

Private joke:

Karine was grumpy because Disney hasn't done anything

with a hedgehog hero....why a mouse and not a hedgehog?

Tarangire, XI

 

 

room with a view, buffaloes down the river.

 

 

a bohor reedbuck ( un redunca), an antelope that I

haven't seen very often.

 

 

a marsh sandpiper ( un chevalier stagnatite),

another example of weird translation.

 

 

 

another bunch of elephants practicing sex, too young for the real

thing I guess.

 

Tarangire NP, X

 

 

 

 

after a good mud bath, elephants sometimes like to cover themselves

in dust to give another protective layer against flies

 

rolling and splashing. To bad we were across the river and thus far

 

   

  

 

this one on the left is trying to climb out

 

 

not an easy task, or maybe he is clumsy

 

2 bulls started to play and twist their trunks.

Probably some male show off

 

 

they have to be careful not to gouge one eye out!

 

Tarangire NP, IX

 

 

  ugly marabou stork (un marabout). So ugly it should keep its head

down in the water....

 

 

 

much better is this Africa hoopoe (huppe d'Afrique), sporting a

superb crest which is lowered down the neck in flight. And I'm

still waiting for such a picture...the thing is not seen that often

and it takes off as if equipped with an afterburner and always

away from me!

  

 

apparently there are similar models in Europe.

 

 

an African black-headed Oriole ( un loriot masqué)

 

 

this is a little bee-eater (un guêpier nain), another rocket bird...

 

 

 

  

sometimes barely an impression on the camera.

Very abstract or impressionist.

 

beautiful black contours

 

      

finally quiet...

 

Egyptian geese (oies d'Egypte).

 

what's nice about a blog is that one can afford to post bad pictures

to illustrate a subject, such as these blurry pictures above. Or

some blend ones because the light was crap. I wouldn't have

put these on my website for instance.

Tarangire NP, VIII, gay elephants

still watching from the river bank, we spotted 2 elephants

playing together, touching each other....

 

saying sweet things maybe...

 

the guy on the right had obvious intentions we thought.

"let me introduce myself...."

 

But we noticed quickly that the left dude was also a male! Wow,

I had never seen elephants shagging, let alone 2 males! There

were 2 other jeeps next to us, the passengers laughing loud,

specially the Italians. I even heard some 'fanculo' (not sure for the spelling).

We overheard their guide, completely shocked, saying this was

disgusting, against morality, that there were so many females

around so why do this and so on. The guy was clearly transferring

his African views on the subject. Remember that many African countries

still officially condemn homosexuality, some giving harsh penalties,

even death penalty! I loved those 2 Italian tourists because

they realised how shocked the guide was and started to tease him

right away, explaining they had sweet lovely gay friends, that

it was great to have them around etc. They kept on, asking the guide

if he hadn't any gay friends himself. The hypocrite guide was torn

apart: lying and saying he had indeed such friends and in turn he'd keep

his chances of getting a tip at the end of the trip, or be honest and

admit he couldn't stand them but risk the tip. Not easy for him to judge

his clients.I felt like watching a political meeting.

 

"C'mon babe...."

 

ready?

convenient agility since they have no hands...

 

"relax baby!"

notice the guy below doesn't show an erection....maybe a first.

 

   

"OOOCH!!"

 

  

 

after a mud bath, the dominant male was horny again. Maybe he thought

some mud lubricant would help.

 

 

now, the ending is a bit different from the story above. The local guide

seemed to know not much about his job because it turns out that there

is no gay behaviour here, just a dominant game, to show off who's the

boss! Disappointing but true....

flowers

 

for your eyes only as I have no clue what these flowers and

plants are...I just thought thy were beautiful. I hope it's a

good reason enough...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

aerials, lake Tanganyika

 

 

some aerials between Kigoma to Mahale Nat'l Park, both on the eastern

shore of lake Tanganyika, western Tanzania, facing the Congo (DRC)

 

just after take off. Those holes are most likely wells. Why are they packed

like that, I have no clue. I'd say it would be easier for each farmer to

dig on his own field, no? Some missing information for sure.

The lakeshore is just a few miles away.

 

 

the thick round trees are mango trees, some palm trees, most huts here

are still built with thatched roofs but that's changing in many places

with corrugated roofs. Ugly and hotter inside....

 

 

small family plots. Straight lines always a rarity....

 

 

swampy area near the shoreline.

 

 

on the roads or on waters, same style: packed to the maximum. Some travel

for days like this. Hygiene must be difficult at times, and privacy a distant dream...

 

        

fishermen village. Notice the difference between a transport boat, longer

and wider, and the fishing canoes. The silver squares are sardines drying

out in the sun. The stench is awful but the little fish provide the

proteins for people. The fish, called 'daga' is huge business on the lake.

It's shipped down to Zambia or Congo. One fisherman told me once that

the Congolese utter mess was a blessing (!) for him and his fellows because

the Congolese (and others) are so busy fighting or running away that they have

no time to grow food or go fishing. Basic truth to say the least....

 

 

fishing canoes. Once on the fishing spot, the long poles are used to tie

2 canoes together, parallel to each other. They then look like catamaran.

Petrol lights are then lit up, the nets are spread between the boats,

and the guys just have to wait for the curious fish....but the same lights

also attracts Congolese pirates...nothing's perfect.

 

 

here are the catamarans and some piles of 'daga'