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Route 66, a superb Chevrolet
our rental car dwarfed by a regular SUV…
Home made contraption in Santa Fe. Try to put that thing on a European road... The lousy administrations, in just about every department, will have orgasms just to trash your dreams or requests…
even the Range Rover looks small!
Chevrolet Bel Air 1956
1961 Rolleiflex 3.5F, medium format
that is in Zanzibar….
trendy jean’s…fighting the traditions in babysteps?
“Royal”?
Rolleiflex so that is analog photography. I’ve got a splendid 3.5F model from1961 (thanks Mom) and it work beautifully. Not the easiest camera to handle but it is then even more rewarding when the results meet your expectations.
I’ve even tried aerial photography with it. Being the pilot at the same time, that proves a bit challenging but there is a way to go through…just know your machines. both of them…and passengers are optional.
these 2 pictures above show lake Natron.
B/W shots of course as the Rolleiflex were conceived in 1929. Here is volcano Lengai'.
Arusha with masai riders.
Lengai and Masai people.
why not some infrared pictures? Serengeti and around…
a bit special I agree but in an era of lomography, I thought I could experiment weird colors including people.
here is the beast.
medium format film, that is 6x6 cm negatives.
either me or Karine driving. Not that hard to keep control and shoot in the end...
a Gutenberg museum in the US is a bit unusual I’d say but why not.
Sometimes the ads in America remind me of the ones in Tanzania, just packed and crammed, so much that it can become hard to decipher anything while driving.
That kind of dedication was not rare.
common scene on a main road side.
typical driver cashing in from hitchhikers. Usually against most companies policies…
expert in cellphones amongst other things.
I get the middle finger more often than a big warm smile….
street sellers.
boda boda, that is motorbike taxis… for the brave only! Accident rate is outrageous.
I loved it by then, a new camera and a lot of practice with these artists were my luck. The street performers liked best to act at the foot of the cathedral (the Dom), with a large square.
as a would-be artist, I’d hate this for myself; Lose my piece of art everyday…wasted under the wind, the rain, the soles…
Cool artist giving a demo to a homeless man.
Beaubourg… personally I find this place ugly but there is no need to reopen the debate.
some rest needed.
one of the numerous murals to be spotted in Paris, though few are this big.
art is not always to be seen on walls… Russian army trousers?
ah a good old Charlie Chaplin picture, Some things don’t change, the kids are still interested. I always worry they might be polluted by mangas and other Japanese sci fi crap…
same old ferry flight from Dubai via Sharm el Sheikh and Athens, here crossing the Italian border. Weather had been good for a while….
but just before the descent towards Zürich, straight ahead, things got a bit uglier
we even got some icing, my first experience of reasonable icing. As my whole flying career so far has been about bush flying in Africa…. I'm more familiar with tropical weather, muddy, short, bad airstrips, elephant crossing, overloaded and dodgy planes...but icing? Not much.
More of my US car plates series. More of mottos, state nicknames, landscape backgrounds, colors and details.
A brave French family visiting America, and worse, Texas!!! I wonder how many times they had unpleasant encounters with the usual idiots, you know the kind to rename French fries into freedom fries, to insult or ban anything French. All of that because the French government didn’t support the American brass and told them not to go to Iraq and risk hugs losses for little gains. Again... Same stuff for Vietnam remember… they didn’t listen there neither.
Oh, and I’m not French by the way. So if someone sends me flak, spare me the usual crap on that.
not a firefighter truck but a private firefighter’s car.
I’m a bit surprised by the Alaskan plates. I saw only 2 and both only mentioned the state birthday…out of a such a magnificent state, sure there was more to find to show off on a car plate… Funny how the yellow stars on a blue background seem very similar to the European flag.
I had once a Missouri plate, when I bought a car in '97 to tour America for 6 weeks but there was a lot more colors on it.
This plate is one of the simplest I’ve spotted but still more interesting than the dull Belgian type.
notice the goats being pushed in as well...
departing means loading the trucks…
notice the VIP sign on the windshield…
ferrying that Twin Otter back to Dubai, we had left Athens in the morning, reaching the Nile delta
Cairo, a huge urban sprawl that looks like a giant slum seen from high up…
The Nile south of Cairo, then we turned to the south east.
that narrow strip is the canal of Suez reaching the Gulf of Suez.
one view to embrace both the mainland and the Sinai
Sharm El Sheikh, southern tip of the Sinai. Lot of dust….
all shot on B/W films, Mahale nat’l Park, western Tanzania. The only decent place to see them. Repeat after me. And I’m not on anybody’s payroll. Quite a few cliens had visited the other chimp’s sites and all agree that Mahale was the best location.
nothing sexual here, just plain grooming, an important social interaction.
a stunning salt lake in northern Tanzania… ever changing lake, never disappointing. Here is a selection over the seasons and years…
my rarest picture over the lake…I’ve seen this swirl only twice during my 5 years of regular flying over Natron. There must be a spring underneath but that only affects the surface when specific conditions are met…
shooting with a Rolleiflex, or other old film cameras, when digital cameras do all the job in a much easier way is like using a map and a compass or a sextant instead of a GPS. There is pleasure and gratification in doing stuff the old ways.
Lake Natron is a salt lake located in northern Tanzania. These images were shot in the rain season so the colors are for this time also to be found in the deltas, not only in the salt pans.
airstrips are for everybody sometimes… wildebeests, gazelles, elephants…and kids.
our second plane to rescue. Burst tyre after a little unvoluntary trip out of the airtsrip...
Birds, another hazard out there.
partially flooded airstrip, manageable though.
at the foot of an active volcano, Lengai.
airstrip on the slope of a crater, Empakai. I was not drunk, the strip is really sloped like that. About 11% declivity.
coming for a low pass in order to check the strip condition.
over Yemen but that layer of dust or atmospheric veil can be seen in Tanzania too. It all looks bright and sunny from the ground but once in the air, that ugly 'sea' hampers clear scenic views.
volcano Lengai again. Its eruptions can be serious.
like in this case, partially embedded ash cloud. Flying in the clouds might have meant a bad encounter...
a bit too early….empty seats but the dancer is getting warm.
different dress codes….
Inside the greenhouse, Hotel Bellagio
and the entrance…
Nice view from our room in the Bellagio (worth to stay in by the way)
In Stonetown to be precise
Only 2% of the population is not Muslim. Some churches and temples hang around including one where some bits of Livingstone’s body are buried. The poor guy has been shredded to pieces as there are more places with his leftovers…. In Topkapi, Istanbul, a Prophet’s beard hair is on show.
a stunning country with numerous different vistas. Add the rains in there and the landscapes just never get boring…
motorbikes, carts, bicycles, heads…everything can be used for transporting goodies. Weight never seems to be an issue…
power cuts, the plague….except for generator dealers.
peanuts for sale, common view.
biking and phone calling, national sport.
things got heated in last years between the main party (green flag) and opposition (large mostly white flag). Fights, protests in the street, arbitrary arrests, a grenade in a political meeting last week, cops heavy handed while controlling peaceful gatherings….
even a few cops got beheaded some 10 years ago and the "trophies" had been paraded on spikes in Stonetown…which in turn made the cops understandably even angrier.
funny enough the guys on this picture seem peaceful while showing different flags...
bread transport.
road sides are often squatted by various sellers.
as said before, America must be the only country where car plates are so funky and open to every driver’s imagination.
The front plate doesn’t have to be official, so welcome imagination.
My reflection. Mom I’m wearing a hat! I felt sorry for the Idaho citizens: only potatoes to brag about?
Political, religious and very personal statements are now in full swing. I read in the news the pro life groups were pestering for having the right to write their beliefs too.
Armed forces are always proud of their status.
poor kids who have to learn that spelling…
Funky car but basic plate.
Pont des Arts, aka Bridge of Arts? A latest rage is to show eternal love by attaching a lock on the fence.
since le Pont des Arts is covered in wooden planks and reserved for pedestrians, the general feeling tends to get cozy. In turn, it is really tempting to bring food and wine for a peaceful lunch on a bench.
Le Louvre.
I have no idea who ever started the coin throwing thing but it sure has spread all over the touristic places. Here, les Colonnes de Buren.
le Sacré-Coeur, Montmartre.
2 lovers, Jardins des Tuileries.
same place for these bikers.
artists, Montmartre.
Trendy “Parisiennes”, or tourists.
shot with a Leica M6 and Ilford Delta 100.
some of my old and recent analog pictures in Tanzania while I was flying for Flying Medical Service.
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