E-Photomania: Extraordinary

Showing posts with label Extraordinary. Show all posts

World Dangerous Roads - Part 3

1. Road from Tibet to Nepal: sheer drops

We finally have some photos documenting hair-raising twists and drops of the road from Tibet, China (Lhasa) to Nepal (Kathmandu) - courtesy of Tatiana, whose father took these pictures in October 2006 (He was also a witness to the crash right in front of him) - The 1000 km long Friendship Highway includes seven 3500 meters passes, with one pass as high as 5000 meters. Most of the road is pretty manageable driving, although is has some rather fascinating parts:

(images via)
See more pictures of the road from Lhasa here (thanks, Cee!)

"There are some crazy "roads" in Nepal as well. The road to Besisahar is a
road in name only, and it's the only route to the most popular trekking path (the Annapurna Loop) in Nepal".

2."The Halsema Highway" in the Philippines.
Greg Brennan sent us some interesting pictures of this route, and it seems to fit the bill as one of the most precarious and shudder-inducing roads out there.

Greg writes: "The Halsema Highway, also known as the Baguio-Bontoc Road, runs through the Central Cordillera Valley on the island of Luzon in The Philippines. The beginning of the highway starts off slightly paved and quickly turns to dirt. It is approximately 150 miles long and takes about 10 hours to get from Baguio city to Sagada on a nice day. It is known for rock slides, mud slides and buses driving dangerously fast on its narrow passage. It also goes through some of the more remote provinces in The Philippines. There are many accidents and overturned buses on a yearly basis. Often there are sheer drop offs of over 1000 feet without a guard rail. During the rainy season it is nearly impassable."

(images credit: Greg Brennan)

UPDATE for the Bolivian Road of Death:

Bolivian Buses

These buses travel the Road of Death, and in themselves evoke solemn speculations about reasonable risks, life/death and possible breakdowns in impossible locations:

They are definitely not an air-conditioned coaches, and their technical condition often is a matter of prayer, not engineering.

Here is a rare look inside such bus...

...as it negotiates a road ahead:

Rob has a wonderful account of traveling on buses in Bolivia, and helping to clear a few rock slides along the way...

(images credit Rob)

Send us more pictures of buses in Bolivia;
their drivers especially deserve utmost respect.

Until next installment in a series, I leave you with this mystery photo: is it Photoshoped? If not, this Jeep is certainly not going anywhere...

The Result: Out of This World

A glorious, almost Mandelbrot-like complexity is simply striking in this "Glitter" photograph (our favorite):

Unusual, over-saturated colors show up inside crystal clear waves, reflecting kaleidoscopic world around them:

There is also a place for pure abstraction, even psychedelic touches:

This image is titled "The Twelve Disciples" - see if you can spot some faces inside that wave, too:

Here is perhaps his most famous image: the wave's "mohawk", an amazingly colorful splash, featured recently inside National Geographic magazine:

Another singular splash:

Inside the belly of the beast: "The Twister" photograph shows what a violent wave is made of -

Even in the absence of killer monster waves, the shorebreak art can look slightly alien... Here is the little "Frosty" guy:

(all images copyright Clark Little)

Inside a Wave: Epic Photography by Clark Little

Monster Waves... Tricky Lighting... Astounding risk... Timeless Photographs.

"The Shorebreak Art of Clark Little" is nothing short of epic. Getting inside, over and under 30-40 foot waves is no small feat, especially with bulky camera equipment, and a goal of finding that perfect angle and lighting condition that makes a perfect shot.

(all images copyright Clark Little, used with permission)

Clark Little is pretty well known today as the foremost shorebreak art photographer (his art has been seen on "Good Morning America", and featured in a number of glossy magazines all over the world). But as much as we like the fantastic shots of various wave' innards, we are even more impressed to see him pitched against dangerous, massive amounts of water - violent waves, where you only have a moment to make that shot and to get out of the harm's way.

With exclusive permission of Clark Little Photography we publish today the rarely-seen photographs of Clark Little heading with his camera into...

Into the Vortex!