Category Archives: Photography
Regarding Coronado – Southern California – Summer 2014
Regarding Coronado: The Island is blindingly colorful, all deep reds, verdant greens, and shimmering blue waters. My visit coincidentally coincided with the 50th Annual Wizard of Oz Convention. Coronado is, of course, the inspiration for the original L. Frank Baum story, aptly nicknamed “The Emerald City.” Coronado’s library boasts a collection of every make and remake of the classic tale, and much of the library’s art revolves around the fictional land of Oz.
Outside the library, the streets are either lined with yellow sand or public art. Coronado was a beautiful way to begin my exploration of southern California. Walk around, get some ice cream, appreciate the art and architecture, and enjoy the greenery. I hesitate to recommend any specific destination on the Island, simply because some places are best enjoyed when explored.
Regarding Cabrillo: To be Continued
Regarding La Jolla: To Be Continued
Regarding Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area: To Be Continued
Regarding Historic San Diego – Southern California – Summer 2014
Regarding Historic San Diego:
The best and worst destinations have too much to see, too much to do. You are never bored while there, but you are disappointed with your inability to go everywhere at once, frustrated with how little time you allotted to see something that looked so small on a map.
In other words, Balboa Park.
In a city where temperatures tend to range from the high 50s to the low 70s (Farenheit), anywhere with that has “Park” in its name is a good bet. Our tour  group (free, ranger led, 11 AM on Tuesdays and Sundays) departed the cheerful visitors center, meandered past architecture that is younger than is looks and older than it should be, and lingered mirrored ponds. Together we strolled through a botanical wonderland, then onto an avenue of theater and knowledge, then into another garden, gently ceasing at the start of our circuit.
After that it was a curious race against time where no one could rush. Up to artists village, that glistened with glass and metal and sweat. That rang with bells and singing gourds and murmured praise.
The Museums? Not this sunny day, with a beating clock and a panting wallet. Not this trip, not this year.
The organs exalted from their pavilion – we listened from the plaza, and from a garden (or two), and a tea shop.
Then to a tiny ring of houses from the corners of the world. Each represented a country, or at least a country as immigrants twice removed remember it. Each house was a country represented with knickknacks and pastries. Dressed up in dusty posters and and faded clothes, all the more glorious for its unashamed half garbled inheritance.
The United Nations could have been a lackluster tribute, almost was a tacky giftshop, nearly was a PC parody. But its unassuming support of everything from free trade to organics to handcrafted art to world peace elevated it to a noble, global bazaar in a sunny, southern park.
Old Town – I enjoyed Old Town San Diego. I can’t claim that you will. This is because the most engaging, affordable, and funny aspects of my time there involved learning about history. Old Town State Park run free guided walking tours every day, teaching about early California history through anecdotes, original artifacts and reconstructed gardens. After the tour, we wandered in and out of shops that can only be described as charming, where we drank fresh brewed tea, ate pickles on a stick (what it sounds like), and looked at very expensive silverware. Old town makes for a good day for those interested in history and pleasant (if pricey) shopping.
Regarding Cabrillo: To Be Continued
Regarding La Jolla: To Be Continued
Regarding Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area: To Be Continued
Southern California – Summer 2014 – Regarding Channel Islands
Regarding Channel Islands: For unpleasant reasons, I did not have the chance to visit the islands proper. But the visitor center on the mainland (bear with me) lived up to its name, and was one of the best I’ve ever visited. National Park visitor centers at attractions devoted to the natural world tend to be more minimal; after all, the point of going to the park is more often than not to get outside. While a mountain or forest is enhanced by a visitor center, pointing out trails and warning of dangers, historic sites need visitor centers to explain why the site is important. So, finding engaging exhibits, enjoyable (if a bit retro) films, and innovative educational displays that could stand on their own merits was an unexpected delight. Though I fervently hope that the center is not the entirety of your Channel Island Trip, I urge you to leave some time to visit the garden, the live indoor tidepool, and, if you enjoy a little science, learn about the remarkable formation of those remarkable islands.
Regarding Cabrillo: To Be Continued
Regarding La Jolla: To Be Continued
Regarding Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area: To Be Continued
Southern California – Summer 2014 – Regarding Planes
Regarding Planes:
    
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I. Love. Airplanes.
 
 
I find the hassle of traveling through airport security to be the start of a welcome adventure, tinged with exotic excitement so apart from daily life. There is a childish excitement in the panic of shifting time schedules, delays and final departures. Growing up, my Dad’s insistence on arriving three hours early for every flight (five if international) never lessened the urgency with which we moved, every second counting, an exhilarating if exhausting hurry up-and wait. The confused and vicious hierarchy unique to these massive common areas it is at once as lawless as the Wild West, where the fastest draw is matched only by the most ruthless shot; as mysterious as medieval times, where wise Queens and Kings drift past, untouched by guards, crowned with gold memberships, inspiring rage and awe in the masses who claw at one another; and as quaint as the 50’s, filled with charmingly clunky electronics, dapper and sneering staff, hysterically blatant racism, mass misinformation, and above all, children first.
Once on the plane, I am, for want of a better word, comfortable. I am small and often prefer curling my legs beneath me to stretching out. I rarely find I need to use the bathroom while in flight, freeing me to jump for the window seat. The window seat is where the magic really happens. One friend, recounted her annoyance at a small child who spent the first and last hour of their flight repeating, “WHEEEEE! WHEEEEE!” Needless to say, my friend utterly failed to gain my sympathy, as I strongly identify with the anonymous child.
 
 
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The Great Pyramid of Giza is a little under 500 meters tall. The world’s largest swimming pool is around 1000 meters long. Mount Olympus in Cyprus peaks at approximately 2000 meters.  Lake Vostok in Antarctica is under 4000 meters of ice. Mount Everest rises 8,848 meters above sea level. Commercial airplanes fly, on average, at a height of 12,000m. In a plane, I have gone higher than history’s gods among men. Higher than anyone can walk or climb, in and above clouds. To where the ground is no more and my head pulses without the weight of the air that has spent  generations pressing in the skulls of humanity. On this trip, I saw a storm being born, clouds growing together and higher and darker till our metal ship shook.
     
     
At the end of the flight I picked up my bag and retraced my steps from the start of the flight. I dodged the same overhead luggage as before, shuffled slowly past the same seats, on the same sticky floor, nodded goodbye to the same attendants who greeted me, carefully stepped out the same door, down what appeared to be the same jet bride, into another manic airport, and outside, somewhere completely new. 
Regarding Cabrillo: To Be Continued
Regarding La Jolla: To Be Continued
Regarding Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area: To Be Continued
Southern California – Summer 2014 – Master Photo Post
Regarding Cabrillo: To Be Continued
Regarding La Jolla: To Be Continued
Regarding Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area: To Be Continued
People’s Climate March NYC
South Africa – Summer 2013
Spent the summer volunteering with Vision Africa Wildlife’s. Their horseback conservation program is a fantastic way to interact with the animals we worked with. I traveled through the program African Conservation Experience. ACE is connected with a diverse array of local organizations, and provides a safety net for conservation volunteers. It is one of the most affordable agencies of its kind, definitely the best option for older teenagers who want to make an impact without paying an unnecessary ‘babysitting fee.’  (Babysitting fee is how I mentally refer to the exorbitant price hike between identical travel conservation for 17 year olds as opposed to 18 year olds.) Of course you can work directly with Vision Africa – it is cheaper, but arranging transportation is a significantly greater challenge. I had an incredible experience, and would relish the opportunity to return, especially in the off season.
However most of these photos are not from the Umkwali Base Camp I stayed at, but Kruger National Park. Kruger is massive. Roughly the size of wales, and just one part of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park. Kruger is an excellent example of the muddled history and future of conservation: imperialism, species restoration, poaching, activism, archeology, systematic corruption, roadways, and, of course, tourism.
Tourists come from around the world, and the huge range of living areas within the camp mean a pretty large range of economic diversity. If you, like I, are used to United States National Parks, then you are in for a surprise. The biggest difference between traveling in S.A as compared to the U.S Tourists is – you can not leave your car. The few areas where you can leave your car are either a) gated like the hides and living areas, b) carefully sectioned off segments in the middle of a large bridge or, c) gift shops/rest areas patrolled by guards armed to take down a buffalo. You look in the vastness of one of the worlds last true wilderness – and you do it without legroom. My group stayed in the North, both weekends I traveled there, where we would travel on roads for hours without seeing another soul.
The tourists I interacted with at rest areas and within my own van were diverse enough that nearly every pack of humans found another exotic enough to photograph. As anyone who has ever traveled knows, some travelers – in one way another – make you ashamed to be associated with them, making you want to hide your camera and your accent just because they sully the name of tourist so horribly. This is probably the most important thing to remember when visiting Kruger (maybe even when visiting some other locations, I don’t know) – tourists are not the reason the park exists. “But the revenue! But the roads! But the lodges!” Tourists, I repeat are not the reason the park exists. They are part of the park, and they help the park, but they are not its purpose. There are so many different ways to interact with Kruger. Hannah played birdsongs on repeat. Chase snored during the day and went on night tours. Penelope alternated reading books on the wildlife and staring out the window. Daniel advocated being Vegan to anyone who would listen. And that’s just in one van! The nameless few who smoke and litter and poach and don’t clean up their sandwiches possess an entitlement that diminishes the ability of the park to function as a wildlife habitat. I genuinely believe this entitlement also brings more personal sorrow than joy. It is somewhat comforting to know that there is a place on earth where a species does not exist to be seen, but to live.
Though I do wish I had seen a lion.
– Jackie Of All Trades
Photography – Clocks and Time
Jaclyn Mira 
