As a traveler I aspire to keep a handwritten journal/sketch pad. It’s great fun to pull out my old journals and read all the goofy and sometimes awesome stuff I did on my adventures. It’s a place where I can write, scribble and store stuff in real time. I have pressed flowers, train tickets, attraction passes,…
Author: Liz
Exploring Vienna
This was our first full day on our round the world adventure without jet lag so we decided to explore Vienna. Thankfully the old city center is small enough to be circumnavigated in a day. The morning was cold and after some wonderful local food and amazing Viennese coffee we headed for St. Stephen’s Cathedral…
Around the World. The Journey Begins
The overnight flight from the USA to Switzerland was relatively uneventful except for a patch of turbulence that set me on edge. We had a few hours to spend in Zurich so naturally we walked around the most active, vibrant and beautifully lit parts of the city. That’s one of the perks of rail travel, the…
The Fog Drinkers, a Redwood Interlude
It’s difficult to capture the majesty of the forest. Forests feel different, magical, and the air makes you feel alive in a way that very few things can. Coastal Redwoods derive much of their water from fog droplets, may live as long as 1800 years and grow upwards of 350 feet. Stand among these ancient…
Photography and Pre-Visualization
What the heck is pre-visualization? This term was first popularized in the early 20th century by some of the great landscape photographers shooting their beloved large format view cameras. Changing environmental conditions and the fleeting moment required these photographers to have an exacting knowledge of the behavior and magical alchemy of light, lens, film, filter,…
Back to Basics, a Return to Film Photography
I grew up with the vinegary smell of stop bath so when I made the switch to digital I swore I was done with film. Yet here I am today, prepared to take the plunge back into the world of analog imaging. Why? Maybe I’m just being nostalgic but it seems like the analog process feels more…
Photo Awards, Efforts and Outcomes
It has been a busy month here at Curious Lizard. We are always active traveling, photographing, researching, exploring and printing. Our biggest challenge, and I think the biggest challenge of most people active in this medium, is trying to say more with our photographs. Hard work and hard efforts have borne fruit. In regional competitions we won…
Uighur Life, Xinjiang Provence China
For millennia Western China has been awash in the cultures of Central Asia. Some of their stories have been immortalized in The Arabian Nights and The Travels of Marco Polo. Uighurs are a Central Asian Turckic people living in the wind swept deserts of Xinjiang Provence in Western China. I hope you enjoy this photo-essay of a seldom seen…
Photographing Petra
This Roman era Nabatean city is one of the most photographed in the world. What do you think?
Travel Tales, Over the High Atlas Mountains
“Travel Tales with Curious Lizard and Adventure Squirrel.” Ep. 1 I really dislike riding backwards and as much as I wanted too, I couldn’t complain. Our ride was a twin propeller airplane and our flight path took us straight over the high Atlas Mountains. Gaining altitude as we flew a pattern of slow circles, Mustafa…