Tools of the Travel Writing Trade: Brochures and Books

A Peek at Some of the Printed Material Used Daily

 

 

The books are used to conduct research but, they don't go along with me in my travels.

They cost money and add weight to a backpack so, they stay home.

Ten Reasons to Love Travel Brouchures

 

 

1.  They are free. Doesn't everybody like free stuff ?  Me, too. 

2.  You can fit them in your pack or, fold them and stick them in your pocket.

3.  Looking at them can help you plan your day's events.

4.  They contain maps which, give you a sense of directions.

5.  Photos in brochures give me ideas, of where I want to go and what I want to photograph.
 

6.  They show all the major attractions so, I know where everyone else is going.

7.  They list the mountains, beaches, campsites, trails and lookout points.
 

8.  Sunrise or sunset from an unusual or advantageous position, are in my travel plans.
 

Most travelers are doing other touristy things and, not near me during those hours.

9.  Great spots to observe wildlife and nature are always included.

10.  They are handy for writing about a trip after going home.

Websites, addresses and phone numbers, always come in handy when travel writing.

On occasion, brochures have been used as an umbrella or, to start a campfire.

Just remember, you can always get more.  They're free !

 

The City of Naha Can be More Fun Than Disneyland to Me

Springtime Seems to Have Been Postponed

 

 

Clouds and rain were predicted, again today.

Wednesday, is the only day of the week, Doc Graff and I go on our camera trips.

So, we chose Naha, the capital of Okinawa, to do some shooting.

A pavilion was built, in honor of the Guinness World Record Tug-O-War rope.

It's a lot easier to take photos when there isn't 250,000 people surrounding it.

When Doc, went in a travel and tourism office, I stayed outside.

They have this big movie screen out on the International Avenue (Kokusai Street) .

Tourists, from around the world, get to see themselves, on the big screen.

They smile, wave and even, get to dance with cartoon characters.

The show ended, before Doc got to see it so, we moved on down the street.

About the time, I got done making an image of this huge Shisa, the rain started.

So, we decided to go into some of the covered market streets.

The Big Movie Screen Started Up Again

 

 

When these gals gave permission to shoot, I didn't care about the rain.

There's no way, you'll ever catch me standing in the rain at Disneyland.

Everything here was free !

More About Naha, Capital of Okinawa, Japan

Published: Okinawa's Sabani Sailing People -- Photo Essay

 

Before Taking the Shot

 

The man with the red flag appeared to be a very important person.

What I like to do, is ask, before I take any photos.

Things can get pretty hectic, during an event like this and there wasn't any time for chatting.



Once he gave me the Thumbs Up, I was good to go. 

Crawling down the seawall was the only way to get this composition.

I wanted to separate him from the surrounding crowd.

Standing, directly to his right, were two other gentlemen, helping start the sabani race.

One blows a conch shell, the other beats a gong.

There may have been another, firing a starting gun. I wouldn't notice; I too was busy.

Weeks Later I Found a Name

 

 

The man with the red flag is, Ken Uehara.

He is the President of the Itoman Uminchu Art and Craft Center.

And, he is the Commissioner of  NPO  Hamasuki and Chairman of the Itoman Sailing Club.

More About Ken Uehara

My Photo Essay: Okinawa's Sabani Sailing People

 

 

One of these days, I'll be going to see if I can interview that man and visit his museum.

First, I want to finish this class I found, on sailing.

They give you free college classes at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Reading about sailing is alright.

It would be a lot smarter to get your feet and paddle wet before calling yourself a sailor.

Dontcha think ?



The Critters of UNESCO World Heritage Shuri Castle Pond

This Part of the Castle is Free

 

Today, the mission was supposed to be take pictures of a building on the pond.

The wildlife lens got left behind because, no critters were going to be shot.

Walking to the site Doc Graff and I  spotted these animals.

And he knows what that means.  Castle buildings can wait.

Because, I can be like a little kid in a candy store when there are critters around.

This turtle looked like he was trying to hitch a ride. That's what I'd tell the kids, anyway.

Moving around the pond, we saw all kinds and colors of fish.

The big ones are carp.  The little guys and turtles seemed to get along fine with them.

Nobody would pose so, plenty of digital film was used to capture these shots.

Who cares about UNESCO stuff, when these beauties are putting on a show ?

Not me.

The golden one was my favorite.

When I realized, about an hour later, we had to get moving, we ran across these ducks.

Some gals were feeding them.

Look at those little rascals.  

Click, Click, Click.  There was no sense passing this opportunity up.

Waiting for one to separate from the herd was the hardest part.

Just in case the boss thinks I wasn't at the Shuri Castle Pond, I took this photo.

Now I know, it can be called Ryutan Pond or, Iyugumui and, they made it in 1427.

Another thing.  I took five or six photos of the building, I was supposed to shoot.

  Got over 300 pictures of critters, though.

If you visit Shuri Castle you shouldn't miss this pond.

Everything there was FREE !

Mad Mike's Review: Here's A Guru Contact to Fix Your PC FREE !

YA HU HU HU, I FOUND A FREE PC GURU !

There are way too many photography programs, files and other doohickeys installed on my poor old workhorse Windows PC's for me to just throw them out in the street.

Even though I overextended myself a tad buying that Apple machine I like the way it keeps running without any interference from the Microsoft thugs.

An Apple guy, or gal, comes in every night, cleans the MAC and updates stuff while I'm sleeping.

Windows thugs are always waiting 'til I'm trying to do something important and throw stuff in my PC's to slow them down.

Then, when I decide I want to shut down and go home they say stuff like

"DO NOT TURN OFF THE POWER WE ARE INSTALLING SOMETHING".

And I usually say something like, "______ YOU !   I PAID FOR THIS COMPUTER".

EMPEROR BILLY GATES CAN'T TELL ME WHEN I CAN AND CAN'T GO HOME.

I DON'T WORK FOR NO DICTATORS.

Anyway, to make a long story short, I'm going to keep using the PC's I bought from the Windows thugs until they melt down because I have so much invested in software I installed on them.

In the past I have had some malware bugs, had to buy programs to gobble up worms and even did a Mad Mike's Review on REGISTRY MECHANIC.

With Registry Mechanic, Spy Doctor, and McAfee I managed to keep things running.

All of a sudden, a new year rolls around and everybody wants their annual fees.

GROAN

Well, one of my PC's just locked up on me yesterday while I was trying to shut it down.

It was three hours SHUTTING DOWN and wouldn't quit.

So, I yanked out the power cord, flipped the laptop over, ripped out the battery and got it to shut off !

Have no fear.  I'm a patient sort of individual.

For the whole three hours the stupid thing wouldn't quit shutting down, I was on the MAC doing my research.

For every problem a Windows PC can have there are hundreds of people just like that

EMPEROR BILLY GATES

They want you to sign up, login, give your email address, try this free program so we can fix your Windows PC, install some more bugs and sell you the NEW IMPROVED VERSION OF OUR SPECIAL SUPER BUG CLEANER.

THEY WANT TO BE EMPEROR ENTREPRENEURS, TOO !

THE GURU TO CONTACT AT YAHOO ANSWERS:

GREGG DESELMS

Now, the problem I linked you to was for Windows is getting stuck at "Shutting Down" screen.

But, read the whole article and you'll find FREE FIXES FOR ALL KINDS OF STUFF.

What I did was tune up both my PCs with the things I found there and they're screaming, now.


Read  Gregg's profile and email him if you'd like.

The best kind of Guru to contact is one that's free.

This Guru gets a five star Mad Mike's Review from me !

People Reflections at Naha Dragonboat Festival 2011 (Photos)

There are still hundreds of Dragonboat photos in the development stage and I'll be posting them shortly.  Meanwhile, here are some shots I took between the races.  Things to do on a rainy day in Okinawa.

When the rain slacks off for a few minutes, the light is just right and no wind or movement disturb the water it can be the same as standing on a mirror.

Children in bright yellow raincoats make terrific subjects, if they'll to stay motionless for a second.

            Adults are easier to capture when you can find them standing in the lighting you want.

           Every now and again, even a teenager will hold still to have a cell phone conversation.

                                For larger crowds you have to back off and go wide angle.

    Where there's enough room to move left, right, up and down it's easier to get the best reflections.

           This couple was very cooperative but, the little Bulldog didn't want to get his feet wet.

Turn a little tyke loose in a puddle at a festival and it's better than watching entertainment on the stage.

        If you think I was miserable at the Dragonboat races, getting rained all day, you're wrong. 

It was so much fun wandering around looking at people reflections I almost missed the boat races!

There will be plenty more photos of the Naha Okinawa Dragonboat races and the teams that were there posted here and in my wesbite gallery as they get processed.  Please be patient and if you happen to know someone who enjoys writing about these events, making no money at it (like I do), have them contact me through my website.  I'll give them all the free photos they can eat !

Visit my Homepage for THE PHOTO OF THE DAY

Birding, Birdwatching and a Brand New Bird Site

There's a brand new site for all people who like birds and I almost forgot to tell everybody about it. This one's a gem!

The guy who started it, I'll let him tell you about himself, if he wants to. All I can say is I've known his family for many years and I can guarantee he's an upright citizen. I first met him years ago right here in Okinawa, Japan. He was just a little guy back in the last century. He's grown up since then.

Probably, I wouldn't bet any money on myself if I had to arm wrestle the guy. Anyway, I hope he doesn't get too upset over me snagging the logo off his website to show you, because I plan on using it to get more members, from around the globe, to sign-up and check out this new bird site.


WHY NOT?  EVERYTHING IS FREE, FREE, FREE !!!


There are several Bird or Birding organizations I am a member of because I happen to enjoy wildlife photography. Some even list me as a photographer for their organizations. That's cool but, I'm not really what I consider to be a Birder. Those people are really into birds. Me, I just shoot birds (with a camera) because they happen to be where I am at the time. If there are no birds around when I'm out, I'll shoot bugs, snakes, butterflies, wild dogs, pigs, dragonflies, bees, fish and even pink elephants if they show up. If it's a wild critter I want a picture of it in the wild.

Well, I got an invite to join this Birder's Network a few weeks ago and was kind of surprised. The Grand Opening is today January 5th, 2011 and they started signing members up back in late November. There's already people from Canada, Colombia, Hungary, India, Japan, UK, USA, Venezuela and Uruguay in there. I think there's enough room to fill up pages with folks from every country in the world. So, thats what I want to help them try to do; fill the place up.

So, if you like birds, even if you're not a birder or bird watcher, just want to look at birds pictures or find out what they sound like, what they eat, where they go when they migrate, how they mate or what kind of bird dropped something on your windshield this is the site for you.

On the other hand, if you really are are birder and want to contribute your expertise to help the uneducated masses (another crowd I belong to) you are cordially invited. There are already several, real professional birders on the site but, there's always room for more.

From what little time I've spent on the Birder's Network I can tell you this: It's real easy to navigate and there are plenty of excellent resources available on the site. For a brand new bird site, I'm amazed at what's been posted so far. There are more than ample links to well-established bird organizations that I've used in the past to help me identify some birds that had me stumped. And, there are links to sites I've never heard of before but, will be using in the future.

Go have a look at birdersnetwork.com and you'll find one Michael R Lynch there, that'd be me. You can tell them RyukyuMike sent you but, don't mention the logo I borrowed, OK?

An Experiment With Flickr

Here's a shot of Masateru Yamamoto (Center) surrounded by Tatsuya Taujino, Hideyuki Kurasawa, Norimasa Tanaka and Yoshimitsu Shinkawa a fine group of folks I met in the village of Ada Kunigami Okinawa, Japan when I was getting ready to climb the mountain just before the Shinugu Matsuri. They were visitors to Okinawa from somewhere up in the mainland and I got the big fellow to sign a release form in exchange for a promise to email him a copy of the photo.

My wife made me these neat Model Release Forms (In Japanese Kanji). They say something like "Put your name, address, email, phone number HERE and the guy with the camera will give you a FREE PHOTO. In exchange for that you give him permission to enter your photo in contests, have it published in magazines, sold in his gallery, or anything else that ain't against the law, like printed on Madonna's underwear she keeps forgettin' to wear.

Anyhow, after emailing the big guy the photo and finding out he wanted a larger size, I asked him if he'd like to have it published in a magazine. The only catch being, everybody in the photo would have to give me their names and consent to be published. Some magazines are picky about things like that, so, I have to make sure I do the stuff legal-like; magazines don't want to get sued and neither do I, over a picture I took.

Well, a few days later Masateru emailed me with everybody's names and not only permission to have the photo published, they asked to be published and wanted me to tell them where and when they'd be published. So, I stuck the photo on flickr and emailed them a LINK to show them their photo with names in the caption and everything. Then, I went about trying to REALLY GET THEM PUBLISHED. I could tell they had been looking and showing their girlfriends, or somebody, because as of yesterday the photo IMGP4586 had EIGHT VIEWS !!!

Last night the photo was REALLY PUBLISHED and I StumbledUpon, Tweeted, Delicious Bookmarked and FaceBooked it. Then, went back and added
my magic to the photo on Flickr.

Them Dudes got A HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FOUR HITS, OVERNIGHT !

That's the magic of using Model Releases, your social networks and Flickr, properly and legally. They get their names and faces in print and all kinda folks hittin' on them and I can't get sued.

Gotta run now, though. I think Madonna's lookin' for me!