Nature Travel & Street Photography

National Geographic published an article back in January 2006 on the grandeur of the Grand Canyons. The article, aptly named, The Unexpected Canyon (http://www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0601/feature3/), with photographs from Mike Nichols, reveals the immense possibility of challenges and discoveries that the canyons still hold for us. Apart from being a geological treasure chest that reveals of our past and evolution, the grand canyon has been a strong beckon to tourists, explorers, hikers, naturalists and climbers for ages. The fact that US government has preserved the land in its own shape and form and the land requires some amount of hardship to reach and explore, probably raised the charm amongst the visitors.

But business and the lure of exploitation could not keep away from this treasure spot for long. The sky walk, built by Californian businessman David Jin, was envisioned in 1996 and finally open to the public in March - April 2007. Charging $25 per visitor, this is planned to be a strong attraction for tourists. David Jin would collect the money for 25 long years (averaging a low of 100 visitors a day, this could be as much as $ 60 million dollars).

While on one hand lies the question of the Hualapai tribe using their priveledges to rent the land for income (they will own the skywalk while David Jin keeps half the money for himself), on the other side, lies the technical ability of the structure to hold on safely for so long. The 70 feet walk, hanging 4000 feet over the Colorado River on the Grand Canyon, is built by steel and glass drilled 40 feet into the porous canyon walls.

Read the article on National Geographic here. The original article read “It’s the most iconic of American landscapes, yet the Grand Canyon still has the power to surprise.” As long as the bridge is the last of such surprises, its good news. And as long as another amusement park does not invest another few millions to create roller coasters, I guess, we are happy.

For those of you who have not heard his name, Dr. Alan Rabinowitz is the Director of Science and Exploration for the Wildlife Conservation Society . It’s a Bronx Zoo based wildlife nurturing and ecological preservation agency that does world wide researches and undertakes preservation and conservation initiatives.

I recently saw one of the documentaries by Dr Alan Rabinowitz made by the National Geographic Society - titled In Search of the Jaguars. It details the life and the heroic work of Dr Alan from his early days growing up in Brooklyn, NY to the rest of his life spent in an undying effort to save the Jaguars in Central America.

Although the Jaguar project of Central America has taken up the most of Dr Alan’s better life, he is also known to discover the smallest deer species - the leaf deer and communicating with the Tarons - the Mongolian pygmies who faced  near extinction. The documentaries are published in his book “Beyond the Last Village“.

While you read and see his work, you get to realize what an immense source of strength this person had been throughout his life. Refusing to  give up at daunting challenges, he has fought over twenty five years of his life for the safety and preservation of some of the most fragile species and cultures of our planet.

Today, while his Jaguar project has gained some momentum and has interested similar minded conservationists, Dr Alan Rabinowitz  is facing a harsh reality. He has been diagonized with Leukemia. But not deterred by his physical challenges, Dr Alan Rabinowitz continue to lead the conservation initiatives till today.

You could read more about him on the web at Save the Jaguar. As a last note, the Wildlife Conservation Society runs completely from donations and some of their most critical projects are funded out of donations from people who want to save this planet.

New Hampshire in the North east United States becomes a magnificent region of colors during fall. We had been on the Kancamagus Highway in late fall of 2005. Beating the few days of rain and the mist, we could catch some breath taking colors that painted the mountains.

Here is an impressionistic look from the cascade falls.

You could read more about this trip on photoduniya.com in the notes & travel logs section.

Impression of New Hampshire

Slowly I am getting to reach the bottom of the stack! It must be over a thousand slides that I am reviewing. And although some of the things could have been done better, or differently, I did have a few shots that I am beginning to like.

Here is one more from that collection - a combination of golden yellow poppies and cyclamen,  swaying gently in the warm breeze against the blue sky.

This image is also shot on Provia 100 and scanned at 1800 dpi. Should you need more information on the subject or the image, please visit photoduniya.com or write to ranjaymitra@hotmail.com.

California Poppy and Cyclamen