So here are some pictures that already uploaded to the group...many more will come in coming days. ENJOY !!!!

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Spice

I've done the first theme from the my year long photography project. Theme of the week (5-11 September 2011) is Spice. We don't really have farmer market, and Switzerland is not a country which is famous for its spicy foods either. So, only way to find a "good looking" spices are by going to the supermarket. So I went to Manor Supermarket this afternoon, cause I remembered they had their spices wrapped in a cone shape plastic wrapper.....and by a chance I found a 5 épices (5 spices powder), so finally...I've got myself a DOUBLE SPICE picture for this week. YAY !!!!!!

53 Weekly Photography Projects

Why not. At least, I will have something to distract me for the next 53-week :). I found the list of themes from one of the digital photograpy school starting from September 2011 - August 2012. Anyone bother to join me in this challange ?
September : 5 - Spice, 12 - The Kitchen, 19 - Autumn / Spring, 26 - Tools
October : 3 - Colors, 10 - My Neigbors , 17 - On The Shelf,  24 - Memories, 31 - Texture
November : 7 - Wind , 14 - Music , 21 - Gathering, 28 - Beyond Reach
December : 5 - Smiles, 12 - After, 19 - Winter / Summer , 26 - Oldness
January : 1 - Newness, 3 - Cold, 10 - Breakfast , 17 - Macro, 24 - Tired, 31 - Sleep
February : 7 - Body Parts, 14 - Romance , 21 - Spirit, 28 - Vegetables
March : 7 - Underneath , 14 - Spring / Autumn , 21 - Planning, 28 - Fools
April : 4 - Excitement , 11 - Work, 18 - Growth, 25 - Trees
May : 2 - Mother, 9 - Up, 16 - Anger, 23 - Temptation, 30 - Looking in
June : 6 - Party, 13 - Father, 20 - Swing, 27 Lighting Experimentation
July : 4 - Red, White, Blue , 11- Family , 18 - Summer / Winter, 25 - Time
August : 1 - Water, 8-Shadows, 15 - Peace, 22- Defeat , 29 - Sunset
I curious, how long I could survive this long list of photo themes ;)

New face of PyongBricole-dot-com

Destination Monday : China

I like to travel to see other part of the world that I've never seen, but sometimes, it's good to go back to the roots, that's what exactly what I will do, I will visit the land of my ancestor, the Middle Kingdom - China. My trip will begin from the capital city, Beijing, and continue to the extreme west part of China - Urumqi, Xinjiang, continue to Kashgar, and ended up at China's cosmopolitan - Shanghai.

I've been prepared my camera bag with my "can't live without" camera - Canon EOS 5D mark II, plus some lenses like EF 15mm f1.8 (Fish eye), EF 16-35mm f2.8L USM, EF 24-70mm f2.8L USM, and EF 70-300mm DO IS USM (to reduce the weight of my backpack, I have to leave my EF 70-200mm f2.8L IS USM behind). And for in case of emergency, I have my G11 with me in my pocket.

For now, I am in my train from Sion to Geneve Airport. I write to you all again later on today, during my transit in Charles De Gaule (if I have time LOL), otherwise, talk to you from Beijing.

Novita

Join my photography lessons on board MSC Splendida this Autumn!!!

So...the plan is that, this autumn we will take "LA PERLE NOIRE" Group on MSC Splendida, 16-23 September 2010, with Noelle (our cruise manager) as the companion. Then, here you go....she offered me a super cool offer, that I could give some photography lessons and advices to member of our group during this cruise. So basically, when we navigate on the sea, I will making some "coffee break" with our member and give them some hints or tips in taking picture, otherwise, when we are on-land, I will go with one of the group to accompany them and give some helps when they want to take pictures.

So for those who are interesting, you may have a look at the following program (well, it's in french), but just look at the price then you will understand LOL.

Any questions??? Please feel free to write a comment ot me, and I will answer you ASAP.

Cheers,

Novita

Hunting The Light - Part VI ( The end)

Last day of my trip with Hurtigruten MS Polarlys. I arrived 30 minutes late than scheduled at Kirkenes, which I didn't mind at all, at least I had more time to spend on the boat.

As instructed on the paper the night before, I had dropped my luggage to the nearest elevator on my level, so I only need to carry my 16-kg camera bag, plus my all-in hobo bag with me (I was over charged with things I carried with me). Tell me I if I am stupid, but I don't care, I skipped the breakfast, which is already included to the price of my room, instead I waited at the cafetaria until the waffle was ready, of course accompanied with the super good hot chocolate, and why I said I was stupid, because I had to pay for them from my own pocket.

Arrived at Kirkenes, I found my luggage outside the port, right next to the bus stop, and no one touch or steal it (hey, I was in Norway per say LOL). I took the bus for the center of Kirkenes, to be exact for the Rica Artic hotel, and this 10-minute trip cost me NOK 25, which is less expensive than either my waffle or my hot chocolate LOL. In between this trip, I saw something that mesmerized me. According to the information I found on the boat, Kirkenes had only about 5000 habitant, which mean, not that much people for a town. But what I saw during this trip was a huge cemetary on the road side, and I bet there hundreds of tombs stone on it. I wonder if it's the victim of the alcohol, because as I heard, people at Finnmark, where Kirkenes was situated, they never drink alcohol during the winter when the sun is up, but the problem, during winter, they never had sun, or the direct translation was, they were kinda "alcoholic" per say.

I actually had another night to pass on at Kirkenes before catching my flight to go back to Zurich the next day. I went to have a walk around Kirkenes, including visited the site of the famous "snow hotel" - they haven't built the hotel yet during that time cause the weather wasn't cold enough to hold the igloo with all it's electrecity supplies, took pictures of reindeers, huskies, and even almost got tailed by some "punk" teens.

Well, that's all the adventure I could share with you from this trip. I hope to travel again sometimes soon to the place where I could experience something totally abnormal so I could share my "bonheure" (hope I spelled it correctly" with you :)

*_* Novita

Hunting The Light - Part II (Felt in Love with Tromso)

Look at that picture, and tell me how not to falling in love with such a beautiful scenery.

Only thing that bothered me on the first day was, I felt either I was sleeping too long, or I didn't sleep at all. When I had my breakfast, I felt like I am ready to go to bed again, the sky was so dark outside LOL. Otherwise, it's all good.

It's not that difficult to not get lost in Tromso since there were only couple of main streets and other road that links you back to the main street. But be careful when you have to take the bus to the Artic Cathedral. I took bus no.24 from the square near the fish market since I wasn't in the mood to cross the bridge on foot. Basically, I should only took the bus to cross the bridge, and got off on the first stop. But the first stop, which is not too far from the Artic Cathedral was not so "touristic", so I was naively thought there must be another "touristic" stop which will be right on the door step of it. Wrong! I dragged myself to the "rural" of Tromso and I started to get panic, got lost on the day wasn't a big deal for me. I was born with a "built-in" GPS on me, which means, unless I got drunk, otherwise I won't get lost that easily. But lost in the "not-so" daylight time, that scared me out. I was lucky, I was in Norway, where the nicest people on earth living. So, the bus driver was so kindly stopped another bus with opposite direction, and let them know where I was heading too.

(to be continued...)

Greetings from the Alps

Hi, my name is Novita. I am making this special blog to share experiences and tips of traveling. I could say that I travelling quite a lot, and on the other hand, my family owns our own travel agent, which is a perfect combination in term of finding a destination and sharing tips with all of you guys. I regreted I didn't start it earlier, but, better late than never.

I live in Crans-Montana, which is located in on of the best ski-resort in Switzerland. My favorite destination, unlike my fellow Swiss who loves to do the sun-bathing, is cold-country a.k.a extreme northern hemisphere countries LOL, but since other member of my family love beaches, sometimes, we just went south.

My other passion is taking picture. I love to take artistic macro and landscape pictures, but while I am on inspection, I have no choice but taking the "detail reporter" pictures too :( More or less, I could also share a bit of my knowledge about camera, lenses, etc.

I am not only want to share idea, but also would love to listen from all of you. Feel free to left me a comment, but I do appreciate some courtesy since this is a public forum.

*Novita*