Sophia Dembling’s audio slideshow ‘My Travels, My Feet’ got me thinking about what type of photographer I am. In a nutshell, I’d say a bad one. I’ve never mastered the concept of apertures, focal lengths, and shutter speeds. Even point and shoot cameras have me puzzled. And yet, at last count, I own six cameras. There are two SLR film cameras (one that never really even made it out of the box), a film point and shoot, a digital SLR compact, and a digital point and shoot. And let’s not forget that the cell phone also has a camera.

With all that equipment, you’d think I’d be able to get in a decent shot or two. And occasionally I do. But for the most part, I still manage to cut of people’s heads, end up with crooked buildings, and shadows in all the wrong places.

But it doesn’t really matter, cause taking photos is fun.

By the way, that’s my ‘foot’ photo. But unlike Sophia’s feet photos, it wasn’t planned. Just another photo dud.

If you want to check out Sophia’s feet photos, then head over to World Hum. It’s definitely worth the trip.

Hearing that the Taliban were destroying hundreds of religious statues and temples in Afghanistan in 2001 was a life changing moment for photographer Tito Dupret. Their actions inspired him to document UNESCO’s World Heritage sites in QTVR panoramas. And it has turned into his life’s work. For the past seven years, he has been on the road, traveling from one amazing location to another, camera in hand, determined to create panographies of each and every World Heritage site. So far, 253 of his panographics are posted on the WHTour site that he has been creating.

Panography is what he does and he is good at it. So if you fancy a visit to a World Heritage site but don’t have the time or the money to physically get there, go 360 with Tito instead. It’s the next best thing to being there yourself.

I’ve just been visiting Nubia in Egypt. I stood outside Abu Simbel and did the 360, looking first at the monuments, turning slowly towards the sea. I looked down at sand and up to the towering monuments. I zoomed into and out of the scene as I pleased, like I was holding the camera myself. It truly felt like I was there.

WHTour is one site not to be missed.

So excuse me while I head back there again. It’s time to go inside Abu Simbel…

But first, I’m going to sign up and become a member of WHTours. That way, I can get full screen access to all of the panoramic photographs plus be notified when new panographies appear.

And if you want to know more about the project and the photographer, then have a read of these two interviews:

An Update on World Heritage Traveler and Photographer Tito Dupret

A Conversation with Tito Dupret About His World Heritage Tour

Happy virtual traveling.

A few days back we posted the winners for our Remarkable Photo Contest running in Perceptive Travel. Follow that link to see the three champs and the honorable mentions, but here is the winning shot, which was picked in the top three by all of the judges.

This was shot by Lola Akinmade of Virginia, who is no slouch when it comes to photos. Here’s her blog and portfolio site. In the latest “it’s a small world” evidence, she has also done articles for GoNomad and Transitions Abroad.

Want to win something yourself, real easy? Follow this link to win two books from Rory MacLean, or follow the directions on the Perceptive Travel home page to get a free t-shirt.

Do you have a flair for taking unusual and striking travel photos? Do the too-perfect fashion, food, and hotel lobby shots in the typical glossy travel mag make you yawn?

Then head over to the just-announced Remarkable Photo Contest at Perceptive Travel. We are going to be giving away a bunch of prizes, including the LowePro CompuDaypack bag pictured here–a $70 value. Also up for grabs are a $50 gift certificate, your choice of a Perceptive Travel shirt, and (ahem) my new book co-authored with Rob Sangster called Traveler’s Tool Kit: Mexico and Central America.

Last year’s contest garnered around 50 entries. Follow this link for the great photos that won. We will probably get more this time since our audience is now bigger and that contest was only focused on Asia. Still, we don’t exactly have National Geographic’s readership, so your odds are pretty good.

What are we and the judges looking for? Not the same ole same old, that’s for sure. Wow us, surprise us, give us an image that will sear itself into our brains and still be there two years from now. Send something that will make us stop multi-tasking and actually focus on the screen for more than two seconds. In short, a digital photograph that is…remarkable.

A max of two entries per person. See the announcement for the short and sweet rules.

Some of my friends refer to me as the rainmaker: wherever I go it always seems to rain. In 2005 I spent the whole year travelling – shooting a book on Islands around the World. In all but one of these places I saw some rain. Sometimes just a few minutes – other times a few days. I have been to supposedly drought-struck Ethiopia three times, and been rained on each time! Sod Bob Geldoff, what Ethiopia really needs is me. I might not be able to feed the world, but I can certainly make sure that it is watered!

I mention this because I am currently in Marrakech, and after four clear and sunny days, it has just coded over and delivered a short sharp shower, which has sent everyone running for cover.

Marrakech is a cool place – just three hours from London, and still steeped with the mysticism of North Africa. It also has a good sprinkling of spas and decent restaurants to help the style-conscious traveller recover from a day pounding the unbelievably sprawling souk desperate to discover something that they actually want. As well as the miles of tourist tat, there are spice markets, selling all manner of medicinal herbs and spices (and even tortoises and chameleons as pets as well as worryingly a number of leopard skins)

The main square in Marrakech is the Jemaa el Fna which loosely translated means ‘the place where tourists come to watch Moroccans in funny hats mistreating animals and small boys’. Actually in means assembly of the dead, which sounds tremendously nihilistic.

All manner of crazy north African entertainment is on show here: snake charmers torment reptiles, including stuffing them in glasses of water, and shoving eggs in their mouths – then introduce them to captured chipmonks presumably to prove they are still poisonous (I didn’t wait around to find out). Caleche drivers whip aged horses to a gallop, and enterprising fellows walk around with barbary apes on chains and force them to pose with tourists. Later in the evening, young boys are encouraged to box to the delight of the locals who crowd around like they are watching a playground fight. On a non-animal theme, old water sellers dressed up in pom-pom hats and African drummers with hat tassels charge for photos. At night, scores al fresco foodstalls spring up, selling freshly cooked seafood and grilled meats.

Update: I have just got back from a particularly damp evening stroll and a selection of food from these stalls and it is still raining. But I am not worried. Luckily I invested in the Time Out Guide to Marrakech for this trip. They started off as the London weekly listings magazine and have no diversified. into guidebooks with a particular emphasis on funky lively places that people go to for long weekend breaks. Now someone I was speaking to yesterday who made the mistake of buying the (Australian) Lonely Planet guide told me that there were no bars in the ancient and holy Medina, which makes up the centre of Marrakech. My Time Out guide lists five – six if you count the Kosybar, which is mainly a restaurant. Let that be a lesson to you: buy British. We always know where to get a drink, and what to do when it rains!

Words and pictures © Steve Davey 2008