Blog — Andy Mumford Photography

SWITCHING TO FUJI - FIRST IMPRESSIONS

SWITCHING TO FUJI - FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Over recent months I’ve read so many blog posts about photographers ditching their Nikon or Canon gear to switch to Fuji, and now here I am, writing my own as I undergo my own conversion.

There have already been so many “why I switched to Fuji” articles written (I know because I’ve read most of them) so I’m really not sure what I can add to what’s already out there on the web. But while reading these articles, I find myself always wondering if the writer's photographic style/process/needs/whatever are the same as mine, and so whether my experience with changing systems will be as effortless as theirs. I found myself thinking “but will I be able to do this or that like I can with my D800 with a Fuji” and occasionally, I wasn’t able to find an answer in existing blogs that completely satisfied me. I guess I was just looking for reassurance that I really could switch over from a full frame Nikon to a smaller lighter Fuji camera and have no regrets.

Fujifilm, EquipmentAndy MumfordJuly 19, 2015fujifilm, fuji x series, fuji, xt10, xt1, comparison Comments

ALTIPLANO PART 4: LAKE TITICACA AND LA PAZ

ALTIPLANO PART 4: LAKE TITICACA AND LA PAZ

Flying into La Paz must be one of the most dramatic introductions to a city anywhere! On the short flight from Sucre we looked out of the window at large dusty plain of the Altiplano below us and slowly the outskirts of El Alto, the La Paz suburb which has become a city in it's own right, began to appear. Then the massive peak of Illumani, the highest mountain in Bolivia, the top of which seemed to reach to the same altitude as our plane, loomed into view. Then, below us, the streets and buildings of El Alto seemed to disappear over the edge of a cliff beneath the peaks of the mountains and a valley which resembled a crater or a bowl appeared. Lining the sides of the crater and tumbling all the way to the bottom is the city of La Paz, or Cidade da Nuestra Señora La Paz (City of Our Lady of Peace) to give it it's full name.

Landscapes, Travel, AltiplanoAndy MumfordDecember 25, 2014bolivia, lake titicaca, isla do sol, la paz, tarrabuco, altiplano, landscape, cordillera realComment

ALTIPLANO PART 3: SALAR DE UYUNI TO SUCRE

ALTIPLANO PART 3: SALAR DE UYUNI TO SUCRE

Salar de Uyuni seemed to appear around us almost unexpectedly. One moment we were driving through a valley, and then the peaks to either side of us seemed to start receding into the distance at the same time as the sand and mud below the wheels gradually gave way to salt. All of a sudden we realised we were crossing the Salar, an ocean of flat whiteness that disappeared into the distance on all sides.

At first the salt plain felt and looked dirty and grubby, but as we got further and further into it, it became more and more pristine in it's whiteness, the sun reflecting brilliantly from the salt crystals.

Altiplano, TravelAndy MumfordDecember 19, 2014BOLIVIA, altiplano, salar di uyuni, salt lake, sucre, luna salada, isla de pescadores, incahusi, parque nacional eduardo avaroa, potosi, tahua, tunupa, uyini, viagems, bolivia salt lakeComment

ALTIPLANO PART 2: BOLIVIA AND THE SOUTHERN ALTIPLANO

ALTIPLANO PART 2: BOLIVIA AND THE SOUTHERN ALTIPLANO

We woke up early and dropped off the jeep off at the car rental in San Pedro before meeting a driver who would take us across the border to meet our guide in Bolivia. Chilean guides aren't allowed to operate in Boliva and vice versa, so there's always this system of being picked up in a van or minibus, taken though Chilean border control (just outside San Pedro) and then into Bolivia through their border control at the foot of Licancabur Volcano. Here, people meet their guides and continue the rest of the way in very sturdy 4x4s.

We'd gone through an agency called Ruta Verde to organise a private trip. Usually the jeeps are crammed with 4 to 6 people, but I knew that would make it much more difficult for me to stop where I wanted for how long I wanted to take photos, so we'd managed to arrange a tour and pretty much specified where we wanted to go and for how long (for example, I wanted to spend 2 nights at Salar de Uyuni). Our guide was Raul, a native of Uyuni, who'd been guiding people around this part of Bolivia for 10 years.

Altiplano, TravelAndy MumfordDecember 7, 2014bolivia, altiplano, oja de perdiz, parque nacional eduardo avaroa, laguna honda, laguna hedionda, laguna colorada, desierto de soliol, bolivian altiplano, flamingos, laguna verde, sol de manana, laguna brancoComment

ALTIPLANO PART 1: SAN PEDRO DE ATACAMA

ALTIPLANO PART 1: SAN PEDRO DE ATACAMA

It's been about two months now since we returned from South America, and our trip across the Altiplano from San Pedro de Atacama in northern Chile to Lake Titicaca in Bolivia. As I wrote in my previous blog about the trip, it's a place I've wanted to see for about as long as I've been interested in photography. It's a genuinely remote and extreme part of the planet with landscapes that look like they belong on Mars rather than our own green and blue planet.

We flew to Santiago de Chile via Madrid, one of the longest single flights I've ever done. Not only do you cross the Atlantic Ocean, but also the whole of the south American continent and move from the northern hemisphere to the south. We flew overnight, arriving in Santiago early in the morning and caught the bus to the centre of the city. It's always said that Santiago is South America's most European city, and although I can see why people say that, to us it really didn't feel particularly European. It's incredibly wide streets have all the signs of a city that was built for cars like most of the cities I've seen in both North and South America. Still, we'd decided to stay for a night, and soon found our room in the Lastarria district. We spent the afternoon wandering around the city, trying the food and enjoying the atmosphere before having a great meal in the evening.

Altiplano, Landscapes, TravelAndy MumfordNovember 14, 2014atacama, altiplano, san pedro de atacama, lascar, chile, boliviaComment

HEADING TO THE ALTIPLANO

HEADING TO THE ALTIPLANO

On Sunday we're going to the airport to head off on another adventure. This time we'll be flying to Santiago do Chile, before heading to Calama in northern Chile and then on to San Pedro de Atacama, our base for the beginning of a trip across the Altiplano which will take us all the way to Lake Titicaka

This trip has been on the agenda for a long time now, I can well remember sitting in a bookshop in Brazil after we'd just left the Amazon about 7 years ago, reading the Footprint Guide to Bolivia and trying to find out information on crossing the Altiplano from San Pedro de Atacama to the Salar de Uyuni. Since then, I've kept returning to the document on my computer with an outline of a dream itinerary for this trip and researched the area a little more, and then finally last summer we took the plunge and decided to make serious plans to actually do it.

Altiplano, Landscapes, TravelAndy MumfordAugust 9, 2014bolivia, chile, altiplano, uyuniComment

MYANMAR PART 7: NGAPALI

MYANMAR PART 7: NGAPALI

Ngapali, in Burma's Rhakine state on the west coast of the country, was our last stop on our trip around Burma. We'd chosen it because we thought that after 2 weeks of traveling around Burma (as well as Bangkok) it would be great to just unwind on a beach next to the ocean for a few days.

It wasn't just about doing nothing though. We'd chosen accommodation at the very southern end of the long beach right next to a local village, giving me the opportunity to photograph the fishermen and villagers bringing the fish in at sunrise and sunset.

The flight in, on perhaps the smallest plane we went on throughout the trip, took us over huge swathes of the forest of Rhakine state. It's a fascinating, but troubled part of the country which has seen conflicts between the state army and local separatists who've disputed this area for years. The area is also home to one of the largest undisturbed forests in south east Asia, which runs for almost a thousand kilometers to the border with Bangladesh in the north.

Burma, Travel, Street PhotographyAndy MumfordJune 12, 2014ngapali, burma, myanmar, rhakine, south east asia, GyeiktawComment

MYANMAR PART 6: BAGAN

MYANMAR PART 6: BAGAN

After spending three hours at dawn on the top terrace of Shwesandaw pagoda we were hungry and ready for breakfast.
The terrace had been packed for sunrise, but immediately after the sun came up a lot of people had disappeared and it was easier to move around and take in the views across the plain in different directions. By the time we left some local kids had come to the top of the temple and were hustling the tourists, selling postcards and posing for photos

We saw more kids hustling in Bagan than anywhere else in Burma, which isn't surprising really as it's one of Burma's most popular and long established tourist attractions. On leaving the hotel after breakfast to explore the temples a young girl immediately approached us and after (very sweetly) asking us if we'd like to buy some postcards, proceeded to pull a brand new Penguin paperback of Orwell's Burmese Days from her dress and ask us if we'd like to buy it. She said it was "very good" and I asked her if she'd read it, to which she smiled in a kind of you-know-I'm-not-being-strictly-honest kind of way and said "Yes, of course. It's very good."
In all the time we were in Burma we never found these encounters tiresome or awkward. The kids were always polite and not particularly persistent, and it never felt like a pressure, but at the same time it is sad that the kids don't go to school because they can make money selling to tourists.

Burma, Landscapes, TravelAndy MumfordApril 24, 2014burma, myanmar, bagan, shwedagon, pythanda, temples, buddhismComment

MYANMAR PART 5: SUNRISE AT BAGAN

MYANMAR PART 5: SUNRISE AT BAGAN

Back when we first started looking into this trip, when we'd decided to go to Asia but weren't sure which country yet, the more I looked at Burma and saw places like Golden Rock and Inle, the more I wanted to go there. However, it was seeing photos of Bagan and reading descriptions of the vast plain covered with thousands of ancient temples that really made us decide "We have to see this place!"

Because of the route we'd chosen to travel around Burma Bagan was one of the last places on our itinerary, and despite all the amazing places we'd seen before there'd always been a sense of anticipation about finally getting to Bagan.
As it turned out, our plane landed at night and driving from the airport to our hotel in Old Bagan we couldn't really see much, just the odd tantalizing glimpse of a couple of large illuminated temples between the trees.

Burma, Landscapes, TravelAndy MumfordApril 16, 2014burma, myanmar, bagan, shwesandaw, pagodos, temples, telephoto landscapes, mist, dawn, sunriseComment

MYANMAR PART 4: MANDALAY

MYANMAR PART 4: MANDALAY

Mandalay.

The name itself evokes images of exotic places, far away lands. It's one of those magical names like Sahara, Amazon and Himalaya, which when I was growing up seemed to belong to places so distant and foreign and alien that they couldn't really exist.

Of course, as I got older, and as my fascination with travel got stronger and deeper, I realized that these places are all real and that with a little will power and dedication it was perfectly possible to actually go there and see them. Even so, Mandalay is a place name that everyone knows (thanks mostly to Kipling's poem, Road To Mandalay but I knew very little about. As I researched it for the trip, I began to realize more and more that it would be a fascinating place to spend some time, the spiritual heart of Burma, more monks and nuns as a ratio of the population than anywhere else in the country, three former capital cities in Mandalay, Amarapura and Inwe (two suburbs/towns to the south) and a city with a huge amount of traditional craft and trade.

MYANMAR PART 3: LAKE INLE

MYANMAR PART 3: LAKE INLE

After leaving Yangon, we flew to Lake Inle in the highlands of Shan State. It was one of those places that when I was researching Burma, couldn't believe really existed. A huge lake populated with floating villages, entire communities living on the lake, it looked amazing. Of course, there are already plenty of photographs of the lake, and in particular, the fishermen who make their living there with their distinctive style of paddling with one leg, but I hadn't really seen much photography that gave me a clear impression of the different communities that lived there.

We arrived on a small plane from Yangon in late afternoon. Internal flights in Burma really are an experience, your luggage is wheeled onto the the plane in a small cart, and then on arrival at your destination, it's wheeled into the arrivals hall and pretty much dumped on the floor. Getting your luggage can be a bit of a free-for-all, and this was our first experience of it. By the time we left Burma, we'd made 4 more internal flights and were pretty much used to it.

Burma, Travel, Street PhotographyAndy MumfordFebruary 24, 2014burma, myanmar, boats, inle, lake inle, fishermen, shan state, nampanComment

MYANMAR PART 2: GOLDEN ROCK

MYANMAR PART 2: GOLDEN ROCK

Golden Rock on the top of Mount Kyaiktiyo was a place in Burma I was determined to get to as soon as we decided to go to Burma. I'd seen Steve McCurry's photo of it years before and it just fascinated me, and even though it was pretty awkward to get there with the limited time we had in Yangon, I thought it would be worth it.

Of course, to see it at it's best you have to be there for sunset and sunrise, and that means staying overnight at the top, which proved to be easier said than done. There are a couple of small hotels next to the temple site, but before going we'd pretty much exhausted every means we had of booking a room. We couldn't contact them at all via the telephone numbers and email addresses we had for them, but eventually a local travel agent (who we'd originally got in touch with to arrange internal flights) managed to arrange a room for us.

Burma, Street Photography, TravelAndy MumfordFebruary 4, 2014burma, myanmar, golden rock, bago, kyaiktiyo, mountains, kinpun, yangon, monksComment

MYANMAR PART 1: YANGON

MYANMAR PART 1: YANGON

We'd been planning the trip to Burma for almost a year, and during that time had looked at hundreds of photos of different parts of the country as we attempted to plan out an itinerary, but nothing could have prepared us for the reality of the country. By the time we left, we were both convinced that it was without a doubt the most beautiful country we'd ever seen, populated by the warmest, most graceful people we'd ever met.

Our first view of the country was from the plane as we flew in from Bangkok. Looking down, the country seemed incredibly rural, full of fields and woods, and every few kilometers, scattered with golden temples. The stupas, covered with gold leaf, are dotted everywhere throughout the landscape, and they were to be a repeated motif throughout our journey across Burma. The place is deeply religious, and in one of the poorest countries in South East Asia, the people still dedicate so much of their time and meagre wealth to building and maintaining the temples.

Burma, Street Photography, TravelAndy MumfordJanuary 14, 2014burma, myanmar, yangon, daw nana sari, monastery, nuns, monks buddhism, shwedagon, chaukhatgyiComment

BANGKOK

BANGKOK

We've just returned from our trip to Burma. What an amazing place it is!
I've never been to a place which not only lived up to expectations, but consistently exceeded them. A beautiful country with a wonderful people, we had so many fantastic experiences there and the trip left us feeling richer and sad to have to leave.

There will be plenty more blog posts to come as I sort through the images and try to combine them into coherent photo essays that communicate the essence of each place we visited, but first up is Bangkok. If you're flying into Burma from Europe, Bangkok is by far the easiest connecting point, and we decided to spend a night here getting over jet lag from the long flight east before making the small hop to Yangon.

Street Photography, TravelAndy MumfordJanuary 6, 2014bangkok, thailand, travel, street photography, tuk tuk, panningComment

TRAVELLING TO MYANMAR

TRAVELLING TO MYANMAR

There's something about traveling that just inspires photography. It's wrapped up with the excitement of exploring new places and the sense of being on an adventure. Returning to familiar locations is a good way of honing technique, but for me it's the thrill of encountering new places that really gets my creative juices flowing.

So tomorrow I'm off to Burma for 2 weeks, and I'm really excited. Excited to be experiencing a new culture and excited to be seeing some amazing new places.
Why Burma? Well, lots of reasons really.
First of all, I wanted to go somewhere that wasn't just about landscapes. My last trip to Iceland was fun, and I enjoyed shooting the amazing landscapes there, but when I compared it to trips to places like Morocco, it seemed a little...I don't know, unsatisfying.
I realized that the reason was that I'd really missed street photography, capturing images of people and immersing myself in the culture. That's why I fell in love with traveling in the first place.

Burma, Street Photography, TravelAndy MumfordDecember 16, 2013burma, myanmarComment

THE EDEN PROJECT

THE EDEN PROJECT

We spent a few days in the south of England for my sister's wedding, and while I didn't expect to have any time for photography, we did find a free afternoon to go and visit the Eden Project. It's an amazing place and we really enjoyed out time there, particularly the huge zip line ride at the end.

Anyway, as we were walking around the biomes I couldn't resist trying to get some abstract images of the plants there. Focusing on texture and repeated patterns, they make fascinating subjects.

Macro, plantsAndy MumfordAugust 28, 2013plants, flowers, eden project, macro

ICELAND PART 4: THE WESTFJORDS

ICELAND PART 4: THE WESTFJORDS

The final leg of our trip around Iceland was to the Westfjords. When you look at a road map, you can see why it's a part of the country that a lot of people miss out. The road hits the coast, going around each and every fjord, making driving to the main towns there a long and torturous journey.

It's a journey worth making though as the landscape there is stunning. Despite the fact that for the whole of the journey, the weather was absolutely dreadful, just driving rain and grey clouds hanging so low over the fjords that it was impossible to see the other side, the fjords have an ethereal peace and grandeur that takes your breath away.

Travel, Landscapes, icelandAndy MumfordDecember 13, 2012isafjordur, iceland, westfjords, dynjandi, arnafjordur, dyrafjordur, fjords, sunset, overcastComment

ICELAND PART 3: THE NORTH

ICELAND PART 3: THE NORTH

The drive from the south east to the north was epic. From the east fjords across the dark volcanic Jokuldalsheidi plains. The weather and light was constantly changing, from overcast clouds, to heavy rain, then snow followed by sunshine, and then rain again.

The landscape was stunning, and like eastern Iceland, I wished we'd planned time to be able to stay here and shoot it. As it was, the photos taken in the middle of the day will have to suffice from this trip, but it's certainly an incredibly beautiful area that I'd love to return to one day.

iceland, Landscapes, TravelAndy MumfordNovember 25, 2012iceland, detifoss, godafoss, waterfalls, husavik, whalesComment

ICELAND PART 2: THE SOUTH EAST

ICELAND PART 2: THE SOUTH EAST

After leaving the highlands, we headed west across the southern coast of Iceland. The landscape continued to be amazing as we reached the beginning of the Skeidararjokull glacier, the 20km sweep of ice from the vast Vatnajokul glacier that descends almost to the road.

It's a breathtaking view, which continues to the left of the car for pretty much the entire time that you drive east across the south south eastern part of Iceland. The plains of the Skeidararsandur are a vast flat expanse of grey sand that stretches from a steely grey sea to the south up to the foot of the glacier, broken only by the glacial rivers that run across it carrying water from the Vatnajokul icecap to the ocean.

iceland, Travel, LandscapesAndy MumfordOctober 28, 2012jokulsarlon, hofn, east fjords, iceland, skaftafell, svartifoss, icebergs, vestrahorn, vatnajokulComment

ICELAND PART 1: REYKJAVIK TO FJALLABAK

ICELAND PART 1: REYKJAVIK TO FJALLABAK

Iceland has been on the list of places to visit for a very long time...almost as long as I've been interested in landscape photography.

I guess it first started with seeing Art Wolfe's photographs of icebergs floating in the lagoon at Jokulsarlon, and the cumulative effect of seeing the work of photographers I admire photographing places like Landmannalauger and the waterfalls at Dettifoss. Then, various BBC Natural History documentaries, and it reached a point when it became inevitable that I'd have to visit someday.

iceland, Landscapes, TravelAndy MumfordOctober 7, 2012iceland, reykjavik, fjallabak, laugavegur, landmannalauger