We have just arrived back to Jakarta after 10 days on the Indonesian side of Borneo photographing Orangutans. We will publish a trip report, a YouTube slideshow and some more postings as soon as we can, but for now some immediate thoughts about the expedition.
First, getting there from Europe takes a bit of effort and time. We took Singapore Airlines to Singapore, on to Jakarta and from there another internal flight and boat, ending up at Tanjung Putting National Park. On the way, we took a slight diversion to see the amazing Buddhist temple/s at Bodupur and to get over at least some of our jet lag. 
Secondly, for the best viewings and time with the Orangutans you live on a river boat. This is no 5 star luxury liner, but purpose built wooden boats with a guide, captain, cook and helper. We absolutely loved it and indeed found the food the best we had while in Indonesia. Sleeping in the open air with only a mosquito net between you and the jungle is a great experience. Early 6am starts were the norm with lights out often by 8pm!
Thirdly, it can be wet, very wet, no very very very wet! On our trip it rained every day, either for say 30 minutes or a couple of hours. For the second time in our Shutterspeeedtravel careers, one of the Canon 5D Mark IIs failed. It's electrics went mad and drained a battery in 10 minutes and then decided not to work. Lenses fogged up at times in the 100% humidity. But of course this did mean we could get some great shots of the Orangutans in the rain. 
Or just after the Biblical rainfalls by which time the Orangutans' were absolutely soaked … as were we.
Fourthly, thanks to good advice from our friend Paul McKenzie of wildencounters.net we left behind our trusted 500mm and 600mm bazookas and most of our shooting was with either the 24-70mm or 70-200mm lenses, just because you get very close to these wonderful great apes. Downside of the forest is that it is pretty dark and if our Orangutans were up in the trees above us, we'd be shooting into a whiteout sky wherever there wasn't dark shadowy tree canopy. So most of the time we were shooting on 400 to 1,000 ISO. This sort of example of a young male was taken from three feet with the lens at 38mm. Fantastically close!
Finally, the experience with the Orangutans is very different to any of the other great Apes. Most of the time they are very calm, unlike Chimps or Bonobos. And their arboreal movement has to be seen to be believed. They are smooth, elegant and graceful, defying gravity and like none of the other great apes. This trip marks for us the seeing of the last of the great ones and we feel truly privileged. All very special, in their own way but regrettably within 50 years tops, some of them will only be subjects of history.
If you're really lucky, you can spend hours with the Orangutans, unlike say the Mountain or Lowland Gorillas where you are restricted to one hour.
Most of the time we were seeing females with young babies.
At other times it was great trying to capture the young as they were clambouring up in the trees.
On occasion the dominant males would appear and they were a few dress sizes bigger then anything else around … and they knew it! In this case "Big Tom" who at 225kg is no lightweight.
And Adam always likes getting in close to capture portraits of these amazing creatures.
And of course there were other primates around. Gibbons and Proboscis monkeys were our favorites. The Proboscis monkeys would gather every evening on top of the trees by the river jumping around. Blessed with noses and vocals not seen on any other creature thankfully:)
A really special experience. One other point; we found the Indonesian people really friendly and loved having their pictures taken. For the first time in many years we were asked time and time again to have our photographs taken with local people.
More to follow but in the meantime, Happy New Year to all our friends! Despite the numerous challenges facing our world, may 2012 be safe, happy and prosperous.
Julie and Adam ;-)
Borneo Orangutans – 30 December 2011
Free The Children - Kenya 24 November 2011
Just a snapshot of our group volunteering in the Masai Mara recently. The "Free The Children" charity does fantastic work in the communities and volunteering is a rewarding experience. GET INVOLVED!!!
Julie
Masai Mara communities - October 2011
Just returned from a very short trip to the Masai Mara courtesy of Free the Children and Virgin. No time for wildlife photography, this was a fascinating immersion into some of the communities being helped by Free the Children, aiming to get more girls in to school, providing fresh bore water for communities, improving medical access and income streams for women in particular. The emphasis on girls and women is because many girls traditionally don't get to school because they are too busy fetching water from distant rivers and helping their mother generally with the myriad of chores she is doing each day, living in difficult circumstances. 
So we were privileged to spend time talking to community members (Kipsigi and Masai) and we played a very small part in helping build some of the schools - there's not much you can do in a few days but we did what we could. The culture of these tribes is very colourful as you all know but it's impossible to get tired of the colour, enthusiasm and charisma.
More to follow but here are just a few images, there are a lot more to sort through!
Julie
ShutterspeedTravel
Help please - 15 September 2011
We are entering a photo competition relating to a professional experiential travel show in Marrakesh in November. So click on the line to see all the photos and if you look through them and think 2/3rds down "Bonobos", "Adam being holier" & "Holie Dust" are any good ... write a comment or "like" them. Thanks
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=195715173832228&set=a.186323868104692.44571.122356681168078&type=1&theater
Back in London - 13 August 2011
Sadly, our expedition to photograph Lowland Gorillas and Bonobos is over and we are back in London. A real adventure. Highlights?
:) The Western Lowland Gorilla treks at Mondika in the Republic of Congo. The terrain was flat and hence the trekking was not as tough as Uganda or Rwanda (mountain gorillas). The jungle was pretty thick with wonderful trees. This made photography very tough though as it was almost dark. Our ISOs were set at a minimum of 800 (as per the shot below) but usually up to 5,000-6,400. We trekked with our 600mm and 500mm lenses and were rewarded with some really nice images. Toughest shooting conditions ever though!
:) One of our "transfers" was by a pirogue paddled by a couple of guys who navigated through a landscape that has not changed for thousands of years. We really felt like explorers, not seeing anyone else for hour on hour. Magic! Adam's serious face below is his attempt to look like an explorer!
:) In Brazzaville we were amazed by a cafe called La Mandarine. It had the very best croissants we have eaten for years and a chef who cooks up these amazing gateaux in the middle of Africa. A little bit of Paris!
:) Meals in DRC were fantastic. Jean, the chef made very fine meals for us. Wonderful! All the food in the camps in the Republic of Congo had to be walked in on the backs of porters; hence meals there were basic but pretty good. This guy walked in to camp through the forest for three hours with a tray of eggs without breaking one!
:) The Bonobos were wonderful. As in previous trips we were able to spend hours photographing these great apes. A couple of mornings produced some wonderful opportunities and fun memories which will stay with us for many years.
Finally ... how many photos did we take? 19,380 ... that really shows just how much was on offer in these amazing countries. We will get a trip report and slideshow up as soon as we can.
Planning a very special trip for Christmas. More later ;-)
Julie and Adam
Bonobos relaxing with maniac infants - 7 August 2011
At times Bonobos can appear to be the most chilled out and relaxed animals you can imagine. This morning we were up early and came across one of the Lola groups waking up slowly. A classic posture is lying on their backs, legs in the air holding on with one arm. Very distinctive!
As you would expect the mothers are very close to their infants. As soon as the infant walks away, a hand comes out and grabs and pulls him or her back to mummy. They are very close. The mother allows other adults to play with the infants, but keeps a very close eye on what is gong on.
The infants seem to like this protection. It allows them to explore to some extent, have some fights with other infants and learn how to swing through the trees.
So when the Bonobos start to fight, it is very much play fighting between the infants; lessons that are needed to face the future.
Bonobos are vegetarians and so need to consume vast quantities of fruit (ranging from Bananas through Jack Fruit to Paw Paws, plus other exotic fruit we've never seen before), leaves and the like to survive. As such some have very large stomachs to digest this lot ... as this one clearly shows!
All these shots taken over the past 24 hours here at Lola ya Bonobo. Every day presents something 's different.
Julie and Adam
Meeting the young Bonobos - 5 August 2011
In DRC we stay at Lola ya Bonobo, the world's only Bonobo sanctuary. It takes in young orphaned Bonobos, usually victims from some pretty awful plights. Within the sanctuary there is a nursery which looks after about 10 of the youngest Bonobos. Three very patient ladies look after this bunch who have more energy than just about anyone we have ever met. They remain in the nursery until they are considered to be settled enough to join one of the 'older' groups. At the sanctuary if you ask nicely and are seen to be a responsible person, you can get inside the nursery and experience this energy first hand. Julie was first!
Then Adam went in with his camera ...
From the inside shooting out you can see Julie shooting in!
It is possibly [just about] to take some shots while inside. This is one of the few from Adam's shoot which was in focus!
Each day here is different and each evening we pore over out shots and try to edit as we go along. There are some more shots, some of them very funny, on the Facebook part of this site, we are adding a few each day.
Julie and Adam
Bonobos being cool- 5 August 2011
We continue to spend our days watching Bonobos out here in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Kinshasa is a huge sprawling city which is clearly developing fast. Two years ago when we crossed the river from Brazzaville to Kinshasa, the immigration people had to copy out the forms three times by hand and then for us to fill them all in. It was laborious and it took hours. This time it was so much more efficient; only about 20 minutes. Better than Heathrow!
Although we have been here before, every day we see something new. Here are a few more shots from our rush production (between power cuts, sleeping and being out in the field). Bonobos are often very handsome, as you can well see from this shot!
Generally, Bonobos are pretty calm and relaxed. Sometimes there is conflict diffused either by sex, screaming, food or whatever. Towards the end of a day there can be a lot of grooming which is really cute and peaceful. These two do not have to speak to know what they are feeling towards each other!
We also think Bonobos are pretty cool, they know how to really relax. This is a female who shows that life does not always have to be meetings, emails, blogs and rushing about.
More later!
Julie and Adam
Back in the Congo! 3 August 2011
Quick entry as connections in DRC are not great ... although a lot better than the camps in the Republic of Congo. So sorry if the images are not great quality, just trying to get something out between power cuts. It is wonderful to be back at Lola ya Bonobo near Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Weather is wonderful, food amazing and above all the Bonobos are as interesting as ever. This is our third visit and it still makes us smile as we sit and photograph these amazing creatures.
Today, our third day was really amazing. All photographs in this blog taken in the past 10 hours! We spent three hours with one group who was simply chilling out and relaxing! This mother was teaching her boy how to swing from trees!
And this young chap really liked looking at his reflection in the lens!
In the afternoon we moved to a lake and Stanley our boatman was able to steer us to have some great shots of Bonobos in the water. Bonobos, like many apes, have very heavy bones and would sink if they went in too far. Hence they only wade up to their chests. 
We were also able to see Bonobos in the trees where they are at very at home and able to show their strength.
Lesson from Adam. When taking shots of Bonobos using a Canon EOS 5D Mark II make sure the control dial does not slip to Tv etc and ruin a load of shots ....
Wonderful day, great trip, more to folow!
Julie and Adam
New York, New York - June 2011
Even just a few days in New York is fun. It's a fabulous city with numerous areas to explore. We fell in love with the Meatpackers district; the boutiques and street art/graffiti there are the new Soho cool and the high walk is a great extended aerial garden. Love it!
There are the theatres and galleries. The McQueen exhibition is exquisite, it's a shame we weren't allowed to take photographs, that would be a whole new photographic genre. But it was fabulous to just see McQueen's clothes in the flesh. His cut and sense of theatre was truly sensational. Something he said really sticks in my mind, he said he designs for a woman from side on, that way he sees her real and very individual shape. Makes perfect sense.
Hadn't realised just how many wonderful glass buildings New York has. On one day there were fantastic clouds and of course these were reflecting in the glass of the skyscrapers. So Julie has now become a cloud fanatic, always on the lookout for some great clouds and glass.
And the other good thing about New York, you know you're always going to be well fed....
Here's a really short YouTube slideshow:
http://www.youtube.com/user/shutterspeedtravel#p/a/u/0/oNoQVX1ZPDw
Julie and Adam
June 2011
A Stroll Around The City of London - May 2011
With the nicer weather upon us and no chance of getting away for an African adventure until July, we discovered it was possible to get a photo fix walking around the streets on our own doorstep. So just in a few hours grabbed after a day in the office, Julie and Sarah took to the streets of the City of London and took some shots of some of London's stunning architecture.
Take a look at our facebook page to see the selection taken on that day. in the meantime, this is the Lloyds Building. We probably need to photograph more of London, OK there are no wild animals but we have some pretty fine buildings and The Shard is coming along nicely!
Remembering Cuba.....
On a wet bank holiday here in London we looked back at "Soulful Cuba" ... and created one of our musical slideshows recording some of our best memories. Cars, Music, Cigars and Rum. What is better!!!
Enjoy
Julie and Adam
India: Holi and Varanasi - 22 May 2011
It has taken a little while, but we managed to put together our slideshow from our earlier India expedition. Again, India tops all your senses. Colour, sound and smells! Absolutely fantastic.
Julie and Adam
Salsa, Cigars and Che in Cuba: May 2011
Cuba is a fascinating destination for a short break or up to 2-3 weeks. There's quite a lot you can do on this small island although we think it's better to try not to do much at all! You could for instance have a great holiday not even leaving Havana, and just sleeping in til late, get up for lunch and a walk around the streets of the old town, taking in a daquiri or two, the street performers and some daytime music, before heading back to bed for a siesta and then up again for dinner and a late night of music and dancing at any one of a great number of venues. You could have this sort of break in Santiago as well.
Alternatively, you could tour the island, taking in some of the tobacco factories and the wonderful countryside and seeing some of the historical sites that tell the story of Che and the revolution.
Here are our impressions in a snapshot:
+ outstanding music on pretty much every corner, music is in the soul of the people. There are fantastic late night venues for live music which includes traditional (Buena Vista Social Club, rumba, samba, cha cha etc), reggae, reggaeton, rock, jazz, hip hop.... - all superb, live, and you will want to be up dancing irrespective of your ability.
+ warm, friendly people. It feels very safe walking around in the evenings. You are warned about pick pockets and some hustling but if you are a seasoned traveler and/or just keep your wits about you will find it much less threatening than walking around most other places in the world.
+ if you're a car buff, and even if you're not, there are all the great old American cars to look at and drive around in.
+ cigar officianado? No better place to visit. The tobacco countryside is beautiful and the tobacco factories fascinating. Prices are excellent for the real Cuban cigar if you buy at the factory shops themselves. Don't be tempted to buy from the touts who nick cigars from the factories, along with the certificates and packaging as these cheap cigars are bitter and sub-standard, you can easily taste the difference. You get what you pay for and the prices of the real deal are already very good so don't be tempted.
-/+ the food isn't great at all in the government owned restaurants which are the majority. It's typically a choice of pork, fish or chicken served with rice and beans and it's all very greasy. In some countries this would be good food, but not in Cuba. Having said that, before you go, look into the paladars and make reservations at these. They are privately owned restaurants, often in a block of flats so they're typically quirky but with really excellent and memorable food.
-/+ you wouldn't go to Cuba for the quintessential Caribbean island beach holiday but for a cultural fix, the people, music and dancing are really wonderful and for an insight into the communist regime it's worth going. As long as you don't overdo it - guides will want to show you absolutely everything there is to see and know about the revolution, which may be more than your level of interest, however it is truly fascinating to get an understanding of how the system works with its strengths as well as weaknesses and how people live on a daily basis.
+ the architecture. Really terrific buildings abound which is why UNESCO have listed some of the cities as World Heritage.
For additional images, please click onto our FaceBook page (on this site.)
We are definitely going back. See you in Cuba!
Julie and Adam
May 2011
Celebration and Mourning - March 2011
We made it into the Jaipur Times again this year! Caught again celebrating Holi at the palace in March. Sadly though, the maharaja died this week so from Holi celebration in March, Jaipur is now in mourning.
Holi, Varanasi and Just One Tiger, From a Distance - March 2011
Back from India to the glorious London sunshine. Our Indian trip was terrific. As expected, Holi was incredible fun, Bandhavgarh surprised us this time and Varanasi was fascinating, despite having what Julie considers the smelliest old town we have visited, due to the numerous cows in the narrow alleyways.
Holi, celebration of the harvest, of Spring, of colours. We played with colours on the streets, inside the palace grounds and at friends' homes. Even the Elephant festival in Jaipur had a touch of the colours, some people decided to get started early. Mostly with affection, but as the day progresses it becomes a bit more playful and boisterous, and the water pistols come out. We were getting around in an open World War II jeep which added to the hilarity. A serious hose down in a back garden was required at the end to get rid of most of the dye, some took a little longer to fade! A really fabulous couple of days.
Then a mad overnight train to get to Bandhavgarh where we were surprised with how difficult it was to get a tiger sighting. We managed to follow one tiger on one of our days but it was from some distance so the photography was poor. This was a big contrast to our last visit to this park when the sightings were very good. We were told a new female tiger had wandered into the territory, fought one of the adult females and eaten her. Unsurprisingly, this had disrupted the resident tiger behaviour. One thing that hadn't changed a bit was the bureaucracy of the park, that remains evident in abundance. Not to worry. We made the most of being in a rural area and spent a bit of time with some of the local school kids and teachers and we visited some of their homes and saw just how self sufficient they were, living communally in extended families, growing quite a range of crops, with the surplus dried and stored as future supplies.
Then on to Varanasi where the activities of the locals and the pilgrims down at the ghats along the river were fascinating to watch, in particular the evening aarti and sitting on a boat drifting along the river at sunrise was serene and photographically superb. Lots of interesting bathing and prayer activities and the light on the water was outstanding, presumably it's the accumulation over the years of flower petals and other debris in the water which creates the magical colours. 
All too soon another fabulous insight into Indian culture was over. Where to explore next time....?
Some of our photos from this trip have gone on to our FaceBook page and before Easter we would hope to have some high resolution images up on this site in the Slideshow section.
For those of us in London, let's hope this superb weather holds out! Oh, and to the lady below, I hope you have managed to sell that vegetable. It's a dangerous weapon in your hands!
Julie and Adam
April 2011