Through My Lens: Mongolia

Ger near Kharkhorin.
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A couple years ago, I decided to take a last minute trip (only two weeks notice) to Mongolia to see the Naadam festival and to experience the vast openness of this primarily nomadic nation.  It was a trip where I felt I grew a lot as a photographer.  When I returned home after the trip, I was happy that I had captured my best photo set ever up to that point in time.  Looking back, there are definitely some good photos in the set, but it's pretty obvious to me that my post-processing skills were still fairly amateur (and have come a long way since).  However, like most things in life, practice makes perfect.

These are some of the photos I took during my trip to Mongolia.

Through My Lens: Brasilia

A view of Brasilia from the TV Tower observatory.
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Last year, I took a trip to Brazil with my dad and my uncle.  One of the places we visited was the capital city of Brasilia.  I had read in various blogs, articles, and guidebooks that this city is written off by a lot of travelers as being too boring.  However, as a fan of architecture and photography, Brasilia quickly become one of my favorite cities in South America.

These are some of the photos I took during our day in Brasilia.

Local Guides: Burma - Bagan

Htay Win poses next to some of his photographs.

"Local Guides" will be a recurring theme here at Global Goebel Travels, where I recommend local guides from the various locations that I visit around the world.

Burma, and especially Bagan, was a destination to which I wanted to travel since soon after I began traveling internationally in 2001.  Like many travelers to Burma, I spent my time seeing the "Big Four" destinations of Yangon, Mandalay, Bagan, and Inle Lake when I was there.  While researching the trip online, I came across some webpages advertising photography tours of Bagan.  With my interests in old temples and in photography, I thought this sounded like a great way to spend a day or two of my trip.  The dates mentioned online didn't fit into my travel schedule.  Nevertheless, after sending a few emails, I was referred to a licensed Bagan guide named Htay Win, who happened to also be a photography enthusiast.

The Story Behind The Photo: The Heart of Darkness - Nyiragongo Volcano

 

"The Story Behind The Photo" is a recurring theme here at Global Goebel Travels, where I chose one of my favorite travel photos and tell the story behind shooting it.

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In my last "The Story Behind The Photo" post, I featured the Darvaza Gas Crater in Turkmenistan.  Now, I'm going to feature another photo of a large burning hole in the ground.  However, this one is created by Mother Earth instead of by a Soviet industrial accident.

The Story Behind The Photo: "Door to Hell" -- The Darvaza Gas Crater

© Ryan Goebel, 2010

"The Story Behind The Photo" will be a recurring theme here at Global Goebel Travels, where I choose one of my favorite travel photos and tell the story behind shooting it.

One of the most popular photos over at my Flickr site, is "Door to Hell" -- The Darvaza Gas Crater.  I took this photo on a trip to Turkmenistan in May 2010.

The Darvaza Gas Crater is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Turkmenistan and probably one of the most bizarre attractions in the world.  This huge burning crater, often referred to by locals as the "The Door To Hell", is located in the middle of the Karakum desert about 260km (160 miles) north of Ashgabat.