Travel Story / Los Angeles / chapter 1

We were driving on Interstate 15 towards south west. It was 10 pm and from a faraway point we could feel the warmth of light that shimmered in the sky, setting a sign of curiosity, attempting convincingly to enter the boundaries of a place unknown.

As we were charging on the roads of America, we were about to enter a city that we thought would be mesmerizing enough to hold us in its awe for some time. We were to enter a place that would give us the sincerest experience of all time.

But... after reaching this city, one could only feel a dis-relation, where you could only survive if you knew the norms of it, where infinite permutations raced around of dos and don'ts, where every second would make you feel regretful of that decision of coming to this place. Obviously, it was only me who was having these fits of rage. Maybe, only because I was so unaware of this place, it made me feel displaced.

As we proceeded further, we could witness the same shimmering light reflecting from the glass of the windows of the tall enough buildings scattered all around. Till now we were pretty much satisfied by the overwhelmed welcome of this place. Well! who wouldn't, we had traveled almost hundreds of miles from Las Vegas in the late hours of the day with no stay over in between, in search of this piece of land in the state of California.

However, the route we were heading on was ripping us apart from our connection with the city lights. It seemed as we were going to a different area now. We were following the 'global positioning system', which showed our journey did not end at this exhibition of lights. Our location appeared to show us crossing the downtown area of the famous city named 'Los Angeles'.

So where were we going? My heart kept sinking, my brain was unable to think due to exhaustion... and this was making me worry because we still had a journey of almost half an hour and we had crossed the great city. Its skyline was blurring out and the road started to get over crowded with cars of all shapes and sizes, honing at each other. The drivers seemed to be very impatient, the middle finger being the figure of expression for that whole journey.

... and we disengaged from LA. 

Now, this suburb we entered was a mystery in itself and it remains unsolved till date... for me at least. My consciousness was hit with a surge of anxiety as we were heading towards our hotel... to be continued.

"the disengagement" ~ art work (LA01) by Sameer Aftab                    
(Prints for sale - order now)

I thought that my words would not do justice to describe the place so I started drawing my experience of it, an art work that would exist in my memory forever. Anyway, a picture is worth a thousand words, they say. Although an unfinished work, but it forms the bench mark for starting of my travel story. Some places that we drove through, some hotels that we had to stay in, some eateries where we had to buy food from, and who can forget the motel where we stayed for a night.

[spring] in q8

It is quite astonishing when you think of the time... 'spring' and Kuwait. I always read, on blogs, newspapers, travel magazines, etc. that the climate of the country was as hot as a fire ball. Almost throughout the year, the scorching sun and its rays settling upon the floors of fine sands in the deserts, making it shine like gold. However, I never heard of people dying of heat waves. So I always wondered how people carried on with their day to day lives in such an extreme weather.

So here I was… in Kuwait,

The time when everything seemed to blossom. 

The flowers in parks, the people's lives in their secluded dens, the cars roaring around on roads, the silence in the desert, the blue waters of the Persian Gulf, and last but not the least the 'Shurtaa's' (traffic police)… they all seemed to cherish the bloom of the spring time.

The only thing that did not blossom were the attitudes… the attitude of the community. 

Somebody once told me, the only thing consistent in the country will be their instincts towards non-natives.

© Sameer Aftab

burning [Liverpool]

This chapter of the blog revolves around an area that had a glorious past but now just another district that calls for regeneration. Mostly, residential but with empty terraced houses, some dilapidated churches and empty streets howling with gentle winds.

"It is just one of those days, when you feel like doing nothing, when you feel wasted, when you just feel to be all on your own… and then you decide to take a walk in wilderness."

But… I decided to go to Liverpool 8. I guess, one of the most silent walks that I ever did during my stay in Liverpool. The time was somewhere close to the sunset… yes, fortunately the sun did shine for the whole day.

Theme of photography 

[ Losing Glory ] 

Photography tip - the idea was to photograph the area in silhouettes. The lens of my camera faced the sun directly giving me some wonderful images showing outlines of houses, trees and some people.

If talking conceptually - I believe the sun is a symbol of 'hope' in all of these photographs, highlighting that the area can rise to its full potential one day if the authorities are considerate enough to invest in regenerating its past.

[scottish] highlands

Its been quite a while that I have not uploaded anything but here I am with a story from the very first day of the new year, 2014 when we were on our way to #Glasgow in #Scotland. Its a bit late though but its better late than never.

I always had a wish to travel to the highlands.
Why? Because of 'Loch-Ness' - when I was a child I had read about a monster, I had seen him in some documentaries as well and that was none other than the 'Loch-Ness monster'. A myth or maybe a reality, but this notion, the urge to see it with my own eyes was always there. However, this was just not the right time I guess.

These photos are from that journey.

in search of the [beacon]

... and it was the month of November here in England when I decided to go over the waters of River Mersey and search some 'beacons' and this was my very first time in a year and a half. All this time I was in #Liverpool but never got a chance to go on the #Wirral side.

[time-lapse]

... I made this time-lapse over the period of two days. I have tried to capture the environment - the beacons standing tall, once used as a source of invitation. Almost all of the beacons are not in use anymore.
I am borrowing a quotation from a book that I read sometime back, that said, "Every place has its history and symbolic connotation that merge into an event that obtained its meaning through the time of the day, illumination, weather and landscape.

Hmmmm! have a look at the video maybe you will be able to observe that connotation:

in search of the beacon from Sameer Aftab on Vimeo.

[Competition] Submission

I have submitted artworks for this particular competition.

The client's brief is:

Fantastic Opportunity to be Part of an Growing International Hotel Brand

The Client, Ashall Projects (NJS) Ltd; Starwood Hotels and Resorts and Balfour Beatty have opened up a fantastic opportunity for the

winner of this Artwork competition to design the new headboard artwork, which will not only be installed in the new Liverpool Aloft

Hotel, but the winner will also get the chance to visit the European flagship Aloft Hotel in Brussels on a weekend break.

Moreover, all the artists were supposed to submit their proposals according to the client's specified criteria and that was:

Criteria – Create two images, final and colour scheme below of the Iconic Liverpool City Scape, in a style similar to those depicted in the images in Photoshop PSD or JPEG files at 300 dpi (i have not displayed the sample images).

My entries for the competition...

I am hoping to win it. :)

[bidston]

12:52 hrs

Yellow: indicates the area that I covered by walking, 

while my visit to Bidston.

I had arrived in #Bidston. The most unattractive, smallest stations I had ever seen in England till now,  even the #Edgehill station did not seem to me so inadequate. I was a bit lost because there was nothing in between anything. I saw no houses around, no people, no cars, the only thing that I could see was the sign that said, "Temporary Ticket Office"and even that was closed.

Anyway I started walking towards a bridge that stood so lonely that I could even hear the whistling of air as it passed through the hollow bars. As I was standing on the bridge, I could see the lighthouse on a hill that was considered as the highest point on the Wirral Peninsula.
"It is going to take me ages to reach the lighthouse," this is all I could think of because in order to reach there I had to cross a highway and since I did not know anything about the place so had to find my way to it.

Why... always a lighthouse?? To me they symbolize 'hope'.

I decide to walk along the Hoylake road which met Worcester road on the right and lead me to Vyner road north. Yes, I was using the maps from my i-phone otherwise I would have been completely lost.

 The walk took me to the entrance of the Bidston Hill Park, a natural reserve.

The illustrated map at the entrance showed me a wind mill. 

"This brick built tower mill replaced a wooden 'peg' mill that was destroyed by fire in 1793, and was used to grind corn into flour for 75 years up until 1875. Although access was difficult for a horse and cart laden with sacks of grain or flour the top of the hill was the ideal place to catch the wind. In fact, it is believed that there has been a windmill on this site since 1596."

I knew I will not be able to find it on my own so I took help of a couple walking in the same direction. These locals of the place told me that a fifteen minute walk will take us to the mill. 

There it was, gorgeously standing in one of the remote areas in #England, I suppose. I was standing close to it in order to take the best shots from my camera. There was plenty of light but still I used long exposed techniques to take pictures using my tripod that I was carrying as well.

Ahhhh!!! there was some special essence in the moment that I was in, the smell of the bricks that were not adhered well with its surface, the texture of the mortar that I found extremely historic... seemed like I was not standing in 2013. 

This was not it... there was a walking track that led to an old observatory.

"The Observatory was built in 1866 when Liverpool Observatory had to relocate due to the expansion of Waterloo Docks. The building is made using the stone mined during the creation of the cellars, the deepest of which (36 feet or 10.97 meters) maintains a constant cool temperature.In 2004-5, the Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory relocated to a new building at the University of Liverpool."

Behind the observatory was the Bidston lighthouse constructed in 1873. It is part of the observatory, not accessible at all.

"There has been a lighthouse on Bidston Hill since about 1771, when the first Bidston Lighthouse was built, further from the shore than any other lighthouse in Britain. The tower was octagonal, and the lamp room featured a massive parabolic reflector, 13’6″ in diameter, developed at the Bidston Signals Station. The present Bidston Lighthouse and Cottages were built by Mersey Docks and Harbour Board in 1873, after the original lighthouse was damaged by fire and demolished. The building is Grade-II listed and privately owned."

It was getting dark, so had to rush to the station. 

the [rain] began again

Stop Motion Time-lapse # 4

This is another compilation of photographs I took one fine day while in Liverpool... only that it was raining. The video shows transitions from how the bright sunlight was overwhelmed by the raindrops. Just an ordinary day but with a little bit flavor of clamminess.
 

the [rain] began again from Sameer Aftab on Vimeo.

[ keep walking - New Brighton awaits you ]

Remember - the main purpose of the trip was to find lighthouses across the Mersey river on the #Wirral side.

1310 hrs
I was at the #Liverpool Central (station), rushing towards the Wirral line tube and hopped in after waiting for ten minutes. It is quite ironic that sitting in the train usually reminds me of end of times. I am saying this because the journey from the station to #Birkenhead Park was almost underground. The train was almost empty. No one going to New #Brighton... I suppose.

1330 hrs
I got off from the train at the station and started walking on the Atherton street towards the sea... the Irish sea I am talking about here and reached the King's Parade. Now by looking across the road I realized that I was standing at the Marine Point. I could very well see the #lighthouse from here. I had read before it was the Perch Rock lighthouse that stood there since 1827 and now it was not being used anymore. The point seemed to be a complex of high-end retail brands. Anyway I started walking towards the tower.

I was walking...

... walked a little more.

... and finally I reached the tower. "Errr!!! Not a pleasant day to come out" I kept saying this to myself all the time. The sun was shining and I could feel the warmth of it but then nothing seemed alright because of the howling wind.

I stood right in front of the tower, close enough to get a feel of the environment. Aaaahhh!!! what a pleasing view. I could see the white tower wearing a red hat standing amongst the blues of the sky and water... the water did not seem that blue maybe because the clouds had covered the sun now.

I remained there for an hour, clicked loads of photographs. I had brought my tripod along as well but was almost useless because I did not have a ND-filter to take long exposure at the daytime. I walked to the pathway that lead to the tower. I thought I could make it but then the waves were aggressive and I remembered what my friend had told me about the weather forecast in the morning, "There will be a thunderstorm, do not go out (in a squeaky voice)." At that time I could only see the sun and the storm but thunder was missing, then I decided not to go any further.

There were people everywhere now. Trying to run on the stones and guess what... no one succeeded to reach anywhere near the site.

1500 hrs
I left the site and started walking towards the New Brighton Station to catch a train to #Leasowe - another lighthouse to explore.

Hmmmm!!! It was one bright corner of #England I must say, which was not that vivid historically as this part was hugely owned by smugglers and thieves.

You can look at the coloured images on Facebook.

blurry [Lisbon]

I just wanted to capture another moment of sunset but this time the location was at the edge of europe, the farthest I could travel in the western part. I took these photographs in Belem (#Jardim da Torre de Belem) area in the beautiful city of Lisbon, Portugal.

"To me sunsets have always been emotions rather than moments. The feeling of being free, the notion of doing something that narrates a story, the feeling of looking at life with positivity."

It seemed another ordinary sunset but then what made it beautiful was the surroundings, the silhouettes of the objects that seemed so flawless, the waters of river Tagus that glittered like gold.

My photographs are the impressions of that time on that fine evening when the sun was disappearing.

I must say, my lens (#Tamron 28-300mm) came in handy this time.

Ps: to catch up with the rest of the photographs, kindly follow my Facebook.