Two Days On The Mekong River

When we decided to go to Thailand, we had quite a few ways of getting there. The fastest was flying from Luang Prabang, Laos on a one hour flight for a whopping $150 per person. The second was to take another (probably) horrible bus through the mountains to Vientiane, then from there to Bangkok, then all the way back up Thailand to Chiang Mai which was our destination. The third option was to hire a slow boat which would take two full days on the Mekong river which is one of the biggest in Asia. It spans nearly 3000 miles long from southern China all the way past Cambodia and Thailand.

Abe SniderMay 5, 2014adventure, laos, thailand, travel, mekong, boats, hilltribe, temple, memories, sunsetComment

Vientiane & Luang Prabang - Lao

When we decided to leave Cambodia, the gentleman we bought a ticket from in Siem Reap said it would only take 24 hours on a bus to get to Vientiane, Lao. (Laos if your from the western world) The distance we traveled was about 1000km by minivan, VIP bus, and tuk tuk. In the end it took nearly 55 hours to get to our destination. In between Siem Reap and Lao we had a very unpleasant ride with 19 other tourists (and our luggage) plus the drivers family crammed into an old Mercedes 12 seater van. It was horribly awesome.

Ancient Angkor Wat In Black & White

I'll leave the images to do the speaking for themselves. These were all taken in a day at Angkor Wat, Cambodia. I'll post some color ones later, but I felt due to the age of these temples B&W showed more of a moodier feel than color. I hope you enjoy as much as I did taking them.

OverseasAbe SniderApril 22, 2014Tuk Tuk, ancient, Angkor, Wat, Angkor Wat, diriver, driver, Cambodia, humanity, people, siem reap, temple, tourism, travelComment

From Flagstaff to LAX

To start out our trip, we left on the 9pm train from Flagstaff, Arizona to Union Station (LA) California. We had a great send off at the Lumberyard (my favorite restaurant) and I want to give a big thanks to everyone who made it! It really made our day. You all are awesome! After boarding the train we spent nearly 15 minutes finding a seat before we set off. It was dark and surprisingly quiet compared to past trains. Every hour on the hour I woke up to the nearly full moonlight on the countryside whizzing past. I didn't get much sleep but it was a beautiful sight.

Abe SniderApril 14, 2014california, adventure, world travel, travel, arizona, LAX, people, photo, Union StationComment

RAW vs JPEG

In this blog post i'm going to show you why I shoot RAW instead of JPEG and the differences between both. There is no easy way to say whether RAW or JPEG is better for you. In the end, you have to think about your workflow and what you want out of the final image. If you want to tinker with your image to get that perfect exposure that you see on magazine covers or gallery walls then raw is for you. If you want to bracket many exposures and layer them into an HDR to achieve that ethereal look, then you guessed it, RAW.

Abe SniderMarch 13, 2014HDR, Tony Kuyper, adventure, arizona, blog, cityscape, darkroom, editing, flagstaff, RAW, JPEG, Raw Vs JPEG, guide, learning, luminosity masks, masking, mesa, panorama, photomatix, sedona, sharpening, test, travel, worldComment

Apocalypse Shoot

The other day I had the opportunity to work with local photographers Paul and Cassy. They were planning an Apocalypse themed shoot and had all the ideal props such as gas masks, assault rifles, biohazard suits, etc. We had 4 models in total, Tiffany, Kayla, Kayleen, and Danee. To sum it up, they knew exactly the level of creepy/badass that would make for a great shot.

For this shoot, Paul knew of 3 abandoned structures near Parks, Arizona. We picked it rather than a burnt out forest due to the high winds.

Abe SniderMarch 1, 2014Comment

Backpacking & Survival Gear Abroad

To follow up on the previous post, this will outline much of the survival/backpacking gear i'll be bringing along.

Here is my Jack Wolfskin 120liter backpack next to the Think Tank bag. All together it weighs around 45lbs which is half of the weight of just my main backpack last time.

Abe SniderFebruary 16, 2014adventure, gear, blog, survival gear, abroad, travel planning, asia, world travel, stuffComment

New Beginnings - Old Memories. A Summary Of The Past 2 Years

In fall 2011 I went to S.E. Asia on a one way ticket with my good friend Eric. That choice to leave everything behind and venture out farther than I had ever before completely changed my life. It made me realize that a comfortable job, a guaranteed paycheck, and all these other comforts were not what I wanted out of my life. At least not my 20's. I wanted adventure. True adventure. The kind that not many people seem to be familiar with anymore. The kind where...

Abe SniderFebruary 8, 2014adventure, american, angkor wat, travel, asia, blog, cambodia, laos, thailand, vietnam, esl, exploring, journal, jungle, malaysia, photographuy, tesolComment

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