Now Showing: "Elsewhere"

(Click here to skip the drivel below and jump right to the new slideshow.)

I often joke and say that I'm the stereotypical Japanese tourist, because when I'm out traveling, I sure do take a hell of a lot of pictures. Anyone who's joined me on the road on my 503-day journey knows that I've snapped pictures left and right with my little Sony DSC-U30 digital spy camera like there's no tomorrow, sometimes not of anything photogenic at all, just so I can remember things instead of jotting them down in a memo pad.

While I did bring along the heavier artillery of a Canon AE-1 SLR with color slide film, and a little Sony HandyCam miniDV camcorder, it was the little spy camera that I kept in my pocket at all times to capture each moment -- almost every moment -- except of course, for those couple of times after it was taken away from me, like that time I got mugged at knifepoint in Cape Town, or that time I passed out on the beach in Valencia, Spain, only to have it robbed off of me. (That was my bad, sorry.)

In any case, the bulk of my photos came from my little digital camera (and its subsequent replacements of similar make and model), and in the end, I ended up with a whopping 33,824 pictures in total. Insane. For the past four weeks, I have used all of my available free time between freelance work, drinking beer and coffee, and watching episodes of Degrassi: The Next Generation and Wonder Showzen (arguably the funniest and most twisted show on TV right now) to go through each and every one of my digital photos on my new PowerBook G4 -- Apple's iPhoto is a godsend for such a task -- and I've weeded them all down to a few hundred really good ones. From that select group, I narrowed them down even more to just a few dozen exceptional ones (including some never-before-seen on the Blog), all of which I've put together in a brand new slideshow that I am proud to announce here in this entry:

The Global Trip.com Presents
"E L S E W H E R E"
Photos From Sixteen Months Around The World

Just click the link above, and then sit back and relax for the next eight minutes while you marvel and reminisce about life elsewhere on the planet. Be warned that by the time the slideshow presentation finishes, you might be so inspired and teeming with wanderlust that you may just spontaneously pack up and leave without thinking before remembering that you left the stove on.

THE CAPTION TRACK: It is my intention that this slideshow of my best digital photos be more about evoking emotion through sight and sound than about the questions of "Who/What/Where is that?". But, for those anal ones out there (hehe, I said "anal"), you can simply turn on/off the caption track in the lower righthand corner of the presentation. For you diehard Blogreaders out there, you can test your knowledge and quiz yourself on the destinations with the captions off, and then turn them on to reveal the answers and see if you really know your TGT trivia.

TECHNICAL MUMBO JUMBO: Just like the "Would You?" and "DAY 503" slideshow trailers, the Flash plug-in (version 6 or higher this time) is required. If you don't have it, you can download it by clicking here. Also, it should go without say that faster, more powerful computers will probably handle the synchronization and timing of photos to the music better than a slower computer (even though I have it set to auto-adjust the quality based on processor power). If you have the means, watch this on a decent computer with good speakers.

If you enjoy this daily travel blog, please post a comment! Give me suggestions, send me on missions, let me know how things are going back home in the USA. Knowing that I have an audience will only force me to make this blog more entertaining as the days go by. Don´t forget to bookmark it and let a friend know!

Posted by Erik on April 11, 2005 06:35 PM
Category: Epilogue

As LIZ pointed out, the title and artist of the song used in the slideshow is displayed in BIG LETTERS so that no one has to keep hounding me for what it is.

Posted by: Erik TGT on April 11, 2005 07:04 PM

Tell me about it, check this guys site out. He's a pro photographer who is traveling across the US taking pictures with a camera-phone. http://robertclark.americanphotomag.com/flash/

Posted by: anthony on April 12, 2005 02:33 PM

I have a Sony DSC-41 (4.1) with a 256 memory card. I never get great pics.......... When I read that you took over 30,000 I realized I am still in "film" mode and only take 1 or 2 shots of each scene. From now it's click, click, click.......then pick and choose!

Posted by: Janice on April 12, 2005 10:05 PM

JANICE: Yeah, all the good photos you see in a National Geographic are most likely a few from hundreds of shots taken. Back in my film days, I only really got 1-2 really good shots per roll of film. (This gets pricey, which is why I went digital.)

Posted by: Erik TGT on April 12, 2005 10:55 PM

E - these pics are amazing - thank you for sharing them. How does one find a publisher for a coffee table-type book? If you tell me who I should research, I can do that in my infinite spare time till I either get a job or run back to Thailand...

Posted by: Noelle on April 13, 2005 03:00 AM

I hadda come here and mention this...

So, I figured to start looking around for a dig. camera...I put in a google search for "Sony DSC-U" I figured to leave the number off, to see if there are any newer models out now then the one you used.

And the last link on the 1st page was....

Paris Lost - THE GLOBAL TRIP 2004... GRANT: The Sony DSC U-30, Sony's camera for "people on the go." Posted by: Erik TGT on August 1, 2004 07:02 AM. Hosted by the BootsnAll Travel Network.
blogs.bootsnall.com/theglobaltrip/updates/003621.shtml - 31k - Cached - Similar pages

Posted by: Harry on April 13, 2005 08:35 PM

Delete this site! If my friends see this then they are going to want to come with me! This cannot happen!

Amazing pics.....Antartic looks so cool (no pun intended)

Posted by: Jon on April 14, 2005 11:32 AM

Amazing pics..... Antarctic looks so cool (no pun intended)

Posted by: Jon on April 14, 2005 11:34 AM

TDOT: Yes... the best part is that he's a regular on the new show. Did you see the one where Craig punched him in the face repeatedly? Or when Kevin Smith shoots "Jay and Silent Bob Go Canadian" at Degrassi? GREAT SHOW!

Posted by: Erik TGT on April 15, 2005 10:52 AM