Photo Essays

Photo Essay – SXSW Music

Photo Essays
Titus Andronicus at The Belmont

A selection of images from the Music portion of the 2012 South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas.

See more →

Photo Essay – SXSW Interactive & Film

Photo Essays
An impromptu dance party breaks out in the rain after the SXSW premiere of

I just finished volunteering for my first year at the SXSW (South by SouthWest) Festival in Austin, Texas. The festival is a mixture of Film, Music and Interactive (think tech/business/internet), with the first half focusing on interactive, the second half on music, and film running the entire length of the nine-day conference. As a volunteer, [...]

See more →

Photo Essay – Austin Kite Festival at Zilker Park

Photo Essays
The winner of the Youngest Contestant Award at the festival.

The 84th Annual Zilker Park Kite Festival was held on Sunday, March 4th in Austin, Texas. You couldn’t have asked for a better day with all the sun and wind anyone could ask for. Under an umbrella of thousands of kites, the festival offered the usual American-festival goodies like games and face-painting for the little [...]

See more →

Photo Essay – Mardi Gras Parades in New Orleans

Photo Essays
Masked Revelers

Contrary to popular belief, Mardi Gras isn’t just about Beer, Beads and Breasts. The festival and parades were actually described to us by one locals as being put on “for the locals, not for the tourists”. A family affair, outside of Bourbon street you’ll see festival revelers of all ages, and even a few local [...]

See more →

Photo Essay: Western Australia Road Trip

Featured
The group from the road trip through Western Australia jumps for joy on Shell Beach.

A week after I arrived in Australia, I managed to find a group doing the exact road trip I was seeking.  We left Perth and drove up to Exmouth in 7 days stopping along the way at The Pinnacles, Shell Beach, Monkey Mia and a dozen look outs and national park stops.  We spent 3 days [...]

See more →

Photo Essay – Can Cau and Bac Ha markets, North Vietnam

Featured
The Can Cau and Bac Ha markets in the Sapa region of Northern Vietnam.

The Can Cau and Bac Ha markets are weekend markets on the Vietnamese side of the border between China and Vietnam.  They are frequented by a variety of hill tribes including the very colorful Flower Hmong tribe.  Most people traveling to this region use the town of Sapa, Vietnam, as a home base, which is about eight [...]

See more →

Photo Essay – Cultural Songkran (Part 2 of 2)

Featured
An elder monk leads prayer at the start of Songkran in Chiang Mai.

Last week’s photo essay focused on the water works that Songkran is famous for.  This week’s essay is on some of the cultural activities that are also part of Songkran, but perhaps a bit less famous.

See more →

Photo Essay – Songkran Festival, Chiang Mai, Thailand (Part 1 of 2)

Featured
Four girls from the Songkran festival in Thailand.

The official dates of this year’s Songkran (aka. Thai New Year) were April 13-15, but they got underway a day early in Chiang Mai.  Anyone backpacking or flashpacking through Thailand in April should make every effort to take part in the festival.  Even though it’s known locally as the “seven dangerous days” due to the [...]

See more →

Photo Essay – Irish Murals from Derry and Belfast

Photo Essays
A mural from Derry containing a man in a gas mask.

After wrapping up my summer in Ibiza, I spent a couple weeks flashpacking through Ireland.  I was lucky enough to spend a week traveling through the South, from Dublin to the Cliffs of Moher, and another week in Northern Ireland exploring Belfast, Derry and the Giant’s Causeway.  The murals below are a small sample of [...]

See more →

Photo Essay – Panjiayuan Market, Beijing, China

Photo Essays
Metal Statuettes at the Panjiayuan Flea Market, Beijing, China

The Panjiayuan Market (aka. the Dirt Market) is a huge flea market held on the weekends that should be visited by all travelers and flashpackers spending a weekend in Beijing.  As you can see in the images below, you can find just about anything there.  Some areas are organized by goods sold while in others [...]

See more →

Flashpacker Photography Tribute to Japan

Featured
The wooden wishes found at many temples in Japan.

I’ve never been through a hurricane, tornado, blizzard or tsunami.  Growing up in Los Angeles, however, I have ridden my fair share of earthquakes, the biggest being Northridge in 1994.  Although it was a big one (6.7 on the Richter scale), I can’t even remember where I was at the time. 12 hours ago, Japan [...]

See more →

Photo Essay: Ibiza – The Clubbers

Featured
Clubbers in Ibiza posing for the flashpacker's camera.

This week’s essay is part four of four and is the last part of the Ibiza series. If you haven’t been following, Part one focused on the DJs, Part Two covered the Dancers and other performers, and Part Three gave you an idea of the clubs themselves.  These shots are of the clubbers and are the types [...]

See more →