The Photography of Dr. Jeff Harper

I woke up at 5:00am to go and meet the wiring  guy, George, and then to tow my race car the 200km to  Pattaya before traffic snarled the streets of Bangkok.  George was almost done when I arrived . . . he finished in an hour and I headed down to Pattaya. It was a good day of planning all the final details of the race car . . . "how it should be done," and "the right way to do it" conversations went on all day.  The drive back was beautiful in the setting sun. I stopped at one of the roadside markets and bought a bag of freshly baked cashews. Nice.  Go to my Racing Projects Blog for more on the day's mechanical progress.

A nice place to find the perfect snack for a long drive!

Max Snacks! I opted for a few grams of the cashews from a giant, 100 pound sack. What counts as a snack varies widely across this big wonderful planet of ours.

I am just back from the Thai Island of Phuket.  It is a beautiful place of mostly sand, palm trees, and crystal clear water.  Once a year they have their Vegetarian Festival which includes a big parade down "Main Street." Lots of fun . . . . if your idea of fun is chasing ghosts off of the corners by stabbing whatever is handy in the kitchen drawers, or around the house or garage,  through your cheeks while under a trance and then parading yourself in front of your friends and neighbors.  Oh, and then having the crowd set off thousands of very large (and illegal everywhere on earth) firecrackers right over your head while you are bearing a litter of your local temple's favorite deities for all to see. It is a very photogenic experience, in a perverse kind of way. By the way, do not even try to order lamb brochettes during this time of year . . . . . I tried and was told, "Sorry, we're out of skewers."  "Why?" I asked.  There are more photos here.   This is what you missed:

The kids love to try and see how close they can come to blowing their toes off. I didn't stick around.

There were lots of kids having fun, but somehow they seemed a little consumed with thoughts of their future participation in the parade . . . . .

Oh, that's where the skewers have gone.

I guess lamb-ka-bobs are out of the question too.

Let's see, what else does Mom have in the kitchen drawer . . . . .

Not Mother's lamp too!  I'm gonna tell . . . . .

Ouch.

The end of the parade is where all the fun, and missing fingers and eyes-put-out . . . . yes, you guessed right . . . The Rain Of Firecrackers!

Phuket Firecrackers Duckers (PFD).

Loitering on parade while the ambulance tended the newly blind (no kidding).

O.K., now that the ambulances have gone . . . . . PAR-TAY!

I am just back from a quick trip to The States.  I got to see my wonderful daughter in Philadelphia on my way to attending an international conference in Baltimore.  Unfortunately I got food poisoning at the Airport Hilton Hotel in Newark, New Jersey on the way that put a damper on my time in Philadelphia.  I recovered by the time I got to Baltimore . . . and the National Aquarium.  Here are some photos from the trip.

Baltimore harbour from the hotel window.

These things seemed to be left over from the last Ice Age in Baltimore Harbour.

A view to the US National Aquarium where, interestingly, they have a lot of fish that you can photograph!

A Box Fish head . . . . .

A Large Mouth Fish . . . . .

The underside of a Sting Ray . . .

They even had some snakes in the habitats at The US National Aquarium.  See more photos from the National Aquarium in my Travel Photo Blog section.

I finally found the 'last lens I needed' for my camera bag.  I now have a lens for every situation I may encounter in my travels: the amazingly sharp Sigma 70mm DG Macro. I shot some test shots in my garden when I got home and they were stunning.  I remembered that I have more then 100 flowering tropical plants in the garden, so I have opened up a new section in the Travel Photo Bank called "My Garden Flowers & Leaves" -- check it out -- it will grow as I take new photos and go through my collection. A few samples:

Ah! Nature!

Yes, these orchids just grow outside on their own . . . . on the trunks of my palm trees.

I woke up at 5:00 this Sunday morning and trailered my race car the 150 miles across Thailand to the race shop that will be installing a new supercharged race 1UZ V-8 engine.  It will be about eight (8) weeks before I will see the race track again . . . but when I do . . .  it is going to be really fun with a blown and injected HEMI! You can check the progress at my Racing Projects Blog link.

6:30am: Getting ready for the long trip down the road. Owning a race car in Thailand has been a lot of fun . . .  and very interesting.