National Park – Curious Cat Travel Photo Blog

Beetle on Plant Stems

John Hunter — Sun, 01 Jan 2017 17:23:26 +0000

Beetle on plant stems at the Guadalupe Mountains National Park in Texas, USA.

Please comment if you know what type of beetle this is. Help identify birds, insects, plants… in other photos of mine.

Beach, Bako National Park

John Hunter — Sat, 01 Oct 2016 17:52:35 +0000

Beach, Bako National Park, Borneo, Malaysia.

VW Vanlife in Kenya

John Hunter — Fri, 26 Aug 2016 14:39:26 +0000

This is a photo (by my father) of my early experience with vanlife. My family took this VW Van in Kenya when I was a kid. We only spent a couple weeks in Kenya before living in Nigeria for a school year.

I remember at one point getting stuck in a dried out riverbed in a game park after having passed a small herd of elephants just a short while before. We had to get out and push the van free and watch it zoom forward to safe ground while I thought about the elephants getting curios and deciding to see what the fuss was about. It was quite fun once I was back in the van.

Vietnam War Memorial, Washington DC

John Hunter — Sun, 15 May 2016 18:44:09 +0000

Photo of the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington DC. Most of the photo shows a reflection in the shining granite of the memorial. The memorial has the names of those Americans killed during the war engraved into the face (which can be seen in the photo if you look closely).

If you look closely you can see a reflection of the Washington Monument.

Common Sandpiper, Tanjung Piai National Park, Malaysia

John Hunter — Sun, 01 May 2016 19:16:23 +0000

Common sandpipers on the beach in Tanjung Piai National Park – the Southernmost Point in Continental Asia (near Johor Bahru, Malaysia and Singapore).

The Birds look like they are the “common sandpiper” to me but please comment if you have an accurate identification.

How to Frame Photos of People Well

John Hunter — Sun, 08 Nov 2015 19:26:18 +0000

Most of the posts on this blog are just photos. This post is a bit different in that it is a post about taking photos.

I actually owned a camera that used film. The barrier to talking multiple photos was much greater then – not only the cost but also you only have so many shots left so you can’t “waste” too many. Digital cameras are great for quite a few reasons but one of the best is how easy it is to just snap a bunch of photos and hope some are great.

You really can make quite a bit better photos without much effort. Just paying a bit of attention to good photos can help a great deal.

John Hunter, Bryce National Park

One thing I find amusing is selfies actually take advantage of something good photographers knew a long time ago. To get good photos of people put them in the foreground. You still see it today, but it was much more common (like 98% of these type of photos), where the people are tiny dots next to some tourist attraction. Selfies go a bit overboard with putting the person in the foreground (most of the time) but they are often better than the tiny dot people photos.

I still remember the photo a professional photographer took of my grandparents at their house where I saw this lesson and have remembered it since. The people were put at the front of the yard so they took up a good 50% of the photo but it was staged to capture their home of 40 years. So often this type of photo is with the people little dots in front of the house with the framing of the house nearly the same.

Me, my brother Justin and my mom in front of the Acropolis in Athens, Greece by Bill Hunter. This isn’t the greatest example, but it is what I could find right now, and I think the idea is there – get a great photo of the people and have the background provide context and be interesting. The people are taking up a good proportion of the image, though normally a bit more space for an interesting background would be ideal.

Sometimes it can make sense to have the person be a little dot, such as this case where the person provides scale.

Bill Hunter by 25 foot termite mound in Nigeria.

The last two images were originally taken with film. I captured the images by taking a digital photo of the screen when showing them via a slide projector. Obviously they are not that crisp as images, but I am amazed how decently they come out when you just take a photo of the screen.

Orangutan with a Baby Orangutan in a Tree

John Hunter — Fri, 30 Jan 2015 09:51:23 +0000

This photo of an Orangutan with baby was taken by John Hunter at Semenggoh National Park in Borneo, Malaysia. See more photos, information and a video of these 2 orangutans.

The photos on this blog are by John Hunter. See many more of my photos organized by tag at Curious Cat Photos.

White Fungi on Tree Trunk

John Hunter — Sat, 31 May 2014 08:16:10 +0000

Santubong Jungle Trek, Mount Santubong, Damai, Borneo, Malaysia.

Quite a wonderful hike that is very steep as you climb to the summit (the longest steep climb I have ever done, by far). This photo is taken on the trail that runs along the base of the mountain.

Candi Sewu, Yogyakarta, Indonesia

John Hunter — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 03:08:09 +0000

Sewu temple is the second largest Buddhist temple in Indonesia, Borobudur is the largest. The Sewa temple is located in the Prambanan temple complex in Yogyakarta, Indonesia (about 1 km away from Prambanan temple). They are rebuilding many of the temples on the site which now lie in ruins.

Candi Sewu was likely built in the 8th century as the royal palace at the end of the Rakai Panangkaran kingdom.

Vista of Rocky Mountains

John Hunter — Sat, 19 May 2012 12:54:23 +0000

View of Rocky Mountains

Rocky Mountain National Park is as wonderful as you would expect. Amazing views, great hiking. Wonderful place. This photo is from the Calapyso Cascade trail (starting from the Allens Park trailhead), which is a great hike.