Things to do in Mongolia

Start off by drinking the local tap water, get sick, then get immunized, then…

  1. Stay with Nomads in a Ger
  2. Build a Ger
  3. Ride a Horse, Camel
  4. Milk a goat
  5. Make Mare’s Milk and drink it
  6. Comb a Goat for Cashmere
  7. Take part in Eagle Hunting
  8. Hunt
  9. See and ride a Bactarian Camel
10. Catch a Taimen Fish
11. Berry Picking in the North
12. Take the Trans-Mongolian
13. Bird Watching
14. Wear Mongolian Traditional Clothes
15. Take part in a Genghis Khan Cavalry Charge
16. Wrestle a Mongolian during the Nadaam
17. Slide down the singing sand dunes
18. Help unearth dinosaur eggs and bones
19. Drink Seakuckturn berry juice
20. Learn the Mongolian language
21. Learn to write the old Mongolian Script
22. Learn how to cook Mongolian Yogurt, cheeses and dried curds
23. Eat a marmot cooked the Mongolian Way
24. Drink deer blood
25. Go River Rafting on the Tuul River
26. Meet a Mongolian Fortune Teller
27. Take part in a Shaman ceremony
28. Ride a Motorbike in the endless steppes
29. Drive a Russian Jeep (Gaz) in the Gobi
30. Try throat singing (long song)
31. Watch and maybe attempt to be a contortionist
32. Climb the Turtle Rock
33. Drink Mongolian Home made vodka made from milk
34. Take part in religious Tsam Dencing
35. Sleep under the blue sky
36. Dog Sledgings in  the snows of Winter
37. Go to the Naraantul Market in Ulaanbaatar
38. Climb to the Zaisan Memorial
39. Have a Ghinggis Day
40. Play anklebone
41. Drink Hot Salt Milk tea
42. Enjoy looking at beautiful Mongolian Girls!!!!
43. Wear  Deel( Coat) in the winter and feel the warm
44. Get a massage from a little Mongolian grand mother
45. Drive a soviet Gaz 69 jeep through the steppes.
46. Get bitten my large mongolian mosquitoes and horse flies
47. Eat Huushuur and Buuz
48. Play with countryside red-cheeked children
49. Play dembee before you drink Mongolian milk made vodka
50. Go to Mongolian happy valley
51. Cut Firewood
52. Feed animals
53. Herd animals such as horses, goats, sheeps and catles
54. Learn folk dance
55. Backpacking around Mongolia

7 tips for better ‘first dance’ wedding shots by Ronan Palliser

Today Ronan Palliser shares tips on how to capture the ‘first dance’ at a wedding.

You are most likely invited to weddings every now and then, and I’m betting that most people bring a camera with them.  Chances are, if you looked back at your photos and compared them with those that other guests took on the day, there will be many shots that are the same.  The most photographed moment of the day is often the bride and groom’s first dance, and with a little bit of know how, and if you’re lucky enough to have it, some extra lighting tools, it is possible to get a shot of the first dance that will stand out from the crowd and identify you as a capable photographer.

 

Tip 1: Change your shooting angle

 

Most people, most of the time, take photographs from the same viewing point – i.e. they hold the camera up to their eye and press the shutter.  For a different view, deliberately take the camera low down and you’ll immediately have a shot that stands out.  Wedding receptions are often held in rooms with ornate ceilings, so this can be a good way of getting that detail in the background also.

 

Tip 2: Move to the other side of the dance floor

 

99% of photographs of the first dance that guests take are captured from the same side of the dance floor.  For a unique shot, move around to the other side and include the “paparazzi” in your shot.  The resultant image will be fun, capture the excitement of the guests, and more than likely the enjoyment of the bride and groom at all this attention.

 

Tip 3: Post process your images

 

Instead of just settling for the images straight from the camera, bring them into some photo-editing software to enhance them.  This can be as simple as increasing the contrast, or you can get artistic and apply some effects such as this spot-colour effect, done in Photoshop Elements, to make the bride and groom stand out.  Photographers might think this look is cheesy, but many brides and grooms love it.  Notice also that this image uses the tips above as well – don’t be afraid to combine different ideas in one shot.

 

Tip 4: Slow down your shutter speed

 

By slowing the shutter (and keeping your camera steady, on a table or chair for instance) you’ll get shots that show movement on the dance floor.  You may also get lucky, like I did above, and find that someone else’s flash goes off in the middle of your exposure to help freeze the bride and groom.  Or you can make your own luck by following tip 5…

 

Tip 5: Take your flash off the camera

 

If you own a flash that can be taken off the camera and fired remotely, see what happens when you fire it from a different position to your camera position.  For the image above my wife was holding my Nikon SB-800 just out of the frame at camera left, and pointing it towards the bride and groom.  I triggered it using the wireless CLS system on my Nikon camera, but remote triggers from Ebay would do the trick as well.  The end result is another distinctive looking first dance shot.

 

Tip 6: Make use of the videographer

 

Often during first dances, there’ll be a videographer filming the event, and he’ll probably have a video light on top of his camera to illuminate the bride and groom.  If you underexpose your shot and wait for his light to brighten up the bride and groom you’ll get a pretty cool spot like effect.  Or you can achieve the same thing by using the off camera flash mentioned above and zoom it in as much as it will go.

 

Tip 7: Light the dance floor

 

 

The shot at the top of this page was lit by two off camera flashes, one either side of the band, pointing across the dance floor in an X to light the entire floor.   The wider shot above shows a similar arrangement – you can see how the two flashes (mounted on the band’s speakers) light the whole floor.  Depending on where you position yourself relative to these lights and the bride and groom, you can get some great front light, back light, side light or combinations of all of these for a professional looking shot.

 

About the Author: Ronan Palliser is an Irish photography addict, living in Dublin. He maintains a daily photoblog at http://www.ronanpalliser.ie/blog and publishes a new photograph every day, with in-depth technical details about how the shot was taken.

Evolution of Pepsi & Coca-Cola’s logo over the years

WTH is Pepsi doing anyway with the black background and squiggly round logo that looks nothing like a corporate logo but more like my parang knife…

 

Pepsi?

Five Quotes People Should Really Stop Using

by Marina Cockenberg

1. "Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among stars!" – Les Brown
Let’s get this popular piece of crap out of the way first, because you know what? Fuck your stars. If I wanted stars, I’d be aiming for stars. I aimed for the moon. And I’m certainly not about to let you bait and switch my life ambitions with some vague celestial analogy. How about something more realistic like "Shoot for the moon and prepare to be encompassed by crushing darkness when you miss." or "Shoot for the treetops and while you’re up there, can you check the roof for your brother’s Frisbee?" This quote has probably been poetically scrawled in at least half of the classrooms of your childhood and does nothing but encourage acceptance of your inevitable life failures.

2. "Dress for the job you want, not the job you have." – Your Parents/Guidance Counselor
Oh really? Let’s play out this recommendation in real life. Let’s say the job I want is that of an eccentric billionaire…and the job I have is lifeguarding at the local pool. Well I gotta tell you, it’s going to be increasingly difficult to tread water in this three piece suit and top hat. See, the problem with this stupid quote is that it assumes the job you have is somewhere in the realm of the job you want. But assuming your goal in life is not to become manager at whatever depressing hourly wage job you’re stuck at this summer, dressing for the job you actually want is more likely to get you fired than promoted. They’re not coming to the strip club to see you dressed as a kindergarten teacher. Wait. Nevermind, bad example…

3. "That which doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger." – Your Coach/Friedrich Nietzsche/Kanye West

False. Talk to someone who’s been hit by a car. Or had a massive stroke. Chances are that if something came close enough to killing you that people are sending you motivational greeting cards with kittens hanging from tree branches, you’re probably not coming out of this stronger. The exception, of course, is if your injury dictates the implantation of something metal in your body. Like some awesome steel rods in your back for example. But that quote should really be "that which doesn’t kill you will make getting through airport security really interesting." Other exceptions include rapper 50 Cent, who taught us all that getting shot nine times will result in flawlessly chiseled abs.

4. "The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence." – proverb

Did you know that back before people could bitterly announce their deep discontent in their Live Journals and Facebook statuses, they sat around thinking up proverbs to piss of the parents that totally didn’t understand them? Okay, I just made that up. But it may as well be true because this quote is straight up emo. Most overused quotes and proverbs at least serve the purpose of being vaguely motivational, but this cliche is more of a gentle reassurance that if you think someone else’s life is better then you’re probably right. Think Brad is better at sports than you? He is. Think Stacy has a sweeter rack than yours? She totally does. If I’m complaining about my life and your only response is to assure me that I’m right, you’re a horrible friend. What you should be doing is heading to your stepdad’s garage. Because if the only thing standing between me and greener pastures is a fence than this, like most life problems, can be fixed with a chain saw.

5. "Dream as if you’ll live forever. Live as if you’ll die today." – James Dean

Right okay, but what if I’m not dead tomorrow. Now I’ve got to explain a $5,000 bar tab, the Shetland pony in my apartment, and the three male escorts in my trunk? If I’m dying today, my 21 year old bucket list is not nearly as poignant and touching as what this quote assumes it will be. I’m not gonna waste my last hours weeping with family members over what an outstanding individual I was or making some finals strides to end world hunger or sitting in a park pondering the exquisite beauty of life… I’m going to spend money I don’t have, steal things I don’t need, and–get this–change lanes without signaling. Plus I’d probably get that lower-back tattoo of a dolphin jumping over a sunset I’ve always wanted. And while all of these are perfectly acceptable behaviors for someone who is actually dying in the next 24 hours, it’ll make one hell of a court date for someone who isn’t.

How to make me the coffee I want ;)