SeaWayBLOG: November 2009

Death and drought on Manaquiri River

©Reuters

After a rainy season that caused some of the worst flooding in recent history the seasonal drought that followed is proving to be especially bad as well in the area of the Parana de Manaquiri River, a tributary of the Amazon, near the city of Manaquiri, Brazil.
Residents say natural disasters like this have happened every year since 2005, but many are still surprised by the magnitude of this year drought that has caused the death of tens of thousands fish, but also alligator and many other aquatic animals.
This mass death has caused a contamination of the water leaving thousands of people without a water supply. Some parts of the river dried up completely, forcing a state of emergency declaration and the cancelation of classes for 2,500 children who depend on boats to reach schools. Experts blame high temperatures and low water levels for the large scale of fish deaths. They say water levels will only return to normal in January, when the next flooding period begins.

©Reuters

©Reuters
all pictures collected via Daylife

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Your world encircled

Reuters Pictures via Daylife

This picture has been shot November 8th, in Malaysia when the nation was hit by a strong wave of floods. This week a second wave has come bringing new destruction in the weakened country. Hundreds of thousands of people are without any shelter.

The picture is amazing being one of those shots that do not need a caption because the image speak for itself. Imagining your whole little world, your family, your animals, your car, everything you own, encircled by the waters is a very dismaying image, that put what's truly important and what's not on very different planes... and make you also reflect about the most pessimistic forecasts about the climate change that depict a future world so similar to this little piece of Malaysian land.

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London's skyline has never been more delicious

©Carl Warner

I am a long time fan of Carl Warner and I've already spoken about his creations in the following posts:

If you don't know him yet he is the ingenious inventor of the "foodscapes", kind of landscapes made up just with food!
His last creation is no less than the London's skyline! That means that him and his assistants have recreated all the iconic buildings of the english capital city: St Paul's cathedral, the Houses of Parliament, the Tower Bridge, the London Eye, Nelson's column, the Gherkin building, the Embankment, the Big Ben and the Tower of London!
The big feat has been commissioned by the Good Food Channel and it took photographer Carl Warner and his team three weeks.
The edible versione of London has been recreated out of 26 different types of fruit and vegetables ranging from green beans to kumquats.

Looking at the details is always the best way to admire Warner's works:

©Carl Warner

©Carl Warner

If you are interested in the "ingredients" of the skyline read the following list and than take a look to the backstage video at the bottom of the post:

The face of BIG BEN is through slices of lemon while THE HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT is created with a mix of asparagus, green and runner beans subtly mixed with baby sweetcorn to depict the intricate stonework of the political landmark.
THE LONDON EYE has green beans as spokes and its pods carefully crafted out of baby plum tomatoes and the GHERKIN is manufactured from two types of melon and embedded with green beans - we can't help but think they missed a trick there.
NELSON'S COLUMN is made from a cucumber with baby courgettes and a carrot teamed with a monkey nut and almond while ST PAUL'S CATHEDRAL has been given a modern day food makeover, with the spire being created from roundels of carrot, yellow and green courgette and baby leeks. The famous dome designed by Christopher Wren in the 17th century, has been transformed through the use of a melon, while the impressive columns have been crafted out of baby sweetcorn.
TOWER BRIDGE has pineapple piers with celery and shredded wheat towers and the TOWER OF LONDON is comprised of a selection of breadsticks and spelt crackers while the intricate brickwork has been constructed from mini shredded wheat.
THE EMBANKMENT is depicted through panini encrusted walls, punctuated by the iconic Thameside lampposts which are constructed by onions wrapped in vanilla pods for the lamps, asparagus for the posts and mackerel for the ornate fish plinths.

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The amazing experience of Paul Nicklen and a Leopard Seal

©Paul Nicklen/National Geographic

I've already spoken about Paul Nicklen on the post entitled The Polar Bear reflection so make reference to that article to have more info about this extraordinary National Geographic Photographer

The first time that I've seen the amazing picture here above depicting what seems an incredibly close-up shot of a Leopard Seal chasing a penguin I was stunned and I thought "How can the photographer be so close to the action?!?". In the following video Paul Nicken tells us the story behind the shot which is quite different from what I previously thought (the penguin is already dead) but this doesn't take out anything of the charme of the picture, on the contrary it probably increases it beacuse Nicken was the protagonist of what was in my opinion one of the most amazing experience a photographer could ever have. First of all, you have to understand that Leopard Seals are huge voracious predators that can be very dangerous for human beings (in 2003 a scientist was killed). Paul Nicklen in this case came face to face with an oversized specimen of almost 4 meters. What happened later is almost incredible: the Leopard Seal, over the course of four days, started to behave in an unexpected way traying to fed penguins to Nicklen's camera (that it thought it was his mouth) and tried to teach him how to catch prey! Take a look at the video and you'll understand what I'm talking about:

A couple of images depicting Paul Nicken during this fabulous experience:

©National Geographic

©National Geographic

Some of the hundreds of fantastic Leopard Seal pictures that Paul Nicklen made for National Geographic (taken from this Gallery):

©Paul Nicklen/National Geographic

©Paul Nicklen/National Geographic

The following ones can also be downloaded in a bigger size in the wallpaper section of the National Geographic website:

Enjoy!

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Azzurra wins the Louis Vuitton Trophy in Nice

©Stefano Gattini/Azzurra

Defeating the strong crew of Emirates team New Zealand (and all the predictions of the experts) Azzurra, the Italian team of the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda has won the Louis Vuitton Trophy Nice Côte d’Azur. Stefano Gattini sent me this nice gallery: