Saying Goodbye

predeparture-photo
Originally uploaded by Edu-Tourist

Well, all good things must come to an end. This photo documents the last minutes at Carleva Bay for this year's group of Temple University students. 12 in all, they had a great time exploring and working with our partners on projects of their own design. Many of these projects will be continued on future trips.

Panograph #3, Morant Point Lighthouse, Jamaica, originally uploaded by robert birkenes.

The great thing about photoexpeditions is that you not only get to look at your own photos years later, but you also get to share multiple interpretations of the same site. So it was the the Morant Point Lighthouse Trip - such an evident success that we are definely going to have to plan a followup for the return trip to Jamaica. After viewing my photographs (many taken on rainy days), several members of the Kingston, Jamaica Flickr Meetup Group have expressed their desire to hike the Cunha Cunha and/or Corn Puss Gap trails. As far as I know, the Cunha Cunha Trail is the only one open to the public, and this is only due to the carefuly management of the Bowden Pen Farmers, on behalf of eco-tourists, the national park and their fellow community residents. Corn Puss Gap, renowned amongst birders, would need a similar investment of effort in order to be cleared. Perhaps we have put the hurricane years in our past, and we can work together to publicize and reopen this national treasure. MD

Photo featured with NPR story

Kosciuszko National Memorial
Originally uploaded by Edu-Tourist

Edu-Tourist strikes again! Readers of this blog will recognize that I have been enjoying the opportunity to teach two summer abroad courses in Jamaica for the past five weeks, organizing a field excursion with members of the Kingston Flickr Meetup (see below) and enjoying the hospitality of Ms. Beverley Smith of the St. Thomas Emancipation and Cultural Association, and Ms. Linette Wilks of the Bowden Pen Farmers Association (reviews forthcoming).

Meanwhile, other photos taken in Philadelphia have been getting the attention of the National Parks Conservation Association and National Public Radio. On July 1, NPR ran a story on the National Park System that featured a photograph, I took two years ago of the exterior of the Tadeusz Kosciuszko National Memorial, located at 2nd and Pine in the Society Hill neighborhood of Philadelphia. I thought it was a great capture at the time, and it is really fulfulling to find that others agree! The story of this national memorial is just fascinating to me, and was pleased to see how Robert Smith captured it in audio and text for NPR, even though the story apparently generated some critical listener feedback.