134/365: Zanzibar.

This one is from the archives, in fact from two years ago, but I post it today because it won Best in Show in the Carrboro ArtCenter's annual photo contest! Found out about the contest two days before the final submission date (thanks Phil), so I took in some shots of mine that were already printed and hanging on my wall. Got a call a few days later telling me all my submitted shots (I took in 4) were in the exhibit, but this one got Best in Show. Headed over there tonight for the opening.

The shot comes from a trip to Africa, where my friend and I hiked the two highest peaks on the continent, Kilimanjaro and Mt Kenya, in between which we took a detour to the beaches and streets of Zanzibar. We were walking thru the labyrinth of Stone Town one afternoon, looking for shots, when I saw this building, and loved the patterns and textures. I waited for about five minutes for something interesting to come along, and got this guy strolling past. Purists beware, I used HDR tonemapping to bring out all the localized contrast in the image and really accentuate the texture, masking out areas that I didn't want overly processed. But you wouldn't have known that if I hadn't told you, now would you?

-llg