Travel

The Center of People

Posted on October 24, 2014October 23, 2014 by Sam Kornstein in India Food Waste, Photography, Travel

Via Joost Bonsen, whose Development Ventures Class in the MIT Media Lab was among the best course decisions I made in grad school, a graphic that’s trending on reddit showing the world’s population by longitude and latitude: From the graphic alone, I would have guessed this was in northwest India, but after looking up the coordinates, it turns out the center of people is just over the border in Pakistan: Coincidentally, as a direct result of Joost’s course, I ended up conducting some research on food waste in India right by the border, just 100 miles from the above coordinates in Pakistan. Here’s what it looks like:

A Few Thoughts on Rhinos

Posted on September 23, 2014September 23, 2014 by Sam Kornstein in General, Photography, Travel

I just learned that yesterday was World Rhino Day, an annual initiative to raise awareness about Africa’s big poaching problem. National Geographic has a nice series of pictures and history, including a picture that’s clearly from a very different time of a zookeeper feeding peas to a rhino while it’s carrying a woman on its back. Having just been to South Africa last month, where over 80% of the 26,000 rhinos in Africa live, I thought I’d share some of what we saw and learned. Previous posts on South Africa are here and here. While I had known that poaching has historically been and continues to be a huge issue, I hadn’t appreciated the extent of it. Over 1,000 rhinos were poached in

African Cat Rehabilitation Center

Posted on September 22, 2014September 22, 2014 by Sam Kornstein in Photography, Travel

Continued from my previous post here. On our second day in South Africa, we took a ride about 10 miles up the road from our lodge to the Emdoneni Lodge Cat Rehabilitation Center. The center takes in injured and orphaned cheetahs, servals, African wild cats, and caracals, and provides care for them, generally with the hope of releasing them back into the wild. In some cases the cats become too tame and comfortable around humans and can not be safely released, so these guys live out their days at the center. Somewhat surprisingly, after speaking with one of the center’s staff members, we learned much of the funding for these centers comes from hunting organizations. My understanding was that they

First Few Days in South Africa

Posted on September 21, 2014September 21, 2014 by Sam Kornstein in Photography, Travel

Laura and I recently returned from a visit in South Africa, planned around a package we “accidentally” won in a charity auction. The Auction was for Girls’ Leap, an amazing organization Laura volunteers with that provides self defense and empowerment training to girls and young women in the Boston area. By “accidentally,” I mean that we weren’t the high bidders and didn’t necessarily intend to win, as it was clear the other bidders were more enthusiastic. But once the highest bidder won, the auctioneer had a “surprise” for us. She happened to have more than one package on hand and conveniently offered it to us — in front of 200 or so other people — for our bid. It’s obviously

Wimberley Texas

Posted on December 2, 2013December 1, 2013 by Sam Kornstein in Beer, Travel

The day after Thanksgiving, I went out to Wimberley with my girlfriend’s family, which is a small town about half an hour outside of Austin. I didn’t know what to expect, and was very pleasantly surprised. We started the day the Blue Hole regional park, a nice area with some hiking trails where we successfully found a geocache by a creek. This was one of the toughest ones I’ve done — and I can’t take credit for finding it (I’m not so sure I would have): We then went to the square, which is filled with lots of artsy stores selling many locally made “things”. I say “things” because while there were plenty of more normal crafty items such as

Reykjavik to Jökulsárlón and Back in 1 Day

Posted on October 6, 2013October 6, 2013 by Sam Kornstein in Travel

I recently spent three days in Iceland with my girlfriend. We rented a car, so we had a bit of flexibility. We first did the obligatory trip to the Blue Lagoon, and then spent a day driving the Golden Circle, both of which were worth the hype. Then we were left with one more day, and we weren’t sure how best to use it. I had heard that the glacial icebergs at Jökulsárlón were a must-see, but at a 782km round trip drive, it seemed a bit ambitious. I read quite a few forums and posts that all recommended going, but they also recommended spending the night somewhere in the South. I did find some posts from a few who had

South American Road Trip

Posted on November 19, 2012November 19, 2012 by Sam Kornstein in Photography, Travel

A very well done South American video compilation. From the artist’s Vimeo site: “Early 2012, we started a journey to Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Uruguay, Paraguay and Southern Brazil in our old and rusty Landrover. Once again, we brought our DSLR cameras and some gear to capture every great moment of this trip. Lots of winds, emptiness, pampas, bustling cities, animals, deserts and waterfalls – all wrapped up in just under 6 min. Enjoy the ride!”

More Vancouver

Posted on July 23, 2012July 22, 2012 by Sam Kornstein in Photography, Travel

Here are a few more photos taken in Vancouver. My Dad and I took a 20 minute seaplane tour, which gave me the opportunity to get a few aerial shots:

Vancouver

Posted on July 22, 2012July 22, 2012 by Sam Kornstein in Photography, Travel

Last month I had a great time visiting my brother in Vancouver for the first time. Here are a few shots I took from around the city:

Seaplanes!

Posted on July 12, 2012July 12, 2012 by Sam Kornstein in Travel

I was in Vancouver with my Dad last month visiting my brother who’s studying sound design at the Vancouver Film School. The pacific northwest seems to have a great seaplane culture, where cities zone a portion of the local harbor for seaplanes to take off, land, and dock. Some are used for short commutes between cities (e.g., Vancouver to Victoria), and others for sightseeing tours. I think it’s a great use of space, and much more practical for short commutes than going to an airport, as you can just walk from an office downtown right up to the dock, show an ID, and get on. I’m surprised this hasn’t caught on in the northeast. My Dad and I went on one of the 20