Travel the world through the photography of Kyle Marquardt

by Jessica Festa on

While there are a lot of beautiful travel photos out there, the images of Kyle Marquardt have a way of capturing those quick, often missed moments while helping people to discover places not often seen by tourists, like a penguin the first second he goes to jump out of the water, a cheetah in hot pursuit of a gazelle, or an iceberg half underwater and half above. So how does he capture such moving shots?

“A certain amount of planning and expectations are required to go traveling, but when I’m finally out there in the wild, I have to respect that mother nature is in full control of the itinerary,” he explains. “I might expect that I want to get to see certain things, but you just can’t ask a group of penguins to jump into the water or a cheetah to sprint after a gazelle in front of you minutes after the sun rises in the Serengeti. You just have to show up and see what you get this time.”

Marquardt is also a photography guide, leading groups into the wild and helping them to enhance their picture taking skills while capturing images they never thought possible. When possible, Marquardt also tries to help the communities he visits. For example, on a guided photography tour in Tanzania, Africa, the group visited LOHADA, a local organization providing care, education, and shelter to young children and adults. After pooling donations, the photography group went out and bought the locals in need supplies like food, toothbrushes, toothpaste, toiletries, vitamins, paper, and pens.

Notes Marquardt, “We came to Africa for travel, luxury photography and excitement and could have forgone a visit to an orphanage. In doing what we did we left with an entirely different kind of fulfillment.”

Interested in taking a Photo Safari with Marquardt? Click here. And, if you’d like to immerse yourself in foreign cultures and landscapes without leaving your chair, check out the gallery below, which contains both published as well as never-before-seen photographs by Marquardt.

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Luxury Travel: Got two weeks and $15k? Take a flying photo tour of Australia

by McLean Robbins on



Up for an adventure? How about two weeks flying across the Australian Outback in a private plane, guided by your on-board photographic expert and visiting the most photogenic destinations in the country? Sounds great to us.

Led by Air Adventure Australia, an experienced tour outfitter with more than 30 years of experience, the tour guides participants through paths that would take more than three months to see by road, and many that are inaccessible by anything other than air transport.

Want to know a bit more about what you’re getting? Tour everything from the Red Centre, to the Kimberley Coast, to the wetlands of Kakadu. The photography is guided by award-winning travel photographer Ewen Bell, who has been running photo tours and shooting images for nearly a decade. The combination is perfect, with the ability to land on remote air-strips and cattle stations and spend the best times of the day with Australia’s most iconic scenery. In the air, the flying time is limited to short hops of two hours or less, and on the ground, a
combination of private transfers, comfortable lodging and plenty of good wine. Travelers also get a tailor-made book on photography from Bell himself to remember the trip by.

Limited to eight photographers, the $15,990 fee includes all lodging, food, and transportation costs for the duration of the trip, which begins on June 4, 2012. (Book here) Want to see a taste of what you’ll get? Photos from the most recent trip are below.
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Contest: Moses on the Move – Week One

by Adrienne Wilson on

After seeing the results from Karen’s Where’s
Walrond contest I feel it’s time to place one in effect myself, but before I jump into the meat and rules of
the challenge it is very important I make known how Moses came about. You see, it was never my intentions to bring a
stuffed, fuzzy, Holy Folks, companion to keep me company on the long journey
walking across America, but things just sort of happened that way. I’ll provide you with the condensed version.

It was a cold early morning in NYC and the team had just made it to the CBS Early Show, where we would shout and go crazy
when the older guy with the cue cards instructed us to do so. Our mission was quite simple: Spread the word about health and fitness by letting folks know we’re walking coast to coast
and tracking all our steps with a pedometer. Between the breaks I went down to the catering table to fuel my
practically frozen body with a nice, warm cup of hot chocolate. It was at that time Moses fell into not only my life,
but the entire group’s life. The catering fellow reached down into a box, pulled out a tiny, stuffed man with a large,
stuffed smiling face and asked me to name who the biblical man was. I was clueless and just before I could open my trap
to utter my final answer of um, Goliath one of my fellow
walking cohort, Jaime, blurted out the correct answer.

"That’s Moses."

"Yes, that’s Moses," I said.

Naturally I pretended to know the correct answer all
along, ashamed of my inability to recognize even the stuffed Ten Commandments placed on the doll’s hands, but I made
sure I offered the doll to Jaime (who refused) before becoming the official parent of our new unofficial mascot and
walker. So now that he is a part of the team you’ll see him here in photo safari across America, but don’t think Moses is limited to the great
outdoors. He loves the wild indoors as much as anyone else.

Now onto the contest… Over the next couple of
weeks I’ll need your help telling me where Moses is in the country, but you’ll have to be pretty specific. The city and
state will be provided for this first set of clues, but you’ll have to check out the Steps Across site to see where in America Moses and the rest of us are
over the next couple of weeks. The correct answers will score you some pretty cool and exciting gear for your own
future travels or walks across the country, compliments of myself. And I promise they’ll be exciting so long as you
stick around. Here’s the first set of clues and photos:

Moses was as much on the move as any New Yorker
during his stay in the Big Apple and to prove it he stopped at two pretty popular places.

Clue: While a few of the girls perused the cosmetics department in this famous department
store located between 34th and 35th on Broadway, Moses decided to hang back in the comfy chair at one
particular counter. When it comes to make-up you could say it’s just what the doctor ordered. While he
waited he noticed several tourists snapping pictures of the beautiful flower show inside the department store.

What is the name of the store and make-up counter Moses was at?

Clue: Earlier that same day Moses was seen sitting on the counter (not drinking) at this popular
Times Square dive restaurant and bar where the folks have real Noo Yawk attitude
according to City Search Editor’s. Located at 8th Ave and W 44th Ave, the place has gotten many a good review at City
Search as well and has an overall rating of 9.4. Moses thinks it’s pretty cool too.

What is the name
of the restaurant and bar?

Good luck and look out for Moses across the country.

Disclaimer: Moses is by no means an official mascot, member, walker, or representative of the Sportline Steps Across America program. He just likes to tag along.