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“Angkor: Glory of the Khmer Empire (802 - 1431 AD),” is a history and travel photography book that begins with the story of the rise and fall of the Khmer Empire, as a backdrop to set the stage for the book’s images depicting the magnificence and beauty of Khmer art, architecture and landscapes, and offers travel tips and picture taking insights for a journey to Angkor and a few surrounding areas.

Since childhood, I have had a fascination with the Middle Ages predominantly in Europe and Japan. I am not exactly sure why, especially given the brutality and violence of this period of human history. However, medieval architecture specifically castles captivated me with their beauty as incredible feats of complex construction. I also discovered during the same period all over the world, many civilizations built castle-like structures with similar designs and features despite significant interaction. I first learned about Angkor and the Khmer Empire in middle school but unfortunately the curriculum of my history classes did not cover these topics in a meaningful way. Over the years, and as I gained experience in photography and broadened my travel horizons, I learned more about Angkor especially through fellow photographers and images I discovered on social media. While Khmer architecture does exhibit some medieval features similar to European castles, Angkor structures have unique distinctions which drove me to want to see and experience first hand.

My first journey to Cambodia began with planning while living in Sydney, Australia in the Aussie’s late Fall to Winter of 2018. As part of my tour through Southeast Asia that included Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Hong Kong and Japan, I reserved some time for Cambodia specifically to visit Angkor Wat, capture an epic sunrise there and photograph as much of Angkor as possible with limited time. I planned for 6 days at Angkor which, after the first day there, I realized was nowhere near enough time. While I was not able to visit or photograph the entirety of Angkor due to its sheer enormity and an almost endless number of temples and sites, I managed to cover the most famous locations and many others in a very short period of time. I needed at least two or three weeks more. I vow to go back.

SPECIAL OFFER: If you contact me (click Contact to the left to write him an email), and upon me verifying your completed purchase of "Thailand," I will offer a 1-hour free complimentary consultation for travel and photography tips to the destinations in this book.

First published in 2020

Published by Blurb, Inc.

“Thailand” is a travel photography book depicting the beauty of Thailand, focused on the northern parts of the country from Bangkok, to Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai and surrounding areas, through images and stories also focused on its history, culture, architecture and landscapes, and offering travel tips and picture taking insights for journeys to these locations.

My first journey to Thailand began with planning while living in Sydney, Australia in the Aussie’s late Fall to Winter of 2018. For many years, my friends had told me their stories about their travels to Thailand, and I had seen many amazing photographs depicting the country’s depth of history and culture as well as its beautiful architecture and landscapes. Since I was relatively close to Southeast from Australia, I decided the time is now to make my own and extended journey. As part of a larger 4 month journey throughout Southeast Asia (note--more photo books to come for those destinations), I reserved a little over 3 weeks for Thailand in October. I chose October for Thailand due to a more moderate climate at that time, increased colors in landscapes, less chance for the impact of heavier rains and because it is not a peak tourism month.

In my planning, I realized Thailand is an incredibly massive country and 3 weeks would not be even close to cover it “all.” I had never planned such an extensive “international” trip while living in a country other than The United States. This posed many interesting challenges but also added to the excitement. I decided to focus on northern Thailand, meaning beginning in Bangkok and heading north to the cities of Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai and their surrounding areas.

First published in 2020

Published by Blurb, Inc.

"Sydney Australia & New Zealand 2017" details my first trip to the Southern Hemisphere, as well as to both Australia and New Zealand, with Mark Cheng (the whole way except Wellington, NZ), included photos from first time locations and experiences. Our trip spanned 23 days where we visited 2 countries and 8 cities, traveled by planes (including a first time in 8-seater single engine plane), cars (including a first time renting a car overseas, driving on the left side of the road and right side of the car, and in a classic 1967 Mustang for wine touring), a limousine, buses, trains, a cable car, gondola, boats, and a hot air balloon (another first).

We flew over 18,000 miles, walked 328,573 steps covering over 151.70 miles (including my first New Zealand Great Walk via The Routeburn Track), took over 18,000 pictures, waded into Lake Wanaka to capture the best Wanaka Tree compositions, saw a perfectly still reflection of Mt. Cook on Lake Pukaki (absolutely rare according to locals and as a token for that perfect scene I donated my Nikon D810 to Lake Pukaki by way of not stabilizing my tripod enough causing it to tip into the waters of Lake Pukaki--worth it!) among many others. What a trip and amazing bunch of memories and experiences!

The trip to New Zealand included Wellington on the North Island, and Blenheim, Queenstown (and the surrounding areas), Glenorchy, Milford Sound, The Routeburn Track, Wanaka, Lake Pukaki, and Lake Tekapo areas of the South Island. For these photos I used my Nikon D810 (with a Nikon 14-35mm wide and two Tamron lenses (a 24-70mm and 70-200mm), Sony A6000 and iPhone 7.

SPECIAL OFFER: If you contact me (click Contact to write him an email), and upon me verifying your completed purchase of this book, I will offer a 1-hour free complimentary consultation for travel and photography tips to the destinations in this book.

First published in 2018

Published by Blurb, Inc.

The Great American Eclipse of 2017 in Kentucky | August 21, 2017 - Hopkinsville, KY The Piper Family witnessed a once in a lifetime event--The Great American Eclipse at the Casey Jones Distillery in Hopkinsville, KY on August 21, 2017.

We awoke at 5 AM, made the three hour drive to Hopkinsville from Lexington quickly and secured the perfect parking spot (near the exit for a seemingly fast getaway) with plenty of time to spare prior to the eclipse. We stayed for all of the pre-eclipse phases, the Totality, and 20 minutes of the post-Totality phase. We left at approximately 2:50 PM CST believing we could make it to the Bluegrass Airport in time for my 7 PM EST flight. We were dead wrong!

What ensued was a 11 hour ordeal and drive home that included enduring perhaps the biggest traffic jam in American history that spanned multiple states, we saw food shortages, the real threat of running out of gas, multiple hours of near immobility at times, and an average speed of 17.5 MPH--it was all WORTH THE EXPERIENCE!!

First published in 2017

Published by Blurb, Inc.

"Summer in Italy 2016" details my first trip to Italy which spanned 18 days where I visited 12 cities and 1 island, walked 270,295 steps covering 123.46 miles, commuted via 7 trains, 3 buses, 4 boats, 2 limos and 2 planes, and was impacted by 1 major earthquake (a 6.2 centered in Accumoli southeast of Perugia and Siena which I had been visiting just 2 days before it hit). For these photos, I used my Canon 70D (18-135mm), Sony A6000 and an iPhone 6.

First published in 2016

Published by Blurb, Inc.

Geoff Piper

Books

Angkor

Thailand

Sydney Australia & New Zealand 2017

The Great American Eclipse 2017

The Great American Eclipse of 2017 in Kentucky | August 21, 2017 - Hopkinsville, KY The Piper Family witnessed a once in a lifetime event--The Great American Eclipse at the Casey Jones Distillery in Hopkinsville, KY on August 21, 2017.

Summer in Italy 2016

Other Geoff Piper Blurb Books: