Goodbye Blue Sky

Planet Earth is about to lose another battle…

Canon Trade-Show in Hamburg

I just received an e-mail from Calumet (in my eyes the best photo store in Hamburg) that they are hosting a large Canon Trade Show on March 5 and 6 between 10:00 and 18:00. Apparently Canon will be showing all their photographic equipment, including large-format printers.

http://www.calumetphoto.de/event/4405/

But even more important (and this is why I’m writing this posting), they will have technicians to inspect your gear and clean your sensor for free. I’ve used that service on a different occasion and was very pleased. Be prepared for a longer waiting-line, though…

India, Here I Come Again!

I’ve been fascinated by India for a long time, and in March of 2007 I made a 12-day trip to Delhi, Jaipur, Agra and Varanasi. I’ve never been much of a backpacker, so I joined a tour group. The trip was very well organized, but being part of a group was a mixed blessing. I never had to care about how to get around, where to sleep or what to eat and the fixed schedule allowed me to see many things in a short time. But it also meant that someone else decided when and for how long I will be at a certain place. In order to have enough time for photography I usually got up early or separated myself from the group, but I still had to be in the bus when the group was leaving. And those prearranged meals and hotels sure were hygienic, quiet and comfortable, but too bland and sterile for my taste.

Anyhow, the trip in 2007 was great and I came back with several good images, but for my next trip I wanted a different experience. Ideally I wanted to go together with another photographer, have a more relaxed schedule and travel by car some of the time so that we could decide where to drive and when to make a stop. Trains might be faster and more comfortable, but the roads in India are absolutely fascinating and a traffic congestion is the best thing that can happen to a people-photographer (which I’m not, but want to be — at least while in India).

I tried to inspire a few of my photographer-friends to come along, but in the end no one had the time or inspiration, so I’ll be going alone. I am not thrilled about having to master all the logistics on my own, but I’m nonetheless very happy and excited!

Now I have a thousand things to think about and three weeks to prepare everything, but at least I’m not totally unexperienced. Here is what I learned from my first trip:

• Have enough memory cards at hand. In 2007 I had 8 GB and in the end it was enough, but during the first days I had my doubts, even after constantly erasing all bad images.
• Shoot only RAW. During my last trip I shot JPGs for 2 days because I feared that I won’t have enough memory cards. As a result I now have a few great images without RAW “negatives” (for example the “Camel Rider” directly above).
• Bring a backup medium. In 2007 I didn’t make any backups and still didn’t lose any images, but I was worried all the time, so extra for this trip I’ve bought a backup drive. That’s a good thing of course, but now I have one more device to take care of and one more battery charger to lug around.

Here are some tough decisions that I still have to make:

• Which equipment should I take? A Canon 30D, 17-40/4, 50/1.8, 70-200/4 and a 420EX flash are my standard tools, but what about a wider wide-angle, a longer tele, or a macro? I could probably borrow such lenses from my friends.
• How about a tripod? I won’t need it much, but maybe it’s worth having it around anyway?
• Should I buy a 5D and 24-105/4 IS before the trip? It’s way too much money, but having one IS lens that covers extreme wide-angle to moderate-tele all in one means sharper images, no lens swapping, faster handling and less dust on the sensor. I’m tempted, but I guess I won’t do it…
• How many memory cards should I take? Right now I’m thinking 10-12 GB should be enough (1110–1332 RAW images), as I will be erasing bad images daily. I’m going to have to have to borrow a few cards.
• What’s my backup strategy? I plan on having enough memory cards so that I don’t have to erase any good images. Every night I’ll be copying the cards from that day onto a Hyperdrive Colorspace, and this will be my backup. I guess I’ll carry the cards in the camera bag all the time and have the hard-drive in my suitcase back in the hotel. Whenever I get a chance, I’ll try to burn my images on a DVD in some internet cafe.
• Should I borrow a back-up body? Last year I borrowed a Canon 300D, which I never needed, but it was good having it with me. But since it has a different battery, I had to carry one more battery charger with me. This is where the 5D becomes attractive again: a 5D with 24-105 and a 30D with 70-200/4, four batteries and just one charger make very much sense, but I don’t want to carry so much weight all the time.
• What other batteries, chargers, cables and power adapters will I need?
• Which camera bag should I take? I have two: one for one body, three lenses and a flash, and another one for one body, four medium-sized and one larger lens. I think I’ll bring both and each morning choose which one fits better for that day.

Boy, and these are only the photography-related questions…

PS: Don’t forget — you can click on any image to enlarge it.

Sunday Morning in Hamburg’s HafenCity

Last week I had a two-day training in Hamburg’s HafenCity. The weather was great and my hands were itching to go out and take photographs, but darn it, I had to sit in the classroom and learn new things.

For those not familiar with the HafenCity, or “Port City”, it’s Hamburg’s trendy (chic, modern, expensive) new district directly on the waterfront, with residence, office and recreational buildings shooting up from the ground like mushrooms.

Anyhow, I couldn’t take any photographs during the training, but I went back on Sunday morning. The light was good, so I spent a couple of hours looking around. No one was working on the numerous construction sites, so I climbed over the fence when I needed to get closer to my motives.

It was fun looking around and I ended up taking over 100 photographs.

I like the shadows from the wheel handles — to me they look a bit like flowers…

Three “Charcoal Shadows” Prints

I’ve slowly gotten tired of the two current prints in my office, so yesterday I made three new ones and framed them (30 x 40 cm prints in 50 x 60 cm frames). On Monday I’ll hang the new ones in my office and the old ones at home.

This is my first printed three-of-a-kind series, so I’m quite excited.

I have an even stronger third image, but it doesn’t lend itself well to a 3:4 aspect ratio, so I had to go with this one. Since I use standard frames and mattes, I have to produce standard-sized prints… Or I need to start cutting my own mattes.