Travel Photography

Picked up a Photography Magazine as you do and was attracted to it's feature on Travel Photography. Read the first section on equipment and I am still shaking my head. As you know I am off to Dubai shortly and thought well I won't take as much gear as I did to the UK. Here is the suggested list.

Two camera bodies, 
A 17-40 mm Wide angle Zoom
A 40-70 mm Standard Zoom
A70-200 mm Telephoto Zoom
Two Teleconvertors (1.4x and 2x)
A laptop
Filters
Remote Shutter Release
A Tripod
A Flash
Batteries
A sturdy camera bag and don't forget pack a reverse lens cap, a mini screwdriver for running repairs, a pocket knife(try getting that through security), Notebook and pen a headlamp or torch and a compass is handy (obviously not heard of iphone)and cleaning tools.

I guess I might as well take my kit as it is now. Infact might have to throw a few more things in.

Several interesting tips on getting those holiday shots though. Want to get those shots but the place is too crowded....get up early...use a ND filter and use long exposure moving people will not show up. In a dull light building set your camera up on a tripod  use long exposure and walk around firing your flash manually. As long as you keep moving and not wearing white you wont appear in the shot.   I will see how much case room I have later in the week.

Lincoln Is It!

We awoke Tuesday morning with a light blanket of snow on the ground. Our good friends Barb & Bernie had arrived the night before and today we were off to Lincoln with them.  Lincoln is about an hour away and it is a lovely city. We parked near the marina, boats were tied up in a frozen lake. First things first we made our way to a little tea house for tea and cake. Then we made our way to Lincoln's High Street. Lincoln is  City full of history and I would have to say I prefer it over York. Our first site we came across was the Glory Hole now this has been so called for years but it is nothing like what you are all thinking...dirty minds. Any how I digress we made our way up High Street albiet slow as the girls ducked into shops on the way up the  street aptly named Steep Hill to Lincoln Cathedral. I have been to York Minister and it is impressive but there is something about this Cathedral can't put my finger on it but I think I like it better than York Minister.  Maybe it is the fact it was used in the Movie The Da Vinci Code I don't know I will let you judge for yourself from my photos. 

Lincoln is a University town and has a vibrant feel about it that University towns usually have. We had lunch in a cornish pastie shop in the city centre. Lincoln has the usual main stores, Marks & Spencers, Primark etc but they also have a lot of Boutiques and local designer type of stores. It is unfortunate we found Lincoln so late in our stay, however it gove sus somewhere to com eback to and explore...hopefully in the summertime!

Five Cousins Gather ....

Pam. Frank and Eddy

Yesterday we picked up Pam from her friend Joan in Dagenham and went and visited Pam's Cousins in Hendon. We then made our way back to Retford. Pam's friend Joan had served in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force during the war, She gave Pam  a short write up of her experiences during the war which I will share in a later post. She used to work with Pam in London Transport. My  only regret is I did not photograph Joan especially after reading her War Story. We made our way to Hendon where Pam's cousins had assembled for an afternoon tea. Eddie is the eldest he is 85 the other brothers, Frank 81, George 78 and young Reg 75  and of course Pam turns 80 in January. There was a bit of reminiscing of their life in York Road, West Hendon after George produced a photo of the houses in York Road. George had organised a marvellous spread ( maybe his wife Ruth helped him) and I had to try Eddies baked Cheesecake. Eddie still works overseeing gardeners and makes pewter jewellery. Unfortunately old age has caught up with Frank and his wife Rita has to oversee him but he had a distinguished career writing and performing music for the BBC used in many television shows. She said he still plays beautifully and will send us some of his music on cd. George was a camera technician with BBC TV and you will find his name on many BBC programs of yesteryear (a quick google search confirmed this). George today is a keen golfer and noticed he had a captain's plate on the wall. I did not have a chance to speak with Reg as our two hours went too soon. I took a few snaps of the gathering and regret that had the weather not been so foul, I would have been prepared to stay longer

Pam & Eddy deep in conversation

George(unfortunately Photographer did not focus)

Rita and Frank



Frank




Christine bored!



Reg & Pam



Reg




Eddy



Glamour and Nude Photography Course - UK

On Monday I went to Reading to do a Glamour and Nude Photography Course with Paul McLachlan of http://www.pauls-studio.co.uk/. Paul is well known in the UK and frequently features in UK Photography magazines such as Digitial Photographer Magazine. He runs courses on Portraiture,Lighting, Glamour and Nude, Boudoir Primer, Art Nude Creative, Nude Erotic & Adult. Paul has  a studio set up attached to his house and it is an impressive little studio and I have taken notes for when I build my studio. Paul started out with the basics of studio lighting and I was happy to build on my earlier course with Creative Photo Workshops. Ashlea was a great Model and she is Paul's resident model and has appeared in Playboy. We started out with one light then built up the lighting using softboxes, Beauty Dishes, Barn Doors and the like. I was happy with the nearly three hours of one-on-one tution I recieved from Paul. Paul is happy to share his knowledge with you and is easy going and is full of info.  After attending this course I now have GAS (Gear Accumulation Syndrome), and one of my first items will be a light/flash meter, I can really see the benefit in having one. Of course I want  Studio Lighting and feel more confident in purchasing an outfit now. After Paul's pointers I now  know what to look for. I had booked another session with Paul prior to Christmas but have decided to postpone this till the New Year, hopefully weather conditions will improve and it will be alot easier to get to. I may even drive  there from Retford. So if you are visiting the UK and happen to be in London I would highly recommend doing one of Paul's courses. The full images may be viewed at my website  and I warn you they contain Nudity and are not Work Safe.

Played Tourist Today

Today we travelled to York a City established way back in 71 AD by the Romans. The city is rich in history and our first stop was the Jorvik centre. This attraction takes you on a journey back in time to around 866 when the vikings had captured the city. Through the use of anamotronics  etc thye have recreated realistic workings and smells of the city at the the time.

I throughly recommend this attraction, they also have relics of the time that have been dug up in various Archaeological digs. After this we made our way up through the Shambles. This is an old street dating back to the 14th century  with overhanging timber-framed buildings . The streets are very narrow and most likely wide enough for a horse and cart to pass through. We had lunch in a very quant tea house in the shambles. One of the things you find in many towns and cities is that you need to pay to park. I had to head back  after lunch to further feed the machine for parking label. It was on my way back that I entered Jessops and purchased a Jessops brand flash for a Canon 79 Pounds thank you. Very pleased with my purchase!

After lunch we went to the York  Minister. This is a gothic Cathedral which is one of the largest in the northern hemisphere. A church was first built on the site in 627 however  the church has been deystroyed and rebuild a number of times with major building starting around the 10th century and from there over next three to four centuries added to and built on. It is truly a magnificant building. It is a must see if you go to York.

Off to see the Sheriff!

Today we returned our rental car to Nottingham. We faithfully plugged in the address to the GPS and crossed our fingers. It took us about an hour to get there. That is one thing that mystifies me,  everything in the UK looks close and Nottingham is only 26 miles away or 41 kilometres but what we don't count on is the traffic hence the increase in travelling times. Our trip took us past Sherwood Forest but with so much snow on the ground we did not stop. It appears this area has suffered the most from the recent snow falls in the UK and watching the weather forecast tonight looks like they are expecting more snow on Thursday.
Anyhow as the Hertz Rental drop off point took us to the City Centre naturally we went shopping. I found a car park in the Victoria centre which by the way charges to park there..our stay cost six pounds fifty. Our first mission was to get a sim card for Christine as she is currently cut off from the world.... the first store we went to we were told they had no pay as you go cards..they had run out and had no deliveries due to teh snow come back after Wednesday..ah thanks mate but have ever lived with a gen Y who has no phone access? Nooo so in the end the nice lady at the Mobile Carphone Shop told us to get an Orange pay as you go Sim, they offer the best deals. So to the fellow at Three thanks mate you did us a favour...no wonder the UK is going the gurgler..and on that note another experience from today. Christine for some reason got Euros...which very few shops in the UK accept no doubt the recent problems of the Irish and the Euro has reinforced this. Anyway we found a Natwest branch in the shopping centre however it is really a sales centre with a few atms if you want banking services with tellers go down to market square.
So Christine and I trundle on down, stand in line for 15 minutes...can we change Euros to Pounds please...do you have an account with us...no we are from Australia..sorry we can only do that for account holders...you what??? Hmm and British banks are doing it tough, ever heard of charging a higher fee for non bank customers?? Luckily Western Union had no problems in changing Euros to Pounds.
With Christine having pounds in hand it was off to Primark to buy some clothing meanwhile I perused the shelves of Marks and Spencers making my list of what we will have for Christmas Day.   Whilst walking around I was able to snap of a few pictures of Nottingham City Surrounds as well as popping into Jessops a well known camera  chain in the UK. Brits are really paying through the nose for a lot of their camera gear. I have not made a detailed study no doubt a 17.5%  VAT does not help. Tomorrow is Christine's Birthday...more shopping I fear at Meadowhall outside Sheffield...and yes Melanie a shopping tour but given the weather what else is there to do? I would like to go wandering but with the ice and snow around Retford a rather hazardous task at the moment.

Christine in Red Coat Headding to Market Square

Coke $12 a Litre Petrol 53 cents a Litre

Currently here in Brunei a stopover on the way to the UK. Brunei has been established on Oil reserves and to see petrol at 53 cents a litre takes me back 20 years or more in Australia to times when we enjoyed cheap petrol,
Brunei being a Muslim country is completely free of alcohol. It was not until I forked out $4.00 per can for a 330ml can of coke did it dawn on me that they probably thought I was drinking those two bottles of rum in my case hence the mark up on the cans of Coke. We are all use to staying in hotels and being charged ridiculous prices for food and beverage in the hotel minibar. Well in Brunei there is no minibar and I had to go to the cafe downstairs to buy 4 cans of warm coke. Glasses with ice were sent up and two cans placed in the non bar fridge. Sometimes there is nothing like a coke to refresh you and I am respecting there no alcohol policy, non muslim foreigners are permitted to bring in two litres of spirits or 48 cans of beer.

Interestingly I am travelling on a NZ passport and Su's Mother on a UK passport we could enter no problems and in fact stay 30 days. Christine and Su on their Australian passports had to apply and pay for a $5.00 visa which last 72 hours is there something they know about Australians?

We hit the shopping Malls yesterday taking a cab playing Capitol Radio from London a sign of the Sultan of Brunei's love of the UK and in particular the Queen of England. The girls bought up on handbags, purses and clothing. Sadly for me a fake Rolex was in the offering but declined to the temption to adorn my wrist for the sake of brag value. Unfortunately camera shops are very far and few between and yet to see anything remotely interesting, plenty in mobile phone and computer shops. Prices in these items are around Australian prices if not slightly dearer. I don't think we realise how competive Australia has got in electronic goods in recent times.

Today before flying out we will do some sight seeing taking in a mosque or two and might take a photo or two...that's if i can keep the women away from those shopping malls.

Next posting from the UK.

Photo Sharing

Okay a couple of things to share today. Firstly I received an email from the people in Retford UK who we are house swapping with. They have had 14 inches of snow and have said to bring your thermals. A pretty picture however not sure I want the inconvenience snow brings with it whilst on holidays. Here are a couple of pics they sent me.

Two websites worthy of following are  Strobox which shows various settings and lighting diagrams from dedicated strobists or those who use flash to enhance their images. Another photographer who I follow is Crash Taylor who resides in the UK in Nottingham. This is about 30 minutes from Retford so I hope I might see him at Starbucks or as he wanders Nottingham. On eof his websites is The Still Image with Crash Taylor a place to Inspire Motivate,Educate and Encourage your creative image-making process.

Of course both Red Bubble and Flickr have an amazing amount of images but they don't always have the data for you to learn how you can take a similar image.

Catch you later.

A White Christmas in Sight

Sitting here on a sultry evening in Brisbane rather excited to receive a Skype call from the people we are doing a house swap with in Retford, UK. They wanted to show me the snow outside their house via Skype. In just over 8 days we will be winging our way to the UK and whilst snow will be a novelty I am not really wanting too much snow if it means I can't go out on my Photo adventures. One of the things I do know is that with the colder weather I will have to be careful with my Camera and lenses. Batteries will need to be kept warm to maximise their power.
Condensation will be one thing I will have to be careful with going from a warm house to a cool outside. It will be something different to photograph and test my white balance skills. I notice when you look at UK Photography Shops Websites they certainly carry more photography clothing to combat the extremes. Even the range of camera bags for hiking is far in excess of what we see in Oz. It is something I could never understand that Anaconda has not caught on to the fact that many photographers are keen trekkers or trekkers are keen photographers however it seems that this part of the market is totally ignored here. I have a Canon vest with about 18 pockets that can carry gear in. (yes I do get a ribbing wearing it but only from jealous Nikon users) The range of vests in the UK is staggering so too is the gear to sit out and do wildlife/outdoor photography. Check this site out www.stealth-gear.com as an example. I know we have a small population but many of our camera retailers and adventure outdoor retailers don't seem to cater at all for this market.  I know this is a photography blog but I have to rant about a near fatal mishap my trip overseas nearly came to. I use a Travel Agent as they have the expertise to co-ordinate the various flight legs to get to your destination.  So on Monday I logged onto the airline we are flying with website, to checkout type of plane, entertainment and types of meals. Imagine my surprise to find that the Airline no longer flies out of Brisbane on a Saturday. Now we booked in March 2010 and our ticket says our flight leaves 13.10 on Saturday 11th of December. Hmm not any more, quick phone call to Travel Agent, a few terse words and a visit to the boss to ask for an extra day off and to start holidays a day earlier so as to get to our destination. Still I hate to think what would have happened if on Saturday week we turned up blissfully unaware and finding no plane. Hmm I think my wife would have murdered someone...
Till next time.