Mailing List Membership
Slideshow
Tag Archives: adventure
A Presentation and an Interview
A busy week
Oakville Camera Club Presentation
A Presentation
Well, it was certainly a busy week for me. I gave a two-hour presentation on my Antarctica trip to the Oakville Camera club. I spent a huge amount of time preparing for this presentation, most of it because I was once more digging through the huge amount of photographs from the expedition to distill the ones I would use to tell the story of the trip. I’ve been told two interesting things. First, Wynnell Schrenck, looked over my work while in Antarctica and commented that she thought I was not showing my best work. Second, I’ve always been told to look over a trip’s photographs six months or more after returning to have a better view of the work.
As photographers, we are our own worst and harshest critic, Since we were present at the creation and already visualized the photograph that we wanted, we tend to be disappointed in anything that does not match our preconceived view. This really isn’t fair, as our audience is not judging the work the same way. They are seeing it with fresh eyes and no particular expectations. To develop the best presentation I could and to make sure I was wasn’t overlooking work that I shouldn’t I invested some time in going over my Antarctica body of work again. I was surprised at some of the photographs that I had discounted previously and changed the ranking of of quite a few of them. I use the star system in lightroom extensively which both allows me to review a LOT of photographs easily and change the ranking without much effort. I had gone through this work previously for other projects and as part of a series of blog posts, but this was the fist time I went through them from beginning to end as part of telling a larger story. It was well worth the effort and has convinced me to go back and look at some of my other bodies of work. I tend to keep most of the work I create (except for disasters like leaving the lens cap on or shooting at 1600 ISO on a sunny summer day – you know you’ve done this too), so I expect there may be some more surprises.
This presentation was to photographers, so I could talk about the creation of the work more than I might with a regular audience and it was my first opportunity to present the whole trip in one presentation and discussion. The audience was larger than I expected with somewhere in the range of 120 people. I had been told to simply bring a thumb drive, but I brought the whole kit, just in case, which included the laptop, a thumb drive with the presentation, and my X-rite i1Display colour calibration device (in case their projector was off). It turns out their projector was great and could take the HDMI input straight from my laptop. The difference between VGA and HDMI is outstanding when you can compare VGA and HDMI directly.
The presentation went well and they were even tolerant of me running a little late. Several of my ex-students in the audience were not surprised 
. They also invited me back after some of my upcoming adventures in Iceland and the Arctic. I really enjoyed this event and looking forward to more in the future.
(P.S. Sorry for the poor quality of the photographs, as these were shot by an iPhone in a rather dark theater)
Oakville Camera Club
An Interview
I was also interviewed this week by the website “Exhibitions without Walls”. They contacted me a little while ago about an interview. Shortly after my presentation above, they emailed me to let me know it had been published. Here is the link, should you want to read it for yourself.
http://www.theblogexhibitionswithoutwalls.com/2012/10/25/scott/
As an aside, they asked me about photographers who had influenced me and I missed an important one, David duChemin. He has written a series of books, both print and electronic, which resonated with me as few photography books do. He presents the view, which I share, what the equipment and cameras we use are ONLY important to allow us to share our photography with others. The creation of photography is done entirely by the photography. The rest are just tools to assist in the execution of that vision.
I have known of, and exchanged email with, David for many years, but I had the opportunity to meet him in person during my Antarctica trip. I think there were only 4 Canadians on this trip, and he and I were the only professional Canadian photographers. He is releasing his latest book within the next few months, called “The Print and the Process: Taking Compelling Photographs from Vision to Expression” that is one of the few books I have purchased in both electronic and print form. I am including the link and the cover photo so you can check out this book for yourself.
In keeping with the theme of this post, I was next to him in the zodiac when he shot this photograph.
The Print and the Process
You can find the book here.
He is an outstanding photographer and an all around great guy to travel with on any adventure. However, do not peek at his screen while you’re editing work side by side. His work is so good, it’s a heck of an ego shot to try and return to working on your own.
Oh, My interview is here:
http://www.theblogexhibitionswithoutwalls.com/2012/10/25/scott/
Last Day
Last Day
Today is our last day on the peninsula and then we enter Drake and start our way home.
The entire ship is absolutely amped. We’ve traveled several days by air, spent two days crossing the Drake and have spent last five days learning the shoot in this alien environment. We, the photographers, are totally focused on capturing the best pictures we can in the last time available. Some of us have been up before breakfast to shoot, some of us have been up during the night to shoot in the strange twilight that passes for night here, and I am sure that some people have stayed up all night. Even the crew has picked up on it, as breakfast is a focused event with everyone thinking about today’s work.
We started the day shooting from the ship, as we headed north into the Errara channel. Once in the channel, the ship anchored and we prepared for our last zodiac trip of this adventure. By evening we would be in the Drake again, so we were all planning on staying out as long as possible. We were coming in when they forced us back and not before.
This photograph has now won three awards since my trip. More than any other previous single photograph of mine. I guess the polar regions agree with me.
The Errara Channel is a wide sheltered area with plenty of large and older icebergs. It’s also lined by glaciers and rocks, which makes for a surreal and almost alien scenery. The challenge of shooting here (and editing your work) is there are so many unusual and different elements that composition is challenging and complex. It’s one of the few landscapes that I have had to shoot like a photojournalist, with a long lens on one camera and a wide angle on the other. It may not make sense, as the landscape is not moving like a photo event, but it takes too long to change lens. I have often found myself composing both a long shot and a wide angle shot at the same time, which is a unique experience.
I do find myself sometimes changing between long lenses, as I move between my 300mm, 300mm with a doubler, and my 70-700. On the wide-angle side, I’ll change between 14mm, 16-45, and my 24-70. Even with two camera bodies, I am finding myself changing lens. It’s a complex dance of equipment, as there are nine other photographers in the little zodiac doing the same thing, but we are well practiced after five days of shooting here. We carefully move out of each other’s shots without thinking about it. There is also not a lot of talking in the zodiacs, as we are focused on pictures.
David duChemin in the Zodiac with me on the last day. Great photographer and a nice guy.
- Eric Meola was also in my zodiac for the last day. Another great photographer and a very nice guy.
This is some of the most intense shooting I have ever done – and I absolutely love it. I understand now when people say the Polar Regions get into your blood, as I love the alien landscape.
We shoot in the zodiacs for three hours, which about the limit of the fuel (not to mention the passengers). It seems that every zodiac was following the same pattern, as we actually have a traffic jam at the ship, as seven boats come in to unload passengers.
Rush hour in Antarctica. There are four more zodiacs behind us .
After lunch, we load photos and prepare to shoot from the deck until we enter the Drake. We also put out patches on to deal with the adventure of the Drake.
As we start the head out to open sea, we have a chance to shoot from the deck. We also take the time to shoot portraits of each other. Basically we hand our camera to someone nearby and they shoot us, then we return the favour. This was my first opportunity to shoot with a medium format camera and I have begun to understand the attraction. Although the cameras are larger than a DSLR, I found them to be very comfortable. I fear for my bank account with this development.
The entrance to the Drake is not sudden, but as we get closer the waves start to become noticeable. After 5 days of rather smooth water, this is an unusual feeling. As we shoot the waves hitting the shore, they soon start to get large enough to move the boat and continue to grow as we head out. By the time we break for dinner, we are fully in the Drake.
We are all ready for this experience, having gone through it once on the way over, but those who are susceptible to seasickness are well into their preparations. The way over was a chance to learn what worked and what didn’t, as each person is unique.
We all head to our cabins to prepare for the Drake. This means putting away everything and locking the closets with everything secured from rolling around.
Taken by my roommate, Char Davis, as we heading into the Drake. A very nice guy, great photographer, and I couldn’t have asked for a better person to share a room with on this trip.
Pleneau Bay
Pleneau Bay
Well, one of the challenges of heavy shooting days is you are punished with the post-production work. For most of my work a heavy shooting day is easily deal with by focusing on the story. In the case of my Antarctica trip, I am faced with heavy shooting days of predominantly landscape work. Unusual, challenging, and it is taking me longer than expected to dig through the work. This is totally my fault, as I find myself distracted by a piece, which send me down the an path of exploration and then I run out of time in the day. As well, I have been finding it challenging to limit the number of photographs from a day while still showing you the wonders of this place.
Speaking of workflow, these heavy shooting days are also showing some flaws in my own workflow. I have already dropped converting my RAWs to DNG, except in overnight batch jobs. I’ve also found that my poor Mac Air is unable to handle the mult-drive disk traffic through a single USB port, which is making backup copies a real challenge. It looks like I need to upgrade my laptop.
So, with this post, I am going to split it into two separate posts and try to limit my photos in each one to about 20 or so. This may actually help get more of the posts out there
Since we are so far south, there is not really a night any more, simply a twilight that lasts 3-4 hours, and more day. In fact, it feels like a continuous day with naps where one would normally expect night. As each day begins with a surprise, most of us are not sleeping much and could care less . In this case, we passed through the Lamaire channel, which can be stunning in the right light. Some of us stayed up to try to shoot it in the strange light of twilight here, but the weather didn’t cooperate. The Lamaire channel is a narrow channel between some very high cliffs that is quite stunning even in less than perfect light. Of course, fog a cloud cover is not so great which is what we saw overnight.
Nonetheless, we are anchored in Pleneau Bay and prepared to explore by zodiacs. Our Quark expedition staff describe the are as follows:
Pléneau Bay lies just south of the Lemaire Channel, separating Hovgaard Island and the Antarctic Peninsula. At the northwest end of the bay there is a passage between Hovgaard Island and Booth Island where the Pléneau Island groups can be accessed. Here we can find an iceberg graveyard, where both large tabular icebergs and older, rolled icebergs have run aground. Many of these icebergs have originated from as far south as the Ross Ice Shelf. This is also a good location for finding crabbeater, Weddell and leopard seals hauled-out on ice floes and ice bergs.
Needless to say, we are up for a heavy morning of shooting. I am shooting with both bodies today to capture things both near and far. I have my 16-35 on one body and my 70-200 on the other. My old photojournalism habits are play and I prepared to shoot without losing the time to switch lens. This is why you’ll see shooters with two or more cameras, it can really make a difference. The other factor here is that there is a LOT more dust than you would expect in a wet and icy landscape and changing lens is simply asking for dust on the sensor. In fact, it’s a good idea to clean your camera several times a day here, as I’ve found a lot more dust on my shots than expected. Another lesson for post production.
Arthur Meyerson
This was also a change to shoot some of my fellow travelers, as we were certainly spending a lot of time together. The landscape of Antarctica is quite stark with really only the white snow/ice, the black volcanic rocks, and the strange blue or cyan, light (none of us could agree). In fact after shooting form the zodiac for awhile, it’s actually a shock to look back into the boat with the yellows, and reds.
Approaching the iceberg
It’s interesting being on a rather small boat with a lot of people for so long. I may have missed it, but I haven’t seen any personality conflicts nor really any issues at all. everyone seems to be focused on making the best photographs they can and helping each other out as required.
Besides the very impressive ice formations, we are also seeing a lot of seals and sometimes very close up. We’ve been finding them sleeping on the icebergs. They are so energy efficient, they can sleep on snow ans simply depress it without melting it. They could also care less about us, as we are not orcas and not food, therefore not interesting.
Sleeping Seal
Antarctica Traffic Jam
We are seeing some heavy pack ice and it’s impressive how are zodiac drivers are able to move through ice that looks to me to be almost impassible.
Heavy ice
Char Davies, David duChemin, and two people whose names completely escape me (sorry)
Large Icebergs
- Hard to believe you can drive a zodiac through this stuff.
Somehow our zodiac drivers know how to handle the situation.
More seals…..
I also managed to capture a shot of another bird in the area. There are not lot of flying birds (penguins don’t fly) and catching on the wing is a real challenge.
The ice forms fantastic structures that last only a short time. An old iceberg is maybe 10 years old, but most will not last the season and none will look the same later. The ice that makes up these icebergs is often quite old. In fact, it’s often older than our species (roughly 35,000 years). It’s a strange feeling to create a photograph of something older than your own species that will not be there afterwards nor is it there now.
The edge of some very old ice
More old ice
Old Blue Ice
A wall of ice
With this, we reluctantly return to the ship, eat lunch and move on the Petermann Island. I’ll be showing that work in the next post.
Wilhelmina Bay and Coverville Island
Wilhelmina Bay and Cuverville Island
We woke up this morning to fog and light snow, which is really one of the few weather patterns that makes it hard to use the zodiacs. Not because the zodiacs, or ourselves, are particularly concerned about getting wet, but because it is easy get lost in the fog. A lost zodiac is a very bad thing around here, as we are a long, long way from help. All the zodiacs travel in groups of two and have survival kits on board for this exact reason, but we really don’t want to test it. You might suggest using the radar, but the water is full of icebergs that make it even easier to lose track of a little rubber boat.
iceberg in the fog
So our captain decided to use the Ocean Nova as a zodiac and cruise Wilhelmina Bay while we took pictures from the desk. Needless to say, this is something to be done by an experienced captain only. Bumping into an iceberg is a Bad Thing out here.
Freezing Ocean
As our expedition staff describe it:
“Wilhelmina Bay lies between Reclus Peninsula and Cape Anna, along the west coast of Graham Land. It was discovered by Gerlache during the Belgian Antarctic Expedition of 1897-99, and named for Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, who was 18 years of age at the time and reigned until 1948. It is a large 24-kilometre (15-mile) wide, glaciated bay containing many islands and is a hotspot for whales.”
I describe it as an amazing opportunity to shoot ice formations form a higher angle than a Zodiac. The short description is “…wow…”
It was interesting to shoot from the boat, as you could simply go inside if you were a bit cold. However, it was rather crowded with 70 photographers lining the desks. I think we looked a bit like a 19th century warship with all the lens pointing out like cannons. As usual, the wildlife could care less about us, but it made for some very interesting photography,
Pancake Ice
Penguin Battleship
I thought they were making things up about the Penguins in the movie Madagascar – then we found their battleship………
Luckily they were more interesting in swimming
Penguins diving
Tough Boat
Definitely not an easy place for ships.
Not sure, but this may be a Leopard Seal, an apex predator in Antarctica and pretty much not afraid of anything short or an Orca.
Possible Leopard
One of the constant wonders of Antarctica is noticing ice and snow formations that may very well be older than our species (only 35,000 years – yesterday for Antarctica)
An ancient and harsh land…
Harsh Land
Cuverville Island
After lunch the weather improved enough that we were set for landing at Couverville Island, described by our expedition crew as:
”
Cuverville Island lies in the Errera Channel, between Rongé Island and the Arctowski Peninsula. The island was discovered by Gerlache’s Belgica expedition of 1897-9, and named after a vice-admiral in the French Navy. This small rocky island has vertical cliffs measuring 200 m (650 ft) in elevation with extensive moss cover. Cuverville Island is home to the largest gentoo penguin colony in the region (4,800 breeding pairs), along with southern giant petrels, kelp gulls, Antarctic terns, snowy sheathbills and south polar skuas. “
Yes, the penguins tried to nick our stuff. Good thing they are small and not able to carry much…
Sneaky....very sneaky
Landing was an excellent opportunity to explore a penguin rookery and finally understand why these little legged birds pick nest sites that are high and away form the water. We are on the end of a calving glacier, which is where icebergs come from, but when they calve they create a small tsunami. We were warned that if we heard load warning whistles or saw an iceberg calve that we needed to run, not walk, to higher ground.
Antarctica is a beautiful place and it’s easy to forget the dangers. The zodiacs were quietly kept offshore in case an iceberg calved and they need to rescue any of us who go washed away. It didn’t happen, but I was always interested to watch the expeditionary crew quietly make safety preparations. One of the many reasons Antarctica cannot be visited without experienced team members.
Just in case
Working Vacation in Mexico
A Mayan Winter
This post has been brewing for some time in draft mode, so it’s a little off the usual timeline. Nonetheless, I thought I’d finally share it here. It’s long, but I hope you like it.
As a first, we decided on a tropical vacation for the holiday season. Although I have worked throughout Mexico and the Caribbean, I’ve rarely gone there for a vacation.
Since I have trouble with the word vacation, it was also a working one, as I love what I do, so how can I not do it? With that in mind, we decided on the Yucatan peninsula with a variety of interesting Mayan sites to visit.
We actually booked our vacation in August, which I’ve decided I’m going to do again, as most people are still enjoying the summer and not thinking about winter. This means winter vacation destinations are usually offering some pretty good deals
Nancy-Marie is a trip researching fiend and combed a swarm of sites for prices, descriptions, reviews, activities, and everything else we might need to pick a resort/hotel. She is really impressive at digging up information and planning locations and activities.
Selloffvacations.com had some nive prices and we picked a little hotel called the Bel-Air Collection, but declined the all inclusive, as we don’t drink and tend to want to eat in many different restaurants. This can save you a lot of money on a trip, provided you don’t spend it on food/drink somewhere else.
The Bel-Air is located south of the main area of hotels (about 10 minutes), but not as far south as the Mayan Rivera, which is about 40 minutes or so south of Cancun. This means you can explore Cancun without paying top dollar for a high end hotel/resort. The Mayan Rivera sounded interesting, but seemed to be focused on the all-inclusive, never leave the resort style of vacation and we tend not to stay still long.
we booked the flights for Dec 20th through Dec 27th, which meant we would be away for both Nancy-Marie’s Birthday and Xmas, for the first time.
Thursday, December 20, 2007
charter vacations have one serious problem for photographers, as the baggage limits are ridiculously low, with significant charges if you exceed it. On Sunwing, our charter the limit was 20Kg (44 lbs) for checked bags and 1 carry-on of no more than 5kg (11 lbs). Now any working photographer can tell you your equipment alone can breach 20kg without even trying. I think this is the single biggest problem for traveling photographers.
We spent a LOT of time trying to keep our luggage under the limit and I pulled hair out trying to figure out how to get my gear there. Despite stripping my equipment to the bone, we were still heavy, so I resigned myself to expensive baggage charges.
Our flight left at 6:20am (yes, I said the same thing), which meant a car picked us up at 4am, which means we got up at 3am after staying up late packing. Words fail to capture the sheer joy of the 3am alarm going off.
Strangely, despite no signs of any other brain cells working in the morning (actually middle of the night), I remembered that we could ship 15kg (33 lbs) of sporting equipment and have this added to our weight allowance. Wonder of wonders, our snorkeling equipment in a duffel bag fit the bill nicely. I also wore my photo vest and cargo pants, intending to pocket as much as possible through the weight check. (NOTE: There is no personal weight limit, so anything you can fit in a pocket doesn’t count – hence big pockets and lots of them ).
Not only did out duffle bag save us, but it only weighed 6Kg (13.2 lbs) and the remaining 11 kg (22 lbs)was applied to our weight limit. This little boost put us under the limit. As well, it was so early in the morning, they forgot to weigh my shoulder bag, which was heavy with gear. (Note, there is a real trick to carrying a heavy shoulder bag and making it look light). No excess baggage charges.
We arrived in Cancun about 9:30am and got into the hotel by about 10:30am. The next scheduled event was a nap and then some pool time and an early evening.
We ate dinner at the hotel and the staff was nice enough to “create” a cake for Nancy-Marie’s birthday. Despite excellent service, the food was not so great, although the cake was nice.
Friday, December 21st, 2007
A wonderful morning spent by the pool and a swim in the ocean for me. I really miss the ocean, as I grew up by it and the Great Lakes are just a poor substitute for it.
We decided to head into Cancun proper, but by bus instead of cab, as suggested by one of our guidebooks. It was even more fun than expected. There is only one road up and down the hotel strip and every bus takes it, so as long as you are not going too far into Cancun, any bus will do. The bus costs 6.5 pesos per person, which is about 65 cents and is well worth the money.
As near as we can tell, the bus drivers rent their buses and need a certain number of fares to make money. The result is buses race each other, beep at each other, and generally compete for fares along the road. It’s like a giant video game and a lot of fun to watch, particularly from within one of the buses. We ended up taking the bus a lot, just for the entertainment value.
Mexican SunsetWe book a trip to Citzen Itza for the next day, a trip to Cozumel for the 25th, and Coba for the 26th. Since Cozumel has some of the best diving in the world, it seems like a logical place for Nancy-Marie’s first open water snorkeling adventure. I’ve been a certified diver since
1979, so I can keep an eye on her.
Sunday, December 23rd, 2007
Despite being worried about group tours and being trapped with annoying people, this turned out to be an excellent tour. The bus was modern and comfortable and the tour guide extremely experienced. In fact the tour guide, Manny, was part Maya, a Master’s degree in Maya history, and had trained for two years to be a guide. Needless to say, he knew his stuff. The difference between a low end and a high end tour is the quality of the transportation and the guide. Manny was excellent with a real passion for Mexico and Mayan history. I learned an amazing amount about Mayan culture and history during his tour.
Our bus, known as the “Galactic Banana”, as it was large, golden yellow, and very high tech, stopped first at a Cenote for a swim and some food. The Yucatan peninsula has no above ground rivers. Since the ground is mostly limestone, they flow underground and occasionally there are openings to reach them called Cenotes. These vary in size from small holes just big enough to fit a person to nearly stadium size.
We stopped at one of the larger ones, and many of the tour members went swimming. The water in incredibly clean, as it’s filtered by limestone. Ours was large enough to have a rainbow from one of the rivers flowing into it.
Santa?
Wednesday, December 26th
We’ve signed up for a tour of Coba today, which means being in the lobby again for 7:30am. At 8am, we figured we had been stood up again, but luc
kily it turned out they were just late in picking everyone up. This time it was a large van instead of a nice bus, but fine nonetheless. This tour was with altournatives and they run a very interesting service. They are focused on making sure that tours produce a minimal impact on the environment and maximum benefit to the local people. You can find out more at altournatives.com.
We traveled to a small Mayan town called Esmeraldes, which has a population of about 30. You need to travel a rough dirt road for a couple of miles off the main road to reach it, which was an impressive feat for a van, as this road really needed a 4-wheel drive.
Once we got there, we had a chance to swim in the Cenote, but this time we had to rappel into it, which was very cool. I’ve never been rappelling before and Nancy-Marie hates heights and scary rides. Amazingly, she was up for this one and rappelled into the Cenote like a pro.
Mayan writing
Thursday, December 27th
Last day and heading home. Not much happened here, except for the usual complications in trying to get onto the plane without paying excess baggage charges. Once more our snorkelling gear, which we never got to use, paid for itself, but saving us the baggage fees.
This time I did not get away without having my camera bag weighed. However, there is an advantage to knowing your gear well, as I was able to remove my camera while putting it on the scale without making the
removal obvious. Nancy-Marie saw me do it, but the airline did not. Now my camera with lens is probably close to 7 lbs, so this was the difference between being over or not. Without the camera, I was not and. once more, we dodged the baggage fees.
It was a long flight back with a screaming child for the entire trip. Leaving in the evening also meant we arrived at close to 2am and got home at 3:30am. This makes for a rough flight, but it was a great trip nonetheless. I’m already planning out next adventure in the area.
Follow Me
