…of the Basilique Notre Dame de Montréal in Old Montreal. Hand-held, using 16mm on a Canon 1D Mark IV (1.3 crop factor).
One more snap…
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Category Archives: Travel
Today, part 2 of Phoenix
Today, part two of the Phoenix workshop at Studio Moirae. A repeat with a different emphasis; we go a bit deeper into the technology and we practice TTL multi-flash (both Nikon i-TTL/CLS and Canon E-TTL).
Yesterday, David Honl (yes, the David Honl) joined me, and he and I presented the workshop together. And we had fun: did we ever. A bright and energetic bunch of local photographers here in Phoenix.
Here’s David getting ready. In this shot I set my White Balance to “Tungsten”, which makes the background blue. Then a full CTO gel on the speedlite ensures that the subject, which after all is lit by the flash much more than by the ambient light, does not turn blue, but looks normal:
Here’s one of the set-up shots:
David setting up a speedlite, fired with a pocketwizard, with a half CTO-coloured Honl 8″ gold/silver reflector (while I blind Christy by actually firing the flash):
David carefully adjusting the subject’s head:
Tough job, but someone has to do it.
And here’s my shot of Christy, using this light:
All I can say is, I am glad the model we hired did not show up, because Christy is an amazing subject to work with. Which is rare for photographers.
And finally, fair’s fair: one more picture by Christy of David and me. Slow shutter, turning the camera during the shot.
Can you see that direct flash can be great light? And that shadows do not necessarily need to be avoided?
The slope is slippery
…but not slippery enough to prevent me from getting through airport security. I am in the lounge waiting. Tethered, since Air Canada lounges now want $10 for Internet access.
Airport security is now very tough indeed in Toronto. Before even entering, every piece of hand baggage (one only) has to be fitted into the little metal frame. Mine does not (many cameras, lenses, etc) but amazingly, the person checking missed the bag on my shoulder.
Also, all passengers now get scanned by the full body scanner. You can refuse this – so I did, as a matter of principle. If I have done nothing wrong I refuse to be strip-searched, “virtual” or not.
But it is clear that this “right of refusal” is discouraged. The full body pat-down is extensive and pretty unpleasant, in front of everyone. This is going to be routine very soon, Militaristic commands, undressing, virtual stripsearches: any right of privacy and of respectful treatment has disappeared: we have given it up without a fight, it seems to me.
But at least I and my cameras and lenses and speedlites are now on our way to Phoenix.
The UK is notorious for restricting news and photography freedoms. It has the stricted libel laws, where the accused has to prove he is not libeling. It has an “official secrets act”. It has a culture of “it’s forbidden unless it is allowed”.
In that background, this is interesting. There is a lot of unrest in the UK as terrorism laws are being used to stop ordinary people from taking any photos.
Policing and Crime Minister David Hanson MP said, in a statement today:
“I recently met with Austin Mitchell MP, members of the Parliamentary All Party Photography Group and representatives of the photographic press and the Royal Photographic Society to discuss the issue of counter terrorism powers and offences in relation to photography.
“I welcomed the opportunity to reassure all those concerned with this issue that we have no intention of Section 44 or Section 58A being used to stop ordinary people taking photos or to curtail legitimate journalistic activity.
“Guidance has been provided to all police forces advising that these powers and offences should not be used to stop innocent member of the public, tourists or responsible journalists from taking photographs.
“These powers and offences are intended to help protect the public and those on the front line of our counter terrorism operations from terrorist attack. For the 58A offence to be committed, the information is of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism.
“I have committed to writing to Austin Mitchell MP to reinforce this message and to follow-up on the representations made to me at today’s meeting.”
This is interesting not for what it does to reassure, but for how it fails to. What is “legitimate” journalistic activity? What are “responsible” journalists? How do I become one? By never photographing anything critical of the government, one assumes?
This sounds like a press release from the Soviet Union: they used the same waffle language. The UK, I fear, is not about to become easier for photographers.
Me in 1982
In Nineveh…
At the spiral minaret in Samara…
And after a ministry in Baghdad was bombed:
That picture, taken from my room at the al-Mansour Melia hotel, got me interrogated by security… but they were kind enough afterward to actually give me back my developed slide film. I must be the only person to have had their film developed by Saddam’s security men.
Travel Tip
When you travel with a suitcase, bring two camera bags. A small one and a large one.
The trick: one of these bags goes into your suitcase, filled with underwear, socks and other things you were going to bring anyway. That way it takes up no space.
So now when you get to your destination, you have a choice of camera bags every day: the large one, or the small one.
In the UK, photography=antisocial
In another fine example of anti-photography harassment, a Lancashire photographer was arrested for taking photographs. “Because of terrorism” and “photography is suspicious” were some of the reasons expressed by police in the photographer’s tape of the incident, in this article in The Guardian.
I have seen this many times when visiting the UK: Big Brother does not like photography except when He is doing it.
The photographer in this incident was polite and articulate and knew the law. It is indeed incumbent on us photographers to stop this escalation of nonsense.
Power Travel Tip
And I mean power. Battery power.
What happens if you are travelling to Africa and are not sure how much access you will have to reliable power? How will you charge your batteries?
My tip of the day: bring a small 12V DC to 115V AC power inverter. You can buy these at your local hardware store (Home depot, Canadian Tyre).
Because guess what. You will always have access to, or be driving around in, cars, and these cars have cigarette lighter outputs. You can bring a small inverter like this – small is key, and to charge camera batteries or a PC you need little power. So charge your spare battery while you are driving!
Problem solved.
Air Travel
PPOC just sent the following. If you are a professional photographer traveling at this time to the US (while carry-on is forbidden from Canada to the US), then you may bring your equipment in a dedicated photography container made for that purpose, and the following applies:
- Ensure that you have some sort of Professional Credentials proving that you are a “professional photographer”.
- Make sure that there are NO OTHER ITEMS in your camera bag. I am told that if you have a snack, clothing item or ANYTHING other than camera gear, your case may be considered “CARRY ON”.
- Print the list of exemptions [to the prohibition, from the CATSA web site] and bring it with you as a reference in case of a dispute.
- Arrive early. Persons who attempt to board a plane at the last minute fall under suspicious behaviour and may be given less consideration.
- Ensure that you observe all size and weight restrictions with your bag. There are physical limitations to the size and weight of a bag that can be securely stored on an airplane. This may vary between aircraft.
So that’s nice. No snacks. Are my headache pills OK, or will the government now tell me how to pack a camera bag?
I have asked CATSA for a ruling on my equipment and I await (and await, and await) a response from their “customer satisfaction group”. Doubleplusgood!
You get to tell me.
So Canada has gone even crazier than the USA in cowardly kowtowing to the terrorist morons.
A clear terrorist suspect tries to blow up a plane with his underwear, and in response our Canadian masters decide the same day that we cannot bring hand luggage on airplanes, must not use our iPods, cannot read books, and may not use the washroom. Ludicrous. Rex Murphy calls it exactly right, here.
But worse. This is real, folks. Much as I resent the decrease in my liberties for no other reason than our moronic and kneejerk-oriented masters’ cowardice, I also have very real practical problems with this. Which is why I am asking for your advice.
I am planning another US trip in late February. Meaning I fly to the West Coast and teach pros and emerging pros how to use flash properly. So this means I need to bring my standard camera bag. This contains a Canon 1Ds MkIII, a 7D, a 70-200 f/1.8, a 16-35 f/2.8, a 24-70 f/2.8, a 35mm f/1.4, a 50mm f/1.4, four speedlights, pocketwizards, and more. Total value around $25,000. I guess I could cut it down to $20,000 if I really tried.
So at Christmas, some idiot religious kid tries to blow up his underwear, and we react by making it illegal for me to bring the above into the cabin. So now I need to check this.
Right. Meaning a very good chance it will not arrive, or will not arrive in one piece. And I mean 50-50. Luggage gets scanned and there are no video cameras down below where the unionised workers open it. Who knows. And we have all seen how luggage is thrown around.
So what do I do? Go, and run a 50-50 chance of losing $25,000 (and getting $100 back from the airline)? Or just cancel my US appearances forthwith and change my market from 300 million North Americans to 33m Canadians? Or drive, and increase my prices eightfold to cover the 8 day drive?
Well, I see no solution. I think professional photographers can no longer travel. It seems to me that we have given Al Qaeda yet another significant and easy victory, totally unnecessarily. This is not Al Qaeda’s fault: it is ours. Our “leaders'” fault.
The odd thing is that I have seen virtually no-one agree with the idiocy. And yet it thunders along, destroying our way of life, bit by bit.