John Wayne The Penguin

A story for one of my photos:

At Grytviken, we were waiting for the zodiac taxi to get back to the ship. We spotted a single King penguin swaggering down the single road through the harbor.

It looked like the new sheriff was coming into town. The photographers froze in their tracks taking photos (myself included) and the seals just ignored it.

The bird just continued to strutt down the road, checking for outlaws. Stretching its neck, looking around, and then continuing to walk down the main (and only) road.

Web Page Updates

Pretty well populated the site for the Antarctica Trip. (penguin.piqueroinc.com) I’ve gotten my notes and Photo Journal pages constructed. I’ve uploaded some of Joanne’s photos but am waiting for her to write her account of the great adventure. Then I populate her account with appropriate photographs.

I’ve got about 155 photos in my Flickr Photostream. And I geo-tagged a number of them. Hard to say where we were when we spent 2 days at sea.

Getting Back To Normal

Got back from Antarctica on Dec 7th. After a good deal of sleeping, started the process of recovering from a long trip. Stopped mail to be opened and handled, unpack and restock the pantry. And, of course, sort through the 1000 photos you took.

This trip had the disadvantage of being near Christmas. The Christmas card has to be selected and printed. And the Christmas letter has to be composed. Then mail out the cards. The first batch went out Monday (12/22).

One of the items I mentioned in the latter was that the photos would be posted on the web. Not the whole 1000 but my selects for the 100 most interesting. Of course, that means the web site had to be ready when the cards and letters went out.

I spent most of last week uploading 110 photos to Flickr. Then using that information to populate the Photo Journal and accent my written trip notes.

The mostly functional web site can be found at penguin.piqueroinc.com

On The Road, Finally

In a little under 15 hours the great adventure begins. Flight out of Austin departs at 12:10pm. Thus beginning a 28.5 hour journey to Ushuaia. 11 hours of that journey is on the ground waiting for the next leg. A full 7.5 spent in Buenos Aires. Originally we were just 4 hours but the flights got rearranged.

Don’t know how much sight-seeing we will do in Buenos Aires. Mostly I have to transfer between airports, about a 1 hour bus trip. It will be Sunday morning but I’ve seen ugly traffic in Seole, who knows.

We get to Ushuaia about 8:30 pm on a Sunday night. They eat late in Argentina, so I suspect the hotel restaurant or something local will be open.

Coming back isn’t as bad, 25 hours but only 8 on the ground. Fly into EZE so I don’t have the bus transfer in Buenos Aires. We have about 4 hours in each major airport. Plenty of time to clear customs. The US is typically a little harder, but a welcome sight after one of these trips.

Blogging will be light to non-existent. Once on ship we don’t have internet access. So, the stories and pictures will have to wait until I get back

It does appear that Ushuaia boast two local breweries. So, the opportunities for local Argentinian Beer is very good.

Less Than A Month To Go

Haven’t been blogging much. Still taking digital photos and have continued to post to the Weekly Photo. But my focus has been on other things.

I’m leaving for a week in Wisconsin on Thursday. Wisconsin Homeconing Game in Madison this coming week-end. The Badgers are having a terrible year so I expect the results won’t be happy.

I’m teaching two classes the week after I get back. That will be a drive to Houston, Nov 2nd and 4th. And then the big trip starts the 15th. A lot of preparation to do. I’ve been gathering bits and pieces since January, it’s down to to 3 or 4 things left. Probably go shopping in Wisconsin.

The DPS assignments have also continued. I’m still learning a lot about the Alpha. This latest week is supposed to be a portrait shot. I used a statue. What was more important, however, was the day was overcast (much as I expect Antarctic will be). I adjust the exposure and got some reasonable photos that didn’t require much adjustment in the computer.

Spare Battery

Spent the week looking for batteries and compact flash cards. I was surprised at how understocked the camera store was. I’m familiar with lean and just in time, but empty shelves means loss of sales.

Went to a store in downtown Austin and got a couple of memory cards. 2GB for me and a 1GB for Joanne. We don’t know if her camera takes a 1GB chip. I figure we can try it, and if it doesn’t work, I can use it in mine.

Neither store had a spare battery for the Alpha 100. They had some "replacements" but not a Sony model. Not sure that matters but I always prefer the original manufacturer. One store suggested a battery store, which would be on the way home.

The battery store had a lot of Sony batteries but not the model I wanted. The clerk said the FM50 or equivalent would work. Mine is an FM55H which should last longer. The whole issue is cold weather and the need for extra batteries. Why would I want one that has less capacity?

Checking the cameras User Guide, it specifically says the FM50 and FM30 will not work. So, I'm glad I didn't take the clerk's advice.

I checked the Internet. A lot of people selling batteries that are "claimed" to be to the original specs. I found a couple of sites that seem, from the descriptions, to be original Sony batteries. I ordered one, so will see if it works.

Sorting The Week-end's Photos

Decided to go with the down spout for the weekly assignment. Didn’t like the quilt blocks as much.

I did get some wildflower photos, however, while we were there. One of the Texas Yellow Stars had a bee visiting a number of flowers. I caught a good shot of it. That’s been posted as my photo of the week.

I started a thread for cold weather photography. Got some answers. It looks like the main issues are battery life and condensation. Both are solveable.

Wildflower Center II

Killed a couple birds with one trip today. I’d promise to take my wife to the Wildflower Center today. The sky was cloudy but it was a nice day. I figure the Antarctic is likely to have overcast days, so it would be a good test for exposure. I also took the monopod along to see if I could capture a panorama.

On the exposure front, I adjusted the WB and set the camera for ISO 200. The photos came out a reasonable color. I bracketed a few and set the camera for +0.3 EV on some. Those adjustments are getting more automatic, at least in terms of knowing what to push.

I may have to practice setting the controls for manual shutter and apeture. The panorama photos didn’t all take at the same speed. One is noticeably darker. When they get stiched together they’ll look funny.

I also, by accident, found a curved tile downspout. With the supporting limestone works, it is a good possible entry for the Angles assignment. I’d already taken some quilt block photos. So, I’ve got multiple possibilities.

Microstock

My wife brought home an interesting book from the library. Selling Photography by Roger Antrobus. It had been listed in the Edward R. Hamilton’s Bargain Books catalogue. I’d marked 4 or 5 titles and she checked to see if our library already had it.

In the book, Roger is making the case for "stock" photography as a way to sell and resell your photographs.

As I investigated the larger companies I realized that they usually want fairly large files (50MB). That would be shooting in RAW. And that would quickly use up my memory space while I’m in the Antarctic.

I posted a question on the Digital Photography School forum and was informaed there are also "microstock" web sites. These are smaller photo sizes, so worth investigating further.

I’m not sure my photos reach the quality needed, at least not yet. But, good penguin pictures might be better than actic landscapes. And, if I focus on the penguin, the depth of field won’t be that critical.

A Third Leg

Between primaries and planning a trip to Florida, haven’t been very active with this blog. Last big step was solving the air travel.

I’m back to focusing on the digital camera and gear. I’ve starting looking at monopods rather than tripods for the Antarctic trip. Weight and bulkiness seems to me the key factors. The use of a monopod is usually good for sporting and nature events where the photographers move frequently. That sums up my impression of Antarctica.

Assuming the land visits will be like the Galapagos. A fair amount of hiking, even along the beaches to see the wildlife. I think a tripod would be too bulky. A monopod will give me some stability.

Obviously, as the weight of the monopod goes up, so too the weight it can support. The smaller compact units, while reasonably priced, only support a 10-11 pound payload. If I had a huge telephoto lens, this would be a limitation.

I decided to weigh the Alpha unit with the 30-80 mm lens, the most likely configuration. Came out 1 lb 14+ oz. My film unit, with an 80-200 mm lens was 1 lb 15oz. The lenses themselves are spec’d at 6 3/16 oz and 10 9/16 oz. So I’m only looking at 2.5 lbs on the payload.

Bogen makes a light monopod. They also have a quick release swivel “head” that looks interesting. It isn’t a ball-mount. Just the ability to tip from horizontal to vertical. But it provides a mount for the camera that can be snapped in or snapped off the monopod. That is intriguing. That would save time if you can go from mounted to handheld without a lot of extra “screwing around.”

The tilt head adds 0.6 lbs. The tilt head has a max capaity of 5.5 lbs. Still more than enough for the 2.5 lbs of payload.

If I pick the equipment up this week, I can take it to Florida for a field test. We are going to visit Epcot. So, that would be my first real use of the camera and monopod.

AUS-ATL-EZE-AEP-USH

Finally nailed down the flights to Ushuaia, Argentina. I knew there had to be a rational schedule.

My web based efforts kept giving me mid-morning into Buenos Aires, but always a 5:40 am flight to Ushuaia.

Part of the logistics problem is coming in to one airport (EZE) and having to get to another domestic airport. (AEP). That early morning flight would have meant getting a hotel room in Buenos Aires, and checking out at 2:30 or 3 in the morning.

Instead my travel provider, Mountain Travel Sobek, suggested I contact Airtreks. The agent found me a much more liveable schedule. Going by way of Atlanta, but no overnight needed in Buenos Aires. Long day of travel, however, but I might get some sleep on the ATL-EZE leg.

Got some long delays between connections. But, that’s OK. Gives me room for flight delays, customs, etc. When I traveled for business I always opted for the next flight, not the tightest connection.

Thermal Underware

Had SCORE on Wednesday, and went shopping on Thursday, not much done with the digital camera. The objective Thursday was the base layer for arctic clothes. We went down to a large sporting supply store and found some pants and tops. Essentially long underwear, but made with synthetic materials not cotton. The alternative was silk.

I decided to find some of the stuff now, during our "Winter." I'm not sure all the items will be in the stores during the Summer.

I’m not expecting severe cold during our trip. But a wet or overcast windy day can seem a lot colder than the outside temperature. Used to have reasonably crummy weather in Minnesota. But after 28 years in Texas, even 40 degrees feels cold.

A lot of searching on the web for temperature tables. Nov/Dec is late Spring. Summer is usually described as Jan/Feb. I would guess we will see temperatures of -10 C to 10C (which is 14 F to 41 F).

CompactFlash cards

Not sure how large a CompactFlash memory can go into the A-100. I’ll clearly have to take a couple of units with me. There doesn’t seem to be a big difference in price between 4GB and 8GB (about $30).

I’ll probably start with a 1 GB module. That will let me play with the camera. Then I’ll watch the prices between the 4 & 8 modules.

I’m assuming Antarctica will be a lot like the Galapagos in terms of wildlife photo opportunities. We went to Japan-China-Germany on a 6 week trip, shot almost 35 rolls of film. Galapagos was only 11 days, but we shot 28 rolls. We used a mixture of 24/36 exposures. So say it averaged 30 per roll. Galapagos yielded 840 shots.

We will be on this trip for 21 days, not counting travel out and back. So, potentially, 1680 pictures. If I use the Medium quality setting (about 5.6 Megapixels) the file sizes would be 2.3 MB. This would require 3.86 GB of memory (actually there is a 10% overhead which works out to a 4 GB module).

Now, what I don’t know is the ratio of good to crummy pictures. I took a number of photos of iguanas and blue footed boobies. Not all of them were worth scanning or keeping. One advantage of a digital camera is the review and delete functions.

I know I’ll be using a higher quality for some shots, in particular any good sunsets. I’m looking forward to getting an evening shot with icebergs and a setting sun. Some of these I will want as an enlargement, not the standard 4x6 prints

100 Things

This seems to be the season for life lists or Bucket Lists as the current movie title calls it. Simply put, what would you like to do during your life? What experiences would you like to have?

I've had a list since the early 80's. I've added to it from time to time. It now contains 100 destinations, events, or experiences. I'm developing a hypelinked version of the list. It isn't ready for prime time yet.

Item #15 in the list is to Visit All Seven Continents. I only have Africa and Antarctica left. We have gone for multi-week vacations in the other five. So, the trip in Nov 2008 is another step in fulfilling that item.

New Year, New Plans

Boy, I let my travel planning go off the deep-end. The last post here was in November of 2006. Ireland and Italy came and went. No excuse, I just pursued other projects.

Toward year end Sep-Dec 2007, I got real busy with training for Mind Manager, and was posting on my business blog.

New project or I should say destination. After 20 years of "thinking" about it, Joanne and I have reservations to go to the Antarctica in Nov 2008.

This gives me two new blog topics to record my ideas and thoughts about.

1. Travel Planning for Antarctica
2. Obtaining and learning how to use a digital SLR

(1) is a logistics problem but only because I've got some questions about the flights. The first look appears to be 45 hours because of the Buenos Aires overnight connection. There is probably an easier way.

(2) isn't as hard as it sounds. I already have an SLR film camera that I've taken on numerous trips. The results have been satisfactory for my needs. But I need to learn the digital tricks and capabilities. Then play with the camera enough that some become second nature.

2008 is a chance to learn about a lot of things!