Tag Archives: Globe Trotter

6 Hours in Dubai 1

Boats, Middle East, Structures, Travel, Walk-About Series • Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

6 Hours in Dubai – 1 Camera/1 Lens

I have been to Dubai several times before and it is a cool (well not temp wise) place if you are into taking happy snaps and looking around.

There were a few locations that I had been to before that I wanted to get some photos of on this trip. To make it a little more interesting though I thought I would set myself a small challenge.

6 hours. Door to door, not counting processing when I got back to the hotel. Also I could only use one lens. Simple enough.

It was made a little easier in the sense that I had been to all my target locations before, so I knew what I was heading to… just had to get there and take my happy snaps.

Here’s how it went.

1 camera body: Canon EOS-5D Mk3

1 lens: Canon EF24-105 f/4L

1 lens filter: Singh-Ray LB Color Combo Polarizer

7:30 – Left the hotel in a taxi and headed to Jumeirah Beach. Subject: The Burj Al Arab hotel before all the tourists hit the beach.

Burj Al Arab

Burj Al Arab

Given what time I arrived the beach was basically empty, except for the life guards doing their warm ups. This is an interesting hotel to look at, and photograph. It was blowing a gale, as you can see from the flag.

Designed to resemble a billowing sail, Burj Al Arab is 321 metres high. It is 7-Star, and you can’t even get on the grounds unless you are a guest. One day perhaps. The day before when I was driving passed I saw 2 helicopters land on the heli-pad (the round thing on the top left). I remember Tiger Woods hitting golf balls off that around the time it opened.

The below image is of the beach. I grabbed it simply as it was unusual to see no people. As I said, they were all still in bed or having their morning espresso. This particular beach is to the right of Burj Al Arab and is part of the Jumeirah Beach hotel complex, which is an impressive hotel in it’s own right.

Jumeirah Beach

Jumeirah Beach

9:00 – Back in a taxi and headed further out to the Dhow Wharfage which is located along the Dubai Creek bank north of Maktoum Bridge. It is one of my favorite places to go in Dubai.

Not because it is fancy (far from it), but if you are half adventurous and walk-about amongst it you get to see some great sites. I took the below photo of some of the laborers loading a Dhow bound for the Persian Gulf. Once I took it, this guy and his buddies crowded around me to see the image on the camera LCD. They thought it was funny. These guys don’t have a glamorous life. Smile a lot though.

Loading a Dhow for the Persian Gulf

Loading a Dhow for the Persian Gulf

My objective for going this time though was to get to the other side of Dubai Creek (yes like the chicken). I hadn’t been over before, so didn’t really know what was there. I was hopeful of getting a decent multi-image Panorama of the Dhows at the Wharf. I took a couple of sets, but didn’t end up with a result that I liked.

Water Taxi Drivers

Water Taxi Drivers

The trip over was worth it though. 1 DRM ($0.25). No seats, no life jackets, and no guarantee of making it. It was cool though. The below photo is of a water taxi the same as the one I took. In fact I am on mine as I took this shot.

Water taxi on the Dubai Creek

Water taxi on the Dubai Creek

10:30 – Back in a taxi heading to Burj Khalifia. The World’s tallest building. 828 metres high (2,717 feet).

Late last year I went up to the observation deck… which is floor 124. The elevator is so fast that your ears pop on the way up. The view is spectacular so well worth the price of entry if ever you go. It is located near the Dubai Mall shopping complex so plenty to do for everyone. This is the fourth ‘world’s tallest’ building that I have been up.

This was the building in the last Mission Impossible movie in the sand storm scene. It has 160+ floors,  57 elevators and 8 escalators, and more than 26,000 glass panels.

Burj Khalifa

Burj Khalifa

It is difficult to get a decent shot of this building given how high it is. A Perspective Control lens (tilt-shift) would have been ideal… but mine were at home. It is so big compared to everything around it that it looks almost toy-like.

12:00 – Yes another (and last) taxi. To the Dubai Marina, which happened to be near to my hotel.

Dubai Marina

Dubai Marina

By the time I arrived here I had about an hour to take some shots and walk back to my hotel.

These two photos are both 11 shot, hand held Panoramas (with the images taken in the vertical). They were stitched together in Adobe Photoshop CS6, and tidied up in Adobe Lightroom 4. The original image was nearly 50 inches wide (127cm).

They are in one of my standard digital mats. This one is 24″ x 12″.

Dubai Marina

Dubai Marina

13:30 – Done. Well at least the photo taking was. I had to download, metadata, and process the ones that I wanted to keep. The single images were relatively simple, however the panoramas took some processing time given the resultant file size.

Overall I was reasonably satisfied with the result. For many of the images I would have preferred my Canon EF16-35 f/2.8L II lens, but the range of the 24-105 on a full frame sensor didn’t do a bad job.

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I leave you with an unrelated photo that I took the following day with my trusty Canon PowerShot S-100 point & shoot. I had to go to a meeting at the Sharjah Expo Centre, and just down the road was this building.

As it turns out it is the Council Office. Much like the one we have at home….

Sharjah Council Office

Sharjah Council Office

That’s It… See You There!

Photo of the Month – January 2013 Reply

Boats, Landscapes, Middle East, Photo of the Month, Structures, Travel • Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

First Photo of the Month for 2013, and the first overseas trip for the year…. not bad given that I left before the first week was done and dusted.

Note: click on the photos to make them larger.

The week prior I drove 3,000Kms (1,800 miles) round trip for xmas lunch, so have put a few road and air miles down this year already.

It is not often you can say that the Middle East is cooler than where you live… no matter where you live. I was in Dubai a few months ago and it was 51 Celsius (124F) in the shade at 7:30am.

Dubai Marina

Dubai Marina

I left Sydney a couple of days ago, with much of the State of New South Wales, and much of Australia for that matter listed as Extreme to Catastrophic Bushfire risk conditions, with a number of bushfires burning out of control. Temperatures in many places (including where I live) were in or above the mid 40s (115+F).

Dubai right now is in the high 20s (80F), and very pleasant. Winter in the desert.

These two panorama photos were taken literally 5 minutes apart. They are both 11 shot handheld Panoramas, stitched together in Adobe Photoshop CS6.

Dubai Marina

Dubai Marina

That’s It… See You There!

Walk-About in Beijing with a Canon G1X Reply

Asia, Equipment, HDR, Travel, Walk-About Series • Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Been on a plane lately?… Been asked to donate one of your kid’s kidneys to pay for an extra checked bag?… and now you have to pay moo-la for a carry-on bag on some planes. And who said bandits sailed the high seas?

When I travel, given how user-friendly airports and airlines are becoming with respect to luggage requirements I tend to be fairly specific with what I toss in my bag. Usually a Canon 5D Mk III, a wide zoom (EF16-35 f/2.8L II), usually a mid zoom (EF24-70 f/2.8L or EF24-105 f/4L), and a Speedlite 580EX II or 600EX-RT. Depending on where I am going I may also throw in an EF70-200 f/2.8L II. I will also toss in a Singh-Ray LB Color Combo filter for each lens element size – 77 & 82 (combo of color intensifier and polarizer).

For HDR images it also means taking an ‘L’ plate for the camera body (Really Right Stuff), a mid sized ball-head (Really Right Stuff BH-40), and a light-mid sized tripod (carbon fiber Gitzo GT-2541L). I also use the really cool PromoteControl for the HDR sequencing. I will also have a Canon S-100 point and shoot in my pocket (more often than not just in case I want to be in a shot – I would rather someone drop that than my D-SLR… don’t laugh.. it has happened. So while I travel ‘light’… light is as light does.

Travel Kit – Canon 5D Mk III

So all up, while it isn’t too bad, it is more than enough when you toss in the odd 17″ MacBookPro, iPad, Bose headphones, and various other work related stuff.

So when Canon recently released their new high end ‘point and shoot’, the PowerShot G1X I thought that this might be a reasonable compromise as a half decent, smallish travel camera. In keeping with the ‘keep it small & light’ mantra, I also changed out every other  item in my travel kit for their smaller, lighter equivalent. The only thing that I couldn’t suitably replicate (yet) was the PromoteControl for HDR.

Again in the spirit of compromise I found a small wireless remote control from Phottix that works great with the G1X body. It won’t do the HDR sequencing like the PromoteControl, so I simply change the shutter speed manually. Not  much of a hassle if you understand how exposure works, but I don’t like the fact that you have to touch the camera, which invokes the possibility of moving it slightly – (1) as the kit is so lightweight, (2) I usually take 7 shots with my HDR images… so a lot of opportunities to move something. In reality though, I will likely come down to 5 shots for this rig to minimize my concerns… Yeah I know, 3 is probably enough… but I like 7.

Note: the second image of the camera body below is only to illustrate the ‘L’ plate… it is not a second body that you have to pack.

I have provided the details of the light-weight kit at the end of the blog, as well as my Likes & Dislikes.

Travel Kit – Canon G1X

So now to test it. I was heading to Beijing in China for work so I tossed it in. The objective was to take a combination of general street photography (single image), both with and with0ut flash; some HDR; and also to test out the video. Now while in no-way do I wish to replace my larger and more expensive toys (love th0se), I do however want a good solution for taking good quality images while traveling (without a pack horse).

How did I travel with it – I packed the camera, Speedlite, and remote control in a Crumpler Haven bag. These are relatively new, but very useful and come in a few different sizes. I attached the ball-head to the tripod and put that inside a small Manfrotto tripod travel bag. Then the whole lot went inside my checked suitcase.

The Crumpler bag has ample protection, and I simply put the tripod on some shirts and undies to give it a bit of extra protection. My concern wasn’t so much that they would get damaged… more the airline would lose the bag (it has happened before), or some fast fingers would steal it (also happened before). As it turned out it all made it there and back fine (must have been the undies?).

Crumpler Haven Bag

So what was I hoping to accomplish? I am not so much into just taking happy snaps, so I wanted to see how the camera would do with some HDR and general photo journalism type images. Video isn’t much my thing either (although I like looking at them), but I thought that I would give that a whirl also to see how it performed for basic travel type footage (for a dummy like me anyway).

Insert ‘pause’ here as I head to the airport (at 4:30am) and take to the skies.

Well I am sitting in my hotel room in Beijing, unable to connect to much other than email and Flickr, so am writing this in Microsoft Word for pasting here when I get home. I used to live in China, both Beijing and Shanghai, but had forgotten that the outside world, while only a plane ride away, is a bit further than that from a social media standpoint. Be that as it may, my MacBookPro still works, as does my camera and Lightroom/Photoshop. Yes you can setup a connection via a VPN or similar to get you out… but I wasn’t staying long and simply couldn’t be bothered.

Technical Note: I have purposely not included any ‘real’ technical commentary here. There are a number of good sites around the place that do provide this (including the OEM sites). My notes are more based on general observation and gut-check feeling… the kind you get when playing with a new toy.

I only had part of one day to get my self imposed assignment completed, so I caught a local taxi from the hotel and had him drop me off about a block from Tian’anmen Square and the Forbidden City. I went early in an effort to beat the traffic, and the likely few gazillion rubber necks who would also be there later in the day, as it was a Saturday.

PHOTO 1: Going to work at the Forbidden City

For those who have not caught a local taxi before in a country like China where few speak English (relatively), make sure that you grab a hotel card with the address on it in the local language so that you can give it to the driver to get you back. On the way out, it doesn’t hurt to have your destination also written in the local language, as even though the hotel doorman will likely tell the taxi where to go, I have not met a taxi driver yet (in any country) that said they didn’t know where to go. Don’t confuse a smile with understanding. You are a walking ATM, so make sure you know how to get there and back.

Just the day prior (in Beijing) I was in one heading back to the hotel from a major local area (International Exhibition Center), with written instructions, the taxi had a GPS, the driver got out and asked directions two separate times, … and we still got lost three times. Many a time this is a ruse to simply get a higher fare… but in this case I had pre-negotiated my rate… so, between him and me it was a common case of dumb and dumber. We got home eventually none the worse for wear. He did try and ask for more cash… well he simply didn’t give me all my due change… what he didn’t realize is that I can still speak a bit of Chinese, so I got my change… and a knowing cheeky smile in return.

Canon G1X on Tour in Beijing

So, on with my Walk-About.

I put the kit together in the taxi on the way and simply left it together – and carried it around like a stick. It wasn’t worth taking the camera on and off the ball-head, and given that the tripod was so light, I simply lifted it up to take hand held shots, even with the Speedlite on. Simple enough. I did get the odd stare and smile (or a thousand or so) walking around with it, especially on Tian’anmen Square. You could spend the day on the Square simply taking photos of local people with cameras (they are everywhere), but few would have seen a tripod up close before, let alone the remote control hanging off it and a Speedlite.

PHOTO 2: Alley leading to the Forbidden City

Most people head for the bright lights and color (yes I have been there and done that myself many a time – shiny object syndrome), but you don’t really see the local community if you go and look at what the local tourism board wants you to see. By all means go and check it out, particularly in places like China where the history and culture are spectacular in places, but if you get the time, and you have the stomach for it… get off the beaten track a little.

Initially I took a random stroll in the backstreets a block or so from the Forbidden City. There are some small community green areas, and then you get into the local Hutong living communities (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hutong). The below photograph shows the entrance way into one of them not far from the Forbidden City.

PHOTO 3: Entry to a Hutong near the Forbidden City in Beijing

While walking around near a small waterway on my way to the Hutong area I came across the below young boy playing a board game with his grandfather. I stood and watched them for a while, then asked to take their photo. I was hoping they would simply keep playing, but the young lad was keen to get his picture taken and he stood abruptly to attention… it took me a little while and some gesturing to get him to sit down again… then he got his ‘photo on’. Peace out in Beijing. They both enjoyed the photo when I showed it to them on the LCD.

PHOTO 4: Peace Out Beijing

PHOTO 5: Next to the Forbidden City

Now while I am a self proclaimed camera snob (I like my Ds & D series… and soon to be Dx body no matter how big (and expensive) and heavy they are), I have to say, given the relatively economical price (not cheap for a point and shoot though) for the image quality you get, the G1X was pretty decent for what I used it for. Now will it be my go-to camera… No… but for basic travel it will be fine for many things. It is also more than adequate for those looking for a decent camera, but don’t want to shell out a lot more money, or have the hassle of needing several different lenses (and the cost associated with them). It is also pretty simple to use once you understand the user interface logic.

It is a bit chunky, so it isn’t what you would call a ‘toss it in your pocket’ camera like the Canon ‘S’ series (which are great small cameras), and when you bolt on the ‘L’ plate it gets a little bigger and heavier. In defense of the latter though, you are only going to do this if you plan on putting it on a tripod anyway. It was actually quite acceptable to hang onto for hand-held shots. The grip on the right hand side is reasonable, and your left hand simply wraps around the other end (depending on your holding style of choice).

For general photography it was fine, but I can’t say that I was enamored with it for HDR. Would it suffice if that was all you had… sure. But the overall stacked image quality did not seem to be what the 5DMkIII or DMkIV will give you (maybe it was just me being that camera snob again)… See previous note re technical review on my part – there is no science to my comment here… just eye-balling it.

Using it with a Speedlite was also a little frustrating. I pretty much use rear curtain sync all the time, so there was a long delay (relative to a D-SLR) from when you pushed the go button, to when the flash actually fired. This was annoying… I will no doubt get used to it the more I play with it.

The lens was OK. Given the sensor crop it didn’t get wide enough for me (compared to a full frame D-SLR), but more than adequate for cruising around (according to the Canon specs it is the equivalent of 28mm on a full frame sensor – something closer to 16mm would be more useful, at least for me). I missed not having a Polarizer on the lens. I have since ordered the 58mm filter adapter so that I can (canon part number: FA-DC58C). While I was at it I also ordered the lens hood (canon part number: LH-DC70).

As for video… as I said I am a relative knuckle-head when it comes to that. I simply used in on the ball-head and tripod and panned it… not really the correct way, but for what I was doing it was fine. Is it on a par with it’s higher end D-SLR cousins… no (and nor should it be for those shelling out the cash to get a higher end camera), but for some holiday video or your kid’s school concert or soccer game it would be more than adequate. I stitched a few clips together in the following compilation. I did not attach a seperate microphone so the sound is as is out of the camera. There was also no post work on the video itself so it is straight out of camera also.

I leave you with the below ‘Team Photo’. While it isn’t a very good photo, it was one that made me laugh while I was taking it.

If you have ever been to Tian’anmen Square you would know that this is an extremely popular tourist attraction for Chinese people… and I mean lots. I felt sorry for the guy trying to take this official photo of this particular tour group. He was trying to get them all lined up and looking at him (something akin to organizing chickens by how well it seemed to be going)… so to make things worse I stood next to him for a few minutes with my camera (on a tripod) held up and I snapped a few shots. I was well on my way and he was still trying to get them to say ‘cheese’. May the Force be with him.

PHOTO 6: Team Shot on Tian’anmen Square

Well that’s it… See You There!

Below I provide the specs on the various photos and kit in case you are interested.

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KIT SPECIFICATIONS

Camera: Canon PowerShot G1X

Flash: Canon Speedlite 430 EX II

Tripod: GITZO GT-1540T

Ball-Head: Really Right Stuff BH-25 Ultra Light

L-Plate: Really Right Stuff

Remote Control: Phottix WXD-189

Pack Mule: Me

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LIKED

- Smaller & easier to pack than a D-SLR

- Hot Shoe to permit use of Speedlites and Pocket Wizard

- Moveable LCD screen

- General overall quality of images was better than all other point and shoots that I have used (which is limited to only Canon models)

- Front dial (have mine set to change shutter speed in manual mode). Useful for how I was doing the HDR sequencing.

NOT LIKED

- A bit on the chunky side to be a real point and shoot… but not bad given it’s size (happy to trade a little size for quality though)

- On the expensive side, but not so if this is going to be your only higher end camera

- Lag on second curtain sync for flash using a Speedlite

- Connection capability to permit use of higher end remote controls (eg PromoteControl)

- For what you pay, the filter adapter and lens hood should be included

- Not quite wide enough zoom given the sensor crop (currently 28mm full frame equivalent)

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PHOTOGRAPH SPECIFICATIONS

- PHOTO 1: Four young ladies heading to work in the Forbidden City

Shutter Speed: 1/250th  -  f/stop:  f/8.0  -  ISO: 100  -  Focal Length: 38mm  -  Flash: No

- PHOTO 2: Alley leading to the Forbidden City – HDR 5 shots

Shutter Speed: 1/60th (middle exposure)  -  f/stop:  f/8.0  -  ISO: 100  -  Focal Length: 44mm  -  Flash: No

- PHOTO 3: Entry to Hutong

Shutter Speed: 1/160th  -  f/stop:  f/5.0  -  ISO: 200  -  Focal Length: 40mm  -  Flash: Speedlite 430 EX II (EV -2 stops / aimed at left door frame)

- PHOTO 4: Peace Out in Beijing

Shutter Speed: 1/100th  -  f/stop:  f/5.0  -  ISO: 400  -  Focal Length: 15mm  -  Flash: No

- PHOTO 5: Building near the Forbidden City – HDR 7 shots

Shutter Speed: 1/80th (middle exposure)  -  f/stop:  f/8.0  -  ISO: 100  -  Focal Length: 15mm  -  Flash: No

- PHOTO 6: Team Shot on Tian’anmen Square

Shutter Speed: 1/160th  -  f/stop:  f/5.0  -  ISO: 200  -  Focal Length: 15mm  -  Flash: Speedlite 430 EX II (EV +1 stop)

- PHOTO 7: Young child on Tian’anmen Square

Shutter Speed: 1/100th  -  f/stop:  f/5.6  -  ISO: 200  -  Focal Length: 44mm  -  Flash: Speedlite 430 EX II

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Well I had one more happy snap left so thought that I would toss it in seeing as how the little girl was nice enough to stand still long enough for me to take it.

Again if you have been to Tian’anmen (or many places in China) you would have seen the many ropes and ‘keep out / keep off’ signs. The parents of this little girl kept putting her over the ropes near these flowers to get a photo… at least until the Tian’anmen police came, upon which they would simply move a little further down the rope line and do it again. I used the Speedlite 430 EX II here. I didn’t have much time as that same Policeman was coming, so you can see the moderate highlight bouncing off her forehead when the flash hit her ‘head on’. It was a really hot and bright day, so I simply tried to balance the exposure to what was on the flowers behind her and get on my way. Aperture priority… push the go-button, and run.

PHOTO 7: Photo Op on Tian’anmen

Baltimore. City of Bulls, Boats & Crab Cakes Reply

Equipment, Professional Bull Riding - PBR, Sport, Techniques, Travel, U.S.A. • Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Had crab cakes before… sure. Didn’t think they lived up to all the hype though. Bunch of filler with some crab mush (or something) in. Akin to eating fish tasting baby food.

So to try the real deal (Maryland Crab Cake) I went to Baltimore. Baltimore was on my ‘places to go to’ list, I had some real work to do there, and PBR was on the weekend that I managed to line it all up. Logic… do some work, quick look at Baltimore, try some crab cakes, tick another place of my travel map, then go and take some photos of Bull Riding with my buddies at Bull Stock Media.

First the place. I stayed downtown as it was walking distance to 1st Mariner Arena (where PBR was being held), and it was pretty central to all the other things that I needed to get done (ie work).

Baltimore Inner Harbor

Second. Crab Cakes. My self imposed mission was to have 1 serving per day at a different place each time (was there 3 days). As it turns out… quality had little to do with the location or establishment. Day 1 a colleague took me to a local place in Dundalk (explored by John Smith in 1608 as part of the Chesapeake Bay expedition). We ate at the type of place that several generations of the same family have been to, and you sit at the same table each time… likely served by a person who knows your name (and birthday). This was officially my first real Maryland Crab Cake. And there was no comparison to all those imposters that had been passed off to me as ‘crab cake’ previously. This thing actually had big chunks of real crab… and the whole thing literally fell apart (not like the porridge like experience with other crab cakes). It tasted fantastic… although I could feel my cholesterol meter going up with each tasty mouth full. One comment though from a crab cake amateur… it was luke warm, as were all three experiences. I like hot food to be hot, but I guess this is how you eat them.

Orioles Baseball Stadium from my hotel window

My next experience was downtown on Inner Harbor, at a nationally recognized seafood chain. I had eaten at this chain before in other U.S. cities. The food was OK (not fantastic… food for the masses). However I was in Baltimore, on the harbor, so I expected the crab cakes to be really good here. Unfortunately they were not, and would have qualified as the previously mentioned porridge variety. Very disappointing.

The winner though (narrowly tipping out Dundalk) was Faidley Seafood at Lexington Market. Lexington is the largest continuously run market in the world… more than 220 years, and Faidley has been around since 1886. It is currently owned by Bill and Nancy Devine, who are descendants of the original founders. I actually met Bill while I was there.Nothing fancy about this place. You line up. Order. Get it on a paper plate with plastic eating gear… and you stand up to eat it. However this just adds to the experience and the nostalgia of the place… and the actual cakes were really good… as was the company. My thanks to my friend Todd and his lovely wife and daughter for taking me there. Very enjoyable.

Me with the Stanley DeWalt Bull Riders

So with work and my eating out of the way… time for some bull riding. I have written about taking photos of bull riding several times before, so won’t bore you with the technical details of how it is done. I tried a few different things here this time, so will share that with you.

NOTE: if you just want to look at some photos… either click on the link at the end of this sentence or skip to the bottom for an animated slideshow of the PBR Baltimore Invitational. 100 Photos / 4 Minutes.

I normally hang out in the shark cage in the middle of the arena (I did this one night here also). On the second night I stayed up on the chutes with the cowboys. My buddy Matt (Bull Stock Media) has been taking some really cool shots up close, so I thought that I would give it a try. It isn’t for the faint hearted, as one swipe of the bull’s head (big horns) could take a finger or two off, or even worse, wreck your camera and lens. I have extra fingers, and some other cameras… so let’s give it a try.

Douglas Ferreira on South Point

It is a little hard to describe the experience when you are up on the chutes with the cowboys while they are loading up. It is organized chaos, but if you know where to stand (and where not to), it is a cool place to be. Once the cowboys get to know you they are very accommodating. The bulls on the other hand… don’t give a crap, literally. Taking these photos literally means getting down on your knees, and sticking your camera into the bull chute, between the legs of either the officials or the cowboys helping to rope down the rider. It is like a dance. If it gets out of sync, someone gets stepped on.

It is also very noisy so you can’t really communicate by talking (when the rider is about to come out of the chute). So you develop a morse-code type arrangement by tapping on legs etc to let them know that you are there and where you are in relation to them and the ‘escape route’. They don’t have to look, as they know it is you. The other major consideration is the TV camera guys. These guys are busy, and need to get the shot, as many times it is live TV. They are also very accommodating once they know that you know what you are doing, and won’t get in their way. The arrangement (this time by way of head nods)… when they don’t need the shot… I (or Matt) duck into the slot and get some stills, then pull out just before you know that they will need to get back in. The other issue is getting out of their way when they are shooting. If the bulls go ape-shit and lift up in the chute, the camera guy needs to get out of the way in a hurry. So you need to give them some elbow room, and make sure that if they need to step, that they won’t fall over you (remember I am on my knees at their feet at this point).

At the end of the day though, everyone has a job to do to make the event run, and for it to be successful. So as long as you know what the order of priority is, the sequence of events, and your role in it – all works fine.

Marco Eguche on Black & Decker Orange Crust

Ryan McConnel on Bar Code / Score 85.50

So to briefly give you the specs on how these shots were taken.

Camera: Canon EOS-1D Mk IV

Lens: Canon EF16-35 f/2.8L II with Tiffen HT (high transmission) filter

ISO: 3200 – 6400 (these were at 5000)

Shutter: 1/800th

Aperture: f/2.8

2010 World Champion Renato Nunes on King Lopez / Score 86.75

While it may seem cool to be standing (kneeling) on the chutes… and let me tell you… it is, you have to be prepared to wear some big clods of mud (which sting when they hit you in the face), bull snot by the gobs, and the odd bit of green stinky bull crap… all of which invariably hits your camera, the front of your lens… and you.

As described in some of my previous blogs, the ph0tos are sent directly via wireless transmitter on the cameras, via ‘The Photo Commander’ at Bull Stock Media up to PBR Live Photos. Bull Stock Media do an excellent job at this for fans to see live footage from the events.

Guilherme Marchi on Dark Shadow sent from my MkIV

I leave you with this shot of PBR Bull ‘Back Bender’. He (like most world class PBR bulls) has a head the size of a small car. I had my EF16-35 f/2.8L II literally touching the front of his nostril inside the chute, hence it is way out of focus. The highlights you see near his nose… that my friends is the proverbial ‘Bull Snot’ as he is breathing out. I had to clean big gobs of it off once he left the chute… along with the mud and bull crap that he so generously shared as he exited.

Ty Pozzobon on Back Bender

In case you are interested…. here is an animated slideshow from the PBR Baltimore Invitational. Click on this link to watch it on YouTube or use the embedded video below.   100 Photos / 4 Minutes

Walk-About in Mexico City 3

Equipment, Latin America, Travel, Walk-About Series • Tags: , , , , , ,

When you tell your wife that you are planning on heading down to Mexico to have a look around for a few days… the reply (other than a gaping mouth) is: 1) Why?, 2) You Fool, 3) Where is your Will & Life Insurance. Luckily (or sadly) for me my wife knows that I qualify for item number 2 most of the time when it comes to travel. I work on the theory that if you ‘never ever go… then you will never never know’…. so passport in hand off I went.

I have been to several towns and cities in Mexico, but going to Mexico City has always been on my wish list… Why? Who knows… I just wanted to see it. I have the Aztec areas on my list also… another trip for another day.

So a couple of weeks ago I happened to go. Normally when I travel like this I will try and toss in a Canon 5D Mk II body, an EF24-105 f/4L lens at a minimum (ideally an EF16-35 f/2.8L II also), and a Speedlite 580EX II. However reading the news about walking around with bright shiny objects I decided to leave it all home and just take my Canon Powershot S-95 point and shoot. I have one of these somewhere all the time (in my briefcase, in the car, etc), but don’t usually use it as my ‘only’ camera. It is my ‘just in case’ camera, and one that I don’t mind handing to others in case I want to get  a happy snap somewhere with me in it. I have had a few friends (who will remain nameless) hang on to it like it was  red hot poker, only to see it bounce on the tarmac.

Not having a humping camera on you is somewhat liberating, although I did miss what you can do with one… but in reality for what I was doing, I didn’t need it. A decent flash would have been useful though. The photos below are straight out of the camera, so OK for happy snaps. Not bad also considering the ISO I was running on a couple of them. The S-95 has crappy noise levels over about ISO400 (at least I think so).

I know… all the signs and newspaper articles say stay in your hotel, don’t walk around, don’t eat, don’t drink, don’t talk to people. Sure that is true in many places around the world, and not just Mexico. Now I am certainly not saying that you should be an idiot and flaunt all common sense, but nor can you take for granted all that you hear. Fact is generally garnered from what you see/hear for yourself… and not what you hear from someone else. So… I went for walk to have a look and see for myself.

To put it into perspective though, I didn’t just walk out the hotel, turn left, and walk into the very first crime scene that I could find. We planned it out. Where we would stay, who took us there from the airport, where we would go and when, what day and time, and who was going. We planned our schedule so that Sunday would be our go for a walk-about day (quiet non work day in the city). We also stayed downtown, a few hundred yards from the Monumento de la Revolucion (Monument to the Revolution). This is a cool structure anytime of the day, but particularity impressive at night when the lights come on and the water fountains run. Due to perspective distortion the below photo does not do it justice. It is big.

The logic… stay near a Starbucks. Which as it turns out… we did.

Monument of the Revolution

What we didn’t know however was that they literally close the main streets downtown for most of the day on Sunday so that people (tens of thousands of them) can basically do whatever they want with the objective of getting outside and getting some exercise (roller blade, walk, run, ride bicycles, push the stroller). It was actually really cool to see and be a part of. There is a decent blog and photos of it here. Tuscon Bike Lawyer Blog.

See the video below (taken with S-95 standing in the bike traffic).

The other thing that was very noticeable compared to other large cities was the amount of general activities that were going on in pretty much all available public spaces. Large open air markets, entertainment, and art shows in the park. Now my wife would be the first to say that spontaneous exercise in not high on my list of get me excited things to do… but I will say this, the 3 hours or so spent aimlessly walking around was extremely enjoyable.

Other than getting some fresh air and exercise, the cool thing about walking around when you travel is that you get to see things that you would not normally take the time to even notice, let alone stop to see when you are in a foreign city. People in most parts of the world, when you really get down to it… are friendly, and pleased that you are interested in them and their respective culture, city and country. Everyone I spoke to was nice, helpful, and had a smile on their face… yes chances are they were smiling at my poor Spanish and/or Aussie accent. Mind you ‘Cerveza’ (beer) is a universal dialect.

BTW… thanks to my traveling companions Rob and Peter for accompanying me on the walk-about… and for picking up a couple of enjoyable dinners along the way (and cervezas).

Tacos in a Side Street

Art Fair in the Park

I leave you with a photo of this elderly gentleman taken at the Monumento a la Independencia (Independence Monument / Angel of Independence). I simply wanted to take his photo (yes I did ask his permission first). While it isn’t a great photo in itself, when I went back through my photos and the odd video… he showed up 3 different times, in 3 different locations, all within a 3 hour period. He is even the last person shown in the above video.

He wasn’t following us.. he was just randomly riding around (or so we thought).

Stay in your hotel. Safer.

The Bicycle Stalker